Our English charioteers boring and arrogant? Just banter, innit?
IF YOU ASK ME:Commentating on the Baa-Baas versus the All Blacks classic in 1973, as the likes of Slattery, Williams, Edwards, Bennett and Gibson were being chair-lifted off the pitch, the Welsh maestro Cliff Morgan, choking with emotion, exclaimed, "Let me not say a word now as we look at some of the greatest players of the decade, indeed of all time".
You couldn't argue with him and neither could you argue had the same comment been made about the boy O'Driscoll 40 years later in the same city last Saturday. In fact it appears freakishly like he's getting better, which frankly is bordering on indecent. Imagine how good he could've been had he gone to St Michael's. Relax, 'Rock boys, I'm only pulling your chinos.
There's something more satisfying about Ireland beating Wales than almost any other country. Maybe it's a throwback to decades of agony, watching in horror as Dick Spring-types gallantly lined out for Ireland and Wales gallantly beat the bejaysus out of us.
We're well used to beating England at this stage (bar the blip last year) so it doesn't really have the same thrill any more.
All the verbal jousting, the slagging, the digs that Stuart Lancaster looks like an alien programmed by dark forces, that Owen Farrell is a One Direction reject, that their most dangerous player is actually Samoan, it's verging on boring.
Now that's fighting talk, says you.
Former Lions and Scotland coach Jim Telfer must be a bit bored himself. Coming out (so to speak) recently and accusing the English of . . . wait for it . . . arrogance. How did he come up with that one?
Tagged as arrogant
Leicester prop Dan Cole reacted by saying he was bored with England being tagged as arrogant. Now I'm not certain, but I believe the adage goes "If you're bored, you're boring". So what does that make Dan? Boring and arrogant?
Just a week into the tournament and already there's an outstanding candidate for the Six Nations Most Silly Comment Competition. Taking over "Sitting Bull" Hook's throne (a precarious spot if ever there was one), RTÉ's Donal Lenihan made an immediate impact with his ill-fated pre-match assertion that Italy outhalf Luciano Orquera was "simply not international standard".
And what did the boy Orquera go and do on him? Well he only scythed through the French defence to set up the first try for his captain, converted it, dropped a goal, slotted a couple of penalties, brilliantly gave the scoring pass for his team's decisive second try and won man of the match. D'oh!
