The European Champions’ Cup emerges from hibernation next week offering a ray of sunshine for those Irish players hung out to dry after the deluge and days of cascading criticism.

It was a lethal gadget right out of a James Bond movie: Remote-controlled gun barrels rigged behind the rear license plate of a car that spray bullets at an unsuspecting target.

THE meal that poisoned a group of senior All Blacks before the 1995 Rugby World Cup final was eaten at a restaurant outside the team hotel, a hotel executive has claimed.