SUPER SPURS !

Not being stupid enough to pay the exorbitant costs charged by 'Sky' for watching their television service, I didn't see last night's Champions' League match between AC Milan and Tottenham. Instead, I followed the action through internet news updates and. as a Spurs supporter for almost 50 years, became increasingly excited as the match proceeded and the visitors appeared to be holding their own.

When I found that Spurs had actually taken the lead, joy was unconfined ! That they manged to maintain the lead to the end must make this game one of the, if not the, greatest in Tottenham's long history. Adding this result to those of the earlier games against Inter Milan must make all we long-suffering Spurs supporters start to believe that this team is now really ready to challenge the best in Europe.

Harry Redknapp has achieved something remarkable since his arrival at 'the Lane'. Suddenly, a team that so often promised much and then let down its supporters, is actually achieving results that even the most ardent fans have long given up hope of. We may well still lose this tie against AC Milan, but whatever the outcome, Spurs are back at the top table of European football; now all they have to do is stay there.

WALES AND FRANCE TRIUMPH.

After their doughty performance against France last week, I fully expected Scotland to see off Wales without too much difficulty, but it was not to be. Instead, the Welsh came back from their lacklustre display against England to make the Scots look second-rate at best.

Scotland rarely threatened the Welsh try line, while Wales took their chances, built a lead and maintained it; even when reduced to 13 men, they held out and conceded only 3 points. This was a decent performance from Wales but a very disappointing one from Scotland; the final score of 24-6 tells the story.

Sunday's match with Ireland taking on France was also a bit of a change from last week. Ireland were a different side from that which turned out against Italy and put real prssure on France. Conceding penalties was their problem and the French took full advantage, but rarely threatened otherwise. When Ireland scored their second try, it looked very promising for the home side.

In the second half, Ireland continued to be the more determined side but another penalty, given away needlessly, saw the visitors draw level after 50 minutes and then take the lead with their only really threatening movement leading to a try. More penalties followed though Ireland came back with another try and a great conversion from O'Gara, but bridging the final 3 point gap proved a step too far. France came away with the win, 25-22, after being 2nd best for much of the match. This was a mach that Ireland should have won and it raises serious questions about the strength of the French; Twickenham on 26th February now has real significance.

ITALIAN INVADERS REPULSED.

From the opening try in the first few minutes, England put on a much brighter performance against the hard men of Italy than they did against Wales last week. They were much quicker and played with greater energy and enthusiasm than in their first match.

Toby Flood's use of the ball and kicking was again a high-spot. The running and handling of the backs was the best it's been for some time and was well rewarded with 7 of the 8 tries scored; Chris Ashton's 4 try haul won't go unnoticed in the southern hemisphere. England's defence gave the Italians little opportunity, but did concede several penalties that provided scoring opportunities, though the visitors were unable to take much advantage. The line-out was superb and the forwards more than beat the Italians in the scrum, maul and ruck, except for the Italians tremendous driving-maul try.

Overall, this was a first rate performance from England though, admittedly, against the weakest side in the Six Nations. They dominated from the outset and never really looked back, the final scoreline of 59-13 being a true reflection of the play. That said, they became a little ragged in the last quarter, and conceded a try that they should not have, which they will need to guard against in the future. England v France on 26th February could be a real cracker.

ENGLAND'S CRICKETERS FLOP.

England's victorious Ashes tour has ended in final humiliation as they lost yet another one-day match to the Aussies. A 6-1 thrashing in the one-day series is hardly a good preparaion for the World Cup that's approaching nor a very encouraging way to end the tour; it leaves one wondering how good the players really are.

It's no good arguing that this was a different form of the game or that the players were tired from their earlier exertions - in days gone by, tours 'down-under' involved long sea voyages, many more days of cricket, and being away from home for more than 4 months. This lot travelled by air, played 5 tests, 7 one-dayers and 2 or 3 semi-serious warm-up games in 2 months and we're supposed to think them hard-pressed. Phooey. They're pampered and mostly not a patch on the great players of yesteryear; they need to learn that to be really good at any sport, you have to play it, a lot, and not spend most of their time 'recovering' or 'de-stressing'. 

FRANCE ON TOP IN PARIS.

After the first round of 'Six Nations' matches we now know that France are the team to beat, with Scotland and England probably the next best.

Ireland struggled in a hard match with Italy and, although they managed a win, they were hardly convincing. France, though, sparkled against the Scots and seemed to have an answer to everything. Their speed was simply too much for an opponent that didn't play badly themselves, but were undone by a handful of errors and a side at the top of their game.

Next weekend we should see England beat Italy, Scotland beat Wales and France destroy Ireland. If all that goes to plan, a fortnight later we'll see the match of the Championship when England take on France at Twickenham. Then we shall see how good England are.

