Monday, June 1, 2009

High-profile Bath trio quit club

Michael Lipman, Alex Crockett and Andrew Higgins
Lipman, Crockett and Higgins have played over 100 games each for Bath

Bath's joint captains Michael Lipman and Alex Crockett and winger Andrew Higgins have resigned from the club.

Their decision came before they were due to appear at an internal hearing into their failure to take drug tests.

England international flanker Lipman, 29, joined Bath from Bristol in 2003 along with Higgins, 27, while centre Crockett, 27, came through the ranks.

Bath were rocked by the positive drugs test and two-year ban England prop Matt Stevens received earlier in the season.

And when reports of fighting at an end-of-season party and alleged drug taking further tarnished their image they were keen to act decisively.

Bath chief executive Bob Calleja launched the investigation when a number of the squad were involved in a fracas with Harlequins players in London on Sunday, 10 May, the day after their Guinness Premiership semi-final defeat by Leicester.

Calleja said in a statement on the club's website: "Michael Lipman, Alex Crockett and Andrew Higgins had been required to appear at an internal disciplinary hearing today to address the failure on three occasions to take a drugs test following allegations surrounding player conduct on Sunday, 10 May.

"Immediately before the hearings were due to take place the players resigned from the club with immediate effect. The club regards this as an internal matter and intends to make no further comment."

Australian-born Lipman has 10 England caps to his name and has played 127 games for Bath.

Crockett, who has played for England Saxons, represented the club in 125 games scoring 21 tries, while Higgins scored 28 times in 111 appearances for Bath.

The trio follow Justin Harrison in leaving the club. The 35-year-old former Australia international left Bath "by mutual consent" shortly after Calleja launched the internal investigation into the end-of-season fracas in London.

Having signed prop David Wilson, number eight Ben Skirving and former player Olly Barkley, coach Steve Meehan had suggested he was out to bring in just one more player before the new campaign.

But with the shamed trio following Harrison out of the club and South African fly-half Butch James sidelined by a knee ligament injury, Meehan now has significant rebuilding to do ahead of the new campaign.

ะพ 7:33 AM

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