Barkley cleared

The England Rugby Football Union yesterday exonerated England fly-half Olly Barkley of any wrongdoing after his ticket allocation for an RBS 6 Nations match was alleged to have fallen into the wrong hands.

Barkley was given a deadline of this week to explain how part of his ticket allocation for the championship clash with Ireland came into the possession of unlicensed companies offering unofficial hospitality packages at Twickenham.

RFU commercial director Paul Vaughan said: "The letter received from Olly Barkley clearly states where his tickets were distributed for the Ireland game at Twickenham in March.

"We accept the tickets went to friends and not to unofficial hospitality providers. Therefore, no further action is being taken.

However, Barkley's Bath colleague Matt Stevens who has also been under investigation has yet to be cleared with the RFU revealing they have passed his case onto their Finance & Funding committee.