ENGLAND BY A SHORT HEAD.

England overcame stubborn Welsh resistance at the Milennium Stadium last night in the first match of this year's Six Nations' Rugby competition. As this is a World Cup year, this tournament is more about honing the sides for the much more significant games to come later in the year, nonetheless, neither side wanted to lose this opening encounter.

While it was a victory for England, assessing the team's performance is not easy. The final margin of victory - 26-19 - was hardly emphatic and at no point did England really threaten to pull away, other than when Wales were a man short. England were solid, which is praise of a sort, but were not exactly exciting; they took their chances well, but there were precious few of them and the rolling maul near the end was a serious disappointment as the Welsh forwards eventually prevailed. The studio commentary team seemed to be rather contradicting themselves when they told us that the Welsh had offered little but that England had done very well - the score does not quite back this up.

In truth, the game told us little about the ability of England other than that they were better, just, than Wales on the night. Had the Welsh not missed 2 kickable penalities, it may have been a different story and England could, today be wondering how to rebuild for the World Cup. As it is, Toby Flood was a deserved man of the match and Jonny Wilkinson sealed the win with a final penalty; Chris Ashton's tries were taken well, Mike Tindall and Ben Foden provided powerful defence and the forwards worked hard and, mostly, effectively. There was, however, very little that was inspiring or that suggested this side can challenge the French, let alone the boys from south of the equator.

Let's hope that this game was simply a starting point, designed to brush away the cobwebs, and that we will be more convincing in the remaining matches.

MURRAY BLOWN AWAY.

So the dream is over, for the present at least. Novak Djokovic simply blew Andy Murray away with a dominant display and was a worthy winner of the Australian Mens' singles title.

The match started worryingly for Murray supporters as it was Djokovic who looked the more alive and aggressive player; to confirm this, the Serb won the first 6 points and Murray's first point was only courtesy of a Djokovic error. While Murray did hold his first service game, it wasn't without a considerable struggle; as in the semi-final, Murray's groundstrokes were often too short and gave his opponent too much time to consider his returns.

The game then settled into a hard-hitting pattern and, for a short time, Murray seemed to be hitting a little deeper and put Djokovic under some pressure; the Serb was the one doing most of the running. Just when it looked certain that the first set would go to a tie-break, Murray lost form and his serve; suddenly, Djokovic was in the ascendancy. Murray's unforced error count increased and he compounded his problems by losing his first service game in set 2 and then his second. Djokovic was in total control and Murray looked down and out.

Somehow, Murray managed to hold serve to avoid a second set whitewash and, then astonishingly, Djokovic dropped his serve to love as nerves got the better of him when serving for the set. Given half a chance to get back in the set, Murray then threw his own service away again to lose it. For all the world, Djokovic now looked unbeatable.

As the third set got under way, Murray broke the Djokovic serve again and hopes began to rise but, almost inevitably, it was false hope. Another poor game saw the Scot lose his service and Djokovic was back in command. Murray's first serve percentage was simply not good enough and his unforced errors far too many to be able to compete at this level. In truth, his performance was on a par with his semi-final against David Ferrer, when his opponent was not good enough to capitalise on the Scot's lapses, but Djokovic is no Ferrer.

Poor tactical play from Murray saw him lose yet another service game to go 1-3 down in the third set; he'd now lost 10 of the last 13 games and held serve only once in that time. Yes, Djokovic was playing well but Murray was providing very weak opposition.

One thing that can be said in Murray's favour is that he still kept trying; helped by some uncharacteristcally poor play from Djokovic, Murray broke back and then stayed 'on-serve' to 3-4 to again give his supporters some hope. Again, they were to be disappointed. With Djokovic continuing to hit powerfully and Murray putting far too many shots weakly into the net, the Scot's service escaped him again and the Serb easily held his, as Murray played 3 weak shots into the net. The Crown belonged to Novak Djokovic.

Overall, this was a good performance from Djokovic, fine serving, a lot of powerful and well placed hitting, and great defence; he deserved to win. From Murray, it was a poor display from start to finish. His service was weak and his groundstrokes lacked penetration; his error rate was ridiculously high and his overall demeanour lacklustre. He managed to win only 5 of the last 18 games and held his serve only twice in his last 9 attempts.

As usual, the BBC commentary team did their best to convince us that Murray had really done well but had been unlucky to come up against a Djokovic playing at his very best. This is rubbish. Yes, the Serb was good, but Murray was, frankly, a pale imitation of a top-class tennis player. At no stage did he look like a potential winner and, playing like this, he will never win a Grand Slam. In three Slam finals, Murray has yet to put up much of a fight or to win a set; does he actually have what it takes to be a real winner ?