The only elite shield and cups in world rugby worth a damn are the Ranfurly Shield, Calcutta Cup, Bledisloe Cup, and Currie Cup. Nothing else matters, just the honour of winning a Test match.
Them All-Blacks, while likely hard bet, are a despicable shower of cunts.
I’ll exclude Carter, who’s a footballer, a team that includes Nonu, McCaw (a cheating if ingenious bastard) and that sub hooker Meelamu bear all the similiarities of Tyrone teams under Mickey Harte…
I wonder did Mads cry the day he missed the injury time penalty from in front of the posts which condemned Blackrock College to a 14-13 quarter final defeat to Kilkenny College in the 2007 Leinster Schools Senior Cup.
He stood up in front of the school and apologised to his teammates and school for letting them all down.
I remember how all of Leinster laughed at the brash and cocky Rock boy for pissing his pants on the biggest stage. The evil Blackrock College side with their big money purchase Jason Harris Wright from the ghetto of Bray bought to guarantee another medal. We were sure we would never hear of Ian Madigan again.
How wrong we were . Two years later I saw Ian Madigan land a penalty with the last kick vs. France in the under 20s Six Nations Championship to win the game. Two weeks after that in injury time he hit a 45 metre drop goal in injury time to beat England. Nerves of steel.
His mental strength is incredible, schools rugby prepares you for challenges of life like nothing else.