"Give me the ball you f***ing useless bastard, " was how Robinson's sideline diatribe started. "Come on mate, give me the ball, " was the former All Black scrum-half 's next outburst and he went on to yell, "You big-haired bastard, what a f***ing loser, good on ya, " when the Bath player did eventually place the ball on the ground. That might sound like industrial language to some out there, but Higgins himself admitted that it was the 'norm' in toplevel rugby. Nothing to write home about.

The problem is that the four Bath supporters who complained to a steward about Robinson's language allege that the Saints' player called Higgins a "black bastard" and not a "big-haired" one. "It's a fudge and we'll be letting the RFU and Northampton know about it, " says Mike Senior, a member of Bath's official supporters' club. "We were told we had made a mistake. We were not mistaken. We know what we heard and what we heard was one player racially abuse another."

With a lack of any concrete evidence, this one could run and run but there is one element to the saga that deserves to be recognised.

The swift and decisive action of all those involved in bringing the matter to light was wholly impressive, from the Northampton chief steward, who reported the complaints of those Bath supporters to fourth official David Rose, who informed referee Wayne Barnes, who in turn stopped the game to tell the captains of both sides to have a word with their men.

"No game at the top level of Irish sport has ever been stopped because of racism, unlike the incident in England last week, or what happens in Spanish football on a regular basis, " says Ken McCue, the international officer of Sports Against Racism in Ireland (SARI). "We get a lot of reports in here on a weekly basis, from players, from stewards and from fans across a broad range of sports, about racist comments they heard or have had directed at them. But the authorities rarely do anything about it."

SARI are one of a number of organisations in the country, both voluntary and state sponsored, who campaign against racism in sport. On the face of it, there wouldn't appear to be a huge problem in any of the major sports out there but that kind of attitude, according to McCue, is how things kick off. "We spoke to the GAA recently about doing something with us and they told us they don't have a problem with racism in the sport, " he says. "But that's not really the point. We want to use sport as a tool to combat racism in society but it's not easy. We sent out a survey recently and none of the big three, the FAI, the GAA and the IRFU replied to us. We've tried to engage with the IRFU on a number of different levels over the past couple of years but they don't seem interested in dealing with us."

The IRFU are, though, a signatory to the Government's Charter Against Racism in Sport, and while they haven't engaged with SARI, they do take the whole matter seriously. "Having checked through our disciplinary records, we haven't found any precedent in Irish rugby, " says an IRFU spokesman. "But while it hasn't happened here to date, we would be extremely tough on anybody who was found guilty of making racist comments in the future. It simply won't be tolerated."

The only two allegations of racist comments made against Irish players in the history of the game . . . which came under the auspices of the ERC . . . were both proved to be utterly false and should never have been entertained by the authorities in the first place. Back in 2001, Castres' flanker Ismaela Lassissi alleged that Munster's Peter Clohessy had aimed racial and discriminatory comments at him during the Heineken Cup pool game between the two sides at Stade Pierre Antoine. The allegations only came to light when Munster cited Lassissi for biting the prop's hand during the game, and while the French club withdrew the charge before the disciplinary hearing could take place in Dublin, Clohessy's name had still been needlessly tarnished.

The next case, in very similar circumstances, involved Munster's Marcus Horan who was cited by the Neath Swansea Ospreys for allegedly making racist comments towards Elvis Sevelai'i during a Heineken Cup game at The Gnoll in 2004. Once again, the Ospreys claim only came to light once Munster had cited Ospreys winger Richard Mustoe for a stamp and while the Welsh club didn't withdraw the accusation against Horan, the ERC completely exonerated the Shannon man.

The unfair nature of both the Clohessy and Horan allegations has, inadvertently it must be stressed, forced rugby supporters in this country to be that little bit more suspicious of the true substance of alleged racist comments. Not that they occur regularly, or at all, in Irish rugby according to those out there on the park.

"I've never heard any racist comments on the rugby pitch in Ireland, " one current provincial player admits. It's a similar story in England, the most multi-cultural rugby environment in the world, according to one of the Irish diaspora in the Guinness Premiership. "I've never heard any racist comments whatsoever on the pitch over here, " says Jeremy Staunton.

"There's usually a fella in your ear all game long but it never crosses over into anything racist. I would be really shocked if it ever did."

However if you happen to believe that racist comments include insults against one's nationality, it's a slightly different story. "I've been called a stupid Irish Mick or a stupid Paddy on numerous occasions on the pitch, " says one former international. "It was pretty much par for the course against England, especially away from home."

Putting comments of that nature to one side, along with the murky world of South African rugby (there's an article on that in itself), international rugby is also pretty clean when it comes to racist sledging on the field of play. "I can categorically say, I've never encountered it in any game I've refereed, " says Alan Lewis, one of Ireland's most experienced international referees. "And I'm not just talking about big international games, that applies to fixtures I've been in charge of at local level in all parts of the world.

General banter does go on between opposing players and while that's acceptable, I would take action if it crossed certain boundaries. One of the great virtues of rugby is that if you are indisciplined, your team gets punished.

That forces players to be responsible for what comes out of their mouth."

There have, of course, been some isolated incidents.

Justin Harrison's outburst before he joined Ulster comes to mind, while the Victor Ubogu incident back in 1993 also ruffled a few feathers on planet rugby (see panel).

But by and large, if we ignore the elephant in the room that is South African rugby, racism doesn't appear to be a problem in the game.

Let's just hope nobody becomes too complacent about the matter, that allegations of racist comments continue to surprise us in years to come.

RUGBY'S RACIST PAST. . .

1993 . . . England defeated the All Blacks at Twickenham but the biggest story happened afterwards. English hooker Brian Moore accused the opposition front-row of calling Victor Ubogu a "black bastard" and although All Black skipper Sean Fitzpatrick insisted that he was actually referring to his own colleague, Olo Brown, the allegations left quite a stench around the world of rugby.

2003 . . . South Africa's World Cup preparations are disrupted by an extraordinary row. White lock Geo Cronje refuses to share a room or bathroom facilities with black teammate Quinton Davids. Cronje was expelled from his country's World Cup squad but was later cleared of any racism by the SARFU who found no "conclusive evidence" that he had shunned Davids on grounds of race.

2005 . . . In a Super 12 fixture, New South Wales second row Justin Harrison (right) is cited for racially abusing Johannesburg Cats winger Chumani Booi.

"Leave the ball, you stinking black c**t, " are the words the Australian international admitted to shouting at the South African during the game. The second row, who had already agreed to join Ulster the following season, was handed a three-match ban for his indiscretion.