At the top of his Bollywood actor career, Rahul Bose would leave filming sets with a face full of makeup and headed directly to the rugby formation.
He played in more than 50 films, rubbing his shoulders with Scarlett Johansson, walking the red carpet during cinema festivals around the world.
Adored by millions, he lived a golden life, but something has always brought him back in the dry and dusty rugby terrains of India that left his knees gruded and broken nose.
“People ask for which part of your brain you use for rugby and the film,” said Bose, sitting in a column of the Hong Kong Sevens tournament, reliving his days as a winger for the Indian national team.
“There is nothing in common. Nothing. On a set, this is you. You raise your hand in a way and someone brings you hot water. You raise your hand in another way and someone brings you cold water. If you look in a way, someone brings you a chair.
“When you cross the white line of the rugby field, you lose your name. For two weeks, I lost my name. “India n ° 14, come here, do not start again”. Your teammates do not give a jet on your history and I love it.
The actor of Bollywood Rahul Bose with Nik Simon of Mail Sport at the Hong Kong Sevens tournament
Bose has plans
Bose represented India between 1998 and 2009. He juggled sport with his career on the screen, winning praise TIME Magazine to be “the superstar of Indian Arthouse cinema”.
“I watched the rugby calendar and saw when international tournaments are played,” he explains. “If it’s in March, then February is camp and April, I’m in the hospital. I would block these months from my calendar and plan my films around him.
“I had to postpone two films because I broke my nose. I broke my nose four times. They said to me, “Your contract says you can’t play rugby” so I told them that I fell on the stairs … Then they saw the newspaper!
“For years, I was preparing for a match, two hours before a match, everyone was fighting their chest, and I would be there with a moisturizer, removing my makeup.
“My teammates would be there to record:” What are you doing? “It was funny. Compared to my biggest moment in the cinema – film festivals, prices – there is no competition against the crossing of this white line for your country.
During the last weekend in Hong Kong, Bose met with officials of the World Rugby to finalize the details of a new Indian League Sevens which will be launched on Friday. Bose is now president of Rugby India and has finalized contracts on a summer series similar to the Indian League of Cricket.
It should attract some of the world’s Sevens specialists, helping to develop local Indian talents, with regular growth targets over the next decade. India exceeded China in 2023 while the most populous country in the world and Bose wishes to wedge a share of the market.
“Is there a lot of potential on the Indian sports market for rugby?” Massive, ”he says. “We have a population of 1.5 billion and rugby is played in 322 of the 760 districts. If we capture a fraction of this, one percent, it’s 15 million.
Bose recently finalized the details of an Indian League Sevens which should be launched on Friday
Bose wants to bring India to enter the Olympic Games, where Sevens had a huge audience last year in Paris
“When I played, rugby in India was a higher class sport played by two schools and 12 clubs. I played because the girls of our school loved blood. There was something psychology for injured heroes.
“Now our sport is played by the poorest of the poor. Today, there are more than 1,200 schools. Urban India has stopped playing rugby because of table tennis, golf and chess. We had guys like Leander Paes who won and people want to see winners.
“Our federation said:” Let’s get out of the cities and play rugby in the hinterland “. A tribal school in Odisha began playing rugby. The largest tribal school in the world, where 30,000 children are dressed, live and eat.
“A non -profit organization has entered the school and launched a rugby ball to children. Six months later, during a competition in London, our children won the tournament. A film was made in India called Jungle.
“If India wins, people will talk about rugby. If sport can help the population, people talk about rugby.
“If we can bring you £ 500 a year to play rugby, if we can bring you into a good school to play rugby, if we can find you a job as a factor while playing rugby, then people will start playing because it can better their life.
“Our women’s rugby team is 10th in Asia and our male team is 15th. If we do the first four in Asia, we qualify for the Olympic Games. We are working on the realization by 2032. ”
If things are going on, Bose may well have a ready -to -use script on her hands for the next episode of his cinematographic career.
Wash and command
The CEO of Rugby Australia, Phil Waugh, has planned meetings in the luxurious setting of the Regent hotel in Victoria Harbor, while the game decision -makers went down to Hong Kong.
The Wash task list is to find a coach to replace Joe Schmidt later this year. Former England coach Stuart Lancaster was linked to work, but the Australian Kiss seems to be the favorite.
“We are about to arrive at a solution,” said Wash. “We want to make sure that it is the right cultural adjustment and the right capacity. We do not want to have a complete reset.
The CEO of Rugby Australia Phil Waugh during the launch event of the 2027 Rugby World Cup earlier this year
Wash, trying to tackle Jason Robinson, played during the final defeat of the 2003 World Cup by England
Hong Kong Dash for Webb
The member of the board of directors of RFU, Jonathan Webb, wasted no time to get on his flight to the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sevens after CEO Bill Sweeney survived his vote without confidence.
The special general meeting was organized in Twickenham on Thursday evening and webb was in town for the action by Saturday.
The former rear of Ireland Rob Kearney led the world rugby delegates during the continuation of the competition. Kearney recently joined the board of directors of the Manager organization as a representative of international actors.
He made sure that the party continued all night, visiting the emblematic Joe Bananas Bar in Wan Chai before retiring almost 5 a.m.
Tennis superstars Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi were among the VIP guests of the New Kai Tak Stadium.
Jonathan Webb (left) made a quick dashboard from the special general meeting of RFU in Hong Kong
Tigers in blurred recruitment
The Argentinian n ° 10 Tomas Albornoz is the last player to probe in the recruitment of Leicester.
The club is looking for a replacement for Handdre Pollard, after having already missed a multitude of candidates.
The reports of an offer of £ 600,000 for the Irish half-housing Jack Crowley inflated the requests for potential signature salary and Albornoz, who plays for Benetton, is at the top of the restricted list of the club. Albornoz has 17 caps for Argentina since its beginnings in 2022.
The recruitment has not been helped by the fact that the club has not yet found a successor to the departure coach Michael Cheika.
Benetton and Argentina n ° 10 Tomas Albornoz is the next on the list while Leicester is looking for a lunchtime
Leicester is struggling to replace Handre Pollard, who will go at the end of the season
Another Prime Minister’s offer
First sports hopes to add distribution rights for the France Pro D2 competition, the country’s second level rugby league, to their offers after launching a 24/7 rugby chain.
Courtney Lawes is one of several former international stars to have been signed by Pro D2 clubs
First sports holds rights in Japanese Ligue 1 with the icon of South Africa Cheslin Kolbe
The subscription platform recently obtained rights to the Japanese Ligue 1 and MLR competitions in the United States, alongside the Champions Cup and the United Rugby Championship.
The subscription platform recently obtained rights on Japanese Ligue 1 and MLR competitions in the United States alongside the Champions Cup and the United Rugby Championship.
Pro D2 is home to a series of stars, including former England players Courtney Lawes (Brive), Jonny May (Soyaux) and Jonathan Joseph (Biarritz).
It should be an exciting point of the season with a tight race for the six dams, which are used to decide which teams are heading for the bright lights of the TOP14.
