Ex-Quins star Andy Gomarsall admits: I'm just glad it wasn't me asked to fake a blood injury against Leinster that day

By Sportsmail Reporter
Updated: 10:06 EST, 22 September 2009

England World Cup winner Andy Gomarsall has revealed he has never been asked to cheat but would have hated to be in Tom Williams' boots when asked to fake a blood injury.

The 35-year-old Leeds scrum half was a Quins player when Williams went on against Leinster in the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup in April - and was ordered by coach Dean Richards to chew a blood capsule to allow specialist kicker Nick Evans back on the pitch.

The truth emerged, resulting in a three-year ban for Richards, a two-year ban for physio Steph Brennan and four months on the sidelines for Williams himself.

Gomarsall is just glad it was not him under pressure in such a high-profile match.

He said: 'I cannot ever remember a director of rugby or coach asking me to do anything like that, but I do realise that it could have been me sent on against Leinster.

'Would I have said "no" to Deano? I would like to think I would but Tom only had a few minutes to decide, in front of 14,000 people under intense pressure to win a quarter-final. It is very tough to make a rational decision in an instant. I had massive sympathy for him in that situation.

'When comments were made that the senior guys at Quins should have taken control I did feel kind of ashamed that something could or should have been done. However, it was portrayed [by management] as something that needed to be done to help the club win.'

He added: 'After the Leinster game I felt very passionate about what had gone on, but events took off and it became public knowledge. If that hadn't happened I believe we, the senior players, would have done something about it - or at least spoken about it.

'I was never involved in anything like that before and it had only been changing room talk. Because the senior guys hadn't been involved it was kind of brushed under the carpet.

'It was between the management and some people might say that was a cop out, but it really wasn't part of an individual's job.'

It was Richards who revived Gomarsall's career, taking him off the scrap heap and giving him a pay-as-you-play deal that saw the scrum-half respond so well he became England's No.9 at the 2007 World Cup, ending with a runners-up medal to add to the winner's one he collected four years earlier.

Now he is at Leeds, coached by old mate Neil Back and insisted: 'Rugby is getting more professional and in a world where winning is everything you are always going to have people who will take a short cut or cheat.

'For me, it's about how you act and portray yourself and I have never been involved in anything like that during my career and I never will.

'Sportsmanship is something I have prided myself on.'