Sunday 24 February 2013

ENGLAND, WALES AND SCOTLAND TAKE THE RUGBY SPOILS

The third round of the Six Nations' rugby championship began with Wales being too strong for Italy in the foul weather of Rome. Italy, without the suspended Parisse, had no answer to the power and speed of their revitalised visitors and the Welsh eventually won fairly easily by 26-9. Italy, as always, tried hard but  they simply aren't quite as good as their Six Nations' rivals yet, notwithstanding their surprise victory over France on the opening weekend. Wales, after a bad start, are now emerging as the most likely challengers to England for the championship.

England then took on France at Twickenham and found themselves up against a team with much more spirit and menace than they'd shown in their first 2 disappointing games. Following their defeats at the hands of Italy and Wales, the French brought back a few older players and, for the first half at least, gave England a real scare. Despite an early penalty scored by Owen Farrell, it was France who looked more dangerous for most of the half and they took a deserved lead into the break at 10-9.

The second half was a different story. England were more composed and a series of inexplicable replacements by France saw the home side gradually take control. A try for Manu Tuilagi and more penalties from Farrell and his replacement, Flood, took England to a fairly comfortable win by 23-13, and set up the prospect of a Triple Crown and Grand Slam decider at the Millennium Stadium in 3 weeks time. England probably weren't at their best today and their tackling was particularly poor in the first half, but they were still the better team overall and are becoming a real force.

The weekend's final match, Scotland versus Ireland at Murrayfield was a bruising encounter in which the Scots defended for almost the entire first half. Ireland threw everything at the Scottish line but lapses meant that points were hard to come by. By half-time, Ireland led by only 3-0, having missed two penalties and failed to score anything when Scotland had a man -sin-binned'; their line-out was something of a mess which didn't help either. A try came early in the second half, though the conversion was missed, as the game carried on in the same vein. Scotland finally gained a penalty under the Irish posts to get themselves back in the game after 52 minutes and added a second 8 minutes later to close the gap to just 6-8. Five minutes later and the Scots, profiting from greater possession, had another penalty and took a most improbable lead. Yet another penalty for Scotland with just 6 minutes left was just reward for their second half revival although Ireland really should have been out of sight by half-time; instead, they found themselves 8-12 behind and in desperate need of a try to save the day. The last few minutes saw a furious assault from Ireland but the ball was lost with only 90 seconds to go and that was effectively the end of their effort. Against all the odds, Ireland lost a match they should have had sewn up by half-time and Scotland came away with the points. Scotland are still in with a sniff of winning the championship, while Ireland must go back to the drawing board.
 
We now have to wait 2 weeks to find out whether it's Wales or Scotland who will provide the final competition to England, and whether France will be able to get themselves off of the bottom of the table with a win in Dublin. As for England, surely a win over Italy at Twickenham is all but certain. 

Thursday 14 February 2013

OSCAR PISTORIUS : INTERNATIONAL NON-ENTITY.

I can hardly believe the amount of time the BBC is spending drivelling on about Oscar Pistorius and the alleged murder of his girlfriend.
 
Pistorius is a not particularly brilliant athlete. His only claim to fame is that he runs on artifical legs and has made a nuisance of himself in recent years by demanding to be allowed to compete in events alongside able-bodied athletes. Why on earth does something he's alleged to have done in his palatial home in South Africa have any relevance to us in the UK and why is our media devoting huge amounts of time to this story to the exclusion of far more important and relevant items ?
 
What is wrong with us and, more specifically, what is wrong with our media outlets ?

Sunday 10 February 2013

ENGLAND PROSPER AS FRANCE FLOP AGAIN.

After 2 rounds of matches, the Six Nations' Championship is beginning to take shape.with England now the only undefeated team.
 
In Saturday's games, Scotland bounced back from their defeat against England by trouncing last week's surprise side, Italy at Murrayfield. The Italians must have hoped for a triumphant follow-up to their victory over France but it was not to be as they were outplayed and well beaten, 34-10. France then took on Wales in Paris with both sides looking for a victory following last week's defeats. The match was hard fought and very close until a little bit of magic gave George North the chance to score a winning try; Wales' 16-6 victory leaves France, the pre-tournament favourites, bottom of the pile and there will undoubtedly be much soul-searching between now and their next match.
 
