Campese says sorry to Gregan

DAVID Campese, who was famous for his goose step and reverse pass in his playing days, has now mastered the backflip with an apology to George Gregan a week after calling for the Wallaby skipper to be fired.

Campese, Australia’s most capped international and rugby’s leading test try scorer, is now an outspoken columnist, garment retailer, barista and player agent. "I was wrong to criticise him so much," said Campese. "When will I learn? Me and my big mouth."

Campese was one of Gregan’s fiercest critics after Australia’s 17-16 win over Ireland in the preliminaries, but changed his tune after the scrum-half helped engineer a second-half revival in a quarter-final win over Scotland.

"I’ve been calling for his head but against Scotland he showed he is invaluable," said Campese. "He gets everyone going forward - and I’m not saying that just because he is a client.

"I got caught up in the aftermath of the Australia-Ireland game. I should realise that calling for changes on the scale I did doesn’t make for a settled team."

The English RFU last night handed out bans totalling eight weeks to players involved in a brawl during Northampton’s league clash with Gloucester on 1 November.

Saints’ Mark Robinson, who received a straight red at the time, was given a three-week ban for striking; team-mate Shane Drahm got a two-week ban for the same offence; Gloucester’s Duncan McRae had his case dismissed but Andy Hazell, the Gloucester flanker, was handed a three-week suspension.