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

It was back in February 2009 that a few of us trooped up to Ipswich early one February morning for the unveiling of a commemorative statue to Alexander Obolensky, the dashing England wing of noble Russian ancestry who scored two brilliant tries against New Zealand but alas died an early death in World War 2.
Myself and a few journalistic colleagues had been putting our shoulders to the wheel supporting a fund raising effort with his surviving family and with a timely contribution from Roman Abramovich an...