England escape with fine

England were today hit with a £10,000 fine after admitting their fault in the Rugby World Cup '16th man' fiasco - but they escaped the nightmare scenario of a points deduction.

After a judicial hearing in Sydney, fitness coach Dave Reddin was given a twomatch touchline ban for his part in the error which saw the team field an extra player for 34 seconds at the end of their match against Samoa on Sunday.

Yet the hearing, attended by a six-strong English delegation led by head coach Clive Woodward, threw out a charge of misconduct against Reddin regarding his alleged bust-up with fourth official, New Zealander Steve Walsh.

The verdict was greeted with a huge sigh of relief from the RFU, despite having being landed with the biggest ever World Cup fine. Accepting the judgement of independent judicial officer Brian McLaughlin, the England team noted their "delight" at Reddin's exoneration over the Walsh incident. And after Woodward had been forced to interrupt his preparations on the Gold Coast to make a 1,200-mile round trip to Sydney with two of his players, Andy Gomarsall and Dan Luger, the team was said to now be " looking forward" to focussing on Sunday's game against Uruguay in Brisbane.

Though Woodward made no comment after the hearing, he had earlier in the day talked of his alarm about "a very serious situation" for English rugby, admitting he would be "glad when it is all over".

Yet after three-and-a-half hours of testimony in the offices of a Sydney law firm, it was clear the English camp's only concern was that they had avoided a stiffer penalty, like a points deduction which could have spelled possible elimination from the World Cup.