Former Galwegians and current Harlequins coach John Kingston was brutally honest in his assessment of the current fitness levels of 'Quins centre Will Greenwood prior to Saturday's Six Nations Championship match at Lansdowne Road. Speaking on the Ananova.com website, Kingston could not contain his surprise at the news that Greenwood had been picked for the England team to play Ireland.

"He played for me for an hour on Saturday (a reference to last Saturday week's match in which Harlequins lost 33-7 to Gloucester) and he was absolutely knackered." Kingston went on: "I didn't take him off to make life better for England, I took him off because the bottom line was that he wasn't able to give me what we needed in the last 20 for Harlequins." England coach Clive Woodward defended Greenwood's selection after Saturday's defeat, well almost. Having initially pointed out that he, Woodward, thought the centre had played well, when a similar question popped up some time later the England coach was less effusive. He said that he had little choice after Mike Tindall broke his hand and the only alternative was to play Austin Healey at outhalf and Mike Catt and Jonny Wilkinson in the centre.