RUGBY MATTERS
A weekly look at the game’s other talking points
BRENDAN GALLAGHER

IT’S 2024 – a belated Happy New Year by the way – so prepare yourself for lots of 50th anniversary celebrations, articles and books concerning the 1974 Lions, probably the greatest ever rugby team sent from these shores.
It will be no hardship and this column will enthusiastically join the fun as the year progresses and, by way of a little hors d’oeuvre with this year’s tournament hoving into view, let’s look at what was happening in the Five Nations in the two seasons prior to their departure, the seething ...