Burnham off the mark with remarks:
In a week in which the Football Association’s ‘Respect’ campaign to treat referees in a better manner was brought into focus, it was disappointing to read the remarks of Andy Burnham, the Minister for Culture, Media and Sport in response to those made by Great Britain rugby league international Adrian Morley, in one of the Sunday broadsheets.
"Far too many footballers have been allowed to get away with this kind of petulance and ignorance for far too long. The referee's decision is final and the referee is always referred to as 'Sir', even now in Super League. Footballers should learn from us,” said the Warrington forward.
The minister’s response was sadly typical of the apologetic nature that ex-players, pundits and commentators take when discussing footballers’ conduct towards referees.
He said; “I would be the first to point out that football culture is different from rugby. No one expects footballers to be angels.”
Well no, but they do expect them to have some sense of manners and where and when they can cross the line. Furthermore to refer to someone like Morley as an angel is laughable. This is the man who holds the record for the quickest sending-off in international rugby league, 12 seconds against Australia in 2003.
Yet again someone in football tries to make the difference that football and rugby are different, one is for the working class lad, who has been brought up effing and blinding, whilst the second is for chaps who have a silver spoon firmly wedged in their gob and would be thwacked by their public school housemaster if such profanities were to pass their lips.
Sadly what Burnham fails to realise is that Morley plays rugby league, possibly the most blue collar sport in the world, and that despite players coming from some pretty ghastly areas of certain cities (ask the Leeds-born Jason Robinson) the players can still show the appropriate manners to officials.
In the same paper earlier in the week Sue Mott made the point that football’s continual inferiority complex to rugby union is a red herring, too easily dismissed as irrelevant because the players come from different ends of the social-economic spectrum, as if that should make any difference, manners, after all, are manners.
She pointed to boxing, hardly a upper-class pursuit to challenge polo, and the fact that its participants are from equally humble backgrounds, yet still manage to conduct themselves in a manner that is a credit to them, their coaches and above all their sport.
So what if other sports have got it right, it does football no credit to run scared of following their examples. Yet sadly Burnham has added himself to the list of people who complain about a problem, yet fail to take the necessary steps to remedy them. With all and sundry stepping up to take pot shots at the easily-attacked officials, no wonder there are fewer and fewer men and women wanting to take up the whistle.
In the end the sports and their cultures might be different, but appropriate treatment of people in the workplace isn’t. The new campaign desperately needs to work, if not football will well and truly have gone to the dogs. It will be bad at the top level, but even worse at the youth end. Who will want to referee a load of screaming brats on a Sunday morning in the rain, especially as they receive nothing but abuse for sacrificing their time? It will take a concerted effort by all involved and will need the FA and referees to have power of their convictions, hopefully then the players will realise what is right and wrong, despite the witterings of apologists such as Burnham.
Pelligrini lays down marker for Beijing:
Swimming has been in the headlines a lot these last seven days with the controversy over the new Speedo outfit many of the world’s best are wearing and how much is has helped the numerous world records that have fallen. There have been 18 since the turn of the year and four in the men’s 50m freestyle; three for Australian Eamon Sullivan (including the current 21:41 seconds) and one for Frenchman Alain Bernard, quite something when you consider that until Sullivan’s first breaking, the record had stood since 2000.
However, the one record that stood out was that set by Italian Federica Pelligrini in the women’s 400m freestyle on the final day of competition at the European Swimming Championships in Eindhoven on Monday.
Interestingly she is the only record breaker this year not to wear the Speedo outfit, yet finished in a time of 4:01:53 to beat the time held by French swimming star Laura Manaudou, take her European title and in doing so laid down the gauntlet for when the trans-Alpine rivals go head to head in swimming’s blue-riband event in Beijing.
Since winning the gold medal at the Athens Olympics Manaudou has been the undoubted superstar of women’s swimming. It was the first time a French women had ever won an Olympic swimming gold and she also left Greece with a silver and bronze.
Her success was followed up at the 2005 and 2007 Swimming World Championships when she twice won the 400m freestyle gold and she held the 400m record with 4:02:13 until Pelligrini broke it. In Eindhoven she won the 200m backstroke and 4x200m freestyle relay and silver in the 100m backstroke.
