Exeter deducted two points
Exeter have been docked two points and fined £5000 for naming too many overseas players against Leeds Carnegie on April 3rd.
Aviva Premiership clubs are only allowed to include 2 players from outside of Europe, the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean and Africa in their 23 match day squad, but the Chiefs named 3 when visiting Leeds in early April.
The ruling was made by Judge Jeff Blackett who chaired a coalition from the RFU and premiership rugby panel, and when explaining the decision, Judge Blackett said; "The panel accepted that there was no intention to gain advantage by selecting more than two foreign players in their match day squad and that this was an internal administrative error involving a failure of the administrator to inform the playing side that the player was foreign.
The administrative error in question centres on winger Nemani Nadoldo who holds an Australian passport despite being Fijian. If he held a passport of his native country he would be exempt from the overseas restrictions.
A maximum penalty of £10000 can be issued, but leniency was shown towards the Devon based club as one of the overseas players, Ignacio Meires of Argentina, was an unused substitute.
The points deduction is unlikely to affect Exeter's placing in the Premiership table as they have already secured top flight status for a second successive season and still lie 7 points clear of 10th placed Sale Sharks.
