LION SLEEPS TONIGHT
Scottish rugby player Tom Smith has died after a long struggle with colon cancer, aged 50. Playing as a prop, he was widely considered one of Scotland’s greatest at the sport. His career highlight came when playing for the British & Irish Lions on their 1997 tour to South Africa, where his scrummaging was crucial to the Lions’ upset victory over the hosts. He also helped secure victory for Scotland in the 1999 Five Nations Championship, the last held before it became Six Nations. Post-playing, he remained active in rugby as a coach before a stage 4 cancer diagnosis in late 2019 forced him to step back.
A Drop 40 mainstay since his DDP debut, many teams propped him up as their 2020 joker. He remained a decently popular joker pick in 2021, though was then overshadowed by Tom Parker. In 2022, as with the other Tom, a non-insignificant amount of top players completely gave up on Smith out of boredom. We call this Brackers syndrome. Smith is behind many charges up the upper echelons, with DDP Tofoa now in 2nd place. However it is an oopsie mama said uh moment for current leader David Quantick’s Showbiz Pals, who only had one foot in the Tom Tom Club and sees his advantage narrow to 13 points. Guild of Master Reapers, Phantom’s Pick ‘n’ Mix, and Sovereign-Reaper were among the few who held onto him as a joker in the year of Burgess.
Tom Smith
31 August 1971 – 6 April 2022, aged 50
92 TEAMS (💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀 + 40 = 12 POINTS, 🃏 (x6) 24 POINTS)