RFU can’t halt drink trips

ON the day that the RFU extended their contract with Guinness, it has emerged that Twickenham will be doing nothing after a review over complaints from rugby fans about constant interruptions caused by spectators making trips to buy drinks throughout matches.

Closing bars during play has been discounted because there is not enough time during the 10-minute interval for everyone to get served. The RFU don’t like being called commercially rampant, but that’s exactly what they are. A spokeswoman said they will be trialling buying drinks via an app during the autumn internationals and having more drinks sellers in the stands. THE bankrupt Samoan Rugby Union are counting on England to make a contribution to help their financial plight. But World Rugby — who received a £150m surplus from the ‘billion-dollar’ Rugby World Cup in England in 2015 — should be sorting out the crisis. They say they are but are hampered by poor governance on the Pacific island. RATHER than showing remorse in hindsight for quitting international cricket halfway through the last whitewash Ashes series in Australia, Graeme Swann flippantly told a Radio 5 Live documentary that the episode now provided him with good material for his after-dinner speaking act.

The same programme revealed that England’s psychologist had gone home before the first Test in Brisbane when Jonathan Trott’s stress-related problems came to the fore. And despite the importance of the players being in the right frame of mind, the ECB psychologist, David Young, who arrived in Australia this week, will be going home after the first Test before returning for a short stint around the Perth Test on December 14.