Dean Richards has resigned from his position as director of rugby at Guinness Premiership side Harlequins.

His decision comes after the one-year ban given to Tom Williams for faking a blood injury in last season’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leinster.

The club was also fined £213,000 by the European Rugby Cup panel.

Richards offered to step down during the process and a club statement on Saturday confirmed that his decision had been accepted.

Williams has lodged an appeal against the sanction with European Rugby Cup (ERC).

Meanwhile, the ERC disciplinary officer has separately appealed against the level of sanction imposed on Harlequins and the decision to dismiss misconduct complaints against Richards, Dr Wendy Chapman and physiotherapist Steph Brennan.

Quins are currently reviewing the whole incident, and the statement read: “During the course of this process Dean Richards unreservedly tendered his resignation from his post as director of rugby. The board of Harlequins has accepted his resignation.”

Richards and two members of the club’s medical team had misconduct charges dismissed but Williams and Quins were both found guilty of fabricating a cut to the mouth in order to allow substituted fly-half Nick Evans to return to the field with five minutes remaining of the match.

Television cameras spotted Williams winking towards the bench with “blood” smeared around his mouth.

The statement continued: “Following the hearing held and decision made by the ERC panel on 20 July, the club has conducted its own review of the incident. This review is still ongoing.

“As part of this process, the club has waited for the written judgment to ensure it had considered carefully the concerns and position of the ERC disciplinary panel.

“The club fully accepts the verdicts and sanctions imposed upon the club since it is accountable for the failings of its staff.

“The club feels strongly that the severity of the sanction meted out to Tom Williams is unfair and disproportionate and the club will support him in the event of an appeal on his part against the 12-month playing ban currently in place.

“We acknowledge that this whole episode has tarnished the image of the club, which has always sought to uphold the highest standards.

“The level of scrutiny that clubs such as Harlequins now find themselves under means that procedures and processes which may have served us well in the past are no longer adequate.

“The club is urgently undertaking a thorough review of its internal policies with a view to establishing an appropriate ethics code for all staff (both playing and non playing) covering a wide range of areas including respect for the laws of the game.

“While this process is still progressing there will no further comment.”

Dave Strettle says he is relishing the challenge of trying to regain his place in the England team after missing the World Cup because of a broken foot.

After impressing in the Six Nations, the Harlequins back looked set for the World Cup until injury intervened.

“If I can go from Division One to Six Nations in a year, then trying to regain my shirt will be an honour not a chore,” the winger told BBC Sport.

“Even being in contention for an England shirt is a privilege.”

Strettle has enjoyed a remarkable rise through the ranks since joining Harlequins from relegated Rotherham in August 2006.

Just six months after moving to Quins, he made his England debut, scoring their only try in the 43-13 Six Nations loss to Ireland.

His performances in the tournament earned him a place on the summer tour of South Africa, where he was laid low by illness, and he looked sure to be in the World Cup squad until he broke his foot in training.

The 24-year-old, who has been signed up as one of the RBS’s ‘Young Guns’ working to promote next year’s Sport Relief campaign, admitted that even he was taken aback by the way his career had developed so fast.

“One of my mates told me to go and look at myself on Wikipedia, and when I read it, it made me realise what a rollercoaster it’s been,” he said.

“If someone had offered me this 18 months ago, doing everything I have and even missing out on what I missed, I’d still have taken it.

“I’ve been so lucky. Even if breaking my foot made me miss out on things, it made me sit back and realise just what I’d achieved.”

Strettle admitted that watching the World Cup from his armchair had been a bittersweet experience.

“The only time I ever felt a bit narked off was when England got to the final. I felt brilliant as soon as they got there and then I started thinking ‘you really have missed out’.

“Like most Englishmen I didn’t think they’d get to the final so when they did, there was a tiny bit of me that felt I was missing out, but because I’d got used to the idea it just took me a day or two (to get over it).

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“If I didn’t know anyone in the team, I’d probably be bitter, but because they’re your best mates and people you work with, you think ‘they’ve got to win because soon I’ll be in a room and training with them and I hope to God they’ll have a winner’s medal with them’.”

