Do it for 'Billy'

But Jason Robinson should be adhered rigidly and fondly in the minds of all rugby lovers - and not just the 15-man egg code, but the 13-a-side oval game too.

If there is a player who sums up the brutal beauty of the World Cup it is Robinson, who, tonight, in Paris, wins his 50th England cap as the reigning world champions put their throne on the line in the semi-final against hosts France.

Amid all the physical pile-on of ruck and scrimmage, boot-bash and rampage, Robinson's capacity to blur past opponents as if they were marble monuments is undoubtedly the most eye-catching of rugby union skills.

So there could be no more fitting tribute to Robinson, more affectionately known as Billy Whizz, if he and his red rose cohorts were to scoot beyond Les Bleus and make next week's final in which he would then bow out of the game at its pinnacle. One last rush, one last push, one more shimmy into space that no-one else spies and there may yet be another wizzo day.

But even if there is to be no fairytale finish for Leeds-born Robinson should the hosts prevail ce soir, then a Parisian exit should never dim our memory of him.

As a teenager of sublime pace and trickery then tearaway Robinson was a Wigan Warriors will-o'-the-wisp who scorched through rugby league opposition like a fireball. He was a member of the last truly great all-conquering Wigan side and went on to represent Great Britain's Lions with distinction.

Then came the cross-code switch. When he graduated from club to international line-up it was no coincidence that union's darling Johnny Wilkinson should remark that it was the level of Robinson's fitness that opened his eyes to how he had to get into better physical condition.

Robinson has been the perfect example of how a league star can adapt to dazzle among the titans of the union code.

And, from origins as a bit of a party animal, family man Robinson has matured into a superb ambassador for his sport.

That aforementioned unattached basis refers to the fact he ended his association with Sale Sharks last year as part of his overall retirement until he was tempted into one last hurrah as a morale-sapped England sought to defend the crown they won in 2005, Robinson memorably bagging a crucial try in that final conquest of Australia.

Now after helping to see off the Aussies in last week's quarter-finals, the Robinson roller-coaster is pointed at France.

If it all ends tonight then Robinson will be in the sporting wilderness. That would be a major loss. There surely has to be a role for Billy Whizz, and who better to help to front our Olympic Games drive in 2012 as a special sporting ambassador.

THE Olympiad could do with a major lift.

Barely a month is going by now and another cash scare story erupts.

The latest mind-boggler revolves around the projected outlay for the main stadium in London. New estimates have sky-rocketed the cost by 77 per cent to just a tad short of £500 million.

Say it quick, it don't sound so bad. But hang on a mo? That's half a billion quid, half a bloody billion.

Now I've been a vehement advocate of Britain staging the Olympic Games all the way down the line, but where the hell are these builders getting their prices from - Screwall Enterprises Inc?

The football World Cup in Japan created a flurry of new stadia at a cost far less than the amount that is expected to be shelled out for London's big new arena in less than five years' time, and Japan is hardly the least expensive of nations in which to operate.

Even more dispiriting was the revelation this week by Marion Jones, the United States athlete who "starred" in the Sydney Games of 2000, that she took steroids starting from 1999 and had lied about to federal agents during an investigation into the controversial BALCO lab.

Jones, who has also been banned for two years, is to return the three gold and two bronze medals she won in Australia.

The best thing the Olympic movement could do is not hide those five flawed rings, but brazenly display them as a reminder of all that needs to be wiped out from athletics.