Ex-Wasps player Lea Tichener claimed today he acted in self-defence when he hit out at a "loud, very drunk" fellow bouncer during a night out with team-mates.

The 15st 7lb player said: "I hit Dominic M'Benga. I hit him hard. I struck him on his nose."

The pair then tumbled from one table to another and on to the floor of the Mogul Restaurant in Tanners Row.

They were each giving as good as they got, said Tichener in the witness box at York Crown Court.

By the end they were grappling with each other.

"He had got hold of my clothing," said the rugby player. "The second I was released I got on to my knees and then stood up and out the front door.

"I was sat on top of him. I was trying to get up and escape to get out of the front door."

He denied a suggestion from prosecution counsel Felicity Davies that he sat astride M'Benga, punching him, as prosecution witnesses have described.

Tichener, 29, of Foxton, Woodthorpe, denies causing grievous bodily harm to Mr M'Benga.

The court has heard that Mr M'Benga, security manager at Merlins and MacMillans, suffered several broken facial bones, and needed an eye operation after the incident on January 2, last year.

Tichener, who was unhurt in the incident, told the jury that Mr M'Benga had barred his brother from MacMillans about two weeks before the restaurant incident, because he was wearing trainers. After the brother changed shoes Mr M'Benga again refused him entry.

On January 2, Tichener went with team mates from York Rugby League Club and their girlfriends, to Merlins, but was told he was barred on the orders of Mr M'Benga.

He then tried unsuccessfully to get into MacMillans.

Tichener said he did not drink that evening because he was on medication for a bad groin injury.

He and his group went to the restaurant for a meal, but as he was waiting by the bar Mr M'Benga came up to him and spoke in a "sarcastic" manner.

Tichener said: "In my opinion he was drunk. He was loud, and he was drunk."

Tichener said he had been a barman for five years, including four at a nightclub, and he dealt with difficult customers on a regular basis.

He claimed Mr M'Benga told him he was "not intelligent enough" to get into Merlins or MacMillans, and "your problem is me".

Tichener, who is 5ft 11in tall, denied butting Mr M'Benga at the start of the fight. He said he had punched him because Mr M'Benga was "in my space", and he feared he was about to get hit in the face.

The jury heard that a complaint by Mr M'Benga led to the resignation of a policeman in 1999. However, the disciplinary hearing's ruling was overturned on appeal by a tribunal that said: "In certain respects the evidence of Mr M'Benga had not been credible."

The trial continues

Updated: 16:14 Wednesday, April 04, 2001