All this would seem like any other rivalry that will provide a sub-text to events in China this August, but then you need to factor in Luca Marin. Italian Marin, who won a bronze in the 400m individual medley, is Manaudou’s ex-squeeze and in May last year persuaded her to train with him Turin. She didn’t last long in Italy and returned to France under a cloud in August.
Then later in the year at the European Championships in Budapest Manaudou and Marin went their separate ways and within days nude pictures of Manaudou made their way onto the internet, with Marin denying responsibility. Then Marin starting stepping out with Pelligrini, meaning that the spice factor in Beijing will have been ratcheted up even more after events in The Netherlands.
No doubt Manaudou will have had her pride pricked by Pelligrini and Marin and will be out to even the score in Beijing. It could lead to a monster of a clash between the pair, much in the way Ian Thorpe’s battle with Michael Phelps was eagerly awaited long before events began in Athens.
With world records looking more than likely to be tumbling in the pool, it will undoubtedly be the venue that holds our attention more than any other in the opening week of the Olympics.
JI 31/03/08
domenica 30 marzo 2008
lunedì 24 marzo 2008
Notes from a sporting week 24/03/08
Reds doing a bad impression of Lancashire cousins:
There is obviously a slow wind blowing down the East Lancs roads from Manchester to Liverpool as it seem that whatever Manchester United do, Liverpool will do a few years later.
In 1999 United won the Champions League in dramatic circumstances, Liverpool did so in 2005. The Red Devils get taken over by American owners, a year or two later so do the Reds. Manchester United fans get the hump with the new owners and form their own team and now Liverpool fans are doing the same since the initial excitement of George Gillett and Tom Hicks’s ownership has worn off.
Like their counterparts in Manchester did the minute the Glaziers took control at Old Trafford, Liverpool fans have now decided to form their own non-league team in response to their dissatisfaction with their North American owners (Gillett is Canadian). FC United of Manchester meet AFC Liverpool.
The first response to the foundation of both teams should be, ‘aren’t there enough struggling non-league and lower league clubs out there who would appreciate your support and cash, without this new mob hovering up support, publicity and income?’ and the second ‘exactly what are you in such a state about?’
The contrasts between the two situations are highly marked: Whereas Manchester United fans didn’t want the Glaziers and made it known from the start, Liverpool and their supporters actively courted new owners and made Hicks and Gillett more than welcome. There was no hiding out in Florida for that pair.
The Reds needed new funds to move ahead with mothballed plans for their new stadium in Stanley Park. Liverpool had talks with Jersey-based businessman and lifelong fan Steve Morgan then Dubai International Capital came into the picture, before the controlling Moores family plumped for Hicks and Gillett, who promptly saddled the club with £400 million of debt to finance the new stadium and the squad, as the £20 million spent on Fernando Torres showed.
In the short space of time since the takeover in early 2007, Liverpool fans have realised exactly what it is that they wished for, as the pair have struggled to refinance the debt and plans for the stadium have been redrawn. Add in the pr gaff when Hicks announced that they had spoken to Jurgen Klinsmann behind manager Rafael Benitez’s back and the locals started getting restless.
We’ve had the protest marches in support of Benitez and there are more and more banners against the pair at Anfield, whilst at the same time the fans are calling for DIC to come galloping back to the rescue on their Maktoum stable horses. In short it is all becoming rather boring and sanctimonious from the Liverpool supporters, after all they made their bed and are now moaning about having to lie in it, with AFC Liverpool the latest hollow attempt to show their disgust at Hicks and Gillett.
For an example of non-league teams being set up by dissatisfied supporters, one should look at AFC Wimbledon. They were founded in response to Wimbledon moving to Milton Keynes to become MK Dons in 2002 in a blaze of publicity. They quickly moved up through the lower non-league ranks and now sit second in the Ryman League, which is one league below the National Conference (England’s fifth tier).
However, the fact is that they are now old news. They had some currency when the world and his wife were up in arms over the franchising of a football team, but now a few years on few outside the hardcore support take any notice. MK Dons, the team they ‘replaced’, have ridden out the initial storm of boycotted friendlies and supporter protests to prosper, reaching their first Wembley final this season and sit atop League Two (fourth tier), whilst manager Paul Ince gains rave reviews.
