A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME

JEFF PROBYN

Banned from playing: Faf de Klerk had to watch the Springboks play England from the Twickenham stand
PICTURE: Getty Images

Colin Boag’s article last week was right, we should raise a glass to the owners who stepped in to save a number of clubs from bankruptcy as they sought to guard their position at the elite end of the sport when the game went professional.
Who knows what could have happened if they had not stepped in, or if the RFU had taken action against Newcastle when Sir John Hall broke the RFU one-year moratorium on professionalism...