Gloucester are to seek financial compensation from Worcester following the late postponement of the Premiership fixture between the clubs on 25 March. An independent panel has ruled Worcester could have done more to field a team despite several squad members being unavailable because of illness and injury.
The Warriors pulled out of the game citing a lack of tighthead props and Gloucester were subsequently awarded a 20-0 “victory” and five league points. Following the release of the full reasoned judgment by Sport Resolutions UK, however, the Gloucester chief executive, Lance Bradley, has made clear the club do not consider the matter entirely closed.
“We are pleased the independent panel rejected Worcester’s claims that the cancellation was due to Covid-19 and that they did everything they could to field a team,” Bradley said. “As is evident in the report, clearly neither of these things was the case. The club will now seek compensation from Worcester Warriors through the relevant channels.”
While a Worcester official did approach other Premiership club team managers via WhatsApp to request assistance in finding spare props at short notice, the panel found that no phone calls were made and concluded the club had not tried hard enough to obtain loan cover, causing major inconvenience to the home side Gloucester.
“The impact of Worcester’s decision to cancel the match was significant across the club and amongst both sets of fans, not least due to doing so within only a few hours of the scheduled kick-off,” Bradley said.
“It was frustrating for both sets of fans who had been looking forward to a good game of live rugby, whether at Kingsholm or live on BT Sport, and it was frustrating for our players, coaches and other staff who had been working hard to prepare for the game.
“We refunded all match ticket holders, season-ticket holders, box holders and hospitality guests; all of which resulted in significant financial loss for the club. There were also huge financial damages incurred through lost food and drinks sales, not only for Gloucester Rugby, but also for numerous establishments around the city.”
Round 1 9/10/11 December 2022
Round 2 16/17/18 December 2022
Round 3 13/14/15 January 2023
Round 4 20/21/22 January 2023
Round of 16 31 March/ 1/2 April 2023
Quarter-finals 7/8/9 April 2023
Semi-finals 28/29/30 April 2023
EPCR Challenge Cup final Friday 19 May 2023
Champions Cup final Saturday 20 May 2023
Next year, meanwhile, the European Champions’ Cup will not feature the two-leg home-and-away round of 16 which proved a popular innovation this season. Instead the tournament is to span eight weekends rather than nine, with only four pool rounds before the top eight sides from two pools advance to the knockout stages.
The last 16 will now comprise a one-off fixture and it is understood the tournament will once again comprise 24 clubs. South Africa’s leading provincial teams are expected to be involved for the first time, with a formal announcement of the competition structure due on the eve of this season’s finals in Marseille on 27 and 28 May.
