England's Tour

England's tour hotel must be more like this hospital ward than anything else!
I have to admire Ashton, who remains positive, cheereful and honest despite the task he has been handed. I also hear that Francis Baron is in South Africa! he must be a popular visitor to the team ward!! Amazing that he has not been struck down by the bug?? But then again he must be eating in slightly different restaurants to the team!!
Anyway enough of that jeuvenille whingeing!!
What sort of team can we cobble together for Saturday?? Is it important?
Saturday is all about playing for the pride in wearing the shirt people keep telling me. Easy to say from up here, and usually from a comfortable chair!
Who bloody put the shirt on this tour? Who bloody allowed the shirt, and caps for that matter, to be given to guys who were two teams down from the Test team??
I do not decry the effort put in by these guys, and in some cases I am full of admiration. But the Englan shirt, and an England cap should be the pinacle of your rugby aspiration as an Englishman. And as such, those who run the game should always ensure that when it is worn and given, it is only done so to the best available players. Not as in this case, to only those who were left.
It is tragic when the pinacle of your sporting life is devalued. And I am not blaming the players who have held their hands up and worn the shirt on this tour and been awarded the caps. It is not their fault.
But I am bloody livid with the idiots who have put them out there, and in the process devalued a shirt that the likes of Beaumont, Cotton, Duckham, Andrew, teague, Winterbottom, Richards, Guscott, Halliday, Johnson, Back, Hill, Greenwood etc gave everything to build up.

International matches

Is the International game as appealing, as special as eagerly anticipated now as it was ten years ago, or has the increased number of Test matches diluted the hunger?
I am not just talking about the summer tours, which in all honestly are a complete balls up in every aspect. The teams are hugely weakened, the crowds are heavily down and the benefits to either side are hard to imagine.Not great.
But even the November Test matches in the UK are losing their appeal. We are seeing the sides too often. Playing one Test against the Boks, one against the Aussies and then maybe one against Argentina gets a little pointless after a few years.
My solution would be the following.
New Zealand, South Africa and Australia only play England every three years. That is that each side comes up and plays a series of three Tests, every three years. So the tests themselevs have relevance, one could be played in the North each year to attract a new audience, and the touring team could then play mid week matches at the top three club sides as an incentive to them.
It would mean that we only see the All Blacks every three years, and the same with the other sides. That I think would bring back the interest, as would a three test series, so that there is genuine relevance, and edge to the games.
Just a thought in the modern age, where we just seem to be pilling games on games and none of them are very appealing and few of them even feature full sides.

Zinny

I know Chris has mentioned it, and yes Zinny has had a bad accident out in Spain.
He has had an operation to relieve the blood around his brain last night, and the doctors are delighted with his progress. His wife is with him, and he has come around this afternoon and apparently he is joking and all his bits and pieces are working.
So fingers crossed for a full and speedy recovery and thanks for the thoughts, I shall definitely pass them on.

