Warburton had death threat in 2011
Former Wales and British and Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton has revealed he received a death threat following his red card in the 2011 World Cup semifinal at Eden Park.
Warburton, then 23, was skippering Wales for the first time at a World Cup and his tournament ended on a sour note when he was sent off early in their 9-8 semifinal defeat to France in Auckland.
The flanker was dismissed for a dangerous tip tackle on French winger Vincent Clerc and France would progress to the final to face the All Blacks, who won 8-7 to become world champions for the second time.
Warburton, who retired in June at the age of 29 for health reasons, was widely supported in Wales following the incident but he would receive a threatening letter.
‘‘I got a death threat sent to the house,’’ Warburton told a BBC podcast. ‘‘Well, they sent it to the [Cardiff] Blues and they obviously didn’t know what was in it.
‘‘People write to the WRU [Welsh Rugby Union] or the Blues because they know the address, and then the Blues might send you an elastic bands worth of about 10 letters.
‘‘I opened up one and there were skulls and coffins on it, there were drawings saying [what would happen] if I ever went out of the house.
‘‘It was so over the top that I thought it was a bit of a joke and it didn’t bother me. But that was the only bad thing I got.’’
He averaged 71 with the bat in test cricket last season, and last week hit his highest firstclass score, but Trent Boult wants to keep the Black Caps’ No 11 spot his own.
It might look laugh-a-minute stuff, what with his flamboyant movement around the crease and creative shot selection, but the country’s premier fast bowler – who became a father earlier this month after the arrival of a baby boy – has developed a knack of making contributions with the willow.
No better case in point was last summer, with Boult’s cameos in his three test digs of importance considering the situations.
Against the West Indies in Wellington his 18 not out off 60 balls helped debutant Tom Blundell to a hundred, the pair adding an unbroken 78 for the last wicket, allowing a declaration at 520-9 and paving the way for an innings and 67-run victory.
Then in Hamilton Boult teamed with Tim Southee for another demoralising 61-run 10th-wicket stand, this time hitting an unbeaten 37 off 27, as New Zealand won by 240 runs.
Even his 16 in the draw against England in Christchurch saw Boult and Neil Wagner add 39 for the last wicket to see the
‘‘If I start moving up the order I’ll start thinking that I can bat better than I can, and that will probably be my downfall.’’ Trent Boult
hosts trail only by 29, before Wagner and Ish Sodhi’s last-day heroics emphasised just what say the tail can have, as the Black Caps secured a series win.
Now, following an off-season where he faced just two balls in his Indian Premier League campaign with the Delhi Daredevils, Boult was back in the whites for Northern Districts in their Plunket Shield opener against Otago in Mt Maunganui last week, and the 29-year-old was back to his unorthodox and effective best with the bat.
With Otago rolled for 108, ND had crashed to 59-8. Enter Boult, who clobbered six fours and five sixes in making 61 off 37 ball. It beat his previous best first-class score, of 52 not out against Bangladesh in 2013, and got the hosts to 136, which led to an eight-wicket triumph.
All this betterment with the bat is enough to float thoughts of a promotion in the Black Caps’ order, in a summer where new