Comments on: The Golden Greats in the Centurians Club

By: Greg Russell

Greg Russell — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 11:23:23 +0000

Apologies, Rusty. National stereotyping always gets one in trouble. It should be clear from our previous discussion that Knives and I find a common “plane of reason” with you.

By: Knives Out

Knives Out — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:22:06 +0000

Mr. Russell,

I think Lions caps should not be included. As you point out, it isn’t quite cricket, eh. Having said that, I think I’ve just changed my mind as I type. SH players are given caps for appearances against the Lions and France tour during that period so I say keep ‘em in.

–

Rusty,

Leonard actually gave an end-of-season talk at my local rugby club. Lovely man. He then came out for drinks at our local pub a few days later completely of his own accord. Very genuine, and perhaps the fact that he crossed both eras has something to do with that overwhelming desire to socialise.

By: Rusty

Rusty — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 07:50:13 +0000

oops a few Boags down the track already “of their” = “off their”

By: Rusty

Rusty — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 07:49:19 +0000

Great article KO – of the lot Jason Leonard was my favourite. I loved the fact he had such character and played in the true spirit of the game – hard but fair and loved to socialise after. Perhaps my fondest memory will be him scoring a try for the Barbarians at Twickers as they beat England after Clive had left him out of the latest squad. His grin like a giant middle finger

Greg – Unnecessary dig I might add, you might stir people of their “plane of reason” . I have read the Laidlaw article but only just. Probably head out for a beer to find my own “plane of reason” and comment later. Please excuse typos in advance.

By: Greg Russell

Greg Russell — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:48:20 +0000

Knives, thanks for the article, and re Gregan, please see my comment with Chris Laidlaw’s article today, and also a second comment mentioning your mention of the bookies …

… I’m disappointed that our South African friends have not continued the “discussion” … perhaps they are too mystified by my notion that you and I try to write on rugby from a plane of reason rather than emotion.

Re the above, I still haven’t solved whether Leonard should be regarded as having 114 or 119 caps. Caps are awarded for Lions matches, but on the other hand they do not count for world rankings. Players like Pelous have no access to Lions caps (a reason against), but on the other hand one can argue that if the Lions tours had not occurred, then Leonard would have notched caps on tours at the same time by England.

There is a similar issue in cricket with players who have turned out for the ICC World XI – should those performances be counted in career statistics? (Currently they are.)

By: Ben J

Ben J — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:21:58 +0000

Percy will be remembered as having 2 rugby lives, the first as being a bit, shall we say, unpredictable and flashy with the white boots and bleached hair and the second after his stint in Wales. He came back as a much more focused individual and in the best form of his life winning a World Cup in the process.

By: sheek

sheek — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:22:46 +0000

A great irony is that Percy Montgomery was a South African. With a moniker like that he ought to have been an Englishman through & through. They don’t come more English than ‘Percy’ & ‘Montgomery’.

But then, Nasser Hussein was an English cricket captain, old chum! What’s the world coming to?