Scrumbag

Would you sign Dwain Chambers?

Pie eating, whippet walking, flat cap wearing Castleford are expected to make an announcement on the future of drugs snaffling, NFL playing, very fast running Dwain Chambers early next week. But should they give him a contract?

Of course they should. When else in the history of any rugby, let alone Castleford rugby league have people queued around the block to get into a reserves match. Chambers has caught the imagination, and you know what - he didn't play that badly.

Tigers football manager Michael Robinson stated that talks are ongoing between the club and player.
He is however likely to travel with the rest of the squad to Cardiff for Millennium Magic, when a round of matches are played in the Millennium Stadium.

Could Olly Barkley ruin a Royal Wedding?

Now we all know claims that Barkley ruined a wedding last year have been thrown out in court, but if (if!) he were to ruin a wedding, he'd do a lot worse than ruining a royal wedding.

And that's great enws for him, as chances are he'll be attending one some time soon. Horse faced horse lovin' crown wearer Zara Phillips is hoping that her England rugby star boyfriend Mike Tindall will propose to her. If he does surely Barkley will be at the bash. The Queen's granddaughter says she is ready to settle down, but admitted: "He hasn't asked me yet." She told GQ Sport magazine: "I'm old-fashioned. I think they should ask you. We tell each other we love each other every day." Bless. Smash up their cake Olly! Smash it!

Tell us about 'My Video Life' and win £500 or some Nike vouchers

You use your camera to shoot video. You use your phone to shoot video. You may even be capturing the world in high definition. Now's the time to get your footage working for you by entering our competition and scoring a great prize.

We have teamed up with Visual Networking experts, Cisco, to offer shedloads of cool prizes and all you have to do is show us a video that illustrates 'My Video Life'.

The overall winner will get £500 worth of vouchers for a shopping spree and the chance to spend a day in the studio with Cisco's experts to make another video - plus have Your Video Life featured on the Cisco consumer web site. There are also eight £50 vouchers from Nike Town up for grabs, so you have a really good chance of nabbing one of the prizes.

Here's how you enter...

We want to know about 'My Video Life' in less than three minutes. Show us what you do and how you do it. What's your favourite way to use video and what for?
To enter the competition we need some footage from you which illustrates Your Video World.
• You can shoot a piece straight to camera telling us what you use video for
• You can shoot an interesting and creative video
• You can even send us a link to footage you have shot previously.
All we need from you is a link to the footage which has to be hosted on YouTube. You simply email the link to ciscovideo3@gmail.com.
Judges from Shiny and Cisco will be looking for videos that are original, interesting, thought provoking, creative and fun too.
So what are you waiting for? Email the links to ciscovideo3@gmail.com and you could win our fantastic prize, or one of those £50 Nike vouchers.

Competition Notice
This competition is organized by Shiny Media. (The Promoter).
Entry to the competition is free. Entries must be made via the email address ciscovideo3@gmail.com.
The Judging Panel will be made up of representatives of Shiny Media and Cisco.
The competition is only open to people over 16 and residing in the UK.
Winner responsible for travel costs for travel to Cisco filming location.
No purchase is necessary but entrants should be aware that they may be subject to local call charges depending on their own individual arrangements for Internet access.
All entries are eligible for the grand prize of £500 of shopping vouchers and the chance to create your own video with the Cisco team. Entrants from each category (Tech, Fashion, Sport) will also be eligible for one of 8 runners up prizes per sector. Fashion entrants can win one of 8 £50 Top Shop Vouchers, Tech entrants can win one of 8 £50 dabs.com Vouchers; Sport entrants can win one of 8 £50 NikeTown Vouchers
The competition is open from 17th April 2008 and entries must be received on or before 9th May 2008. The Promoter reserves the right to revise this date and extend the period for accepting entries to the competition.
The finalists will be announced on www.shinymedia.com and notified via email or their You Tube account within five [5] days of the Closing Date.
The winner consents and agrees to participate in publicity accompanying or resulting from the promotion. No additional compensation will be awarded for such promotional activities. Shiny Media and Cisco reserve the right to use the names and video entries of winners, their photographs and audio and/or visual recordings of them.
Shiny Media will moderate every entry it receives and reserves the right to disqualify any entrant.
By entering the competition, entrants will be deemed to be bound by and have accepted the terms and conditions [www.shinymedia.com/tandc] including the terms of use [http://www.youtube.com/t/terms] and Community Guidelines [http://www.youtube.com/t/community_guidelines] for uploading videos to You Tube.
The Promoter reserves the right to disqualify any entrant deemed to have breached the Terms and Conditions.
All data collected will be shared between Shiny Media and Cisco. Personal data will be processed in accordance with Cisco's Privacy Statement which can be located by clicking here and Shiny Media's Privacy Statement which can be located by clicking here.

