'Grannygate' inquiry ends in whitewash

International Board hands down modest punishments to Scotland and Wales over player eligibility scandal

Rugby's great eligibility rumpus, otherwise known as "Grannygate", appears to be rather less of a scandal than the oval-ball community originally believed. A disciplinary tribunal convened by the governing body of the world game signalled the end of the affair yesterday by reprimanding the Welsh and Scottish national unions for fielding unqualified players during recent international matches, including games in this season's inaugural Six Nations' Championship, and ordering them to stump up the costs of the hearing, which fall some way short of the £10,000 mark.

There was more whitewash flying around Dublin last night than has ever been used to mark out the pitch at Lansdowne Road. After a two-day hearing at the headquarters of the International Rugby Board, the three big-name players at the centre of the furore - Shane Howarth and Brett Sinkinson of Wales, and David Hilton of Scotland - walked away with their reputations intact and their wallets in one piece. Indeed, they may even get an opportunity to resume their Test careers. By the end of the summer of 2002, all three will have qualified for their adopted countries under existing residency regulations.

Yesterday's findings contrasted sharply with the IRB disciplinary hearings of late 1998, when England found themselves in the dock over the Rugby Football Union's failure to prevent a series of unsanctioned matches between the Allied Dunbar Premiership clubs and two rebellious Welsh outfits, Cardiff and Swansea. On that occasion, the hanging judges decided that £60,000 of IRB grant money should be withheld from the RFU.

The Welsh, who unlike the Scots had admitted breaching IRB rules, were more than satisfied with the outcome. "The decision was very fair," said Dennis Gethin, the secretary of the Welsh Rugby Union. "We're pleased we haven't been made scapegoats over this. Errors were made, but they were made in good faith. We've carried out our own internal investigation, which found that none of this was the result of deliberate intent. It's been a chastening experience for us, but we were not alone."

Howarth and Sinkinson, who both hail from New Zealand, were selected for Wales by Graham Henry, another Kiwi, on grandparental grounds. When it emerged that the former could not provide documentary evidence of any such ancestry, and that the latter's grandfather was born in Oldham rather than Carmarthen, they were dropped.

As the eligibility furore continued, Hilton admitted that he too had been "mistaken" on the family tree front. Forty-one caps into his international career, the Bristol-born prop revealed that, far from being born in Edinburgh, his "Scottish" grandfather was in fact a fellow Bristolian.

According to the three-man tribunal, chaired by the South African lawyer Jannie Lubbe and including former Irish and English internationals in Ronnie Dawson and John Spencer, IRB rules prevented them from dealing directly with those individuals implicated in the affair. "Only the respective unions have jurisdiction to take actions against the officials and players who... caused the breach of the said regulation," said a board statement in customary high-flown legalese. "For that reason, the judicial committee did not consider any sanction against any of the officials or players."

Having conducted their own investigations - behind closed doors, needless to say - the Welsh will now lay the past few weeks to rest. Howarth, a quality full-back and a key figure in the Red Dragon resurgence under Henry, moved to Gwent on joining Newport from Sale last summer, but must wait more than two years before qualifying on residency grounds. Given that he will be 32 in July, it may well be that his days in the Test spotlight are over.

Sinkinson, meanwhile, has less of a stretch before him: the Neath flanker will be available to Henry within 18 months. A third Welsh player, if so he can be called, must also bide his time. Tyrone Maullin, the South African lock now playing for Swansea, was capped at A level without having fulfilled the residency stipulations. However, Maullin is hardly at the forefront of Henry's selectorial plans and is unlikely to feature at representative level again.

Hilton also appears finished. Having won major honours with Bath since moving from Bristol in 1992 - he was part of the front row when the Recreation Grounders became the European champions a little over two years ago - he joined Glasgow Caledonians at the end of last season and moved his family north. Now 30, he can hardly expect to challenge for a Test place when his qualification period ends more than two years down the road.

In a sense, then, the players involved have paid a heavy price for their "errors", as Gethin put it yesterday. But there will be deep concern, not least in the southern hemisphere, that those involved in so embarrassing a public pantomime have been slapped on the wrists with the disciplinary equivalent of a silk glove. Once again, the custodians of the world game have looked after their own. Once again, they have failed to clean the stables.