By Bryn Palmer

Ellis (bottom) was a nuisance to Wasps

Wasps scrum-half Matt Dawson believes Leicester rival Harry Ellis tried to "rough him up" in Sunday's epic Heineken Cup clash between the sides.

"Harry had obviously made the decision to get in my face and try to rough me up a bit," Dawson told BBC Sport.

"But I am a little bit more old school. I will defend myself but I am not going to get involved in stuff like that.

"It is not the first time Leicester have tried to rough me up a bit but it was that sort of Test-match intensity."

Dawson will have intensive physiotherapy in a bid to make next Sunday's return fixture at Welford Road after aggravating a calf injury early on in Wasps' 37-31 defeat.

"I thought it would be OK but after 10 minutes I was hobbling around like a fool," he said.

Julian White was taking us apart Matt Dawson

"Leicester were just awesome at the start and we were slower to get to the pace of the game.

"They came out of the blocks fast, their handling was excellent, and they did what they practised in training, which we didn't."

Dawson admits the scrummaging power of Tigers props Julian White and Graham Rowntree was a decisive factor in Leicester's early dominance.

"Julian White was immense," Dawson said. "It is not very often a scrum-half like me notices what goes on in the scrum but he was taking us apart.

"Him and Graham Rowntree in particular stopped our platform, and we had to play in other areas of the field.

OTHER HEINEKEN CUP CLASSICS 2000: Toulouse 25-31 Munster 2001: S Francais 30-34 Lei'ster 2004: Munster 32-37 Wasps 2004: Wasps 27-20 Toulouse

"But it is a long time since I have played in a game where the team I played for showed that sort of character.

"At 22-6 down, to come back and be so dominant in the second half to the point were we thought we had a great chance of winning...that is why the frustration boiled over at the end."

Leicester were warned by referee Nigel Williams - who awarded 19 penalties against the Tigers in all - that one more infringement would result in a penaltry try, giving Wasps the chance to win the game with a conversion.

Wasps 31-37 Leicester

"It would have been a massive call to give a penalty try at the end but where do you draw the line?" Dawson said.

"I don't envy the referee one bit but there comes a time where it has got to happen.

"We were very disappointed and no matter what the score and the type of game, decisions have to be crystal clear.

"But considering the situation and the emotion involved, I thought Nigel refereed superbly well - I have to take my hat off to him."

There is no question Leicester will be favourites next week Matt Dawson

Dawson was unfortunate when he was penalised for a knock-on at a ruck late on, when a Leicester body had knocked it out of his hands.

But he insists Wasps are not blaming the officials as they set about trying to reverse the result next Sunday.

"The game for us was lost in the first 20 minutes, not at the end," he added.

"We played brilliantly well to get ourselves back in contention and there were a couple of calls that didn't go our way and we got pipped in the end.

"But we have to look at ourselves and make sure we get ourselves right for next week.

"We have made life very difficult for ourselves and there is no question Leicester will be favourites next week.

"But we have got to be optimistic, get our heads down and work really hard this week."