The South Africa captain Corne Krige last night defended his style of play after video footage of last week's controversial international against England at Twickenham appeared to show him getting away with numerous acts of foul play, including head-butting and stamping.
The Rugby Club programme on Sky Sports last night highlighted seven incidents involving the 27-year-old Western Province flanker, including a five-second period in the second half when he was alleged to have hit the scrum-half Matt Dawson with a stiff-arm tackle, kneed the No8 Lawrence Dallaglio in the back and stamped on the prop Phil Vickery, while also concussing his own outside-half Andre Pretorius with a blow to the face.
"I have not seen the footage used in the programme and it would not be appropriate for me to make any comment on it," Krige, who considered becoming a professional hunter before opting for rugby, said from Cape Town last night. "I would just reiterate that rugby is a tough game."
The England coach Clive Woodward complained about the "brutality" of the South Africans but his opposite number Rudi Straeuli claimed his side had carried an unfair reputation since the summer when a spectator attacked the Irish referee David McHugh in Durban.
"The perception since that day seems to be that we are an aggressive nation and that we have problems with our discipline," said Straeuli. "I think it is a false one." Even so, there will be pressure on him to take disciplinary action against Krige. Bobby Skinstad is likely to be restored to the country's captaincy having missed this month's tour of Europe because of injury.
English clubs are counting the cost of Saturday's international, with the Leicester back-rows Neil Back and Lewis Moody out for at least a month with face and shoulder injuries respectively and the Newcastle outside-half Jonny Wilkinson facing a five-week lay-off with shoulder damage. "I have spoken to a number of the players who were involved and they felt it was a particularly dirty match," said the Tigers' director of rugby Dean Richards.
Sale's full-back Jason Robinson, who appeared to be the victim of a Krige punch early in the match, has been included in the squad for tonight's Premiership match against Bath at Heywood Road despite returning to Manchester with an eardrum problem.
The Bristol captain Garath Archer will miss next week's Heineken Cup match at Swansea after picking up three yellow cards in Premiership matches in the past 12 months.
Bristol yesterday revealed they have abandoned plans to build a 40,000-seat stadium in tandem with the city's two soccer clubs, Rovers and City, after two years looking for a site. A statement issued on behalf of the three said: "We have agreed that it would not be possible to build a new stadium in the city within an acceptable time frame".
