Trio quit Bath

Michael Lipman, Alex Crockett and Andrew Higgins have resigned from Bath with immediate effect.

The three players had been called to face a disciplinary hearing after they declined on three separate occasions to take a drugs test, according to Bath.

The club had been conducting an internal investigation into allegations linked to drug use and fighting at an end-of-season celebration on May 10.

The players resigned immediately before today’s disciplinary hearing was due to begin.

Lipman, an England international with 10 caps to his name, and Crockett were co-captains at The Rec this season.

Bath have now lost five senior players in the space of three months.

Justin Harrison’s decision to request an early release from his Bath contract and retire from rugby is understood to be linked to a fracas involving Harlequins players in a London pub.

In February, England prop Matt Stevens resigned from Bath before he was sacked after receiving a two-year ban for taking cocaine.