Leonard offers to swop places with Jenkins

Jason Leonard has thrown down the gauntlet to Neil Jenkins ahead of their ‘Battle of the Centurions’ match at the Millennium Stadium on Sunday.

Leonard has invited the former Wales outside half to play in the front row for 10 minutes.

Leonard, the world’s leading cap holder with 114 appearances for England, has offered to play at number 10 while Jenkins experiences life in the scrum.

But the invitation is on which Jenkins is unlikely to take up.

“I’ve spent most of my rugby life trying to get out of the way of forwards so I don’t think I’ll be spending time in my last game in the front row,” said Jenkins.

“It’s a nice try by Jason, but I’m going to stay with the backs.

“It promises to be a fantastic day out for everyone – the players, their families and the fans – and both Jason and I are delighted that we’ll be bowing out in front of such a good sized crowd.

"The last figure I heard was that they had sold 18,000 tickets and hopefully a few more will turn up on the day.”

“I noticed that Jason got in the mood last weekend at Twickenham when he scored one of the tries in the Barbarians’ victory over an England XV and I’m sure he will want to grab a few more on Sunday. After all, props don’t get many in their career.”

There will also be a match between between Llantwit Fardre and Barking, the two clubs at which Jenkins and Leonard started their careers.