Monday 9 November 2015 12:32, UK
Integrity: The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.
Does the above apply to Sam Burgess, Stuart Lancaster and his coaches, and the RFU? In short, the answer is no.
If it's true that the deal to return to rugby league started early the next morning after England's World Cup defeat to Australia, that tells us there is little - if no - integrity there.
Did Burgess really think union would be that easy, even with a guaranteed VIP pass into the World Cup squad? Who the hell was advising him? And why was he listening?
And now it seems it was all a game, a financial adventure. To show integrity would have been to stay, knuckle down and prove everybody wrong and be a huge success. After all, Burgess said on many occasions that he wanted to have a great future in union.
Stuart Lancaster and his fellow coaches staked everything on this wonder selection but in doing so betrayed their own integrity in the game.
Then there is Lancaster, a man that gave English rugby back its humility and then failed to deliver its integrity, who took England so far and then could not go any further.
Lancaster and his fellow coaches staked everything on this wonder-selection but in doing so betrayed their own integrity in the game. One rule for one and never mind what that does to players left out and the dynamics and cohesion of the other squad members.
That initial phone call should never have happened; no other tier one nation - and probably tier two - would have made that call. Why? They have people in charge who have integrity, who know what that would do to morale and what message it would send out.
However, it seems not with Lancaster's England. They had planned for four years and still were not sure of selection and a game plan.
Finally, we turn to the RFU and the review board. How much integrity is there when you have members on it that voted for those men to be in charge in the first place, handing out four-year contract extensions before a ball was kicked?
What a complete and utter mess. I wait with hope that the right decision will be made and for once the word I keep referring to is at last honoured!
While I am still on about this word, could somebody tell me what has happened to the salary cap investigation for the Premiership clubs?
I was led to believe that two teams had breached it, but the trail seems to have gone cold. I hope we have not got ourselves a mini FIFA. And I hope they have not lost their own integrity!
