Premier League wants loan rules tightened after Ricky Januarie affair

Premier Rugby has called for the regulations on loan players in the Heineken Cup to be tightened after the Ospreys were exonerated over their signing of the South Africa scrum-half Ricky Januarie. The rules state that any player added to an original squad during the pool stage must be contracted for a minimum of three months. Januarie spent less than two months in Wales after joining on loan from the Stormers at the end of November, returning to South Africa where he has been involved in the opening three rounds of the Super 14. Even though the Stormers announced last November that Januarie's loan deal with the Ospreys was for two months, the Heineken Cup organisers, European Rugby Cup, this week concluded an inquiry into a query by Premier Rugby about Januarie's eligibility and decided the player had been contracted for three months, raising the question of whether he was eligible for the Stormers last month. "ERC determined that the Ospreys had no case to answer and we accept that," said the Premier Rugby chief executive, Mark McCafferty. "Proof was produced that he had a three-month contract and the eligibility question surrounding Ricky Januarie concerns the Super 14, not the Heineken Cup. The upshot of the investigation was that the Ospreys could have played him last month if they had wished." Leicester feel the integrity of the competition has been compromised with the Ospreys exploiting a loophole. "We can only look at this going forward," said McCafferty. "The whole point of the three-month rule was to stop clubs parachuting in players for one or two matches at the end of the pool stage to help them get into the quarter-finals. "It is inevitable that the wording of the relevant regulation will have to be tightened up. Januarie had a three-month contract with the Ospreys but he was actually with them for less than two months. This matter has raised a loophole and we have to move quickly to close it." The Ospreys announced Januarie's signing on 26 November. The Stormers issued a statement that day which said that the player would be returning to South Africa by the beginning of February to start preparing for the Super 14, a competition he had to be registered for before 5 February. He left Wales on 25 January having arrived there in the first week of December.