Probe into Heartland rugby rule breaking

The Heartland rugby championship points table, which is headed by Wairarapa-Bush and Wanganui, could be destined for a major shake-up.

Investigations are being held by the New Zealand Rugby Union into claims the South Canterbury union have broken the player eligibility rules on three occasions.

If found guilty, they seem certain to lose the 10 competition points earned in those games, two of which were won with an extra point being picked up for scoring four or more tries.

And, that being the case, it would seem probable that the losing teams, North Otago and Thames Valley, would pick up the four points allocated for a win; a situation that would bring both teams back into Meads Cup contention, especially North Otago, who play Wairarapa-Bush at Memorial Park this Saturday in what is the penultimate series of matches in the qualifying round.

Right now Wairarapa-Bush and Wanganui lead the competition table with 22 points. Take 10 points from South Canterbury and give four points to North Otago and Thames Valley, however, and the table would read: Wairarapa-Bush and Wanganui 22, East Coast and Buller 21, North Otago 19, Thames Valley 15, Poverty Bay 12, Mid-Canterbury and South Canterbury 11, Horowhenua-Kapiti 9, West Coast 8 and King Country 7.

The top four sides after October 13 will play off in the Meads Cup semis with the next four contesting the Lochore Cup semis.

According to an article in the Timaru Herald, the chances of South Canterbury appearing in the Meads Cup semis "look to be sunk".

The newspaper reported that two sources had confirmed to them yesterday that the player at the centre of the NZRU investigation, Fijian wing Aporosa Tabulawaki, had arrived in the country on June 2, a day after the cut-off to be considered a "local player" under the Heartland rules.

This meant that South Canterbury had three times fielded four loan players at one time rather than the three allowed.

"The NZRU will have little choice but to dock the 10 championship points unless the South Canterbury union comes up with palatable excuse for what appears to be a back-room blunder by not simply checking Fijian wing Aporosa Tabulawaki's passport," the paper said.

The West Coast union were found guilty of breaching the eligibility rules in 2010 and were fined $2500 and stripped of the relevant competition points as well.

As it happened, Wairarapa-Bush were one of the teams to benefit from their discretion and the points they gained kept alive their challenge for the Lochore Cup, which they duly won.