SIMON Shaw believes the Heineken Cup could be the place for Wasps to play their best rugby.

Wasps’ brand of running rugby has been cut down at the knees by the ELVs, but Shaw hopes different interpretations by foreign referees could give them more freedom.

He said: “Perhaps the French and Irish referees are interpreting the laws a little bit differently to the Guiness Premiership.

“But I hope all referees become a bit more aware of how it’s affecting the game and give the benefit of the doubt to the attacking team rather than just giving penalties because they need to tick boxes in the performance report at the end of the game.”

Shaw also suggests that some of Wasps’ problems this season might be self-inflicted.

He said: “We read into the new rules a bit too much perhaps, and got carried away with it and forgot what used to win us games in the past.

“But I don’t think that much has changed really.

“The referees do seem to be giving more penalties against the side taking the ball into contact, that means playing with the ball in your own half is a risky business, which we found to our cost.

“But there’s no point getting too negative about the rules. You’ve got to adapt to them and we’re starting to do that.”