The five disgraced ACT Brumbies players who were involved in a drunken rampage through Cape Town may be sent home from South Africa by the Australian Rugby Union this week. The committee hopes to make a decision within 48 hours.
Penalties range from suspension to fines to the players being sent home.
In extreme cases they may be subject to all three penalties. This follows reports the players were detained by police in the early hours of Monday morning after they were accused of refusing to pay a taxi driver, ripping the tariff meter from the car's dashboard and then pushing the vehicle down the road. Abrahams also alleged that when he reported the Brumbies to local police, the players pushed the Mercedes-Benz taxi towards a main road, broke the computerised meter out of the dashboard and jumped on the car's roof. Last night, the Cape Argus newspaper reported that Abrahams, after receiving the cash, had decided to drop any action against the players. Abrahams declined to discuss the settlement with the Argus , saying a condition of the settlement was that he signed a declaration that he would remain tight-lipped about the amount and conditions involved.