YOU couldn’t make it up – Wasps have been losing players left, right and centre to injury after injury but last week it was an innocuous piece of meat threatening one of their players.

Full back Hugo Southwell was having lunch at the club’s training ground when the offending food got lodged in his throat.

Rob Hoadley said: “He choked on it and had to go and have an operation to have it removed.

“I don’t know exactly what operation it was, but he was knocked out and they took it out.

“This was about half an hour after we found out Tom Varndell needed an operation. It was mad. You really couldn’t write it.

“But he still played at the weekend, he’s a tough character.”