I recognise Mrs Underwood, but who's that bloke wearing No10?
England are the Six Nations champions and arguably the world's in-form side but their profile is still in need of a boost judging by BBC Television research which claims the average member of the public is more familiar with Rory Underwood's mum than the majority of the current squad.
With bidding for the next Six Nations television contract, from 2003, set to start in February the Beeb can now score a few timely points on the value of terrestrial coverage in preference to Sky, who have had exclusive live rights to England's home internationals for the past five years.
The BBC's head of programmes and planning Pat Younge could scarcely believe the findings. "We found that Rory Underwood's mother had better face recognition than the entire England team, with the exception of Lawrence Dallaglio and Martin Johnson," he said yesterday, dropping a barely veiled hint that the Six Nations committee might be advised to showcase their tournament on terrestrial television in future.
The findings may come as a shock in Jonny Wilkinson's household but figures show that Sky attracted an aggregate of only 2m viewers for last season's games involving England compared with a total of 55m for the 11 games on BBC, with a peak of 8m for the Wales-England game.
The BBC's head of sport Peter Salmon, though, made a point of emphasising the corporation are not about to pay over the odds for covering a sport which, in terms of cost per viewer hour, is more expensive than either their Wimbledon or FA Cup agreements. Younge also warned the worth of the contract would be devalued if rights were again split up in piecemeal fashion.
To demonstrate their renewed commitment, the BBC is reviving Rugby Special after a five-year gap, this time in the form of a late-night magazine programme hosted by Jonathan Davies and the Ireland captain Keith Wood. The programme, held back to avoid a clash with the Winter Olympics, will be on BBC2 after Newsnight on Thursdays from March 7 and will run initially for 12 weeks. Discussions are also taking place with the International Board to ensure viewers see the same action replays of contentious issues as the video referee.
The leading Welsh clubs maintain they are struggling financially and the chief executives of six of them - Llanelli, Swansea, Cardiff, Newport, Bridgend and Pontypridd - will today unveil a 14-page document that details the way they feel the professional game in Wales should move forward.
The six, members of Premier Rugby Wales, have rejected Welsh Rugby Union proposals to place the leading players under central contracts and to field regional teams in the Heineken Cup.
Northampton have signed the South African second-row Johan Ackermann, who was banned for two years in 1997 after failing a drugs test.
With bidding for the next Six Nations television contract, from 2003, set to start in February the Beeb can now score a few timely points on the value of terrestrial coverage in preference to Sky, who have had exclusive live rights to England's home internationals for the past five years.
The BBC's head of programmes and planning Pat Younge could scarcely believe the findings. "We found that Rory Underwood's mother had better face recognition than the entire England team, with the exception of Lawrence Dallaglio and Martin Johnson," he said yesterday, dropping a barely veiled hint that the Six Nations committee might be advised to showcase their tournament on terrestrial television in future.
The findings may come as a shock in Jonny Wilkinson's household but figures show that Sky attracted an aggregate of only 2m viewers for last season's games involving England compared with a total of 55m for the 11 games on BBC, with a peak of 8m for the Wales-England game.
The BBC's head of sport Peter Salmon, though, made a point of emphasising the corporation are not about to pay over the odds for covering a sport which, in terms of cost per viewer hour, is more expensive than either their Wimbledon or FA Cup agreements. Younge also warned the worth of the contract would be devalued if rights were again split up in piecemeal fashion.
To demonstrate their renewed commitment, the BBC is reviving Rugby Special after a five-year gap, this time in the form of a late-night magazine programme hosted by Jonathan Davies and the Ireland captain Keith Wood. The programme, held back to avoid a clash with the Winter Olympics, will be on BBC2 after Newsnight on Thursdays from March 7 and will run initially for 12 weeks. Discussions are also taking place with the International Board to ensure viewers see the same action replays of contentious issues as the video referee.
The leading Welsh clubs maintain they are struggling financially and the chief executives of six of them - Llanelli, Swansea, Cardiff, Newport, Bridgend and Pontypridd - will today unveil a 14-page document that details the way they feel the professional game in Wales should move forward.
The six, members of Premier Rugby Wales, have rejected Welsh Rugby Union proposals to place the leading players under central contracts and to field regional teams in the Heineken Cup.
Northampton have signed the South African second-row Johan Ackermann, who was banned for two years in 1997 after failing a drugs test.
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