Judge Jeff Blackett's role as the RFU's disciplinary office is set to become obsolete later this year © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

Players/Officials: Jeff Blackett

Teams: England

The Rugby Football Union council has agreed in principle that their in-house disciplinary officer should be replaced by an independent head of judiciary in a move that is set to lead to the exit of Judge Jeff Blackett.

A pivotal figure throughout a troubled period in the history of English rugby's governing body, Blackett is poised to be a high-profile victim of a decision to move responsibility for the disciplinary process to an outside party as suggested in the recent Slaughter & May report into the governance of the game.

Blackett, a co-opted member of the council, succeeded in defeating a proposal for the changes to be made as soon as possible - most likely at a special general meeting later this year - by a vote of 27 to 26 with two abstentions. As a result, Blackett will continue in the role of disciplinary officer, which he has held since 2003, until a vote on the proposed rule change at next year's AGM.

A statement released by the RFU said: "The RFU Council today agreed in principle that the RFU Disciplinary Officer should be replaced by an independent Head of Judiciary.

"This role would be established by a proposed rule change to be voted on at the RFU's Annual General Meeting in July 2013. The current Disciplinary Officer retains his powers and responsibilities until that date.

"The changes will see the judicial functions currently undertaken by the Disciplinary Officer carried out by a Head of Judiciary, independent of the RFU."

Meanwhile, the Rugby Players' Association are considering their options after the RFU rejected their request to publish the Monitor Quest report into the World Cup leaks. RPA chief executive Damian Hopley is "extremely frustrated" the RFU have refused to make the document public and he has argued there should be some accountability and transparency over the damaging leaks.

The damning reports laid bare the inside story of England's "doomed" World Cup campaign, painting the picture of a disunited squad with some players accused of being more interested in money than glory.

An RFU spokesman said earlier this week that the findings of the investigation were inconclusive and had been shared with the RPA and Premiership Rugby. But he said the report had not been published because it was confidential.

"The Monitor Quest report is a confidential document which was delivered to the RFU board of directors and while it is not for publication it has, of course, been shared in full with the PGB, the RPA and Premiership Rugby," the RFU spokesman said. "It was produced by a highly reputable organisation and while its findings were inconclusive, in that no specific individual was identified as responsible for the leaks, it did make important recommendations about document control and information security which we are determined to learn from."