Harlequins winger Tom Williams is being backed by some of the biggest names in rugby as he contests a 12-month playing ban handed to him by Heineken Cup organisers ERC.

Former Harlequins and British Lions legend Will Greenwood is understood to be among those offering advice to the 25-year-old in the wake of the European Rugby Cup’s draconian sanction.

A host of others – including World Cup-winning scrum-half Matt Dawson, former Quins hooker Brian Moore, Professional Rugby Players’ Association chief executive Damien Hopley and Leinster coach Allan Gaffney – have cricticised the decision.

Quins will wait to receive a written judgment from the ERC, due next week, before deciding on their next step.

Williams was last week found guilty of fabricating a blood injury by an independent disciplinary committee in the wake of his substitution during Quins’ Heineken Cup quarter-final defeat to Leinster in April.

The club were fined £215,000 – half suspended for two years – but director of rugby Dean Richards, physio Steph Brennan and club doctor Wendy Chapman were cleared.

Former team-mate Mel Deane, now a fitness coach at Richmond, insists Williams should not carry the can.

“He is a gentleman. There is not a bad bone in his body,” said the former Quins centre.

“He was knocking on the door of England last year, so this is a terrible blow for him.

“As a player, his feet are unbelievable – I would put him in the same category as Jason Robinson. That is how highly I rate him.

“A few steps and he is away without you laying a finger on him.

“I don’t know why Leinster have pursued this so rigourously and 12 months is an overreaction.

“Alan Quinlan got a six-week ban when they seemed to think he deliberately made contact with someone’s eyes, it is all wrong.

“Tom has an exemplary disciplinary record and is a top man.”

PRA chief Hopley also felt the punishment was disproportionate, particularly in light of recent bans handed to Schalk Burger (gouging) and Justin Harrison (drugs).

Dawson described the ban as ridiculous and said he had not heard of something similar happening before.

Meanwhile, Bristol fly-half Adrian Jarvis has backed close-friend Williams to come through his nightmare.

“I have known Tom a long time through school and at Quins,” said Jarvis, who also attended Wellington College.

“He is very low at the moment. “I can’t imagine what it must be like to be told you can’t play for a year when it isn’t through injury.

“I don’t know the details and it is not my position to comment but, hopefully, things will work out alright for him.

“I’ve never been involved in an incident like that, but you do hear stories of that sort of thing going on.

“Everyone recognises people bend the rules regarding substitutions. It seems really unfair that he is being punished so severely.

“He is a great lad.”