Former England captain Chris Robshaw and scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth are among 13 players who have been hit with suspensions for their COVID-19 breaches which saw the Barbarians’ fixture against England cancelled.
The game was set to take place in October but was called off after a number of Barbarians players breached COVID-19 bio-bubble protocols in the week building up to the game.
Thirteen players have been charged with breaches of the RFU’s code of conduct.
The RFU said in a statement: “The sanctions reflect the seriousness of the charges which include behaving in a way that ignored what the public at large and the Rugby community were complying with and deliberately compromising an investigation being carried out by the RFU.”
The group have been separated into four smaller pools, depending on their roles in the breaches.
England internationals Robshaw and Wigglesworth, alongside Alex Lewington and Jackson Wray are in the group hit with the most stringent of disciplinaries (having been charged with “COVID Breaches” and “False Account” when asked for what happened) and will serve four-week bans, a two-week fine of their wages and 50 hours of community service to be completed by Oct.19 2021.
Fergus McFadden, faces the same charges with the exception of a two-week wage fine, while Juan Pablo Socino will face the same four-week ban, two week fine and 60 hours of community service.
Sean Maitland and Tim Swinson will each serve three-week suspensions, have to pay a 1.5 week fine and carry out 50 hours of community service, with Calum Clark facing the same charges and an additional 10 hours of community service.
Joel Kpoku, Manu Vunipola and Tom de Glanville are suspended for two weeks with a one-week fine and community service while prop Simon Kerrod has a one-week ban.