The world-beating Place-Name XV
(Complaints over any glaring omissions will be promptly noted and passed on for due consideration).
15. Andrew LEEDS (Australia)
14. Zac GUILDFORD (New Zealand).
13. Nick PRESTON (England)
12. Scott HASTINGS (Scotland)
11. Alan MORLEY (England)
10. Paul HULL (England)
9. Jon PRESTON (New Zealand)
1. Ben DARWIN (Australia)
2. Matt CAIRNS (England)
3. Mike BURTON (England)
4. Jack MANCHESTER (New Zealand)
5. William WAKEFIELD (England)
6. Ronnie GLASGOW (Scotland)
7. David PICKERING (Wales)
8. Tommy BEDFORD (South Africa)
Coach: Stuart LANCASTER (England)
Assistant: Crocodile DUNDEE (Australia)
THE sight of Denzel Dumfries winning successive matches at the Euros in the orange of Holland rather than the navy blue of Scotland posed an immediate challenge.
If the Dutch could pick a likely lad whose surname is synonymous with a border town also known as the Queen of the South, could rugby not pool its resources and rustle up a whole team identified with cities and towns from near and far?
Every one of those chosen was born in the country he represented, as was Dumfries, in Rotterdam 25 years ago.
The selectors took a ruthless approach, so much so that two most worthy candi-dates failed to make the cut for purely pedantic reasons.
Mick Galwey, of Munster and Ireland, had to be sacrificed because the nit-pickers refused to accept a single misplaced vowel. Dan Scarbrough, of Leeds, Saracens and England, suffered the same fate, in his case because of one vowel too few.
Despite that, the final selection has a distinct White Rose flavour with Yorkshire names accounting for one third of the team. For variety's sake, room could be made for only one Hastings and yet there are two Prestons which goes to show that the selectors looked at the town as a whole, not just the North End.
