Lewis Moody, born with green red and white blood seemingly pulsating through his veins, was told by Leicester Tigers that his days were numbered and promptly bucked the trend of heading across the channel for a bumper pay day, instead packing his bags for Bath.
Then there was Haskell-gate. Stade Francais told him to come back, Martin Johnson told him to stay put and, for once, James Haskell remained quiet as a church mouse. Even his Twitter account went eerily dormant. While he was locked away in his Pennyhill Park hotel room, Stade lost 29-0 in front of 80,000 of their fellow Parisians. Ouch.
In other news, the Guinness Premiership chairmen put their heads together and opted to appoint a salary cap manager. Given the coy silences and sly grins that usually greet questions about the rigidity of some clubs' adherence to the £4million ceiling, it smacked of the turkeys voting for Christmas.
And then lil' ol' Leeds Carnegie went and strung two wins in a row together, following up their defeat of Wasps with a humbling of Saracens. Their South-African-cum-England Saxon flanker Hendrie Fourie's current form suggests Lewis Moody could be spending a lot more time with his new club next season than in the England camp.
In a season sadly lacking in colour, the last seven days have had plenty, but fear not. England travel to Murrayfield this weekend and unless there has been a serious overhaul of the gameplan, Martin Johnson's men will produce another dour display. It might still be enough to squash Scotland, who, save for 70 minutes against Wales, have been worse than average.
It doesn't promise to be a classic encounter in what has by no means been a classic Six Nations, but perhaps that's why we can at least hope to expect more from the game. Neither side can win either of the meaningful trophies available to them at the start of this championship, so you would think they'd take the opportunity to have a go at one another.
The trouble is you suspect Martin Johnson is more the sort who, rather than be stung into change by the welter of criticism that has come his way, will stick to his guns more stoutly than ever. In his own short tenure in the England hot seat, Andy Robinson was similarly stoic in the face of calls for a change in approach.
So it will be a surprise if much of the action in Edinburgh has us on the edge of our seats and, much like the last week in rugby, it would give us something different to talk about.
It's unlikely, granted, but stranger things have happened.
READ DANNY COYLE EVERY TUESDAY AT RUGBY.CO.UK
Date published :
09 Mar 201008:25:38
