Chapman talks of 'extreme pressure'

The doctor at the centre of the 'Bloodgate' scandal spoke of "the extreme pressure" she was placed under as Harlequins winger Tom Williams demanded that she cut him.

Williams asked Dr Wendy Chapman to cut his lip as a cover-up after he bit into a fake-blood capsule. His so-called injury meant a specialist goal kicker, Nick Evans, could come on in the dying minutes of April 2009's Heineken Cup quarter-final tie against Leinster, who held on to win 6-5.

She said Williams "raised his voice" as he demanded she cut him and she added: "I remember the extreme pressure. He just kept going on."

The doctor admitted for the first time on Monday that she cut the player with a stitch cutter in the changing room after match officials had started to make inquiries.

On Tuesday Chapman told General Medical Council counsel Michael Hayton that the situation in the changing room was the most stressful she had ever encountered despite working many years in accident and emergency.

Hayton asked: "How were you feeling at this point in time?"

She replied: "Distressed, ashamed, horrified. I just wanted out of there."

"Immediately after you cut him, did the enormity of what you had done dawn on you?" the barrister asked.

Chapman said: "Not the consequences for me. The fact that they cheated was high in my mind. I just could not believe it."

She said she regretted not telling the truth to the rugby authorities and added: "That is the thing I struggle with the most - why I just did this. It is all wrong, there is no way of getting round it."