The second sign that Mefin Davies is not a regular poker player came when he called “snap” as the dealer turned over a pair of aces. The first sign came moments earlier when the Wales hooker asked if anyone could lend him 50p to play.
It was rather higher stakes than that for a special game featuring six Leicester players representing all the countries in the RBS Six Nations, although only James Hamilton, the Scotland lock, and The Times actually stumped up the £20 buy-in. The others promised to bring their money to training.
Hamilton claimed that he had barely played before — which raised eyebrows when he took a large pot with an audacious bluff — while the supposed expert was Dan Hipkiss, the England centre and host for the evening. “We had a sponsor’s poker night for the England team before the World Cup,” he said. “I came first out of all the players, but came second to a woman from O2.”
Martin Castrogiovanni is also a keen gambler, if an unsuccessful one. “I lost
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It was a surprise to many that Hipkiss was not named in the England squad for the match against Wales after an impressive World Cup. He was named in the England Saxons squad instead.
“I have to be philosophical about the disappointment of not being picked,” he says. “I came on so quickly last year and the World Cup was a great experience but now I just have to prove myself again.”
Understandably, he is backing England to win this year’s Six Nations. “Unlike in 2003, when the World Cup was a pinnacle, this team is developing,” he says. “I think teams underestimated us after the [36-0] South Africa game. Even France in the semi-final. They must have thought, ‘Oh good, we’re playing England.’ ”
Kayser agrees that the semi-final was “terrible” for France. “To be fair, England did not do anything against us in the two warm-up matches [before the World Cup] and everyone was saying how fit and happy France were, but the semi was a huge disappointment,” he says. England return to Paris on February 23.
The Paris-born hooker, who only took up the game through playing sevens as a teenager at school in Hong Kong, says he admires much about England and the English. “But not the food, yuck,” he says.
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With the retirement of Rapha?l Ibañez, Kayser is expected to contest the France No 2 shirt for the next World Cup with Dimitri Szarzewski, of Stade Français. “He’s better-looking than you,” Castro says. The Italy prop is a natural joker, but like everyone else round the table takes his fitness seriously. “It’s very rare that I do a poker match and no one is drinking,” the dealer, supplied for the game from Dialadealer.com, says.
“I would if I could,” is Castrogiovanni’s response. “We’re athletes,” Humphreys adds, “and we have training tomorrow, as well as a game at the weekend. We only drink as a treat.”
Humphreys is tipping Scotland to do well in this Six Nations after his own country’s poor World Cup. “I don’t know what went wrong with Ireland,” he says. “I spoke to some of the boys and they didn’t know either. Perhaps they just became too familiar with each other.”
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The Irishman is the fourth to lose all his chips, with Kayser gone already. Then The Times’s luck comes to an end, leaving the pot to be contested by Scotland and Italy.
On-field honours were shared last year, with Italy getting their first away win in the Six Nations thanks to some Scottish generosity in the first six minutes at Murrayfield. Scotland then won their World Cup pool match. “We didn’t play that well,” Castro says of the later game. “This year in the Six Nations we have only two home matches against England and Scotland so one win is still our minimum hope.”
Hamilton points out that Scotland’s youth — they had the youngest squad in the World Cup — means that the future looks bright, although he complains that they should have won their quarter-final game against Argentina. The Pumas took it 19-13. Castro could have been his opponent that day if his native country had called on him first. Instead, like so many Argentinians with family links to Italy, it was the European nation that seized their opportunity.
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Hamilton could also have played for more than one country. His father was in the Army and the family were often on the move. Hamilton was born in Swindon — “but I was in Antrim the week before” — and played under-19 rugby for England before being called up by his mother’s country.
The evening is drawing on and national pride is at stake. Both Hamilton and Castro have gone all-in — although the Scot, it turns out, was taking a rather bold gamble on a deal of a 2 and a 3. Castro, with a king in his hand and another in the flop, is looking good, but Hamilton is also sitting on a pair after the dealer turned over a 2.
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It rests on one card. Castro gets impatient, saying: “The king is coming, the king is coming . . .” The dealer turns over a 2; Hamilton wins with three of a kind. “See, that’s just the sort of luck Scotland always have,” Castro says with disgust.
“I’ll give you the £20 tomorrow,” Hipkiss promises Hamilton. “Shall I just take your TV as a deposit?” is the response.