Any team that goes to Paris and comes home with a Grand Slam deserves respect.
Eddie Jones’ England team did just that on Saturday night, overcoming 13 years of bad luck and bad teams to claim a 31-21 win at the Stade de France.
Full-back Mike Brown was excellent once more but somehow has not been short-listed for player of the tournament. If he had been nominated he may not have won too many votes in Ireland after the incident where his foot came into contact with Conor Murray’s head a few times.
Brown is a hell of a player though and it was nice to see him celebrating in Paris with his father, also Mike.
As he explained in an interview three years ago, it isn’t easy for his Dad, who has multiple sclerosis, to make it to games.
“Dad struggles to get around these days,” Brown told the Mail on Sunday. “He doesn’t get to rugby games much any more because it’s hard on my stepmum to push him around all day.
“I remember the first time I was aware there was a problem when we went to watch a game at Twickenham, and as we jogged back he tripped over a kerb and fell. Later it came out that he was struggling to lift his leg.
“It’s hard seeing him in a chair. It forced him to give up working for the fire service and now from watching live games.”
That is a nice picture. Yeah?