James Haskell 'gutted' after Stade Français drop him for Heineken Cup tie

The England flanker James Haskell, dropped yesterday from the Stade Français squad for their 42-16 Heineken Cup defeat to Toulouse, has used Twitter to publicly express his dismay at the decision, saying he was "gutted". The Stade coach, Jacques Delmas, defended the move to leave Haskell out of his 23-man selection for the game. "We didn't pick James because we wanted a different lineout option," he said. "We wanted to attack them in that area. The reason he wasn't on the bench was because we wanted a specialist No8 on the bench in case of injuries." But last night Haskell tweeted: "Gutted today, especially as I didn't play. I was and am 100% fit." Delmas denied that Haskell's demotion was a consequence of the club v country row that broke out last month after the player missed a Top 14 match – also against Toulouse – to remain with the England squad.