Dean Richards exclusive on the scandal that rocked rugby

DEAN RICHARDS was still reeling from the three-year ban handed down over his role in the Bloodgate scandal when the telephone rang.

It was a fellow director of rugby commiserating with the former Harlequins chief and admitting he'd been forced to throw out all their club's blood capsules for fear of suffering the same fate.

A joke? Possibly. But given the shadow he is living under - and knowing what Richards does about the cut-throat world of rugby - you could forgive him for believing there was more than a grain of truth in the remark.

Cover-up

Richards doesn't seek to excuse his actions. How could he when he helped instigate the cover-up which has rocked the rugby world? But he claims faking blood injuries is rife within the game, that other teams have cut players with scalpels on the pitch and that he's been made a scapegoat.

In a week when the book was finally closed on Bloodgate, Richards talks openly for the first time about his part in the controversy and the black arts which have become such a part of rugby's fabric.

"Blood capsules, cutting of players, false blood on rags, faked front row injuries - all have gone on in the game," Richards insisted.

Loophole

"I've had a number of directors of rugby who have rung me up and said 'Sorry to hear what's happened to you mate.'

"Then they've probably gone straight to the cupboards and cleared out all the blood capsules! That's not an excuse and it can't be seen as one but there is a loophole there that if somebody has blood you can exploit it. I would imagine that on every Guinness Premiership weekend last season there would have been bloodbin incidents. It does happen.

"I am sure other coaches would have been thinking 'There but for the grace of God go I'.

"Hand on heart, if guys came out and spoke honestly about it, everybody knows that it goes on. Some people have physically cut people in the past and it was suggested to me by a couple of overseas players that we should have done that.

Ketchup

"I refused to do that, which is why we went down the route of using blood capsules.

"Yes we did wrong, we used a blood capsule. I'm quite comfortable saying that we did do that. But if there was any cutting done it certainly wasn't done at my instigation.

DEAN RICHARDS: We did wrong - but it goes on everywhere

"The blood on the rag, tomato ketchup on the rag, I have seen that done before.

"It's not just in England, it's across the world. Tana Umaga was playing for New Zealand in the 1999 World Cup when he said things like that were going on. And allegedly it was going on in the 2003 World Cup.

"It happens, and it has happened, and it's not just the English who have done it.

Brutal

"I bent the rules but the only thing you would say is that it raises a question mark over the proportionality of the sanction and whether it should have been so much."

Richards was hit with a brutal three-year ban for his part in Tom Williams' illegal substitution during last season's Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leinster.

Williams had his ban slashed from a year to four months after telling European Rugby chiefs Richards had bullied him into chewing on a fake blood capsule.

The winger also insisted he only convinced doctor Wendy Chapman to cut his mouth with a scalpel because he feared Richards' reaction if the cheating became public.

Evidence

The Rugby Football Union has set-up a task force to clean up the game's image and granted immunity to anyone who provides evidence of wrong-doing.

And Richards has accepted an invitation to provide information to the 13-man group.

He will attend a meeting at Twickenham this Tuesday where he will share his experiences of cheating in the game.

But Richards, who believes he has been the victim of a witch-hunt, says the committee will be shocked by what they find.

Damage

He insists he is "terribly sorry" for using blood capsules and the damage it has done to the game's reputation.

But the 6ft 4in former policeman is distraught at the allegations that he bullied players during a four-year stint at Quins that saw him take them from National Division One to second in the Premiership.

Richards denies his methods were tyrannical and accuses Williams of exaggerating his claims in order to wriggle off the hook.

He said: "It wasn't dictatorial - it was an inclusive community where people were asked to express themselves and were never, ever cut down when they did express themselves.We had this expression that you would never be criticised for trying something but you would be criticised for trying something that doesn't come off and then not trying to fix it.

Bullying

"The theory of bullying and coercion just doesn't wash. Tom could quite easily have said no to the blood capsule. I have no idea why he would think he would never be selected again if he did say no.

"At the beginning of the year I'd signed a new two-year contract with him.

"There was no reason for him to say that I'd pressured him other than to get his sentence reduced. The duress and bullying accusations don't stand up.

"You have to understand people's motives for saying things like that. If you are trying to get your ban down from a year to three months, which he was, perhaps that is part and parcel of why he said what he did.

Banned

"Twenty-five years ago, when someone like Brian Clough was in his pomp and he said 'do it', it would get done.

"But society has changed and this generation of players only respond to inclusiveness."

Williams' evidence to the European Rugby Cup disciplinary hearing saw Richards drummed out of rugby, club physio Steph Brennan banned for two years and chairman Charles Jillings quit. Former club doctor Chapman could yet face a General Medical Council tribunal for her role in the affair.

RFU disciplinary officer Jeff Blackett on Friday cleared Harlequins of any further wrong-doing but the stain on the club's name will take years to shift.

Richards, 46, is set to lose almost £500,000 in earnings. With no formal qualifications, he admits he does not know what the future holds.

Petty

"I need clarification about what I can and can't do," he said. "I haven't really had that yet. My kids play rugby on a Sunday, can I coach them?

"Can I get involved with the local rugby side? Is it going to be as pedantic and petty as to stop me doing that?

"I've had to speak to my children to tell them what's happened. They were tough conversations but they've been fantastic.

"I've got relatives in Australia who called and said that if I wanted to get away from it all, then they would look after me - but I've had to face up to this.

"I've been involved in top-flight rugby now since I was 17 or 18. To not be involved now is a big wrench.

Bizarre

"I did something wrong but to prevent me enjoying my children growing up would be wrong. I'd probably walk away from rugby full stop if they did that. Far worse things happen, although the Lockerbie bomber got less coverage than me one week, which was bizarre.

"A one-year ban you can just about get away with but two years or more and you're dead and buried. They have taken my career away from me.

"It would take a very, very speculative owner, chief executive or chairman who is going to say 'We'll take Dean Richards on even though he hasn't been involved in the game for the last three years.'

"To go back into the police at the age of 46 would be nigh on impossible. I suppose I could re-apply but I have a bad knee, my hearing isn't great and some people say my vision isn't great, so what can I do?

Faking

"If someone does take me on with the allegations of bullying and everything that has gone on it would be tough because the character assassination has been absolutely total."

Richards does at least believe some good will come from the sorry affair. Changes to the substitution laws have already been made to avoid sides faking injuries in order to con referees into calling uncontested scrums.

Richards believes law-makers should go one step further and allow rolling substitutions to prevent more abuse.

"I think what will happen is that it will force people to change things and you may see over the next couple of years rolling substitutions like you get in rugby league," he said.

"If that does happen in the next 12 or 18 months while I am still serving my three-year ban for doing exactly that it would be strange. It may happen. They will certainly have to have a look at the blood substitutions."

• Dean Richards was not paid for this interview.

• DEAN RICHARDS: MY LOYALTY WAS TO BLAME

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