Winning coach plays down scuffle

TOULOUSE coach Guy Noves played down an incident at the end of his team’s historic third Heineken Cup final triumph which saw him led away by police after a scuffle in the players tunnel.

Noves was taken to a police room inside the stadium and later released without charge, after police officers stepped in to restrain the Toulouse coach during a confrontation with stewards. Noves was apologetic after the incident, which had begun after a “misunderstanding” about bringing his friends and family on to the pitch.

“I just wanted to give a kiss to my wife and my son,” Noves said through an interpreter afterwards.