There are plenty of clubs out there in the lower leagues that are struggling for survival and would appreciate the support of fans dissatisfied with their big club. The last thing that is needed is yet another club left to rot by supporters whose initial fury has dissipated, especially when their anger is pathetically self-absorbed, as it is with Liverpool fans in this instance.
Trescothick calls inevitable end to test career:
England opening batsman Marcus Trescothick confirmed that he was retiring from test cricket this week, something that had been accepted by most of the England team since his premature departure from the 2006-07 Ashes tour.
His return to the UK before any of the tests was the first hint of the stress related illness that has troubled him these past couple of years. It raised its head again this week when he pulled out of a tour to Dubai with his county Somerset, upon arrival at Heathrow Airport.
It is a great pity as not only did he play a key part in England’s revival in the mid-00s, but also that stress is something that receives little sympathy in sporting circles and it should be hoped that he finds away to deal with it.
Trescothick made a solid start to his test career, hitting 66 against The West Indies in 2000 and between then and his final test against Pakistan in 2006 he averaged 43.79 in 76 tests. He also played in 123 one-day matches, one of his finest the ICC Champions Trophy final in 2004 when he hit a century and gave England a chance of winning their first ever one-day tournament.
As an opening batsman he was never the most spectacular, but if he got behind a shot there was a good chance of it finding the boundary. He also provided the solid base to an innings that, alongside Michael Vaughan and latterly Andrew Strauss, helped establish England in second place in the test rankings in 2004 and 2005.
What often let him down though was his almost non-existent footwork that gave bowlers an obvious way of targeting him. In this regard he was not helped by Somerset’s pitch in Taunton that was the flat track, so beloved by powerful batsmen.
Nonetheless, there is little doubt that he would have been a useful member of the England team on their current tour of New Zealand. Having captained the test and one-day teams on occasions, he would have taken some of the strain off Vaughan and probably pushed the captain down the order to face the first ball opposite Alistair Cook. He might also have had a word for the mis-firing Strauss as he struggles to find some semblance of form.
In the end though he has been laid low by an illness that only those who have suffered from it understand. Like Denis Bergkamp’s aversion to flying he has received little sympathy or understanding by parts of the public. Hopefully he can enjoy the final few years of his career with Somerset and be looked back upon as someone who made the most of their talent and in doing so helped give his country its most successful period in recent times.
JI 24/03/08
There is obviously a slow wind blowing down the East Lancs roads from Manchester to Liverpool as it seem that whatever Manchester United do, Liverpool will do a few years later.
In 1999 United won the Champions League in dramatic circumstances, Liverpool did so in 2005. The Red Devils get taken over by American owners, a year or two later so do the Reds. Manchester United fans get the hump with the new owners and form their own team and now Liverpool fans are doing the same since the initial excitement of George Gillett and Tom Hicks’s ownership has worn off.
Like their counterparts in Manchester did the minute the Glaziers took control at Old Trafford, Liverpool fans have now decided to form their own non-league team in response to their dissatisfaction with their North American owners (Gillett is Canadian). FC United of Manchester meet AFC Liverpool.
The first response to the foundation of both teams should be, ‘aren’t there enough struggling non-league and lower league clubs out there who would appreciate your support and cash, without this new mob hovering up support, publicity and income?’ and the second ‘exactly what are you in such a state about?’
The contrasts between the two situations are highly marked: Whereas Manchester United fans didn’t want the Glaziers and made it known from the start, Liverpool and their supporters actively courted new owners and made Hicks and Gillett more than welcome. There was no hiding out in Florida for that pair.
The Reds needed new funds to move ahead with mothballed plans for their new stadium in Stanley Park. Liverpool had talks with Jersey-based businessman and lifelong fan Steve Morgan then Dubai International Capital came into the picture, before the controlling Moores family plumped for Hicks and Gillett, who promptly saddled the club with £400 million of debt to finance the new stadium and the squad, as the £20 million spent on Fernando Torres showed.
