Bath Rugby's Justin Harrison has left the club with immediate effect for 'personal reasons' (although this just happens to coincide with a club investigation into ill-discipline on a night out). Here I reflect on the combative second row's controversial season with the blue, black and whites
"Uncompromising" is how Bath Rugby's forwards coach, Mark Bakewell, described Justin Harrison when the Australian lock announced in December that he was to extend his contract at The Rec by a year.
Just how uncompromising Harrison is has been revealed by his actions of the past few days. His lawyer and agent got the ball rolling for him to leave the club with immediate effect – just as the club launched an inquiry to get to the bottom of Bath players' behaviour in London during an end-of-season blow-out.
'Uncompromising' doesn't quite succeed in capturing the sheer on-field aggro that the ex-Wallaby brought to the pitch during his brief time at Bath.
He was a man who, from the off, made it quite clear that he wanted to ruffle plenty of feathers in the Guinness Premiership. If fisticuffs were about to break out, then Harrison was in the thick of it.
His pugnacious approach culminated in him scrapping with ex-Bath skipper Steve Borthwick during the final game of the regular season against Saracens. This encounter led to Harrison being cited for alleged eye-gouging – a charge that was subsequently thrown out by a RFU disciplinary panel.
When Harrison joined Bath from Ulster for the beginning of the 2008/09 season, there were many raised eyebrows. At 34, many felt he was a little long in the tooth and would be something of a passenger during the campaign.
But the Australian defied those early critics, playing in 31 of 33 matches during the season. A pivotal moment in capturing Bath supporters' hearts came with a fearless performance against Leicester at The Rec in November, when the Australian played on despite losing consciousness at least twice.
For all his on-field aggression, however, Harrison was a different character when it came to conducting interviews with the media. On such occasions, he came across as contemplative, carrying the air of a philosopher.
"I wouldn't say it's been a distraction for me personally," he said when the Matt Stevens cocaine scandal broke in January. "It has all the ingredients of possibly providing one, but my life operates alongside rugby, not because of it.
"Most importantly, my character and integrity has been enhanced by having been associated with Matt Stevens.
"In three minutes of television interview he showed he has an enormous amount of courage and character. That's something that I couldn't hope to summon in my darkest hour and he has, somehow.
"My role as a rugby player for Bath is to perform as well as I can on Sunday and get myself in a position to do that. But my role as a human being, and as a mate of Matt's, is to support him in anyway I can."
But there could always be a hint of menace in what he said, even when it was meant as a joke.
Commenting on the foot injury of his Bath team mate and former England lock Danny Grewcock, Harrison remarked wryly to me in February: "I spent most of my career trying to injure Danny – and now I'm wishing that he wasn't."
The thing is, both parts of that sentence were probably true.
The Sydney-born lock, who made 34 test appearances for Australia, came to Bath with some baggage.
In March 2005, while playing for the New South Wales Waratahs, Harrison admitted racially abusing Chumani Booi in a Super 12 match in South Africa.
In the subsequent tribunal, Harrison issued a sufficiently heartfelt apology for the panel to suspend a $20,000 fine. During his mea culpa, Harrison told the panel he wanted to do the "best to redeem whatever irreversible damage I have done to my own reputation."
Given the suddenness of his departure from The Rec in such unhappy circumstances, it may well be that this Jekyll and Hyde personality will once again have to work hard to redeem himself.
To read my latest column on theturmoil at Bath Rugby, click here
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