WHAT GOES ON TOUR…

WAYNE BARNES, the most-capped Test referee, wasn’t popular with Saints fans at the 2013 Premiership final after he sent off Dylan Hartley for calling him a “f****** cheat”. Leicester won and after the final whistle, Barnes was keen to keep a low profile…

Barneswrites: It happened to be my stag do that weekend and I was meeting my mates in a box in the North Stand. I asked security if they could smuggle me up there via a back passage and when I reached the box, there was a sign on the door that read Guestsof WayneBarnes. That explained why there were loads of Northampton fans milling about looking angry.

As I walked in, a big cheer went up and one of my mates shouted, “Here comes the f****** cheat!”

Cue uproarious laughter. Oh great, I thought, thisisallIneed…

My mates wanted to dress me up in my most garish West

Country gear. “I can’t be seen in fancy dress,” I told them, “not after what’s just happened.”

So they stuck a coat over me, dragged me across the car park and bundled me onto a minibus, like I was a serial killer from the 1970s being whisked off to prison.

They then wound masking tape around my head, chest and legs to keep me in my seat, before taping a bottle of White Lightning to each hand and informing me we were off on a West Country cider tour. My nickname from then on was ‘Edward Cider Hands’ and I wasn’t allowed to stop for a piss until I’d drunk it all.

There has been no stranger post-match rehydration routine.

■ From Wayne Barnes: Throwing the Book, pubConstable,RRP£25