The International Rugby Board is to ask Twickenham to investigate comments made by the England head coach Sir Clive Woodward after his side's second Test defeat to the All Blacks in June.

Woodward's outburst came during a televised press conference after the match, a tape of which was sent to the IRB by the New Zealand Rugby Union.

The IRB chief executive Mike Miller will next week contact his Rugby Football Union counterpart, Francis Baron, and point out that Woodward breached the board's code of conduct, which says coaches and players should not "publish or cause to be published criticism of the manner in which a referee or touch judge handled a match".

Woodward reacted to the decision of the referee Nigel Williams to send off the lock Simon Shaw for kneeing, on the advice of the touch judge Stuart Dickinson. "It was ridiculous and sticks in the throat," he said. "The touch judge acted a bit quick with 50,000 people shouting 'off'. This was a big, big call by the touch judge from so far away. It ruined the game: I asked Simon Shaw what he thought and he said it was absolute bullshit."

The IRB does not have the authority to act, but Woodward is likely to receive a reprimand and a warning from the RFU. There was better news for Woodward yesterday when Newcastle confirmed that the England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson will play in their three pre-season matches this month. Wilkinson resumed contact work in training in July, for the first time since an operation on a nerve problem in his neck and shoulder, and is expected to face Connacht on August 17.