On Sunday, Ireland entertained England in Dublin where playing conditions were pretty horrible - cold and wet, and with the pitch tending to break up. Ireland had most of the possession but found themselves unable to make any real progress against a dogged English defence. A succession of fumbles spoiled promising positions and gave England kickable penalties - Owen Farrell did not disappoint. Although the second half saw Ireland continue to press, it was England who came closest to scoring a try; Ireland never really made much impression inside the English 22. Ireland did manage to level the scores through 2 Ronan O'Gara penalties but England were not to be denied and added 2 more Farrell penalties even though reduced to 14 men when James Haskell was sin-binned. In an attritional game, England simply refused to give way and Ireland lacked the ability to break them down; 12-6 was a fair score.
 
After 2 rounds, England now head the table and remain on course for the Triple Crown. Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy each have 1 win and 1 defeat while France have 2 defeats and are probably out of contention for the championship. The next round of matches, in 2 weeks, will see with England playing France, Italy taking on Wales and Scotland playing Ireland; once those are played, we may know much more.

Monday 4 February 2013

ITALY MAUL FRANCE IN ROME !

What a shocker !
 
Following Saturday's opening 2 games, Six-Nation's favourites were expected to enjoy a stroll in the park against the Irtalians in Rome, but things don't always go to plan. Italy scored first and managed to keep their advantage to the end, winning 23-18 and causing the first big upset of the competition. Where this leaves the French who, after their exploits against the southern opposition last Autumn were considered the best of the northerners, is anyone's guess.
 
Next week, France will entertain Wales in Paris in a clash which will most probably leave one or other of these highly fancied sides with 2 defeats from 2 matches played; whichever it is, there's likely to be a huge amount of soul-searching and a few careers may be on the line. At the other end of the table, victory over Ireland in Dublin would see England take a firm grip on the chmpionship and make the 'Triple Crown' a distinct possibility.
 
Roll on next weekend !.

Saturday 2 February 2013

SIX NATIONS : ENGLAND EXCEL, PERHAPS.

After months of drought the world has finally woken up - the 'Six Nations' has begun !
 
This is, of course, the competition between the top Rugby Union playing nations of the northern hemisphere and is part of the build-up to the next Rugby World Cup which will be held in Britain in 2015. For an intangible reason this year's contest has been even more awaited and is even more important than for many years.
 
In the autumn internationals, the northern hemisphere teams were generally outplayed by those from the south although there were bright spots, most notably England's demolition of New Zealand, the world champions and alwasy the best team around. England's success was rather tempered by the fact that they had lost previously to both Australia and South Africa, making their true ability a little difficult to judge.
 
Today's Six Nation's opener saw Ireland make mincemeat of Wales for about 35 minutes and then hold on in desperate style as the home side came back at them with a vengeance. In the end a 20 point half time advantage was reduced to a 30-22 win for Irealnd, though another 10 minutes may well have seen a complete turn-a-round. In the end, my money is probably on Wales to finish ahead of Ireland in the competion.
 
Taht match was followed by the 'Calcutta Cup' clash at Twickenham; for the unenlightened, the 'Calcutta Cup' is the trophy awarded to the winner of the England-Scotland match and is one of the oldest sporting trophies around. This year the match was at the home of English, and world, Rugby Union, Twickenham, and expectations from the English fan base were high; pre-match betting suggested that there was more chance of Elvis appearing than of Scotland winning.
 
The match began brightly for England with a converted penalty but a breakaway Scot's try threatened to upset the apple cart. Fortunately for England, Scotland were not quite up to the challenge and , despite another Scottish breakaway try, it was England who not only won the day but won it pretty well. England battered the Scottish line and played rather well; their ball handling was good and they gave away very few penalties, both serious improvements over recent performances.
 
38-18 was a good reflection of the play and also the biggest home victory over the Scots for some time. The best thing about it was that Scotland weren't that bad themselves, meaning that England's performance was all the better. Next week, England take on Ireland in Dublin -  a win there really will suggest that happy times are here again.