England coach Clive Woodward has called in the English Rugby Football Union (RFU) to take up the fight in the stamping row with New Zealand. An independent citing commission absolved New Zealand lock Ali Williams of blame for stamping on the head of Josh Lewsey in the closing stages of Saturday's Test match in Wellington.

Tonga's Viliami Ma'asi - who was sent off for stamping on the head of Ireland's number eight Eric Miller, who was badly injured in the incident - also got off. The Ireland management were unable to cite Ma'asi when evidence failed to prove whether he or Heamani Lavaka was the culprit.

Lewsey was forced from the pitch with five minutes remaining in England's 15-13 victory to have a gash in the back of his head stitched up after he was repeatedly caught by Williams's boot while lodged at the bottom of a ruck. The 22-year-old Auckland lock was cited, but then cleared of intentional stamping, a judgment Woodward found astonishing.

The England boss yesterday questioned whether the same decision would have been reached had the offender been one of his players. But having made public his concerns, Woodward handed the matter over for the RFU to pursue as he and his players concentrate on this season's finale against Australia in Melbourne.

"I have got the RFU involved," he said. "There is nothing more I can do, just bring it to people's attention and say we are not happy as a group of players who have played in the game where a player got his head badly cut.

"We would be a lot happier if we had a clear explanation from the QC why he (Williams) gets absolutely nothing. For him to get nothing I think is poor. People back at Twickenham will see it, we just want an explanation."

After studying the evidence, the three-man judiciary panel found the contact on Lewsey's head to be "inadvertent and incidental" to Williams' attempts to ruck the ball.

But the explanation did not wash with Woodward, who thought Williams had a "strong case to answer" and was angered at what he saw as an injustice.

"If it had been an English player, we'd still be in Wellington now and probably all be locked up," Woodward said. "He has got off scot-free, which is just wrong in my opinion. There is a feeling amongst the players that it is one rule for everyone else and one rule for the English. That is how we feel.

"We have got Danny Grewcock sitting at home, who threw a few punches at Lawrence Dallaglio in a club game, which isn't going to hurt anybody.

"He doesn't make the trip, gets banned for two games, but a guy stamps on someone's head - and the cuts on Lewsey's head are bad - and gets off scot-free with no explanation.

"I would like to hear why. What made it not a punishable offence?"