CHRIS HEWETT
THINKING ALLOWED

THE governing bodies of the union game are not renowned for their speed off the mark – the average tectonic plate has more fast-twitch muscle fibres than you are likely to find in the committee rooms of Twickenham – but over a period best measured by geologists, the sport has changed for the better.
Remember the rank chicanery of “shamateurism”? For those of a certain age, it is a difficult thing to forget. How about the tin-eared determination of the top brass to maintain sporting links with apartheid South Africa, even aft...