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Hong Kong Sevens

What can i say. It was incredible. I was one of those fortunate enough to go out there and what an atmosphere. I know i go on about Croke Park and the intense atmosphere that creates but Hong Kong deserves a mention too.


From the moment you got there, it was party time. The south stand of the stadium seemed to hold all the lunatics. Whether it was planned that way or not they were all there. You had Borats, Steve Irwins, Sumo Wrestlers, Knights of the Round table and very underdressed Russians, women that is!!

In terms of Rugby, well that didnt disappoint either. The overall winners were fiji, who beat Samoa in the final but the level of rugby was exceptionell. It has always been one of my beliefes thast sevens is the best way for youngsters to learn. There are no hiding places. You get the ball, look up and all you see is space and you have to go for it. The problem with Englsih rugby at the moment is the amount of agrophobic forwards and in some ways backs that are in the game. Sevens gets rid of that by increasing skill levels, speed and awareness.

So if you ever get the chance, go to the Hong Konjg sevens. It is the best stop on the circuit. There is enough alcohol to float a fleet and it is three days of pure carnage. Bring on next year!!!

Hell of a game

Wahay Wales for the World Cup! well perhaps not, but a hell of a game. The only thing certain during a game of that pace and intensity was that Mike Catt would probably pull a hamstring,after having to play 2 games in 6 days!! I don't know whether to be delighted or just relieved to get a win after winning only twice in the last ten games and those were against Canada and the Pacific Islands.
Wales were a little wasteful in a great opening twenty minutes and nearly blew it, the defence is still not convincing. The pack though, with Alun Wyn Jones in great form and to my mind the find of Wales' championship, were too much for England and Ashton must be gutted about that.
Wales' need was probably greater and it showed, they were more intense and more aggressive. This was likely to be the last true test with their best team on the park before the World Cup, as I can't see them taking key players to Oz. As for James Hook, what a game, what a talent but compared with what Stephen Jones had to play with, he did have a lot of high quality quick ball.
For Brian Ashton two players stood out again - Harry Ellis (Eng player of championship) and Martin Corry, but on top of that a lot of youngsters like Tom Rees, gained an enormous amount of experience at a top class level. Question has to be for England, Why wait so long? I would have liked Ireland to have snuck the championship but great end to the tournament.
By the way my players of the championship Parisse, Darcy and Ibanez.

Roman adventure

Well 800 years of oppression wasn't enough the English now conspire with the Italians to deny Wales a glorious victory in Rome!! In all honesty I cannot believe Wales blew that game and even though the officials and in particular the TMO who seemed to morph into a power crazed megalomaniac and thought he was the referee. For that reason I have some sympathy for Chris White who is one of,along with Joel Jutge the best referees in World rugby at the moment.
Wales have no one to blame but themselves for the loss, 20pts to 13 up with ten minutes to go and with the wind in their favour the game that game was there for the taking. Lack of leadership and clear thinking again cost Wales, whatever game Gareth Jenkins and the Welsh management are trying to sell to the players,they are not buying into.Wales games so far, seem to be characterised by individual not collective performances on the field.
Wales have just announced the same 22 for the game against our nearest and dearest. Personally I would have made a couple of changes Stephen Jones looks battered and bruised, mentally and physically,i would have moved Hook to 10 and brought Gareth Thomas to 13 alongside Shanklin and change the bench to include Charvis.

The Welsh get stronger, The English get weaker while the French go skiing.

The valleys have woken up this morning to news that Kevin Morgan is ready to face Italy this weekend. In my opinion, a remarkable return for someone who not only broke their jaw a month ago but also cracked two wisdom teeth in the proccess. As tough as nails!

In all seriousness though i hope its not too much of a chance we are taking. It worries me that we pick someone who has only just recovered from a serious injury when we have Gareth Thomas back from suspension, ready to play. I suppose we will have to wait to find out if it pays off.

Crossing over to England, poor old Brian Ashton. As if the whacking from Ireland wasn't enough, he now has a list of injuries to deal with. Wilko and Farrell i doubt will play and as for Vickery, i really dont see him making an appearance after such a blow. And what a blow it was. It makes me laugh aswell that Jason Hobson, the Bristol Prop who threw the punch is said to be devastated. He says it was a rush of blood to head and he shouldn't of hit Phil. It makes me wonder if he would be making the same sincere apologies had he lashed out at somebody else? I think not.

Now, another thing which has made me laugh, this time out loud, is the whole skiing incident with Marconnet, who is pictured here mid fall! Now what the hell was he doing skiing during the six nations. I mean, the French have gone absolutely mad. I dont know if he was given permission to go or went without anyone knowing but the whole situation is crazy. Not only because it happens in the middle of the six nations, a week before England face France at Twickenham but it's a '4-6 month' injury. Which means Mr Marconnet will have a spare month or so come the Rugby World Cup, a good time to maybe hit the slopes?

What a Weekend

Wow - so far i have to be honest, it has been an average tournament but the tiny flame that has dared to flicker over the first couple of weekends truly ignited on saturday. It was a great day of rugby, truly a 'super saturday'!

Let me start with the first game of day. Scotland vs Italy. Even as i write this i am still bemused. What were Scotland doing? They self destructed! Thinking back to it still makes me chuckle as i truly dont know why Scotland were trying to play a game which they can't. It was suicide. Trying a chip over the top, from within your own twenty two, in the first minute. Then throwing huge looping miss passes. Did they think they were playing sevens or did they think suddenly they were the All Blacks. God knows but it was very very strange.

Now, lets move onto Croke Park. I am becoming a huge fan of this place. I was there when France won in the last minute and i was so impressed with the atmosphere that i can only imagine how intense it must have been late on Saturday when the national anthems of both sides echoed around the ground. You could feel the emotion and could see it in the players. Seeing big John Hayes' eyes water up with passion made you realise how much this meant to the Irish. And their play was majestic. They were powerful, comitted and rampant. The phrase has been used a lot already but they completely outclassed England. Obviously there is a lot of talk about Farrell and Bumface out of everyone has seemed to get it right. (What is the world coming to!!) Farrell is too slow. No two ways about it. But he shouldnt be held responsible for the loss. Colectively, England were poor.

Now Wales. Finally i am slightly happier about talking about a Welsh performance! Wales showed confidence. From being a team struggling to attack and not having scored a try in two games, to go and scored three away from home in Paris is a sign of improvement. They seemed to have confidence and more clarity. They scored three tries, two of them well worked and the changes Jenkins had made seemed to bring more understanding to the team. However, lets not ignore it, there are still issues that need to be addressed.
Wales need to win more ball. 37% possession is no where near enough at this level and as a result Wales had to make twice as many tackles as the French. Although all in all there was improvement and the future looks...........well.....brighter.
A note on game timings - sort out these late games! How is anyone meant to have a glass of wine after a game which finishes close to midnight!

One final ramble from me - Cardiff, Millenium Stadium, Sunday, Carling Cup Final.
Footballers, don't fight, your not good enough at it!

The Onus is on you Ireland

With the game of the tournament days away, England's number 2, George Chuter has come out and said that England must be focused and not be distracted by the atmosphere at a historical Croke Park, potentially packed with 83,000.

Although, i would say he has got it the wrong way round. I think that Ireland are the ones who need to be detached. They need to concentrate on the performance and not the occasion if they are to be succesfull. Last time against France, i feel they let their emotions get to them and if they do that this weekend then England may sneak it, which would be one hell of a blow for Irish Rugby. A loss in the first match against the English in Croke Park? Not something i think they would take easily!!!