Stewart's scot-free despite seeing red

Lions prop Tom Smith sprang to the defence of his club and country colleague Mattie Stewart, who walked scot-free from his second brush with rugby law in 48 hours.

Scotland front-rower Stewart was severely reprimanded by an RFU panel lastThursday for punching and kneeing an opponent, and he followed that up by being sent off for the first time in his career in Northampton's 26-15 defeat of Cardiff on Saturday. 'He's a hard player but not a dirty player,' said Smith. 'There's a fine line between the two but Mattie knows the difference.' New Saints coach Wayne Smith is preaching a more physical approach and namesakeTom thinks it's working wonders for Stewart.'I've never seen him play better than he has this season,' he said. Scottish referee Iain Ramage looked to have done his country's Six Nations prospects serious damage by showing Stewart the red card in injury time lashing out with his boot the direction of the ball and the prostrate former Saint, Matt Allen.

However, match commissioner Bob Rogers found no video evidence to back Ramage's decision, so Stewart is free to play England on February 2. Smith was in outstanding form at Franklin's Gardens, where a Saints side with no hope of progressing made sure that, for the first time, Cardiff failed to qualify for quarter-finals.

Coach Smith has given belief to Northampton and England wing Ben Cohen in particular. He should have scored after 50 seconds and did so a minute later. But it took a debatable penalty try two minutes after the restart to confirm superiority, Craig Morgan high-tackling Peter Jorgensen when Cohen was free on the overlap.