Photoshoots at press conferences can be tricky, especially when you’re one of the photographers out of a bunch of quite a few dozens — and I know what I’m talking about. But if you’re snapping pics of an actor or a singer, chances are they’ll know what to do with their faces and bodies before a camera.
On the contrary, it’s a truth universally acknowledged that rugby players don’t (and please don’t start babbling on about the Dieux du Stade calendar, because they make weird faces on that one, too. And I know people don’t buy that to look at their faces, but that’s not the point.).

The one you see above is the best shot from yesterday. Yes, yesterday it was launch day, and we’ve been graced once again by the same boring pics as the previous years.
Because, in case you didn’t know, ruggers walk:

And, oh, look, last year they walked, too:

And, guess what? Women rugby players walk too! That’s amazing, isn’t it? Only, since they’re women, they’re multitaskers, so they manage to smile in the meantime as well:

Then of course there are the “look, we’re schoolboys being taken end of term class pic of” shots:

Highlights of this year’s launch:
– Leonardo Ghiraldini sporting a weird face while holding the trophy (probably being aware that’s the only occasion he’ll be ever allowed to hold it);
– Leonardo Ghiraldini, again, being helped by Brian O’Driscoll to hold the trophy, because it’s perfectly clear that, due to swayback, he can’t hold it on his own;
– Chris Cusiter being helped by Steve Borthwick to hold the trophy because it is too big and he’s too small;
…but, above all, I absolutely loved the presepe shot: Brian O’Driscoll as Baby Jesus, Ryan Jones and Steve Borthwick as Mary and Joseph, Leonardo Ghiraldini and Dimitri Szarzewski as il bue and l’asinello and Chris Cusiter as the angel singing “Gloria in excelsis Deo et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis“…

This is better than the snowball fight set from three years ago and the “oh, look, we’ve got socks!” one from 2008.