In the short space of time since the takeover in early 2007, Liverpool fans have realised exactly what it is that they wished for, as the pair have struggled to refinance the debt and plans for the stadium have been redrawn. Add in the pr gaff when Hicks announced that they had spoken to Jurgen Klinsmann behind manager Rafael Benitez’s back and the locals started getting restless.
We’ve had the protest marches in support of Benitez and there are more and more banners against the pair at Anfield, whilst at the same time the fans are calling for DIC to come galloping back to the rescue on their Maktoum stable horses. In short it is all becoming rather boring and sanctimonious from the Liverpool supporters, after all they made their bed and are now moaning about having to lie in it, with AFC Liverpool the latest hollow attempt to show their disgust at Hicks and Gillett.
For an example of non-league teams being set up by dissatisfied supporters, one should look at AFC Wimbledon. They were founded in response to Wimbledon moving to Milton Keynes to become MK Dons in 2002 in a blaze of publicity. They quickly moved up through the lower non-league ranks and now sit second in the Ryman League, which is one league below the National Conference (England’s fifth tier).
However, the fact is that they are now old news. They had some currency when the world and his wife were up in arms over the franchising of a football team, but now a few years on few outside the hardcore support take any notice. MK Dons, the team they ‘replaced’, have ridden out the initial storm of boycotted friendlies and supporter protests to prosper, reaching their first Wembley final this season and sit atop League Two (fourth tier), whilst manager Paul Ince gains rave reviews.
There are plenty of clubs out there in the lower leagues that are struggling for survival and would appreciate the support of fans dissatisfied with their big club. The last thing that is needed is yet another club left to rot by supporters whose initial fury has dissipated, especially when their anger is pathetically self-absorbed, as it is with Liverpool fans in this instance.
Trescothick calls inevitable end to test career:
England opening batsman Marcus Trescothick confirmed that he was retiring from test cricket this week, something that had been accepted by most of the England team since his premature departure from the 2006-07 Ashes tour.
His return to the UK before any of the tests was the first hint of the stress related illness that has troubled him these past couple of years. It raised its head again this week when he pulled out of a tour to Dubai with his county Somerset, upon arrival at Heathrow Airport.
It is a great pity as not only did he play a key part in England’s revival in the mid-00s, but also that stress is something that receives little sympathy in sporting circles and it should be hoped that he finds away to deal with it.
Trescothick made a solid start to his test career, hitting 66 against The West Indies in 2000 and between then and his final test against Pakistan in 2006 he averaged 43.79 in 76 tests. He also played in 123 one-day matches, one of his finest the ICC Champions Trophy final in 2004 when he hit a century and gave England a chance of winning their first ever one-day tournament.
As an opening batsman he was never the most spectacular, but if he got behind a shot there was a good chance of it finding the boundary. He also provided the solid base to an innings that, alongside Michael Vaughan and latterly Andrew Strauss, helped establish England in second place in the test rankings in 2004 and 2005.
What often let him down though was his almost non-existent footwork that gave bowlers an obvious way of targeting him. In this regard he was not helped by Somerset’s pitch in Taunton that was the flat track, so beloved by powerful batsmen.
Nonetheless, there is little doubt that he would have been a useful member of the England team on their current tour of New Zealand. Having captained the test and one-day teams on occasions, he would have taken some of the strain off Vaughan and probably pushed the captain down the order to face the first ball opposite Alistair Cook. He might also have had a word for the mis-firing Strauss as he struggles to find some semblance of form.
In the end though he has been laid low by an illness that only those who have suffered from it understand. Like Denis Bergkamp’s aversion to flying he has received little sympathy or understanding by parts of the public. Hopefully he can enjoy the final few years of his career with Somerset and be looked back upon as someone who made the most of their talent and in doing so helped give his country its most successful period in recent times.
JI 24/03/08
domenica 16 marzo 2008
Notes from a sporting week 17/03/08
Magical Wales earn just reward:
For once television got it right. The 6 Nations scheduling has come in for some abuse in recent years, not least allowing France to kick off their matches at 9pm local time in preparation for the World Cup.
However, on this final weekend of the championships it all worked out to perfection; Italy v Scotland for 5th and 6th place, England v Ireland for 3rd and 4th and Wales and France for the championship, Grand Slam and all done and dusted by 7pm local time. Why wasn’t it like this every week of the tournament?
