At the end of the game I reported on yesterday events took place that have few parallels in women’s rugby.
Everything that follows comes under the vital heading ALLEGEDLY.
Emily Robinson, Quins’ vice-captain and owner of one Red Rose cap, is said to have head-butted Saracens’ Sydney Gregson. The referee, Mike Hudson, at once showed Robinson a red card although the game had finished.
It is thought this action was in response to a push Gregson made on Ella Cromack, Quins’ young England Under 18s fly-half.
The disciplinary committee will have a lot on its plate to decide exactly what happened. TV cameras were present, though in the clips currently available the scenes are somewhat distant.
In no particular order the committee will have to look at the weather conditions (the one other PWR game at Sale was called off owing to a frozen pitch); the three yellow cards that Quins had already been shown; the state of the game (a proud home club subjected to a humbling defeat); the precise sequence of events that led to the alleged violence; a correct and proportionate response to the known facts; they may involve a player or players of both sides; and Harlequins’ disciplinary record.
Some Background
Nobody can pretend that the new league has got off to a satisfactory start, despite all the bright hopes it engendered.
First and foremost, one of the ten clubs, University of Worcester Warriors, didn’t even reach the starting gate. That left an ulcerous hole in the programme and concern in the minds of players and support staff around the country.
The serious injury that befell Carys Phillips in the sixth minute of the game served only to increase the sense of concern. The former Wales captain had become the latest Warriors’ signing to a new club. Her injury caused a lengthy break in play, while players left the field to seek warmth.
As fate would have it, the same weekend the RFU published a profit of £4 million it had made in a season that saw the folding of Wasps, Worcester and London Irish men’s clubs, plus women’s clubs too. These profits are heavily dependent on the number of times Twickenham Stadium can be filled for international matches.
The public still doesn’t know the circumstances in which Amy Turner replaced Gerard Mullen as Quins’ head coach. She must have been the only member of the group selected by World Rugby to act as interns to their national sides for last year’s World Cup to leave the scene prematurely to take up her new appointment at Twickenham Stoop.
But Quins’ disciplinary record must come into question.
