CHRIS HEWETT

GUEST COLUMNIST
You did not need to be Inspector Maigret to work out that Agen were up to no good. When a player stopped dead with the line at his mercy, spun 108 degrees with a broad grin on his face and gently lobbed the ball to an opponent, purity of motive was obviously in short supply.
The Frenchmen were found guilty of “contriving to achieve a particular result” - throwing a game, in layman’s language - after losing 59-10 to Ebbw Vale in a second-tier European fixture in 2002. Knowing that the concession of eight tries would spare them the hassle of re...