Ex-Bath quartet to face RFU panel
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Four former Bath players will face a Rugby Football Union (RFU) disciplinary panel charged with conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game.
Michael Lipman, Alex Crockett, Andrew Higgins and Justin Harrison will face the panel on a date yet to be decided.
The quartet will all answer charges including taking prohibited substances and refusing to take a drugs test.
Lipman, Crockett and Higgins have denied the claims and say any charges will be "vigorously contested".
The RFU's announcement comes two weeks after club captains Lipman, 29, and Crockett, 27, along with Higgins, 27, walked out of Bath in protest at claims they avoided drug tests on three occasions in the aftermath of an end-of-season party.
They were due to face an internal hearing at Bath but quit before it commenced, saying "scurrilous and unsubstantiated allegations" had forced their exit.
Former Australia international Harrison, 35, announced his retirement from the game on 20 May in the wake of stories alluding to an incident in a west London bar on the night of Bath's end-of-season party.
 | The club treats matters relating to drugs very seriously and we are perfectly satisfied that we acted correctly in requiring the players to explain themselves at an internal disciplinary hearing Bath chief executive Bob Calleja |
The RFU has continued its investigations into the affair and now believes there is a case to answer.
Sports solicitor Richard Mallett released a statement on behalf of Lipman, Crockett and Higgins which said: "We are extremely surprised and disappointed both by the RFU's decision to convene a disciplinary panel and the terms of their statement.
"Any charges brought by the RFU will be vigorously contested. This is a matter that we take very seriously and will do everything possible in order to clear our names.
"For legal reasons we are unable to comment further at this stage."
If the panel finds against them, Lipman, Crockett and Higgins could receive longer bans than the two-year suspension given to their former Bath team-mate Matt Stevens, who admitted taking cocaine.
Bath chief executive Bob Calleja also issued a statement, saying: "The club treats matters relating to drugs very seriously and we are perfectly satisfied that we acted correctly in requiring the players to explain themselves at an internal disciplinary hearing.
"They chose not to do so and, so far as we are concerned, our internal process is at an end, the players no longer being employed by the club."
