'Bloodgate' rugby player admits making doctor victim of scandal

Tom Williams, a winger with top club side Harlequins, told a General Medical Council (GMC) hearing yesterday that Wendy Chapman was unaware he had bitten into a fake-blood capsule on the field of play during a crucial Heineken Cup quarter-final tie in April 2009.

Feigning a blood-related injury meant he could be replaced by a specialist goal kicker in the dying minutes of the game against Irish side Leinster, who eventually held on to win 6-5.

Dr Chapman yesterday admitted for the first time she later cut the player's lip with a stitch cutter in the changing rooms after previously not mentioning the incident at a disciplinary committee of the European Rugby Cup (ERC).

She admitted the majority of charges against her from the GMC which says her conduct on the matchday and at the subsequent ERC hearing was likely to bring the profession into disrepute and was dishonest.

Her counsel Mary O'Rourke told the fitness to practise hearing Williams was "panicky and agitated" because he knew he had done something wrong and Leinster had "rumbled him" and match officials were making inquiries.

Williams agreed his departure from the pitch was "not convincing", he had "over-exaggerated" and winked as he came off, which was picked up by Sky Sports TV cameras.

Ms O'Rourke suggested he "begged or beseeched" the doctor to cut him.

"I think I was very panicky," he replied. "I asked her at least twice. I may have said, 'You have got to cut my lip'. It was more of a very panicky and concerned reaction."

Ms O'Rourke continued: "She was in fact made a victim by your actions because you brought her into it, or you dragged her into it?"

"As a result of the situation, yes," Williams replied.

Opening the case for the GMC, Michael Hayton said the Heineken Cup tie at the Twickenham Stoop on April 12 last year was of "enormous importance" and worth 300,000 euro (245,000) to the winning side.

Substitute Williams came on but then left the field with five minutes remaining of the game with blood apparently coming from his mouth so that New Zealander Nick Evans – who was previously substituted himself –could return.

"He had been sent on to the field of play and had bitten into a theatrical blood capsule, of a type used in amateur dramatics, to imitate blood," Mr Hayton said. "This was cheating to get the best kicker back on to the field."

Mr Hayton said Dr Chapman had no knowledge or active participation in the fake-blood injury on the field but that her role came in the immediate aftermath when she attended to Williams on the treatment table.

When two match officials entered the room, Dr Chapman was examining Williams's mouth and said his tooth was "wobbly", the player said. He told the fitness to practise panel his tooth was not loose. He then asked her to cut his lip.

Dr Chapman, an accident and emergency consultant at Maidstone Hospital in Kent, admitted she did so because he wanted to demonstrate a "real injury".

The doctor, who was recovering from a mastectomy, also conceded she stated in front of match officials that he had a loose tooth but said her intention was not to deceive others that Williams had an injury.

She is currently suspended from duty pending the outcome of the two-week GMC hearing.