Beauty and the beast

I WAS sad to see my old mate Gennaro Gattuso in trouble this week.

We go back a long way, me and Rino, forming an immediate and lasting bond on the first occasion we met, which was just after Italy and Bulgaria had shared the points in their opening World Cup qualifier in Sofia in 2008.

With a view to spying on Ireland’s main group opponents, myself and two colleagues had flown out to the Bulgarian capital for the game and, after the match, decided to split our forces in the mix zone, the better to maximise our chances of getting those all important ‘nanny goats’ from the English-speaking players on both sides.