Supershorts: Wolverine chills out

Warren Gatland has just found his biggest fan during a training session in Hong Kong. Photo Getty Images

Wolverine chills out, abstinence makes the hook grow stronger, sledging a cricket captain.

Rugby's violence saved me: actor

Australian actor Hugh Jackman reckons rugby stopped him from being an "explosively angry" teenager because its "organised violence" provided an outlet. Jackman is known for playing erratic superhero Wolverine - who looks uncannily like France centre Maxime Medard - in the X-Men franchise and takes cold showers to get himself in the mood to play the heated werewolf. "I think rugby saved me," he told Empire magazine. I would have got in a lot more fights. But I was someone who would go into a little bit of a blind rage and it was not pretty."

Bulldogs in the blood

Raelene Castle's links to the Bulldogs are almost forged in her DNA. The story goes that she was born in the New South Wales country town Wagga Wagga when her father, former Kiwis captain Bruce, was player-coach of local side Turvey Park. League aficionados will recognise that the famous Mortimer brothers - Steve, Peter and Chris - came from Turvey Park. Steve, nicknamed Turvey, was a legendary halfback for Canterbury-Bankstown and rose to CEO.

No sex, please ...

An amusing aside in an interview Castle did post-Bulldogs revelation. D'Arcy Waldegrave: "[During the interview] did the issue of sex ever come up?" Castle: "Gender, D'Arcy."

... until after the match

Turn away now if you're a bit squeamish on the subject of sex. British boxing champ Carl Froch has revealed the reason behind his impressive conquering of super-middleweight Mikkel Kessler was a three-month sex ban. Froch and his model girlfriend, Rachael Cordingley, talked to the Sun about their abstinence pledge. "Not being able to go near her was very difficult, but it's one of those sacrifices I had to make," Froch said. "When it finally happened it was like our first time - like falling in love all over again ... We had a hot, steamy night of passion that had been building up for the last three months. So of course there were fireworks in the bedroom." Cordingley: "He's like a modern-day Spartacus - a real man." Enough, enough.

Don't hold back, Leo

If you think we're hard on our cricketers, check out a few choice bits from this Daily Mail column by Leo McKinstry on the naming of Ashley Cole as England captain for their friendly international against Ireland yesterday, under the headline: Sleazy, greedy and amoral... the perfect captain for English football. "The English national football team is descending to new levels of farce and shame. Devoid of achievement on the field, endlessly embroiled in scandals off it, this gang of over-paid, self-regarding mediocrities has brought little but embarrassment to our country," the author starts. He was just clearing his throat. "That is why it is so disappointing that... the [captaincy] went to Ashley Cole. For this is a man who, by both personality and example, is wholly unsuited for the role. The idea of him providing moral leadership is laughable in its absurdity. Shallow, narcissistic and irresponsible, he embodies all the worst kind of greed and hedonism that we have come to associate with ... fabulously wealthy footballers." McKinstry lists a string of Cole misdemeanours, which include his scoffing at Arsenal's £55,000 ($102,600) a week wages offer, cheating on wife Cheryl Cole with a string of "sordid" affairs, and calling the FA a bunch of "twats".