Leicester have removed a reference to Henry Pollock as a “child in a Saints kit” from the club’s official match report of last Saturday’s heated derby victory over Northampton.

As players left the field for half-time at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, scuffles broke out among the teams alongside the Crumbie Terrace. England regulars Freddie Steward, Ollie Chessum, Tommy Freeman, Alex Mitchell and Pollock were all heavily involved, with Mitchell appearing to ignite the initial incident by taunting Leicester wing Adam Radwan.

The fracas came to a head when Pollock proceeded up the tunnel, followed by Chessum and Steward. The Northampton back-rower pretended to tie his laces, preventing the Tigers players from continuing their path to the changing rooms. Chessum twice shoved his England team-mate up the tunnel.

All England players involved assembled at Pennyhill Park last night for a training camp ahead of the upcoming Nations Championship.

Originally, the description of the half-time incident on Leicester’s official website read: “A full 30-man brawl was started by a child in Saints kit and continued as he practised tying his laces on the walk up the tunnel.”

On Monday morning, however, it had been edited to read: “A full 30-man brawl showed the passion both sides had for the occasion.”

Leicester were trailing 7-3 at the time before scoring 25 unanswered points in the second half, finishing as 28-7 bonus-point victors against their local rivals.

After the match, Joe Heyes, Leicester’s tighthead who had a fabulous match, admitted that the half-time shenanigans had added “fuel to the fire”.

“It was a pretty hot changing room,” Heyes said. “We had to calm ourselves down a bit. But, yes, it added a bit of fuel to the fire.”

Phil Dowson, Saints’ director of rugby, however, was reluctant to blame the tunnel flare-up for the turnaround.

“The fracas at the end of the half was just one of those things that happens in a derby – that happens every derby. I don’t think that’s necessarily something that triggered anything,” he said.

“It’s not as if anyone got filled in. Well, you just can’t anymore, can you? These games are going to be hostile and in the current game you can’t throw anything. It’s just push and shove and talk c--p, so I don’t think that had any impact.

“But, in the second half we didn’t seem to have that same buzz about us.”