Police call time on the craic

Much more of this and the army of Irish supporters who descend on London for the biennial fixture will decrease to a trickle. Bad enough that today's appetisers at under-21 and A levels have been moved to Banbury and Northampton - grossly inconveniencing the visiting supporters, management and, er, media - but worse still is a post-match drinking ban within Twickenham after tomorrow's main course.

The Metropolitan Police, no doubt to the glee of the local community, introduced a similar ban on alcohol being sold after the full-time whistle during some of Twickenham's World Cup games, ostensibly for "midweek traffic" reasons. Now they've extended the ban.

The RFU have vowed to contest this decision in the courts for future Six Nations' games at Twickenham, albeit a little after the call for last orders, but for tomorrow at any rate the craic - always a fail-safe alternative in the event of a stinker - will be negligible in Twickers.