Rugby Union: Banned Dourthe accuses England

Rugby Union

Richard Dourthe, the French centre suspended for a month for stamping on the head of Ben Clarke, yesterday accused English players of worse acts of violence.

Dourthe said he thought the media fuss over the incident during France's 15-12 win over England in Paris last Saturday had been out of proportion and that he had seen many acts of violence by English players in the past which had gone unpunished.

"But I don't think we should do things the way they do," he said. "That's the English mentality and perhaps we are more intelligent."

Dourthe, who has been replaced by Alain Penaud for the match against Scotland, said he had learned his lesson. "The punishment is fair and it's a good lesson for me. It punishes my act and one month is fine. It proves the injury was not serious."

Mike Hall, the Cardiff centre, is understood to have accepted pounds 1,000 from Llanelli as compensation for suffering a broken jaw from a punch thrown by Scarlets' lock Tony Copsey when the sides met in a Heineken League match on 30 September.

The injury forced Hall to miss four League matches and Cardiff's game against the touring Fijians. It is believed the sum was arrived at by taking into account appearance money and bonus opportunities denied him, plus the cost of treatment.

Rob Andrew finally makes his competitive debut for Newcastle when he faces Harlequins in the Pilkington Cup fifth round at Kingston Park tomorrow. The ex-England outside-half has been restricted to a handful of friendly and second team games since his departure from Wasps to become the Newcastle supremo.

Andrew, whose last competitive game was for Wasps in mid-October, said: "On a personal level I am very much looking forward to the game. It is a big challenge for me as I have not played serious rugby for a few months.

"There is a lot of expectation, but how my form is I will have to find out. But I have been living with the pressure for 10 years now and I am used to it."

SCOTLAND A (v France A at Myreside, 2 February): S Lang (Heriot's FP); C Glasgow (Heriot's FP), G Shiel (Melrose), R Eriksson (London Scottish), D Stark (Boroughmuir); S Welsh (Hawick), D Patterson (W Hartlepool); M Browne (Melrose), G Ellis (Currie), B Stewart (Edinburgh Academicals), D Burns (Boroughmuir), D Cronin (Bourges), P Walton (Newcastle), B Renwick (Hawick), N Broughton (Melrose). Replacements: S Nichol (Selkirk), S Laing (Instonians), G Burns (Stewart's Melville FP), M Norval (Stirling County), S Paul (Heriot's FP), M Scott (Orrell).