Imanol Harinordoquy: I am a No.8 not a seven

Harinordoquy warming up with Biarritz wearing the number 7 jersey...

Arguably the best No.8 in Europe, Imanol Harinordoquy is mainly playing at openside flanker for his club Biarritz. A situation he is not happy about.

“I believe to become the best in the world, you need to play at the same position week-in week-out. This is what I want to do at number eight,” says the Biarritz captain.

James Lunnun: Winning against UKC was good

James Lunnun, left, all smiles after winning Varsity
with Sam Bailey, centre, and Joseph Wood, right.

Nicolas Verdier: What did it mean for you to win the Mark Burgeff Award for service to rugby at this year’s Sport Fed dinner?

James Lunnun: Some very nice people have won it before so I felt very proud to be one of them. I was very surprised as I was not expecting to win it at all. I have heard about the award before but I did not even know I was up for it this year. It was a great surprise.

N. V.: How was Varsity?

J. L.: It was amazing. It was so good to win against UKC. It is always very hard to win Varsity as the team we play is always a league or two above us. But we gave everything we had on the pitch and at training and it paid off at the end.