The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) have fined Western Force players Pek Cowan and Dane Haylett-Petty and relieved them of their leadership roles for the rest of the season following discipline breaches in South Africa.
Cowan, the Western Force captain, and team vice-captain Haylett-Petty were deemed to have breached the Australian Rugby player code of conduct in separate and unrelated incidents at the team hotel in Bloemfontein early on Sunday morning (local time).
Haylett-Petty will be served a breach notice for urinating in a public place (the hallway in the team hotel) while Cowan will be served a breach notice for gaining unauthorised access to a team vehicle after the team-agreed curfew of 1.00am.
The ARU say that Cowan and Haylett-Petty have been stripped of their team leadership roles for the rest of the season.
ARU Chief Operating Officer, Rob Clarke said: “The ARU Integrity Unit has reviewed the report provided by the Western Force on the events in South Africa last weekend and has determined that both Pek Cowan and Dane Haylett-Petty breached the code of conduct for separate and unrelated incidents at the team hotel in Bloemfontein.
“On Thursday, the club took action against both players for breaching its leadership standards and we support this decision.
“Given there were breaches of the code of conduct by both players as detailed in the report from the Western Force, the ARU Integrity Unit will accordingly issue breach notices to the players in the coming days.
“Both players assisted the club and the ARU Integrity Unit in this investigation,” said Clarke.
The players will have the right to consider the terms of the breach notice. No further comment will be made by the ARU in relation to this matter.
