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'Blood all over' - Mike Tindall steps in during bloody Wembley punch-up
By Ian Cameron
Former England centre Mike Tindall has given his account of how he was forced to step in to break up a bloody brawl during the Euro 2020 Finals in Wembley on Sunday.
England were beaten on penalties by Italy, but the game also made headlines for the ugly and violent scenes witnessed off the field, both inside the stadium and outside on the streets of London.
Tindall, who was attending the event with wife Zara, initially watched on as a brawl unfolded in front of him between two drunk England fans.
Accounts appeared online earlier this week of how Tindall then bravely stepped up. Wales Online reported earlier that: "Tensions had got a bit heated near to where Zara and Mike were sitting because it had got quite crowded. Two fans ended up in a punch-up and Mike had to step into save the day. He stood between them and pulled them apart before stewards could get them under control."
Tindall, who won a World Cup with England in 2003, has now recounted what happened at the stadium in his own words on The Good, The Bad and the Rugby podcast.
"A guy was there the whole time, smashed out of his face, literally didn't watch any of the game anyway, he was just too busy shouting at supporters that they should be standing on their feet, ends up getting into a fight with another one that's straight behind my seat."
The brawl became so extreme that Tindall felt he had to step in the break-up the blood-soaked pair.
"It got to a stage where this guy literally was trying to pile this guy in the face, there was a kid next to us, there was a kid on the other side crying because he couldn't see the game because of all the guys stood in the galley way and I just pulled these guys apart, said to one of them 'What are you doing? Just what are you doing?' And you know, he wandered off, blood all over him. The guy on the floor had blood all over him."
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Warren, if you think you should stay on coaching Wales, you are beyond deluded. If you love Wales & Welsh rugby as much as you say you do (& I'm sure you probably do) you should resign immediately so this once proud & passionate rugby nation can rebuild without you. How many of your players will make the British & Irish Lions squad.?
It's time to walk the plank.!
Go to commentsYeah nar I pretty much agree with that sentiment, wasn't just about the lineout though.
Yeah, I think it's the future of SR, even TRC. Graham above just now posting about how good a night it was with a dbl header of ENGvSA and NZvFrance, and now I don't want to kick SA or Argentina out of TRC but it would be great if in this next of the woods 2 more top teams could come in to create more of these sort of nights (for rugby's appeal). Often Arg and SA and both travel here and you get those games but more often doesn't work out right.
Obviously a long way off but USA and Japan are the obvious two. First thing we need to do is get Eddie Jones kicked out of Japan so they can start improving again and then get a couple of US teams in SRP (even if one its just a US based and augmented Jaguares).
It will start off the whole conferences are crap debate again (which I will continue to argue vehemently against), but imagine a 6 team Pacific conference, Tokyo Sunwolves (drafted from Tokyo JRLO teams), Tokyo All Stars (made up of best remaining foreign players and overseas drafts), ALL Nihon (best of local non Tokyo based talent, inc China/Korea etc, with mainland Japan), a could of West Coast american franchises and perhaps a second self PI driven Hawai'i based team, or Jagaures. So I see a short NFL like 3 or 4 month comp as fitting best, maybe not even a full round, NZvAUSvPAC, all games taking place within a 6hr window. Model for NZ will definitely still require a competitive and funded NPC!
On the Crusaders, I liked last years ending with Grace on the bench (ovbiously form dependent but thats how it ended) and Lio-Willie at 8. I could have Blackadder trying to be a 7 but think balance will be used with him at 6 and Kellow as 7. Scott Barrett is an international 6 sized player. It is just NZ style/model that pushes him into the tight, I reckon he'd be a great loose player, and saders have Strange and Cahill as bigger players (plus that change could draw someone like Darry back). Same with Haig now, hes not grown yet but Barrett hight and been playing 6, now that the Highlanders have only chosen two locks he'll be playing lock, and that is going to change his growth trajectory massively, rather than seeing him grow like an International 6.
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