SA Verdict

I know when you look at the score line it produces a sharp intake of breath, BUT , there were a number of positives for England, and I think that is all Ashton honestly expected. I believe his view of this tour would have been, if I can find two or three players who either show up or confirm their class and steel to me, then I will be happy.
I think in Tait and Easter he had two who fronted up and Tait in particular seems to be confirming all the hype I have heard about him. To show the pace, awareness and vision that he did against a side as powerful and physical is some effort, especially at 6000 feet behind a beaten pack and at the end of a long season. Very impressive stuff, and not just the running, his defence, his physical impact at contact were also excellent.
Easter showed maturity aswell as guts on Saturday, and again I was very impressed with his attitude and ability to fight until the end.
I do not want to make excuses, or look for get out clauses for England, but at the same time I think it is only right that we put the game in context.
The last thing Ashton, or the players needed was a tour at the end of this season with the World Cup starting in September, because the effect is that basically the guys will not have a break until May 2008. Eighteen months of solid rugby. Bloody stupid. Also the last thing Ashton needed was this tour with over thirty players unavailable. Suicide.
And then just to have a real laugh, a significant number of his already massively depleated squad come down with a virus!! Unbelievable!
Despite all this, Reagn, Tait, Easter, Flood and Brown managed to concentrate and take to the pitch in the right frame of mind, and left the pitch with their pride intact. That I find very impressive.
There is no getting away from the score line however, and the last 13 minutes were poor. Players were shattered, and as a result the tackling was weak, the cover non existent, and some of the players even looked as though they were being ill on the pitch.
Not the end of a game that you want to see as an England supporter.
A massive test awaits this squad on Saturday, both mentall and physical. Hopefully a number of players will be fit after their virus to boost the ranks. Balshaw, or Balsawood as he has been termed has again broken down, but that is no great surprise. Wilkinson should be fit, but if not Flood is on a huge learning curve and one that he is handling very well.
As long as our forwards take the field in the right frame of mind, and we maintain our pride and unity, hopefully we will be able to close the scoreline slightly.
It could go either way, but I hope the guys who fronted up this time, maintain their form, and I hope the likes of Farrell, Strettle and Richards are strong enough to stand with them.
Not sure if I will go for a prediction again, seeing as I have my finger so firmly on the pulse!!!

SA Game

So Strettle has a dodgy stomach !
I have a bloody dodgy stomach and I am not even playing. Thinking about it, I did go to a South African restaurant last night, and they did have a strange waitress working there!
Only joking if any Yarpies read this. Sorry, if this is read to any of you!!!
Anyway back to Strettle. Shame as I think the guy has nerve and he loves to have a go.
It will be fascinating to see if the old boys in the England pack can produce any ball and any fight. I am sure the challenge will appeal to Regan, he will love the physical intensity, but rest assured any mental issues will certainly pass him by as he is not the sharpest!!
he first played right at the end of my captaincy!! That long ago, and I remember needing a whole afternoon to explain why the boys had decided to call him Ronnie, when he kept explaining to me that his name was really Mark!! Not sure if he understand it even to this day!!
It certainly is a chance for a few faces to push for World Cup inclusion,the likes of the two Browns, Easter and Richards must all be grateful for the chance. It will be a time to show that you can front up, as the pressure will definitely be on and England are likely to play most of the game on the back foot. But Ashton will be watching to see who will dig in, who will take responsibility and encourage, applaud, help and care for his team mates. We will need strong characters that is for sure.
People keep asking for a prediction; will we get stuffed etc.
it is very hard when you are not close to the camp and when you are not hearing any of the news and being able to get a feel for the attitude and state of mind of the team.
However, I am an optimist as I keep saying, and an England fan so that colours my judgement, but I will say that we will do better than many think. I hope we cause them problems, and we will if our forwards win any ball and compete at every breakdown. Shame as I said that Strettle will not be there as I think he could have proved to be a handful.
So I am going to say we will lose, but only by 13-15. Brave or what !!

Heineken Cup Final result!

There you go!
I have my finger on the pulse, as always!!!
Waffle on, pretending to be intelligent about the crucial confrontations.......!! Copy a few ideas from other pundits, and then make the big prediction!!!
Leicester will win a close game!!!
Brilliant!!!!
I tell you, I have always been able to read rugby, like the back of my hand!!!!!

