.
Not far off...
"Once upon a time, rugby was a game of contact and evasion; on Saturday, it was attritional brutality, poisonous stuff, with not a single ounce of love lost."
When exactly??
Sentimental horseshit. Even international matches used to frequently descend into horrendous mudbath-based slugfests.
Here's a clip from the 1963 Ireland v England match:
Stalemate as Ireland and England play out a scoreless draw at Lansdowne Road.
www.rte.ie
Love how close the crowd are to the pitch.
It finished nil all....