BRAD Thorn, who won a World Cup with New Zealand more than a decade after trousering an Australian Sports Medal for his services to the “other game” in the “other country”, spent 22 seasons as a professional player across the two codes and could be spotted trundling around the rectangular mudheaps of the Premiership some months after his 40th birthday.
By comparison, Jimmy Gopperth of Wasps is a mere stripling at 37. If the Wasps midfielder calls it a day any time soon, it will be a dereliction of duty.
But that is for him to decide. What we are in a position to say ...