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Irish rugby fans have been locked in a love/ hate relationship with Sunday Times rugby columnist Stephen Jones for the past decade. Today’s piece, “Gruesome footage left Quins no defence” may be the subject of the majority of letters to the editor next week.
The High Priest of rugby journalism, in a piece about exclusive footage of the Tom Williams incident, takes yet another pop at the European champions.
He writes that “it is also an irony, given the publicity surrounding various forms of alleged cheating, that in a Heineken Cup Pool game against Wasps in January, which had been played at Twickenham across the road from the Stoop, Leinster had been accused of sharp practice when their props started disappearing from the field and the scrums, which had been dominated by Wasps, were made uncontested.”
This is the same Wasps side that asked for uncontested scrums in a Guinness Premiership match against Leicester on 26th October 2008 prompting the Sunday Telegraph’s Paul Ackford to write “Cheats? That was the allegation chanted by a large chunk of the Leicester crowd when Wasps prop Pat Barnard (hamstring) was replaced by hooker Damien Varley in the 64th minute to force uncontested scrums.”
As for the assertion that “Quins had had enough of the game to have won easily”, well Stephen “if my aunt had … she’d be my uncle.”
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.