Worcester will compensate Gloucester for the sudden cancellation of their March Premiership match.
Warriors claimed they could no longer field a team for Kingsholm's fixture on 25/03/after a string of injuries including Covid-19.
Worcester's argument was rejected by an independent panel, who awarded their opponents a win of 20-0 and five points.
Lance Bradley, Gloucester's chief executive, said that Worcester's cancellation decision had a “significant” impact.
Bradley stated that Bradley also refunded match ticket holders, season ticket holder, box holders and guests who were invited to the event. This resulted a significant financial loss.
“We are glad that Worcester's claims of cancellation due to Covid-19 were rejected by an independent panel. We also appreciate that Covid-19 did all they could to field a qualified team. The report clearly shows that neither of these claims was true.
“The club will seek compensation from Worcester Warriors through appropriate channels.”
Premiership Rugby appointed the panel to decide on the outcome of this fixture. It stated that Worcester could have done much more to ensure loan coverage for their front-row players, who were not available before the 17:00 deadline on Friday, 25 March.
Luke Broadley, Warriors team manager, sent a WhatsApp to his Premiership counterparts asking for loose-head and tight-head props. Meanwhile, Hartpury, Cornish Pirates and Championship clubs Hartpury were contacted.
“Welfare and Health of Our Players”
At one stage, Gloucester even offered to loan their opponents a loose-head prop and chairman Martin St Quinton messaged his Worcester counterpart on the morning of the match, voicing concern that a postponement would cost his club £250,000.
Broadley confirmed that Worcester would not be fielding a team just before 14:00 on match day.
The panel agreed that it was unreasonable to try to lend a player to any club other than Worcester and the Championship clubs.
“We believe that the inability to field front-rowers and thus the cancellation of the match were not caused by Covid-19”
Worcester stated that they will not appeal against the panel’s decision.
“We did not seek any advantage in cancelling the match at any stage. However, the judgment has highlighted areas where we could improve.
