An emergency meeting of European Rugby Cup (ERC) directors in Dublin today will decide whether Saturday's matches involving Bath (versus Brive) and Scottish Borders (v Pontypridd) will go ahead in the wake of last Sunday's violent encounter between Brive and Pontypridd. The French club have asked for a postponement due to injury problems following a bar room brawl with Pontypridd players which has prompted calls for the expulsion of the Welsh club from the competition.
Both Bath and Borders have warned that they will seek substantial compensation from ERC if their games at the Recreation Ground and Kelso are called off. Bath expect an 8,300 crowd and Borders an estimated 6,000: even if their games were put back to a midweek date neither club could hope to get the same income as they will on Saturday, particularly from the hire of hospitality boxes.
Three Pontypridd players, Dale McIntosh, Phil John and Andre Barnard returned home to Wales yesterday after being questioned for 12 hours by French police about incidents which resulted in three Brive players requiring hospital treatment. The Welsh trio were accompanied by the club president Sam Simon, who is a solicitor, during their interrogation.
Andy Robinson, the Bath coach, reacted angrily to Brive's postponement plea. "I don't see any reason for calling this match off," he said. "I don't like what happened in Brive but it has got nothing whatsoever to do with us and Brive must understand that."
Tony Swift, the Bath chief executive refused to accept that injuries were a sufficient cause for postponement. "We've played every game so far this season with at least 10 players out injured," he explained. "Whatever the reason might be for Brive's injury situation it is irrelevant."
Borders have gone ahead with detailed preparations for the Pontypridd game notwithstanding demands for the Welsh champions expulsion. "Everything is set up and a lot of corporate hospitality is in place for this match," said Borders' chief executive Ron Sutherland.
If Brive are ordered by ERC to play Bath they could be without three international backs, Christophe Lamaison, Philippe Carbonneau and David Venditti, who allegedly were the victims of the Welsh.
Roger Pickering, the ERC tournament director, will oversee a detailed inquiry of the violent incidents on and off the pitch which included the dismissal of two players, McIntosh and Brive's Lionel Mallier for fighting. "I take a dim view of the weekend's events but the time has come for quiet and objective reflection because emotions have been running high," said Pickering.
The European Rugby Cup Ltd board of directors will hold their emergency meeting today at an unspecified time and venue, though most probably in Hugenot House on Stephen's Green, to discuss the fall-out from the game.
They have invited representatives from both clubs, along with the match referee and two linesmen, to attend. The 10-man board is chaired by Tom Kiernan. Also on the board are former Leinster Branch president Peter Boyle, Vernan Pugh, Alan Meredith, Bill Beaumont, Peter Wheeler, Alan Hosie, John Jeffrey, Marcel Palmie, Sylvano Berthier and Fulvio Lorigiola.
