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Premiership Rugby statement on cancelled Gloucester-Worcester game
By Liam Heagney
Premiership Rugby officials have issued an update regarding the adjudication of the cancelled March 25 Gallagher Premiership match between Gloucester and Worcester at Kingsholm. The fixture was called off just five hours before the scheduled 7:45pm kick-off and it hit the host club hard in the pocket as they had to refund the anticipated 10,000-plus attendance.
The allocation of points was also viewed as critical. Across last season and this season, four and two points have been doled out to two teams involved in a cancelled fixture, but Gloucester were left disappointed by last month's cancellation as they were unable to play to try and win with a four-try bonus point that would have netted them five match points.
They are currently in the hunt for the end-of-season playoffs, running in seventh spot just seven points behind the fourth-placed Exeter, so the points allocation from the cancelled match will be critical to their chances of reaching the semi-finals.
Wednesday's latest Premiership statement read: "Premiership Rugby can confirm that the independent panel selected to adjudicate on the cancelled Gallagher Premiership Rugby match between Gloucester and Worcester Warriors will meet on Tuesday, April 19.
"Premiership Rugby have asked Sport Resolutions UK to form the panel and it will be chaired by Gary Hickinbottom, who will be joined by two others to be confirmed in the next few days.
"Worcester were unable to field the required six front row players for the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match due to be played against Gloucester on Friday, March 25, resulting in the cancellation of the fixture. The circumstances under which the match was cancelled and the allocation of points will be determined by the independent panel. The match will not be replayed.
"Premiership Rugby will publish the full judgement when completed by Gary Hickinbottom.
A Premiership Rugby spokesperson added: "In accordance with the Premiership regulations we have investigated this matter and we can confirm that a panel chaired by Gary Hickinbottom, a former Court of Appeal judge, has been appointed by Sport Resolutions UK. The three-person panel will sit on Tuesday, April 19, with Wednesday being set aside as a reserve date should this be required.
"Following the conclusion of the panel hearing, we will publish the decision, and the full reasons, as soon as they are available."
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Latest Comments
I think we need to get innovative with the new laws.
Now red cards are only 20 minutes, Razor should send Finau on a head hunting mission to hospitalise their 10 with a shoulder to the chops.
Give the conspiracy theorists a win.
Go to commentsEngland played well enough to win but couldnt score when they needed to and couldnt defend a couple of X-Factor moments from Telea which was ultimately the difference. They needed to hold the ball more and make the AB's make more tackles. Territorially they were good for the first 60. Defending their lead and playing pragmatic rugby in the last 20 was silly. The AB's always had the potential to come back. England still have a long way to go, definite progress would have been shown had they won but it seems they are still stuck where they were shortly after the six nations and their tour to NZ
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