Courtney Lawes insists he is no 'thug' and will not change

England lock Courtney Lawes rejected accusations that he is a thug and promised not to change his hard-hitting style ahead of Northampton’s Champions Cup quarter-final away to Clermont Auvergne on Saturday.

France fly-half Jules Plisson was on the receiving end of a bone-rattling tackle by Lawes in the last round of Six Nations Championship games.

Plisson had released the ball a fraction before Lawes made contact, which Nigel Owens, the referee, ruled legal, but caused uproar across the Channel and led an English tabloid columnist to opine rather incongruously that he would have been arr…