Former Harlequins physiotherapist Steph Brennan has resigned from his role with England.

Brennan, banned for two years by European Cup disciplinary chiefs following his role in the so-called 'Bloodgate' scandal, tendered his resignation with immediate effect today having only started work with the Rugby Football Union earlier this summer.

His Twickenham departure comes with rugby union still reeling from the fall-out of last season's Heineken Cup quarter-final between Quins and Leinster, and the damaging fake blood scandal that saw Brennan, ex-Quins rugby director Dean Richards and player Tom Williams all banned.

Former England star and fellow culprit Dean Richards had already resigned from his post at Quins when a three-year suspension was imposed on him by European Rugby Cup.

Brennan's two-year expulsion and Williams' four-month sentence, which was reduced from a year on appeal, left Quins in disarray less than a month before the new Guinness Premiership season starts.

The club was fined almost £260,000, while it has also emerged that Richards had allegedly been involved in four other similar blood injury fabrications that could now prove a subject of further sanction.

Brennan, meanwhile, has left the RFU, with Twickenham saying he wanted to "wholeheartedly" apologise.

In a statement, the RFU said: "Mr Brennan wholeheartedly wanted to apologise for any aspects of his behaviour that caused concern for the RFU and the physiotherapist profession.

"The RFU will not be disclosing any further details to do with his final departure from the organisation, as all employee information remains confidential."

Richards was cleared of a misconduct charge by a disciplinary panel set up to probe circumstances of a blood injury to Williams during the Heineken Cup quarter-final won 6-5 by Leinster.

But ERC's own disciplinary officer appealed the decision, and bans followed last week for Richards and Brennan after a 14-hour hearing in Glasgow.

Richards had taken responsibility for organising the fake injury that saw Williams go off six minutes from time to be replaced by Quins' top kicker Nick Evans, who had earlier departed the game through injury. Only a blood injury could have seen Evans go back on.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph today, Richards said: "I am sorry I got caught but at the same time I know now, as I did at the time I resigned, that I did the wrong thing."

He added: "I've done something wrong and I've got to pay the price for it. At the time, you have the mistaken belief that you are doing the right thing for the club and the players to win the game.

"I'm also a very competitive person. On this occasion, I asked the physio whether he had some and, when Chris Malone came off (injured), I said I need to use blood.

"The decision was not made at that point, it was made two or three minutes after Tom Williams had gone on when, in my eyes, he wasn't doing enough to enable us to win the game."

Richards continued: "I did cheat, I knew it was wrong but I thought it was an accepted practice in rugby. I should have been stronger and not have done it.

"Hopefully, there will be a better system for dealing with this.

"To a point, the people who say that I have damaged the game are right, but it is ironic that the reason we went down the route in the first place was that I didn't want to cut people."

Richards insists he is not the only coach to make use of fake blood injuries.

"It was quite prevalent and the players felt other teams were having a material advantage by using it and they felt we were missing out," he said.

Despite the six-figure fine and individual suspensions though, Quins avoided Heineken Cup expulsion.

Their opening game of this season's tournament is away to Cardiff Blues on October 10.