Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the kitchen, along comes the rugby authorities to deliver what are either master strokes that will save our sport, or yet another set of nails in the coffin of our glorious game.
For some time now there has been a conspiracy theory doing the rounds that the Dublin O’Mafia resident at World Rugby’s headquarters have been trying to cut the number of players and make the game more like rugby league with a view to an amalgamation of the two sports – bastardisation, I would call it.
Then came the astonishing announcement at the weekend that the Welsh Rugby Union are going to allow clubs to compete with as few as 12 players on each side – not the professional clubs, of course, but down the leagues where there is a perceived problem of fixtures not being fulfilled.
