Leicester Tigers’ Salary Cap Investigation

On 15 March 2022, Premiership Rugby announced that it had concluded its investigation into alleged breaches of the Salary Cap Regulations (the “Regulations”) by Leicester Tigers (the “Club”) between 2016 and 2021. The investigation, first announced in December 2021, found…

Ealing and Doncaster Denied Premiership Promotion: Grounds for Appeal?

On 1 March 2022, the RFU announced that no Championship club had met the Minimum Standards Criteria for entry to the Premiership ahead of the 2022/23 season. As such, the winner of the Championship this year will not be promoted…

Case Analysis: World Rugby v. Rassie Erasmus & SA Rugby

On 17 November 2021, the long-awaited decision in the World Rugby misconduct case against Springbok Director of Rugby, Rassie Erasmus, and the South Africa Rugby Union (“SARU”) was published (the “Decision”). The case relates to the infamous 62-minute video (available…

Concussion Litigation in Rugby – Part II: Breach of Duty

1. Introduction This article is the (long overdue) second part of a series of articles on the concussion litigation in rugby union, which was instigated in December 2020 by a group of former professional players against the Rugby Football Union…

Lockdown Disciplinary Sanctions: Joseph, Stooke & Oghre

On 11 February, Jonathan Joseph, Elliott Stooke and Gabriel Oghre were sanctioned by the RFU for breaching the UK Government’s COVID-19 regulations and rugby’s COVID-19 Minimum Operating Standards. In what is now rugby’s second COVID-19 disciplinary case (see previously the…