Rugby round-up: London Welsh to fight sanctions

London Welsh chairman Bleddyn Phillips has blasted the Rugby Football Union over sanctions imposed on the club for fielding an ineligible player in 10 matches.

The Aviva Premiership side were hit with a five-point deduction and fined £15,000 after former team manager Mike Scott forged a passport and supplied other "false and misleading information" as he tried to cover up the fact he did not get the right visa for New Zealand-born scrum-half Tyson Keats.

Scott, who received a police caution for fraudulently submitting false documents to the RFU, has been banned from the sport for life. However, Phillips argued the club was "the unwitting victim of a fraudulent act" and that it was the club who pointed out Scott's wrongdoing in the first place.

Phillips said: "London Welsh RFC is appealing against the decision," and what "the club considers was an unnecessarily harsh and disproportionate sanction".

Tom Williams scored two tries as a young Harlequins XV reached the LV= Cup final after a 31-23 semi-final win over a more experienced Bath side at The Stoop. Tom Guest and Karl Dickson also went over for Quins and fly-half Ben Botica converted all four tries and added a penalty. Quins director of rugby, Conor O'Shea, vowed to keep faith with youth in next Sunday's final against Sale Sharks. "One hundred per cent, yes," he said. "That's the type of energy and ambition we want."