Botha hits back after German club gets the boot

FORMER England lock Mouritz Botha has blasted EPCR’s decision to throw his Heidelberger RK side out of the European Challenge Cup.

The German club have been blocked from entering the competition because they fell foul of the participation rules.

The governing body ruled them out because their owner Dr Hans-Peter Wild also has a majority share in French Top 14 outfit Stade Francais and Botha says it will hit German rugby hard.

“This decision could set German rugby back ten years and we are all devastated by it,” said the former Saracens lock.

“Dr Wild and the club have worked tirelessly for a number of years to build this club and German rugby but we’ve now had the carpet pulled from underneath our feet. It’s a disaster and we are now faced with a crisis.

“Obviously there will be financial ramifications because of this decision. When something like this happens at a club what people never take into account is the effects it will have on the players.

“A lot of our players have recently had babies and they have a family to support. There is a strong chance that pretty soon they won’t have a guaranteed income.”

Forwards coach Botha has also accused EPCR of double standards due to the fact the Irish and Scottish provinces are owned by their respective unions.

EPCR claim the competition rules make a distinction between governing bodies and private individuals owning clubs.

“I think this is definitely a case of double standards and we are all pretty upset about it,” said Botha.

“In Ireland it seems you have players moving between provinces because their governing body demands it. We would never do anything like that with Stade Francais.

“All the players and coaches at Heidelberg RK are very professional and we would never get involved with anything that wasn’t above board. It’s a huge setback to German rugby and will be very hard to recover from.”