As ever with important games in the principality the emotion factor was ratcheted up to factor 40; the players and staff wore memorial t-shirts to the former Wales centre Ray Gravell who died recently, whilst his daughters led the team out. Up in the stands Charlotte Church and the other valley WAGS were constantly on the big screen and with the roof closed (why France agreed to that I can’t work out) the emotional outpourings were not lost to the heavens.
Wales had an air about them from the moment the whistle went to signal their first win at Twickenham in 20 years, on the first weekend of the tournament. The new coaching team of Warren Gatland, Shaun Edwards and Rob Howley needed a quick boost of credibility and that win provided it (and confidence) in spades.
Edwards, over whom the RFU should be kicking themselves for offering such a shabby offer, revolutionised their defence and was it there for all to see as France failed again and again to pick a way through the massed ranks of red shirts. But, as Edwards promised they would do, they allied that to the Welsh desire to keep the ball in hand and spread the play wide.
Shane Williams showed again and again that there is always room for the little ‘un, whilst his namesake Martyn will be doing cartwheels that he returned from post-World Cup retirement. The pack was solid in all areas and provided a strong base for everything that followed, with captain Ryan Jones a revelation in the role. Meanwhile Mike Phillips appears to have secured the number 9 jersey from Dwayne Peel and James Hook will probably be first choice at flyhalf, but don’t expect Stephen Jones to be ushered out of the way just yet. In the centres Gavin Henson and Tom Shanklin were back to their 2005 Grand Slam best, whilst at fullback Lee Byrne showed aptitude and appetite in all facets of play, as well as scoring a number of crucial tries.
It is easy to say with hindsight, but this team has the air of solidity that the 2005 lacked. A year after their triumph the side had been torn apart, with coach Mike Ruddock handed his P45 which left aftershocks that reached all the way to the World Cup. This year though, there is a lack of overbearing players from the Welsh dressing room, ones who had a disproportionate amount of power and influence, such as Gareth Thomas and Colin Charvis. Likewise, one cannot imagine Edwards or Howley turning on their coach, as Ruddock’s assistant Scott Johnston did in 2006. This time the collective is stronger than the individuals.
On Saturday, France would have been confident of winning (and with the required 19 points), after all who likes pooping a party more than them. They hadn’t lost in Cardiff since 1986 and their most recent memories of the stadium was their World Cup win over New Zealand. It was a shame then that Marc Lievremont’s rotation policy came back to haunt him.
Whilst Lievremont might have cut a dash in his roll neck jumper and satin jacket, he will probably reflect on the lack of continuity that his rotation policy gave his team at the crucial moment. Sure it will benefit his squad to have blooded so many youngsters, but his decision to turn back to experienced heads cost him dear. 21- year old Francois Trinh Duc did enough to keep his place and should have been brought on at halftime; such was the paucity of David Skrela’s play. Damien Traille and Yannick Jauzion failed to gel in the centres, while the pack was still recovering from their mauling by England in week three.
Nonetheless, the fruit of his policy should be seen in a few years when the likes of Trinh Dub, Morgan Parra, François Picamoles and Fulgence Ouedroago move on to the larger clubs, experience European competition and bring those experiences to bear for the national team. But French rugby needs to look at what is happening to their traditional school of srummagging. During the World Cup there were worried remarks that the Top 14 is now too full of Argentines, Georgians and other assorted imports. Until the ferociousness returns, then les bleus are lacking one of their traditional strengths.
Second place will have come as something of a shock for England, but should not hide that they still lost two out of five matches. Worrying still was against Italy and Ireland the team went walk about for a while, whilst beating France was built on brute force and nothing else. The last 20 minutes against Wales and the whole match in Edinburgh should be what occupies the RFU members’ minds, but so should coach Brian Ashton’s conservative selection policy. Ian Balshaw was a liability at best, Lesley Vainikolo should be allowed time to develop in the English Premiership and whilst he was man of the match against Ireland, Jamie Noon should not be keeping Matthew Tait out of the side. So how all three played the majority of the matches should be taxing a few minds tomorrow. But by far and away the best thing the RFU can do now is get on the phone to Shaun Edwards, whose contract with Wales is up, and beg, plead, negotiate, promise, anything in fact, to get him on board.
