All Blacks’ 2011 hero Stephen Donald labelled ‘worst World Cup winner ever’

There will be four tours of Rugby School per day during the Rugby World Cup, and the town has been singled out to host a Rugby World Cup Fan Zone.

That is the romantic version anyway and, whether Webb Ellis knew exactly what he’s started or not, is why no visit to this year’s World Cup would be complete without spending a little time in the sport’s spiritual home.

It is something which has also been condemned by the man who captained Scotland to a famous Grand Slam victory over England in 1990.

Whilst he is not a first-teamer, the scrum half will have learnt a lot from New Zealander Aaron Smith. “It is always nice to hear them and see the team being galvanised”.

The motion, raised by the SNP’s Hannah Bardell, MP for Livingston, sets out to condemn the bagpipe ban, and goes on to state that the House of Commons “recognises that bagpipes are not dangerous; stresses the importance of cultural identity associated with bagpipes for Scots, in the UK and around the world; and acknowledges that bagpipes are often played in formal ceremonies”.

The terms and conditions of purchasing a ticket to the tournament list a number of items banned from the venues.

In all, there are only 15 Fan Zones spread around the country during the tournament, with Bristol, a city of just under 500,000 people with a rugby team that has previously been in the Premiership and boasts former international talent such as Dwayne Peel, Gavin Henson, Tom Varndell and David Lemi, missing out.

“We hope that after this brilliant weekend people of all ages will be inspired to get involved in rugby”.

“Matches could last six or seven days, no games clothes, you just played in jackets, waistcoats, breeches and boots…it was fairly fluid shall we say”. “It is something to be applauded and encouraged, not taken away”.

Let’s not forget, for all the talk of England, it is Ireland who have won two successive Six Nations titles under the revitalising coaching of Joe Schmidt and they are second in the world rankings for the first time in their history. Going from the chanter to the pipes takes a lot of concentration which is really important.

But they have reached a final before without ever being near their best in 2007 and will be mindful of the effect the vociferous Twickenham crowd can not only have on raising their own game but potentially stifling the opposition, too.

“The bagpipes are integral to our game”.

It still rankles the team, too, and understandably so as they were deprived of their totem for an offence which, ordinarily, may only perhaps have seen a yellow card brandished.

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