LONDON - The Welsh Rugby Union was to blame for the Shane Howarth and Brett Sinkinson eligibility fiasco that has turned Welsh faces as scarlet as their jerseys, former All Black John Gallagher said yesterday.
The union is still investigating why it allowed Howarth and Sinkinson to play 33 games for Wales before realising they did not have documentary evidence to prove their Welsh ancestry.
Gallagher, rugby director of English side Harlequins, said the players and coach Graham Henry should be exonerated and the blame laid with the Welsh union.
Gallagher, a former All Black, did not have any blood qualifications to represent New Zealand and was not in the country three years, as is the rule these days, when he pulled on the black jersey.
"Nobody worried about those things in the amateur days," he said. "The WRU didn't check Shane and Brett's papers and now everyone has egg on their faces.
"These two guys have given everything to Wales. They have lain their bodies on the line. Wales have used them, not the other way around."
The Independent newspaper said Henry had betrayed an "astonishing lack of judgment" and was "heavily implicated whether he likes it or not."
The inquiry will not be completed until after this weekend's Six Nations match against Scotland at Cardiff.
- NZPA
Rugby: Finger pointed at Welsh union
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