New correspondent joins Ball Street as Woodhead calls for Samoan aid

Brisbane. 4th November 2003.

England coach Clive Woodhead has called for the £10 fine levied on his team to be given to cash-strapped Samoa. Woodhead's side was hit with the hefty fine after briefly fielding 16 players in their 35-22 win over the Islanders. Samoa won the crowd if not the match with some superb attacking play, while England struggled with their handling, ball retention, general positioning, and er, rugby.

"I hope the International Rugby Board hands over all of the £10 to the Samoan Rugby Union, because I think they deserve it more than any other team I have seen here so far," said Woodhead. "Particularly as many of their best players were prevented from entering the World Cup by inflexible English contracts".

England's penalty was handed out after wing Dan Luger played for an entire thirty four thousand milliseconds while Mike Tindall, the player he was replacing, was still receiving treatment on the field.

Woodhead went on to add "This money will no doubt go a long way to raising the standard of living in Samoa. Perhaps in our next game [against Wales] we will field two extra players and through a double fine we can improve conditions there too. Everyone should be able to afford Nike shirts for their team."

The Samoan captain commented on the whole affair "The truth is, we had them on the run and to cry wolf now would make it look like we were unhappy with our performance, or even further from the truth, that England were actually on top of the game".

On the issue of a pitchside ban for England's fitness coach, Dave Reddin, Brian McBrian, International Rugby Board's judicial officer said "There were a range of mitigating circumstances, including a clean record, character evidence, a clean drugs test and an apology. We therefore decided to delve deeper as no member of an England national team could possibly fit this description."

Editor's Note: Welcome to John Matthew as new correspondent. Your Journal needs you!

Posted by Full Back Ache at November 4, 2003 05:20 PM