Steele under fire as Saints crash

Pressure mounted on John Steele and Nigel Melville, directors of rugby at Northampton and Wasps respectively, after their clubs suffered embarrassing Heineken Cup defeats on Saturday.

Steele's Northampton, European champions just two seasons ago, crashed 50-17 against Pool Five leaders Montferrand, while Melville saw his Wasps side beaten 32-17 by Italian side Treviso.

Minus scrum half Matt Dawson - whose hamstring injury may force him out of England's clash with Australia on Saturday - Saints suffered their worst- ever European defeat.

'No-one enjoys being on the receiving end of that sort of score,' said Steele. 'But we haven't got time to dwell on it - we have some very important League games ahead of us this month and we have to get stuck into those.'

Wasps, decimated by injuries and bottom of the Premiership after five successive defeats, were undone by a Simon Mason goal-kicking masterclass. The former Richmond and Ulster full back landed eight penalties from 10 attempts.