AN up and coming Leinster rugby player has been cleared of assault following a trial which heard two gardaí had to pin him to the bonnet of a squad car to subdue him.

Jason Harris-Wright (21) denied being a racist or assaulting bouncer Peter Charmant outside a Wicklow nightclub in the early hours of 17 July last year.

The promising young player made the successful transition from the Leinster Academy to the senior squad earlier this year and he has had 10 caps for the Ireland under-20s team.

Last week Bray District Court heard of less sporting behaviour when a fight broke out between two groups of men outside the Martello club on Strand Road, Bray.

The court heard that gardaí, who were called to the scene, saw Harris-Wright swinging punches at the door staff although witnesses for the defence denied this, insisting the incident was over by the time gardaí arrived.

The arresting officers also said Harris-Wright was resisting arrest so much it took two of them to restrain him and he had to be pinned to the bonnet of the squad car.

Again Harris-Wright denied the evidence, saying instead that one guard arrested and cuffed him and he had been co-operative.

Charmant said that earlier on in the evening he had stepped in to separate a row between five men at the club.

He asked the larger group of three men, including Harris-Wright, to leave the premises before offering the other two men a lift to Shankill.

As they were on the way to the car, the other group of men approached them again.

At this point, Charmant said Harris-Wright "called me a black c**t and told me to go back to my own country".

Harris-Wright denied the accusation, telling the court he was not a racist and that he played sport with people of other races.

Charmant said the other two then attacked the men to whom he had offered a lift, prompting another bouncer to step in.

Harris-Wright said he was simply passing by that night when he noticed his friend arguing with someone and went in to "defuse the situation".

He and his friends gave evidence that Charmant approached Harris-Wright and, after some shoving, punched him, causing him to fall to the ground. Harris-Wright then got up and punched him back, the court heard.

Charmant disputed that, saying: "I never punched Jason. I never touched him. I have been working there for five years and there have been no complaints. I am not a physically violent person."

However, on hearing the evidence, judge Murrough Connellan said it was a simple matter.

"There is no dispute that Peter Charmant was hit or that Jason Harris-Wright was arrested but the circumstances of both are in complete contradiction between the prosecution and defence," he said, before dismissing the charges.

"There has been reasonable rebuttal answers by the defence. The court has got to have reasonable doubt."