Heineken Cup Final

Two great mates !!!
No love lost here at all!! And the battle between these two should be great to watch.
The two back rows are very very good, and whoever can find an edge here will be able to dictate the match. As always back rows depend on their front fives, and I think the battle will be pretty even. Shaw has a point to prove, as does Vickery who will want to remind everyone that he deserves his England place and the Captaincy.
So a lot of pressure on Murphy at 9 for Leicester, filling in for the form scrum half in the country. Will he handle it or bottle it?? Personally I do not know him well enough to make the call.
I see Wasps have gone for King at 10, not the young kid Cipriani. Interesting! They have stuck him back at 15 instead??! I am sure they hope King can run the game, command field position and calmly deal with the hype. I would not be surprised to see Lewsey move into the 10 channel in defence though to cover Tuilagi.
Stopping him would go a huge way to curbing Leicester's chances, as I suspect after the weekend they might fall into the trap of believing if they get the ball to him it is game over. The All Blacks made the same mistake in the World Cup Final in 1995,and once the Springbok stopped Jona they all looked completely shocked.
It should be a great game, a very physical game and I expect Wasps will cause Leicester all sorts of problems. However, I think Leicester look strong, mentally as well as physically and they seem to have peaked at exactly the right time. So i will go with them to complete an historic hat trick.

England's New Kit

I know I am old fashioned, but this new kit is shite!
What is it meant to be? a symbolic nose bleed swirling around the shirt!!??

It looks more like someone has tipped paint all down one side, and could not be bothered to do anything else, finish it off, or even think about it!!

The socks are now also white, with a little red, so gone are the traditional dark blue and white socks. There are certain things that are important to me, and the basic colours of our kit are one of them. I hate to keep using them as an example, but you don't see the All Blacks messing around with their shirts do you?! They don't even have some crap logo stuck all over the front. The shirt is almost still 'pure', and as a result of that I think it retains a huge amount of its magic and mystery.
England on the other hand are throwing it all out the window. And I for one am sad that we seem to be surrendering the essence of the very shirt in the hunt for money. Some things are more important than the shilling, and in my old fashioned book, the shirt is certainly top of the list.
A sad day

Harry Ellis

I feel for Harry Ellis, I must say, missing the World Cup when he has been playing so well. When he first made the England side I was not keen, I thought he was too hot headed, too aggressive at all the wrong times and with the wrong outcome! He has calmed down massively, matured immensely without losing his competitive instincts.
Very sad for him, a huge blow for England and Brian Ashton. he was one of the few players that Ashton could look at and think he was an ink in on the team sheet. He also protected the young number 10's that appeared in an England shirt at the end of the Six Nations brilliantly. Now he is gone.
The replacements start to look very thin on the ground. Richards must be favourite, but Perry has fallen away so badly it is shocking. He was the big hope 18 months ago, and sadly since his taste of International rugby his confidence seems to be shot. I hope it is not that he thought he had made it, he had worn the shirt and that was enough. Because that is just the start.
So Ellis is going to be very hard to replace, and at this moment in time, it does not look too encouraging. Maybe the tour to SA will throw up some serious contenders, because it will be one of the hottest possible cauldrons from which to appear! If one of them is successful down there, then fair play to them because I suspect they will be operating behind a retreating pack!!

Super 14 !!

Off the rails, car crash or just a blip???
Not sure what I think yet about the All Blacks and the whole debate about their conditioning and the impact it has had!
Safe to say that the South Africans confidence heading into the World Cup has just gone through the roof! And whatever public face Graham Henry puts on it, he must be far more uneasy now than he was four months ago.
The most worrying factor for me was that both the Crusaders and Blues packs were obliterated. If the Boks manage to do that to the AB's, then goodnight to yet another World Cup.
I am an AB fan, and I just hope that this has come at just the right time on two counts. One a bloody good kick up the arse to all their players and a reminder how hard they will have to work and play to win in France, and secondly time to look at the issues and correct them in time.
Certainly a few sphincters that have been very relaxed for months will be twitching somewhat after the semi finals!! Nice thought that isn't it!!!!!!!!

Gloucester Defence!!

To be fair it is not often that you can say this, but Gloucester's defence was pathetic, spineless, embarrassing. Yes there were a few big boys running at them, but this is rugby, so what a bloody surprise!! I had heard that Lamb was special, well I hope he is finding it hard to look himself in the mirror today. It will be a real test of him. Does he cower away, sulk and blame everyone and everything but himself?? Or does he have a hard summer training and thinking, and finding some steel, some edge, and come back next season and blow us all away!!
I hope the latter.