Whilst Ireland boss Eddie O’Sullivan will be sleeping a little uneasily after his team’s showing, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Whilst prior to the World Cup he was recognised for sticking to the tried and tested, with scrumhalf Eoin Reddan the only played to upset the old order, this 6 Nations may have opened his mind a little. Sure the likes of Tommy Bowe, Luke Fitzgerald, Rob Kearney, Andrew Trimble and James Heaslip only made the team because of injuries, they show that there are a number of players who can perform if Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy and Shane Horgan aren’t performing.
O’Sullivan might also like to leave the captain’s armband with Ronan O’Gara. Brian O’Driscoll isn’t so much as struggling for form, as much as over-trying when things aren’t going well. There were signs of the old magic here and there and it might do him the world of good to focus on his own game for once. Ireland and the paying spectator would be the obvious beneficiaries. For now O’Sullivan should be safe, thanks to the four-year contract he signed pre-World Cup, but a new direction, with new personnel would surely serve him well.
There have been calls galore for Scotland coach to be given his marching orders. After all any man so blindly loyal to Dan Parks, should not be an international coach goes the line. But frankly Parks is the tip of the iceberg. Scotland has probably fewer world-class players than any other team in the tournament (and I include Italy in that) with only captain Mike Blair and the redoubtable Chris Paterson of any decent standing.
The team reeks of mediocrity; Simon Webster, Andrew Henderson and Nicky Walker in the backs and Hadden’s tactics have done nothing to change that perception. When he looked at the backline and saw dross he decided to beef up the pack and try to out-muscle teams. So out went an out and out openside and in came converted number 8 Ally Hogg. Out went the traditional quick rucking game that has allowed them to punch above their weight for so many years and in came one long arm wrestle of a game plan. Their one win of the tournament, against England, came when the opposition were worse than them and the decision to focus the professional game away from the borders heartland, appears to be having the inevitable effect. The game has been a mess for many years and it would be a massive pity if they were to drift further and further out of the reckoning.
One coach that won’t be going anywhere is Italy’s Nick Mallett. It was refreshing to hear him during the build up to their final match against Scotland saying that he would rather take an improved showing with the ball in hand, than a win secured by 10-man rugby. He has done well to build on John Kirwan and Pierre Berbizier’s work and was true to his word of developing their play. The fact that outside centre Gonzalo Canale will look back on two spilled passes with the try-line at his mercy is testament to that. In the past the ball wouldn’t have made it that far down the line.
The flyhalf role is still a problem, though converted-three quarter Andrea Masi did show some improvement as the tournament went on. Andrea Marcato, their drop goal hero against Scotland, has been their find of the season and looked comfortable in the unforgiving arenas of Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium and Stade de France. He is still young and will probably fill the number 10 shirt in years to come, as he did on occasions this tournament. Simon Picone and Pietro Travagli are solid scrum halves, though need to start making breaks of their own, rather than just being a conduit between backs and forwards. Then there is their pack that is as solid as ever and captain Sergio Parisse, who was phenomenal against Scotland, throughout the tournament and is probably the best number 8 in the world right now.
What Italy needs now is for their domestic structure to be sorted out, with the need to turn rumours of two teams entering the Celtic League into solid negotiations. With Mallett on board to drive the bargaining, the FIR should start pushing hard now.
Overall it was an enjoyable tournament, but questions of style still remain and the way some of the teams lined up makes you wonder if they even have a basic grasp of the fundamentals of alignment and quick passing. There is still an emphasis on defence though, with teams flying up, whilst the back three sit deep, so that both of options of running or kicking the ball give way to recycling it once again in the forwards. Thank god therefore Wales and their ability to find gaps where they didn’t exist, the tournament would have been a lot duller without them.
