EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS REPORTS

Liberton shell-shocked as SRU throws club out of cup for failure to play tie

GARY HEATLY
LIBERTON rugby coach Cliff Service today expressed his "shock" after the club were thrown out of a national cup competition because they failed to play a tie while the majority of their first team squad were on a pre-arranged trip to Cardiff to take part in a long-standing fixture.

The SRU Championship committee announced late last night that it has disqualified seven clubs who did not fulfil Scottish Hydro Electric Cup or Plate ties at the weekend.

Strathclyde Police, Hawick Linden, Langholm, Hawick Harlequins and Duns have been thrown out of the main Cup event, while McLaren FP were disqualified from the Plate along with Liberton.

All but six of Liberton's first team squad were in Wales at the weekend playing in the annual match against Llandaff North, which has been played for the last 35 years, and taking in the Wales-Scotland Six Nations match.

Service said today: "We were not told that we had to play (the already delayed East Plate round one tie] against Gala YM last weekend until Thursday, the day that we left for Cardiff, so there is no way we could have fulfilled it at such short notice and I am shocked that it has come to this." However, as away international weekends are now standby dates the Kirkbrae side were disqualified because round two of the East Plate is due to be played this coming Saturday.

In a letter to the clubs, the committee stated: "This was a very difficult decision for us to take."

This article was posted on 13-Feb-2008, 14:41 by Hugh Barrow.