Today !!!

Gloucester V Leicester! West Country six toers versus the midland mutes!! Makes you wish that you could take them both on at a crossword competition!!
As usual I am being very brave behind a screen, and miles away from the players!!
All crap jokes aside, I think it should be fascinating;
How will Leicester deal with losing Ellis? How will Gloucester try to negate the Leicester pack?
Will Lamb bring control as well as unpredictability to his game, and will his partnership with Allen allow Gloucester to open the Leicester defence. Will the Six Toers miss Tindall? Will Blashaw receive a few high balls and a serious kicking early on?? It is exactly what I would do to him!
Will Jennings dominate the breakdown or can Hazell actually make an impression on the game??
Looking forward to it, and then to watch the Super 14 semis.
Lots of debate in NZ, (not sure they call it that because its a long word) about the benefits or not of the AB's conditioning programme! It certainly seems to have lessened the impact of their teams in the competition. Lots of worried talk coming out from the Silver cloud. Are the guys going to hit their peak at the World Cup, or has it put them all out of form and confidence?
Will be great to watch the Blues take on the Sharks, but especially to watch the Crusaders take on the Bulls at Loftus. How will the Bulls take out McCaw?! Is Carter at his best? Can the Crusaders pack win enough ball in the right field positions for their backs??
Should be gut wrenching stuff, which is always the best. And underlying it all will be the thoughts of the World Cup! Can the NZ boys deal with the hostile environment, and can the Boks thrive on it?? Loftus is one great place to silence them!!!

Having read Peter Winterbottom's greatest XV, I am thinking mine through. I know Zinzan and Ieuan are too! I will have mine up in a week or two, but I am just deciding who would be good enough to play alongside me!!!!

So Leicester to beat Gloucester, Blues to beat Sharks but Crusaders to fall against the Bulls!
Lets see how crap my predictions are...............!!!!

Greatest Team Ever !!!

This featured in the Sunday Times this weekend;
Peter Winterbottom's Greatest Team!!
Spot the obvious mistake!!

Full-back: Serge Blanco (France) Had something special and could make things happen. Unpredictable, fast and played with real panache.

Right-wing: John Kirwan (New Zealand) A great try-scorer. Big, athletic and aggressive, with all-round skills.

Outside-centre: Danie Gerber (South Africa) I played with him for the Barbarians and against him for England, and he was a different class. Very abrasive, with explosive pace and power.

Inside-centre: Will Carling (England) Never played a bad game for England – tough and a good defender.

Left-wing: Rory Underwood (England) A great finisher who would score where others would not.

Fly-half: Jonathan Davies (Wales) I could never catch the little sod. Electric pace, phenomenal sidestep, great kicking game and always had time on the ball. Complete package.

Scrum-half: Nick Farr-Jones (Australia) An outstanding character and competitor, who made the basics look easy and was always a threat on the break.

Loosehead prop: Jason Leonard (England) The rock of ages, a reliable, incredibly durable prop, who missed only a handful of tackles in his whole career.

Hooker: Sean Fitzpatrick (New Zealand) Played on the edge and had a mental toughness that others could not match. His lineout throwing and scrummaging were second-to-none and he was a strong ball-carrier.

Tighthead prop: Graham Price (Wales) Unbending, and even on the 1983 Lions whitewash in New Zealand never went backwards. An early prototype of the mobile prop.

Lock: Martin Johnson (England) A brooding giant who punched his weight. Outstanding all-rounder, great scrummager, good lineout technician and a fine tackler.

Lock: John Eales (Australia) Stole an early lineout off Wade Dooley in Sydney in 1991 and proceeded to win every lineout in the match as well as two World Cup winners’ medals.

Blindside flanker: Mike Teague (England) “Iron Mike” was player of the series on the 1989 Lions tour of Australia. Fearless.

