RUGBY: South Africa President Thabo Mbeki has warned his countrymen that beating up a referee was no way to win friends after the assault on Irish official David McHugh in last Saturday's Tri-Nations Test against New Zealand.

"All of us owe the Irish referee at the recent Springbok-All Blacks match, Mr Dave McHugh, our sincere apology for the impermissible assault on him by one of us, Mr Pieter van Zyl," Mbeki wrote in a weekly online letter to supporters of the ruling African National Congress.

"As South Africans, we respect and value our international visitors. We also respect the rules that govern the civilised conduct of individuals and nations." Rugby supporter Van Zyl's attack on McHugh as he was refereeing a match won 30-23 by the New Zealanders is still the hottest topic of public debate on South African radio talk shows and in newspaper columns and television programmes.

Most South Africans deplore the assault, but a significant number argue that McHugh got what he deserved after a series of allegedly biased calls against the Springboks.

CONNACHT (v London Wasps at Adams Park in High Wycombe on Sunday, kick-off 3 p.m.): G Duffy; T Robinson, D O'Sullivan, T Allnutt, W Munn; E Elwood, E Reddan; R McCormack, M Uijs, P Bracken; W Waugh, R Frost; C Rigney, E Peters, J O'Connor.

Replacements: D McFarland, F Boiroux, A Maher, C Keane, S Moore, J O'Sullivan, J Norton, M McPhail, W Maxwell, M Walls, H Bourke, P Neville, D Yapp.