Brian Moore: Wales need Gavin Henson and Andy Powell – but they should grow up or go away
After one England v Scotland game at Twickenham I went out to the Alma in Wandsworth with some of my England colleagues and a Scottish friend. As we drank quietly, a Scot walked past our group on his way to the bar and out of the corner of his mouth said, ‘Moore, you’re a —-’. He did the same on his return. 
Image 1 of 2 Happier days: Gavin Henson (right) enjoys a laugh with Jonny Wilkinson at Toulon Photo: AP 
Image 1 of 2 Troubled times: Wasps have yet to decide whether or not to terminate Andy Powell’s contract after a bar fight Photo: PA
I thought about it, looked at him and then turned away. My Scottish mate, a former Glaswegian doorman, wanted to rip his head off. I tried to calm him down by pointing out that the guy had nothing to lose whereas we, I, would make the papers for getting into a pub brawl. We left the pub because that was the only way to avoid trouble.
I was also aware that a few years earlier I had got into serious trouble in a Nottingham pub when, after the third time a drunk had had a go at me, I, wrongly, punched him and ended up with a conviction for assault. I know how trouble, that you do not start, can happen; I also know the starkly different outcomes that flow from how it is handled.
It may sound hypocritical in the light of this and against the old-school background of rugby drinking to address any words to Messrs Henson and Powell, now called by the Welsh Rugby Union to account for their latest misdemeanours. It is not, because there are important distinctions.
We are not talking about then, we are talking about now and, as many are keen to remind us, rugby has moved on. It was played by us as a pastime; a serious one to be sure, but nevertheless, it was not our job. We didn’t accept large sums of cash for being professional athletes. Every bystander did not then have the means to capture any incident on camera or, which is even more incriminating, on video. There was no 24-hour news and the internet, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook did not exist; it was not possible for a story to become national, possibly global, within a few hours.
Standards are different today, but then so are the rewards. When you are paid approximately half the national average annual wage for one international, we can demand different standards and if players don’t like it, they don’t have to play.
Similar Posts:
- Leicester take no pleasure from draw with Gloucester
- Irish Rugby Supporters Survey 2011…
- Danny Cipriani ‘stood down’ from Melbourne Rebels selection after breaching team protocol
- SRU chairman Sir Moir Lockhead vows to increase flagging attendances in Scottish rugby
- Leicester Tigers coach Richard Cockerill angry over claims he insulted referee during win over Northampton Saints
