France coach Marc Lievremont has opted to stick with the same squad for the clash with Ireland despite fitness fears over Luc Ducalcon, Aurelien Rougerie and Benjamin Fall.

France opened up their RBS Six Nations rugby campaign with an impressive, forward-dominated victory over Scotland at Murrayfield.

Jonny Wilkinson, no more than an occasional rugby player these days but still the player with the most caps from England’s World Cup winning team, has ended his 12-year stay at Newcastle in favour of a two-season deal with Toulon, France… the French club financed by wealthy businessman Mourad Boudjellal.

Wilkinson, still recovering from a knee dislocation from last September, will earn around £750,000 a year playing alongside nine fellow recruits from Premiership and Celtic League sides.

Sébastien Bruno and Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe of Sale, prop Tim Ryan of Munster, Bristol flanker Joe El-Abd, Cardiff centre Jamie Robinson and Kris Chesney with Saracens have already signed up.

If you ever need an excuse to get out of D.I.Y. chores, print this out and leave it lying on the kitchen table…

One day, my friend Steve Cooper was drilling a hole in his living room so he could finally hang a picture that he’d bought about six months previously.

He made a note of the positions of all the sockets and light fittings, picked a spot away from all the wires, and got drilling.

Next thing he knew, there was an explosion of bright blue light, and he was thrown clear across the room. It turns out the electrics in his apartment were a right mess, with wires running all over the place.

Luckily, it propelled him away from the current, and his only injuries were minor burns to his hands.

But he swears something else happened to him that, at the time, seemed most unlikely…