THE row between Newcastle director of rugby Rob Andrew and Newport Gwent Dragons continues to overshadow Sunday's big Heineken Cup-tie.

Andrew called on Dragons coach Chris Anderson to apologise for calling him arrogant after Andrew basically called the value of the Celtic League into question, while the Dragons also criticised the Falcons for dashing off straight after the first game at Rodney Parade in October.

Anderson has refused to apologise which led Andrew to retort yesterday, "Newport have to decide how they behave, it's up to them.

"The damage is done as far as we're concerned, they've damaged the club, the supporters and our players. We'll just get on with the game now.

"All I said at the time was maybe if Newport were put under a little bit more pressure we would see how they reacted. They hadn't been put under enormous pressure in their Celtic League games up to that point and we saw all the tapes, so that is all I said.

"If people in professional sport take offence to that then they're in the wrong business. To come and insult individuals and the integrity of this club is in my opinion very unprofessional."

But Anderson repeated yesterday, "We're not apologising for anything, I don't think we've done anything wrong."

He tried to make the rumpus a bit more lighthearted, however, when he added, "There's going to be enough on this game without us having a fist fight on the side.

"It was a bit of fun, we've done our fighting, I'm too old for all that! It's up to us to go out and play and do our best."