No 8: Dean Richards (England) A freak of nature in two respects: incredible anticipation and phenomenal grappling strength.

Openside flanker: Michael Jones (New Zealand) An incredible athlete who was so fast to the breakdown, as well as being a brilliant support player.

Peter Winterbottom played openside flanker for England and the British & Irish Lions

Bank Holiday Waffle

I see that Justin Marshall will not be playing in the last few crucial matches for the Ospreys, because he wants to go and play in Japan for the 'Classic All Blacks' !!
Run that one by me again!!
Ospreys sign a player, who makes the decision that his International future is over, but they agree to a clause that he will be released to play in any game that he is invited that is 'close to International standard'!!
Crazy! the club has a chance to win the Magners title, but he heads off to Japan to play in some mickey mouse money making exercise and no doubt receive a nice payment!!
I am sure his club mates will think highly of him next season!!

Word is seeping out that the South Africans are beginning to fancy their chances of winning the World Cup! It might sound crazy, but they are my dark horses for the competition I have to admit.
They have a huge powerful pack, that can cause problems to any line out, they have a competitive and physical back row who will challenge at every breakdown, and a blitz defence with a very abbrasive midfield, with an astute kicking number 10. In my book, exactly hwat you need to beat the All Blacks.
The only other side who have the squad to beat the AB's are the French, but who the hell knows if they will turn up or not, I certainly don't and I suspect that they don't either!

I don't want to harp on about him, because I do think he was unfairly singled out for criticism (by me also) after the Irish game, but Andy Farrell was rather cruely exposed by Gloucester at the weekend. A firm fast pitch, and what did Gloucester do, they went wide at every opportunity and exposed the Saracens defence. It does make me wonder what will happen on the fast hard grounds in SA this summer.

The Heineken Cup has been saves, apparently!! Let's all wait to see how it will be portrayed in the press, as I for one can not see how it can have been saved without one side backing down, and how can that be covered up with spin at a good press conference??!! Neither side will want to be portrayed as the loser, so it should be fun to read !!!

Rugby Does not Build character, it reveals it!!

"Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting." - George Orwell



Without being too heavy, I have always thought that the hardest, most physical games were the best. When the **** hits the fan, thats when you find out about yourself and your team mates. And when you come through it, face it and beat it, that is the best feeling!
I think we can safely say that all the touring sides this summer will need to spill a little blood, and it will be fascinating to see which of the young players is still fronting up at the end!!

Summer Tours

Having seen the Irish touring side, heard the thinking on the English touring squad, seen the Welsh leave behind 18 but take Henson (good for his tan), and just not caring about what the Scots are doing!!, I am amazed any of these tours are going ahead!
The use to the coaches is................what??!
Unearthing new exciting talent??
Giving youth a chance???
Gaining valuable experience????
Bollocks!!
They have all been arranged for money, by Unions that are still completely out of touch with the needs of players, but obsessed with the desire for money.
And heading that list, at the top of the pile, coming in first, lengths ahead of any other union in the incompetency stake handicap, is..... ENGLAND !!!!
Well Done the RFU !!!

Saints

I know there are Tigers, Saracens and Quins fans out there, and of course Leinster!!
But any Saints fans??
I wonder if Carlos Spencer will stay? I wonder if he has ever really wanted to be there? I hear all sorts of rumours, and I should be the last person to listen to those!! But some are from very good guys, and there have obvioulsy been some serious problems within the team. How much of it is a Kiwi rift is hard to tell, but I think Carlos has been as much a blessing as a curse!
Ben Cohen. What has happened to him as a player since the World Cup?? Will he stay? Who would be running to sign him at the moment??! Sadly I can not remember the last time he had me off my seat in excitement (actually to be fair I am not sure my wife can remember the last time I got off my chair in excitement!!!) He has become predictable, one paced and apparently uninterested. Very sad.
So Saints to bounce back straight away, but my guess would be not with a large Kiwi contingent!!