Sale Sharks have suspended their winger Tom Arscott over allegedly leaking information to an opposition team.
It was reported on Monday that the Rugby Football Union were investigating Arscott after the club reported that he had passed confidential team information to Bristol ahead of their Premiership clash on New Year's Day.
Arscott once played with Bristol, and his brother Luke is still in the Bristol squad, although there is no evidence to suggest the latter is involved in the information leak. It is alleged that Tom passed on information relating to Sale's on-field plays and calls to a Bristol player for a game that ended in Bristol recovering a 15-0 deficit to win 24-23.
Bristol released a statement to say that they are not guilty of any wrongdoing:
Bristol Rugby has been made aware of a complaint from Sale Sharks, which is now being investigated by the RFU. The club are absolutely confident of no wrongdoing in this matter and will fully co-operate with the investigation.
Sale today confirmed that Arscott has been suspended over the matter since January 4th:
We investigated it internally and we are going through a disciplinary, and under the regulations, we have to report it [to the RFU], so we did that yesterday.
It's now in the hands of the RFU. He is suspended.
[ESPN]
See Also: Brian Moore Says "Outstanding" Conor Murray Should Not Have Reacted To Clever Cynicism Of Glasgow
