Ospreys left to sweat over ERC decision

Monday 25 January 2010
Published By: Ben Welch
Heineken Cup > Leicester Tigers

Ospreys will be nervously awaiting the verdict of the ERC after illegally fielding a 16th man during their match against Leicester last weekend.

The Welsh outfit fielded Lee Byrne for over a minute of the Heineken Cup clash at Liberty Stadium when he returned to the fray after receiving treatment on the sidelines, which has led to the Tigers launching an official complaint with the ERC.

Leicester claim that they were left to crash and Byrne after the fullback helped to stifle an opposition attack and Tigers chief executive Peter Wheeler said that referee Alan Lewis had the opportunity to award the team a penalty.

"I don't know which regulation they [the ERC] can deal with that under, but we know and other clubs know that if you play a player who is unregistered, you get docked points and strung up and all sorts of bad things happen," he said.

At the moment, Ospreys are on schedule to play Biarritz in the quarter finals, followed by a potential semi against Munster, who destroyed them in the last eight in 2009.