It’s not easy to carpet Martin

IT WAS at the end of a pretty long chat when yours truly finally took a deep breath and asked the question that had hung over the conversation like a persistent storm cloud.

Martin Johnson was the interview subject, and despite a discrepancy between us of about seven inches, and four stone — not to the journalist’s advantage — the matter still had to be raised.

“What were you thinking of when you made the President of Ireland walk through the mud in Lansdowne Road back in 2003?”