Tom Rees needed 26 stitches after suffering a suspected broken nose during London Wasps' 33-24 victory over Saracens.

The England flanker was accidentally caught by team-mate Joe Worsley. He said: "When we had a look at the incident if became clear Joe's finger damaged my nose as we both made a tackle on the same Saracens player. I am told there are 26 stitches now holding various bits of my nose together and it did take them some time to sort it all out."

Rees' nose will be examined further today but, regardless of the injury, he was scheduled to sit out Friday's game with Sale on Friday as part of the new Elite Player Squad agreement with the Rugby Football Union.

He added: "The damage is in the middle of my nose and I will be avoiding any Christmas Day photographs this year. It's not a great sight."

Worsley is understood to have arranged an x-ray to determine the extent of the damage Rees's nose inflicted on his finger and Wasps will be hoping they have avoided any more injury problems following the loss of captain Rafael Ibanez for six week after a series of bangs to the head.

Although it came at a price the victory has continued the revival for Wasps who suffered a dreadful start to the defence of their title this season.

Saracens were undone by the arrival of Dave Walder, who eclipsed Danny Cipriani by helping create three late tries to win the match

Despite victory, Wasps rugby director Ian McGeechan was not happy as after the game he snapped when being questioned on the future of his big-name stars.

Cipriani and James Haskell are among those players still involved in talks over new deals and McGeechan said: "The contract situation is not unsettling any of the players, and they are our business, not yours.

"The attitude of the players has been first class this week, and that was shown on the field."

Eddie Jones, the Sarries director of rugby, made it clear he would like to talk to any disgruntled Wasps stating: "I am interested in anyone that is a good player and can help Saracens."