Sale suffer point deduction
Sale Sharks deducted one Guinness Premiership point
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Monday, 20, Apr 2009 11:01
Sale Sharks have been deducted one Guinness Premiership point for fielding an unregistered player against Harlequins last month.
The club, who have also been fined £5,000 by the Rugby Football Union, were punished after hooker David Ward was selected in their matchday 22 on March 22nd.
The point deduction means Sale now face an even tougher task to qualify for the end-of-season playoffs, sitting five points outside the top four with just one game left.
In order to make it into the post-season, the Edgeley Park outfit must claim a bonus-point win over Northampton Saints while banking on at least one of Harlequins, Bath or London Irish losing.
Club chief executive James Jennings, who has refused to rule out an appeal at this stage, said: "The club are very disappointed that an administration failure has resulted in this sanction.
"The club, having just received the full details of the decision off the RFU panel will now study this in detail in order to consider what further actions, if any, it may take in regards to this matter.
"The club and squad remain totally focused on our final game of the regular season with the objective of securing five points in order to keep our playoff chances alive."