He refereed Bristol in the Zurich Championship final and again against Wasps a couple of weeks ago. “We lost to a penalty try in the sixth minute of injury time,” Thorburn lamented “In short we were robbed. I don’t normally go in for referee-bashing but they have to be aware of a huge responsibility If a club are relegated it’s going to cost them millions. It’s not nice being at the bottom but there’s not a big gulf between the teams. Nobody is going to stand out this season.”There are a lot of positives here. The squad is very young and that helps me to be young at heart There’s a funny culture Only two of the players are Bristol-born.
Young, itinerant groups seem to be the nature of Premiership rugby Only one of my players has a family to support. It can be difficult developing selflessness.”One day England will beat the world, but they have a way to go yet. This is a very tough competition but it’s impossible to compare with the Super 12. My only observation is that there’s probably a greater hunger in the southern hemisphere. In New Zealand and Australia, if you don’t perform you have to find a real job.”The greatest thing is to see young people reach their potential. We have just got to be smarter and try and get up there with the top dogs. Somebody studied my lifeline once and told me I’d live to be 93 That pisses a lot of people off.
If you wake up in the morning it beats the hell out of the alternative.”. Brendan Venter has a favourite phrase which peppers his conversation, and appears to operate on three levels. “You understand?” indicates some mutual comprehension with the listener. “Do you understand?” conveys a realisation on his part that you may not be entirely grasping what he’s talking about Then there is the “you must understand [such-and-such]“.