Rugby Union: Bristol to drop their Gloucester grievance

BRISTOL DECIDED last night to drop their plans to cite a Gloucester player for what they had earlier described as "a cowardly attack" on their Argentinian, Agustin Pichot.

Bristol's director of rugby, Bob Dwyer, had claimed that the scrum-half Pichot was the subject of a punch off the ball that knocked him to the ground in the closing minutes of Bristol's 38-25 Premiership One defeat at the weekend.

Dwyer originally said that he wanted disciplinary action taken following the incident, which sparked an ugly brawl among both sets of forwards. But neither referee Steve Lander nor his touch judges saw it and with television pictures proving inconclusive Bristol have opted not to pursue the matter.

The Gloucester team manager, John Fidler, confirmed that Bristol had sent a fax advising they would not be citing anyone and as far as he was concerned the matter was now closed.

Meanwhile, the former England captain Phil de Glanville faces a lengthy lay-off following confirmation that he has suffered a fractured cheekbone. The Bath captain was hurt during Sunday's Allied Dunbar Premiership defeat at Wasps and required treatment at Hillingdon Hospital in north London before being allowed home.

The match, which Wasps won 23-21, was held up for five minutes while Bath medical staff stabilised De Glanville and then carried him away on a stretcher. It is the latest injury blow for a player who missed last season's Five Nations' Championship due to shoulder trouble that required surgery.

The match was De Glanville's first since hurting an ankle three weeks ago, a setback which kept him out of action for Bath's opening Heineken Cup games against Toulouse and Padova.