You’ve just gotta hand it to Syd

SOMETIMES, even in the most civilised of societies, you just have to let fly with both barrels.

That’s why I have so much admiration for what Syd Miller did a few weeks ago. The Heineken Cup was under threat from the big, greedy, English and French clubs.

Millar is top man at the IRB, the International Rugby Board. Normally what you’d hear from the suited and respectable man in that position would be soft-speak, diplomat talk, as people tried to grease the road to a solution. Not Syd though, not on this occasion.