NEVER in the once troubled conflict between the codes can anyone have made life so uncomfortably hot for the RFU and WRU than a plumbing and heating engineer from Merseyside by the name of Dougie Laughton. After a distinguished playing career made all the more so by his membership of the last Great Britain team to win an Ashes series against Australia, Laughton, left, as coach of home-town Widnes, made arguably the two most spectacular Union signings of all time: Jonathan Davies from Llanelli, Martin Offiah from Rosslyn Park.
A shrewd businessman who also knew the value of publicity, ...