BLOODGATE SAGA:FORMER HARLEQUINS director of rugby Dean Richards admits his career in the sport has effectively been ended by his three-year ban for masterminding "Bloodgate".

The most successful coach in English club rugby during the professional era believes he has been punished too harshly for faking a blood injury during last season’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leinster.

The 46-year-old is dismayed by his treatment by rugby’s authorities and fears the length of his ban will prevent him from returning to the game.

“There is still a part of me that is angry about things that have gone on,” he told the Sunday Times.

“I need to let the dust settle. People ask me, ‘Will you come back to rugby?’ “To come back from a year out, it would be hard but you’d have a good chance.

“Two years, you are dead and buried. If I find something else that works for me, I won’t come back because this is not the game I signed up to 10 or 15 years ago.

“I don’t know if I’d want to come back to the game. The way this has been handled, I’ve lost a lot of faith in the system.

“Various people used the media to leak and drip-feed evidence into the public domain. They did that to maximise the hurt to me and others.

“I believe the ban is too long, disproportionate, but I was always going to be punished.

“One definite is that I’ve got to keep putting food on the table for my family.”

The scandal began when winger Tom Williams bit on a blood capsule in order to allow kicker Nick Evans, who had already been substituted, back onto the pitch.

The ensuing revelations of Richards’ attempted cover-up that emerged during the disciplinary process have significantly damaged the reputation of the former England number eight, Harlequins and rugby.

But Richards, who questions Williams’ motives for saying he lived in fear of him, claims cheating is widespread.

“Blood capsules, cutting of players, false blood on rags, faked frontrow injuries – all have gone on in the game,” Richards said.

“I’ve had a number of directors of rugby who have rung me up and said ‘Sorry to hear what’s happened to you, mate’. Then they’ve probably gone straight to the cupboards and cleared out all the blood capsules!

“I would imagine that on every Guinness Premiership weekend last season there would have been blood-bin incidents. It does happen.

“I am sure other coaches would have been thinking ‘There but for the grace of God go I’.”

Away from “Bloodgate” that finally appears to be nearing its conclusion, rugby in England was able to bask in the glory of Saracens’ successful debut at Wembley where Northampton were defeated 19-16.

It was the first club union match staged at the home of English football and an impressive 44,832 spectators snapped up the cut price tickets costing £5 (€5.70) or £10 (€11.40).

The crowd, coupled with the gate at last weekend’s Twickenham double header, meant over 111,000 fans have watched Saracens in two games, while more people attended yesterday’s Wembley experiment than watched the Tri-Nations decider between New Zealand and South Africa.

The challenge now facing Saracens is to transfer some of that interest to Vicarage Road, which will host their next home game against Gloucester in two weeks.

“This match was a platform and we wanted to move forward from it. We have gone to a different level,” said chief executive Edward Griffiths. “If this game had been at Vicarage Road we would have 8,500, stuck on that flat line where the club has been for the last 10 years.

“Can we take one, two three thousand from here to Gloucester? That’s the key.” The match itself was instantly forgettable apart from a frantic finale that saw prop Soane Tonga’uiha controversially denied a late match-winning try by the TMO.

In yesterday’s other action, prop Tim Payne was sent off for two yellow cards as Wasps prevailed 17-15 against Bath while Jeremy Staunton kicked Leicester to a 15-9 victory over Harlequins.