CHRIS HEWETT

THE Rugby Europe Championship was back up and running this weekend, with the Netherlands facing Russia in Amsterdam, and it will not be long before we know who has earned themselves the right to be smacked by 50 points a game (if they’re lucky) at the World Cup in France in two years’ time.
Assuming the top European qualifying spot goes to the Georgia, who are well ahead of the field at the halfway stage, the honour of sharing a pool with Ireland, Scotland and, joy of joys, South Africa is most likely to fall on Portugal or Romania. The choruses of “can’t wait” must be fil...