Saracens: It's right Johnson is in dock

Saracens defended their citing of Martin Johnson yesterday, contradicting Leicester's claim that 'there are no dirty players in the Premiership.' 'Rugby is a physical game and it should never be any different but it has no place for foul play or illegal dangerous tackles,' said the Watford club's South African coach Alan Zondagh.

'The players are our assets and if we lose them through injury, it affects the performance of the team. The player loses income from match fees and win bonuses. 'We should not lose players through off-the-ball incidents.

'I think most of us involved in the game could write down the names of the players in the Premiership who are always involved in incidents. 'Unnecessary foul play will keep children away from our game. We don't want that to happen.' Sarries also dismissed Leicester's arguments about 'directors of rugby who spend the week following matches studying videos of the game with a view to citing opponents.' Chief executive Francois Pienaar said: 'What am I supposed to do? Phone Deano (Dean Richards) and say that because of an incident my player has some broken ribs and won't play for two months? And for Deano to say: "Don't worry. I'll give him a real ear-bashing.î 'Come on, this is a professional sport.'