Lewsey Feeling Sore As Stamping is Ruled 'inadvertent'

The England camp reacted with dismay on arrival in Melbourne yesterday after discovering that the All Black lock Ali Williams had been cleared of deliberately stamping on the head of Josh Lewsey.

England's full-back required stitches to a gash in the back of his head and suffered nasty abrasions to the face after the incident in the 75th minute of Saturday's game in Wellington when he was caught repeatedly beneath Williams's boot at the bottom of a ruck in the New Zealand half.

A 90-minute disciplinary committee hearing, chaired by the Australian Michael Goodwin, ruled, however, that the contact was "inadvertent and incidental" and was largely caused by England players being on the wrong side, an interpretation that surprised both Lewsey and the England coach Clive Woodward.

"On behalf of Josh I'm very disappointed at the decision as we felt there was a strong case to answer," said Woodward. "However, we must move on and prepare for the Wallabies game next Saturday."

Woodward is concerned, nevertheless, that England may be being targeted by southern hemisphere teams following their stormy clash with the Springboks at Twickenham last autumn.

"In two games running now we've played southern hemisphere teams where there's been stuff going on. There's a lot at stake and people have got to control themselves."

Lewsey, for one, is concerned that the modern game is safely policed. "There are certain things that are taboo in the game," said the Wasps full-back. "I got a couple [of stamps] in the face and on the back of the head and then I realised it was coming again, so I turned my head to avoid getting one in the eye."