Castres complain of racist abuse by Munster

The issue that rugby wishes would go away dug in its heels last night and refused to go anywhere. Castres, the crack French club who qualified for the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup by beating Munster at Stade Pierre-Antoine on Saturday, have filed a complaint to the tournament board alleging that their loose forward from the Ivory Coast, Ismaella Lassissi, was subjected to "racist and discriminatory comments" during the game.

Lassissi had previously been cited by the Irish side, who accused him of biting the international loose-head prop Peter Clohessy on the left arm. A spokesman for European Rugby Cup Ltd, the body charged with administering both the Heineken Cup and the second-tier Parker Pen Shield competition, said a disciplinary hearing would be convened, possibly by the weekend, to hear evidence relating to both accusations.

"We are surprised at the citing by Castres," said Pat Geraghty, one of the Munster back-room team. "It is a serious accusation, and not one we have experienced before. It must be investigated thoroughly." Geraghty added that Munster's evidence against Lassissi would soon be presented to the ERC board.

This latest allegation of racial abuse would have been unwelcome at any time. Arriving as it does in the slipstream of the Olivier Azam affair, it has dealt club rugby at the top level another serious blow between the eyes. Azam, the French Test hooker who plays for Gloucester, has been accused by Newcastle of calling Epi Taione, their international flanker from Tonga, a "black bastard" during a violent Premiership game at Kingsholm on 29 December. Azam, who vigorously denies the charge, is about to become the subject of an investigation set up by the Rugby Football Union, probably under the chairmanship of a High Court judge.

Azam and Taione are currently surviving suspensions: the former was banned for five weeks for punching a second Newcastle forward and spitting at Taione, the latter for three weeks for punching Azam. At last week's RFU disciplinary hearing, the panel declined to admit evidence relating to the alleged racial abuse. Gloucester and Newcastle are now preparing to put their conflicting evidence before the independent inquiry.

ERC has suffered a rough few days. The Italian side Overmach Parma have appealed against the board's decision to award two Shield points to Pontypridd after the farcical postponement of a pool game between the two teams and an abortive attempt to reschedule it. However, that particular piece of sporting pantomime pales into insignificance compared to last night's move by Castres.

Meanwhile, the RFU yesterday confirmed that this season's Powergen Cup semi-finals will be played back-to-back at the Madejski Stadium in Reading on 9 March, irrespective of whether London Irish, who use the venue as a home ground, make it through to the last four. The Exiles play Gloucester – at the Madejski, naturally – in this Sunday's quarter-final, and if they progress, they will be confident of attracting 10,000 of their own supporters to the 24,200-capacity arena on semi-final day.