Wasps cite Perpignan players over foul play

Shaun Edwards, the London Wasps coach, today revealed that concerns over player safety had led to an unprecedented 12 citing complaints against five Perpignan players following Sunday's Heineken Cup clash in France.

Wasps' victory has been soured by the incidents of alleged foul play that left England flanker Joe Worsley with a gash on his foot and could rule him out of Saturday's Zurich Premiership match against Bath.

Edwards studied the match video yesterday and then contacted European chiefs to start the citing process. He said: "It's sad that we have to take this action because the players were not being protected on the pitch by the officials. The players weren't looked after.

"There was a lot of stuff happening off the ball that could have been stopped if the referee and touch judges had acted early in the match.

"It's incredible that they missed so many incidents in a game that was played in a very intimidating atmosphere. Maybe that was a factor.

"As a coaching staff, we are not comfortable having to cite opposition players but I have never been in this situation before and action had to be taken by the club. You just do not see this kind of thing in English professional rugby." The Perpignan players concerned are Michel Konieckiewicz (four alleged incidents of foul play - two stamping, two punching); Rimas Alvarez Kairelis (three alleged incidents of foul play - headbutt, stamping, use of forearm); Lionel Mallier (two alleged incidents of foul play - punching, use of forearm/head); Bernard Goutta (two alleged incidents of foul play - stamping, punching) and Perry Freshwater (one alleged incident of foul play - stamping).