Jonny Wilks becomes the new face of £5 notes...

Well sort of. It's a bit of paper worth £5 with Jonny's ever dour face lovingly scrawled across it. Want one (don't fold it, Jonny snaps in two very easily) you'll have to go to the comical waste of cash that ironically is AKA Heathrow's terminal five. Inside this glass house of lost bags and angry models, the World Cup winner is appearing on an limited edition voucher which has a value of £5 Sterling.

The note called the Tfiver is only redeemable at shops within Heathrow’s Terminal 5. No longer sure if you want one? Well, Jonny Wilkinson, an official Travelex ambassador, told The Sun: "I’m really honoured to be the face of the Tfiver.” If those almost poetic words of inspiration don't make you want one, sadly nothing will.

7 products the Dan Carter "Toulon" brand could endorse...

Apparently Daniel Carter is poised to become rugby's answer to David Beckham, with his merchandising set to match what he is paid to perform on the field if he signs a lucrative deal with Stade Toulousain. According to reports today, Stade Toulousain's flamboyant owner is keen to do a deal around publicity rights that will see Carter earn additional income off the sale of a "Toulon" jersey bearing Carter's name and what L'Equipe newspaper calls a wider plan to sell "Toulon-Carter" derived products. But what could they be?

1) Toulon-Carter Kiwi fruit

2) Toulon-Carter garters

3) Toulon-Farters (whoopi cushions)

4) Colon-Carters (home enama kits)

5) Toulon-Carter shirts (well the obvious one had to go in there)

6) Toulon-Carter PCs (Daniel is oddly at the forefront of computerware andr was the first person in the world to purchase a PC shipped with Windows Vista, buying a laptop which was auctioned off for charity for $4,000,000)

7) Toulon-Carter jockeys (obvious)

Dwain Chambers has a few class moments for Castleford...

His performance is getting quite a bit of negative press today, but from what I saw Chambers did anything but disgrace himself on his rugby debut. He looked lively, fast as a badger, and crucially he made a tackle. What's more he got injured and if that doesn't make himself a real life pro rugby player I don't know what would...

Shit lookalikes: Robert Kitson and the one with the big spam from Ant & Dec

The Guardian's Robert Kitson is without a doubt my favourite rugby columnist. He's superb. But his head just seems to be getting bigger. Is it me or is he slowly turning into a rugby ball?

Hilda set to chase eggs for the very last time...

Though other noisier stars took most of the 2003 World Cup plaudits, Richard "Hilda" Hill was simply superb for England under Woodward. But now thanks to more knacks than even Jonny Wilks, he's set to lose his fight with injury and call it a day.

Sunday's Saracens Vs Munster semi final in Coventry could realistically be his last ever game. He has already announced he will retire at the end of the season and such is the state of his left knee that, if Saracens lose to the 2006 champions, he is not expected to play in their final two league games.
Hill is the ultimate unsung hero, hugely rated by close observers but liable to slip under the radar of casual fans.

Scrum-half Matt Dawson has described former team-mate Hill as "without question, the best rugby player England have ever had" on the BBC today. A bit over the top maybe, but he was certainly great enough to earn himself a free degree...

Kiwi rugby star acquitted of murder...

While in Britain rugby stars getting in trouble usually consists of urinating on trains, smashing up wedding cakes or touching a Cheeky Girl on her rude bits, they do things better overseas.

New Caledonian rugby star Laurent Vili, 31, has been acquitted of murder after a three-day trial in Noumea. Vili who plays laying for the French Nimes club, addressed supporters, saying although the incidents that led to the trial would not be forgotten, it was important for all involved to move forward in peace...

Neath rugby star in fight for his life...

I've just been reading icWales, and I'm sad to hear that a horrific injury has left a Neath rugby player in a serious condition. Father of two Gareth Jones, aged 28, broke his spine on Sunday during his side’s match against Cardiff. Scrumbag wishes Gareth all the best in his recovery and we'll all be hoping for a quick / total recovery.

Reports are suggest Jones underwent emergency surgery on Monday night after developing a blood clot on his brain. Neath Club officials yesterday said the surgery was successful and the clot had been cleared, but the situation looks similar to the Gwyn Jones’ injury, where the Wales skipper’s career was cut short when he suffered a spinal injury playing for Cardiff in December 1997, aged 25.

For the full story and updates on Gareth's recovery please click here.