Exeter docked two points

Exeter have been slapped with a two-point penalty and fined £5,000 after fielding too many overseas players against Leeds last month.

Exeter have been slapped with a two-point penalty and fined £5,000 after fielding too many overseas players against Leeds last month.

Aviva Premiership clubs are only allowed to include two players from outside Europe, Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific islands in their 23-man match-day squads, but the Chiefs used three in the 27-22 defeat at Headingley.

On Wednesday, a joint Rugby Football Union and Premiership Rugby panel comprising Rugby Football Union disciplinary officer Judge Jeff Blackett, RFU board director Jonathan Dance and Premiership Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty handed down the judgment which is unlikely to have any major bearing on Exeter's first season in the Premiership.

Ruling drops Chiefs to 39th point but they remain ninth in the standings – seven points clear of Sale and 17 ahead of relegation favourites Leeds.

Although the club could have faced a maximum punishment of 10 points, but it was clear that infringement had not been made in an attempt to deliberately gain a competitive advantage.

One of the three players, Argentina fl-half Ignacio Mieres, was an unused substitute while winger Nemani Nadolo would be exempt from overseas registration as he is Fijian, but he used an Australian passport when securing his work permit earlier this year.

“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,” said Blackett in a statement.

“There is an increasing incidence of poor administration and a deterrent sanction is required to prevent further incidents. Administrative errors such as these are a serious breach of regulations and potentially undermine the integrity of the competition.”