The news that former England second row and police constable Wade Dooley is to become an RFU citing officer must surely be the most improbable case of 'poacher turned gamekeeper' of them all according to Brian Moore in the Daily Telegraph.
"If citing officers had existed in Dooley's day he would have spent about one third of his career suspended. Of course, this is an exaggeration, because he would have reined himself in – a bit, but not a lot. Big Wade; Big Dipper; Big and Daft, Wade had any number of nicknames, always containing the denominator – 'Big'. To some Dooley will be remembered as a thug, pure and simple and it is true he could hand it out; but he could also take it.
"...What many fail to consider, purposefully or otherwise, was Dooley's huge contribution to English rugby. As the present England team is discovering, somebody has to be content doing the hard, unseen and unglamorous work of hitting mauls and rucks, grappling and getting stuck in generally. For years Dooley did this for his team-mates; they knew it and valued it."
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