With the retirement of Jason Robinson and Mike Catt from the England scene, places are up for grabs in the back division, and Strettle said he was hopeful his achievements last year would help his cause.

“It’s nice to know I’m not trying to prove to people what I can do, as they’ve seen it before,” he said.

“If I can keep up the form I had going into the Six Nations next year and carry on, things take care of themselves.”

Despite having made his name as a winger, recently he has been turning out for Harlequins at outside centre – but Strettle is not complaining.

“When you play for a Premiership club they pay your wages so if they tell you to play hooker, you do,” he said.

“If I am a winger and I’m meant to be an England winger, playing at centre or full-back can only make me a better all-round player.

“I can learn what a centre needs from a winger and vice-versa – you get a better viewpoint of the game.

“If people say I can play for England at number 13 after playing just three or four games there, it’s amazing that people can think that of me.

“But I’m not going to kid myself – you’ve got to put in the hours and learn a new trade.”

And having come so close to playing in the World Cup, Strettle said he felt he had set himself a standard he had to meet again.

“Having missed out through injury, you feel something has been taken away from you,” he said.

“You got there and it was taken away so you feel like you’ve already achieved something and if you don’t do it again, you’re lowering your standards.

“If I hadn’t achieved it and I’d been dropped, I’d always feel I never quite got there, but knowing I was going to be taken, it’s a case of getting back to that level.”

England and Harlequins centre Stuart Abbott has announced his retirement from competitive rugby at the age of 29 because of a serious shoulder injury.

Abbott, a member of England’s World Cup-winning squad four years ago, won nine caps between 2003 and 2006.

“It’s very upsetting to see a player of Stuart’s calibre forced to retire early because of injury,” said Quins director of rugby Dean Richards.

Abbott won two Premiership titles and the Heineken Cup with Wasps.

He moved to Harlequins in 2006, but a succession of injuries meant he made just 17 appearances for the club, scoring two tries.

Richards added: ‘I’m very sorry to see Stuart go and I would like to wish him all the best with his future plans.

“Stuart was an outstanding all-round footballer, who was great in defence and attack. He will be missed at Quins.”

Abbott was rated as one of the country’s finest young centres, with Will Greenwood tipping him as his long-term successor in England’s number 12 shirt.

He was born in South Africa, but had an English mother and moved to England in 1999 for a brief spell with Leicester.

South African centre De Wet Barry has teamed up with Guinness Premiership side Harlequins at the start of his two-year contract.

 
The 28-year-old centre joins Quins after completing his Currie Cup commitments with Western Province who failed to reach the semi-finals earlier this month.
 
In addition Barry he has played 66 times for the Stormers in the Super 14s, as well as gaining 39 test caps for South Africa.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my career in South Africa, but I am now looking forward to getting to know my new team mates at Harlequins and to the new and exciting challenges ahead,” Barry commented.

“I was fortunate to be at the Twickenham Stoop on Saturday to watch the boys beat London Wasps. It was a very good win and I thought the atmosphere was tremendous.”

Harlequins Director of Rugby, Dean Richards said, “I am delighted that De Wet is now here at Harlequins and we are looking forward to seeing him in action on the pitch very soon.”

De Wet is eligible to start his Harlequins career this weekend in the EDF Energy Cup match away to London Irish
 

 Harlequins have secured the signing of South Africa hooker Gary Botha on a three-year contract.The 25-year-old will join the London club after the World Cup, which begins in September.Botha has won nine caps for the Springboks since making his international debut in 2005.

“Gary is a very talented player and one everyone at Quins is looking forward to working with,” said Harlequins director of rugby Dean Richards.

“Aside from having the physicality you expect from a hooker, he’s also very mobile, and for such a young man he has already shown tremendous leadership qualities with his performances for the Bulls in last year’s Currie Cup.

“I’m very confident Gary will be a huge success in the Guinness Premiership and become a key figure in our squad over the next few years.”

The Blue Bulls forward featured in every South Africa squad in this year’s Tri Nations and has made their 30-man squad for the World Cup in France.

“I’m really looking forward to playing my rugby at the legendary Stoop,” said Botha.

“Harlequins are an inspirational club with a great set of supporters, and I believe this is a move that will develop me as a player.”