Leicester Tigers

Ok – I know this is a bit sacrilegious and I’m going to upset a lot of people and, of course, ‘Smoke on the Water’ was one of Deep Purple’s greatest hits and, yes, it still brings a lump to my throat whenever it heralds the arrival of the greatest rugby team the world has ever…you know the rest…but…...

I've now reached the age where it's pills, not stairs, I take two at a time and I can remember when the only thing you needed for safe sex was a padded headboard. What was the question? Oh yes - my first trip to Welford Road was around the early 60's for the annual Baa-Baas game just after Christmas...

Bless him - my old Dad played for the Tigers just after the war. Like Manu, he wore 'M' on his shirt; like Manu he was 6' tall. Unlike Manu, he never got much above 11 stone. That's 6 stone less than Manu - or half a human being in old money. So - for 'M', my heart says Dad, my head says Manu!

The intent was clearly to incapacitate and it could well have been a career-threatening injury. The penalty should reflect that.