Let me take you to a celebratory occasion...last month, former All Black, heartthrob Andrew Mehrtens wed his stunning fiance, Jacqueline Inder in a beautiful church ceremony in Christchurch, New Zealand. The event was suitably star-studded, and included fellow former AB scrum-half and current Leeds No. 9 Justin Marshall as one of three groomsmen. Being such an icon in his home country, the venue for Andrew's wedding was kept under wraps even from the guests until the last moment, when they were taken by coach to the Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish in Sumner, then on to the reception at the Centre of Contemporary Art. Allegedly, former ABs captains Anton Oliver and Reuben Thorne were running a sweepstake on the venue, it was such a well kept secret! And as proof that our rugby hunks have a softer side, Andrew is reported to have had a tear in his eye when he saw the vision that was his wife-to-be walking up the aisle.

And now for a word of caution for antipodean rugby types in South Africa - don't go!!!! Rugby players have an almost unflawed reputation the world over for being well-behaved, polite and worthy representatives of the great sport. But unfortunately of late, a few rather well known players are sullying the rugby reputation on tours to South Africa. The most publicised incident in recent years was truly a team effort! In 1999, the ACT Brumbies had finally put an end to the drought of wins on South African soil, and 5 of the boys had been out celebrating at Camps Bay. After a small libation or two, they hailed a taxi...refused to pay the fare...formed a scrum and pushed the vehicle down the road, ripped out the meter and dented the roof. And apparently this all occurred outside a police station! But back to this century, and last July; Australia was in SA for the Tri-Nations, Matt Henjak was sent home after a bust-up with Lote Tuqiri (right) in a Cape Town nightclub.

Wendell Sailor and Matt Dunning were also caught up in the mess, and both Sailor and Tuquiri were fined AU$500, handed a two-match ban though suspended for two years and Dunning just got the fine. It transpired it was just a case of handbags at dawn, and nothing more serious…but the humiliation was obviously not enough to prevent this from happening again. We move forward to February of 2006, the NSW Waratahs were in town for a Super 14 match against the Stormers, and surprise, surprise, Wendell Sailor (left) was caught in the middle of an altercation outside a Cape Town nightclub - do you get a sense of deja vu? This time it involved a fan, and the result...he was sent home, given a three-match ban and fined AU$4,000. And Sailor is very lucky that the punishment was not more severe, and he has not yet lost his place in his national squad.

Now of course I can't leave you without a little snippet from Hollywood, and since its all a bit quiet on the rugby front at the moment out west, I thought I'd tell you about the Southern California RFU, founded in 1937 in LALAland. A gentlemen by the name of William Henry Pratt was born in Camberwell, London in 1887, and after being educated at London University, emigrated to Canada to join a touring company. And by 1931, he "arrived" in Hollywood, and had adopted the stage name of Boris Karloff. In 1936, before officially becoming SCRFU, the existing club needed to raise $10,000 for hosting a tour of Oxford University, and this was accomplished by working the Hollywood friends of Boris. Unfortunately the Treasurer absconded with the funds and the tour never happened, though Boris apparently made good on the loss to his benevolent friends who had loaned the money to support the tour. This incident led to the incorporation of SCRFU in 1937 with Boris Karloff as President.