Anyone found guilty of encouraging a player in a deliberate deceit – and in the professional era it is not cynical

Anyone found guilty of encouraging a player in a deliberate deceit – and in the professional era it is not cynical to imagine that a player might resort to that with so much pecuniary reward at stake – could even be banned from the game.But any ban or loss of earnings to a player in a case where that player has been misled by officials flirts with legal wranglings, a road down which the IB most certainly does not want to be dragged.But since the board insist they cannot police their own regulations – an abdication of responsibility since the unions have shown in two cases so far, that they are not competent to enforce the regulations – it is the unions who face the toughest sanctions. They could be banned for a specified number of matches, be required to play a match or matches behind closed doors, thus losing revenue, replay or forfeit matches, lose points, expelled from a tournament and suspended or expelled from the board.It does look as if the board will be above question and beyond reproach, especially since they announced member unions will be asked to confirm the eligibility of capped players at senior and A level who have played from 1 January 2000.That convenient date very neatly sidesteps the issue of the Rugby World Cup, which is the IB’s baby. It means that they will not be answerable for situations where the Bachop brothers Stephen and Graeme played against each other for Samoa and Japan respectively, both having previously been capped by New Zealand.The tournament’s most startling statistic was that there were more New Zealand-born players playing for other countries (35) than there were in the All Blacks squad (28 out of 30).Eligibility was not the only topic covered. It was announced the next World Cup will retain the 20-team format but the opening round would be streamlined. “The preference is for four pools only so there are no quarter-final play-offs,” Vernon Pugh, re-elected as chairman, said. Pugh said the final decision on the format was likely to be taken in October.It was also suggested that the tournament would not again be spread across five countries.

Asked whether England had applied to be hosts in 2007, Pugh said there had been informal expressions of interest from both the English and the French. However, he noted that a decision on that tournament was not due until 2002.. Tony Diprose was shunted over the Scotland line two minutes into injury-time to score the winning try in this exciting and always unpredictable A international at Goldenacre last night. Tony Diprose was shunted over the Scotland line two minutes into injury-time to score the winning try in this exciting and always unpredictable A international at Goldenacre last night.
To some extent Scotland had only themselves to blame, as they had Don Mackinnon yellow carded for persistent infringing as England laid siege to their line in a desperate attempt to save something from their lacklustre season. But though they were profligate to squander a 15-point lead, England never gave up, even when the Scots had built towards a thunderous finish and twice stolen the lead.With Ireland having taken the title on Friday evening by beating Wales at Donnybrook, the best either of these teams could hope for would be to finish as runners-up.

To do so, England needed to win by 27 points, while Scotland required a winning margin of 29.England made a sparkling start and their enterprise was rewarded when Spencer Brown latched on to a well-judged chip by Paul Grayson to cross in the left corner. Grayson then added a penalty before Chris Catling jinked his way through some disbelieving Scottish defence to send Brown over for his second try. Grayson converted and England were looking full value for their 15-point advantage built up in just 13 minutes.The Scots, however, were far from downcast, and hit back with a try from a line-out by Iain Fullarton, who had replaced the injured Andy Lucking. Mark McKenzie converted and exchanged penalties with Grayson before Craig Joiner grabbed Scotland’s second touchdown with a neat piece of opportunism. McKenzie converted, so the Scots were able to turn round just a point adrift at 17-18.By then, England were reduced to 13 men as David Flatman and Danny Grewcock were sent to the sin-bin for fighting, along with the Scotland lock Stewart Campbell. McKenzie and Grayson continued to swap penalties with the England captain keeping his side in front.

But the Scots were building towards a grandstand finish and their hooker Steve Scott brought it to the boil with a try. Grayson banged over another penalty to put England back in the lead. McKenzie replied in kind, then David Officer dropped what seemed the winning goal which made it 31-27, before Diprose’s killer blow.Scotland A: D Lee (Edinburgh Reivers); C Joiner (Leicester), D Officer (Harlequins), R Shepherd (Glasgow Caledonians), A Murdoch (Bedford); M McKenzie (Bourgoin-Jallieu), G Beveridge (Glasgow Caledonians); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh Reivers), S Scott, B Stewart (both Edinburgh Reivers), S Campbell (Glasgow Caledonians), A Lucking, C Mather (Both Edinburgh Reivers), S Holmes (capt), D Mackinnon (both Northampton). Replacements: M Proudfoot (Edinburgh Reivers) for B Stewart, 69; I Fullarton (Edinburgh Reivers) for Lucking 14; K Milligan (Edinburgh Reivers) for Joiner 52.England A: C Catling (Gloucester); L Botham (Cardiff), F Waters, M Denney (both Wasps), S Brown (Bristol); P Grayson (Northampton, capt), S Benton (Leeds); D Flatman (Saracens), A Long (Bath), J White (Saracens), M Cornwell (Gloucester), D Grewcock (Saracens), R Winters (Bedford), A Gardiner (Bath), T Diprose (Saracens).

Replacements: G Chuter (Saracens) for Long, 70; W Green (Wasps) for White, 32-38, for Holmes, 39-49; E Pearce (Gloucester) for Winters, 70; M Wood (Wasps) for Benton, 56Referee: C Giacomel (Italy).. If Margaret Thatcher had introduced the Poll Tax in Surrey instead of Scotland, the SNP would be nothing more than the political wing of the White Heather Club, Braveheart would have won the Oscar for the Best Comedy on the basis that it is to history what Brett Sinkinson’s agent is to geography, and David Sole’s slow march at Murrayfield in 1990 would have been seen as an act of deference to the Auld Enemy, not defiance. If Margaret Thatcher had introduced the Poll Tax in Surrey instead of Scotland, the SNP would be nothing more than the political wing of the White Heather Club, Braveheart would have won the Oscar for the Best Comedy on the basis that it is to history what Brett Sinkinson’s agent is to geography, and David Sole’s slow march at Murrayfield in 1990 would have been seen as an act of deference to the Auld Enemy, not defiance.
The sheer effrontery of that action did incalculable damage to England. Geoff Cooke, England’s coach 10 years ago, has always maintained that the two most useless words in the English language are “if only”. But how often have the players who took part in that defeat repeated them since? If only they hadn’t watched the video of Scotland’s struggle to beat a poor Welsh side in the previous match; if only they hadn’t set up base camp in Peebles, where they were unaware of the intensity of the feeling building up in Edinburgh. If only they had kicked their penalties in the first half; if only the communication between forwards and backs amidst the deafening clamour from the stands had been better; and, the biggest “if only” of them all – if only Mike Teague hadn’t knocked on at the base of the English scrum.Seldom in sporting history has a single seemingly insignificant mistake had such profound consequences.