Jez’s Allstars - Team of the tournament:
1) Andrew Sheridan (ENG), 2) Leonardo Ghiraldini (ITA), 3) Martin Castrogiovanni (ITA), 4) Carlo del Fava (ITA), 5) Ian Gough (WAL), 6 Ryan Jones (WAL), 7 Martin Williams (WAL), 8) Sergio Parisse (ITA), 9) Mike Blair (SCO), 10) Ronan O’Gara (IRE), 11) Shane Williams (WAL), 12) Gavin Henson (WAL), 13) Tom Shanklin (WAL), 14) Vincent Clerc (FRA), 15) Lee Byrne (WAL)
JI 17/03/08
For once television got it right. The 6 Nations scheduling has come in for some abuse in recent years, not least allowing France to kick off their matches at 9pm local time in preparation for the World Cup.
However, on this final weekend of the championships it all worked out to perfection; Italy v Scotland for 5th and 6th place, England v Ireland for 3rd and 4th and Wales and France for the championship, Grand Slam and all done and dusted by 7pm local time. Why wasn’t it like this every week of the tournament?
As ever with important games in the principality the emotion factor was ratcheted up to factor 40; the players and staff wore memorial t-shirts to the former Wales centre Ray Gravell who died recently, whilst his daughters led the team out. Up in the stands Charlotte Church and the other valley WAGS were constantly on the big screen and with the roof closed (why France agreed to that I can’t work out) the emotional outpourings were not lost to the heavens.
Wales had an air about them from the moment the whistle went to signal their first win at Twickenham in 20 years, on the first weekend of the tournament. The new coaching team of Warren Gatland, Shaun Edwards and Rob Howley needed a quick boost of credibility and that win provided it (and confidence) in spades.
Edwards, over whom the RFU should be kicking themselves for offering such a shabby offer, revolutionised their defence and was it there for all to see as France failed again and again to pick a way through the massed ranks of red shirts. But, as Edwards promised they would do, they allied that to the Welsh desire to keep the ball in hand and spread the play wide.
Shane Williams showed again and again that there is always room for the little ‘un, whilst his namesake Martyn will be doing cartwheels that he returned from post-World Cup retirement. The pack was solid in all areas and provided a strong base for everything that followed, with captain Ryan Jones a revelation in the role. Meanwhile Mike Phillips appears to have secured the number 9 jersey from Dwayne Peel and James Hook will probably be first choice at flyhalf, but don’t expect Stephen Jones to be ushered out of the way just yet. In the centres Gavin Henson and Tom Shanklin were back to their 2005 Grand Slam best, whilst at fullback Lee Byrne showed aptitude and appetite in all facets of play, as well as scoring a number of crucial tries.
It is easy to say with hindsight, but this team has the air of solidity that the 2005 lacked. A year after their triumph the side had been torn apart, with coach Mike Ruddock handed his P45 which left aftershocks that reached all the way to the World Cup. This year though, there is a lack of overbearing players from the Welsh dressing room, ones who had a disproportionate amount of power and influence, such as Gareth Thomas and Colin Charvis. Likewise, one cannot imagine Edwards or Howley turning on their coach, as Ruddock’s assistant Scott Johnston did in 2006. This time the collective is stronger than the individuals.
On Saturday, France would have been confident of winning (and with the required 19 points), after all who likes pooping a party more than them. They hadn’t lost in Cardiff since 1986 and their most recent memories of the stadium was their World Cup win over New Zealand. It was a shame then that Marc Lievremont’s rotation policy came back to haunt him.
Whilst Lievremont might have cut a dash in his roll neck jumper and satin jacket, he will probably reflect on the lack of continuity that his rotation policy gave his team at the crucial moment. Sure it will benefit his squad to have blooded so many youngsters, but his decision to turn back to experienced heads cost him dear. 21- year old Francois Trinh Duc did enough to keep his place and should have been brought on at halftime; such was the paucity of David Skrela’s play. Damien Traille and Yannick Jauzion failed to gel in the centres, while the pack was still recovering from their mauling by England in week three.
Nonetheless, the fruit of his policy should be seen in a few years when the likes of Trinh Dub, Morgan Parra, François Picamoles and Fulgence Ouedroago move on to the larger clubs, experience European competition and bring those experiences to bear for the national team. But French rugby needs to look at what is happening to their traditional school of srummagging. During the World Cup there were worried remarks that the Top 14 is now too full of Argentines, Georgians and other assorted imports. Until the ferociousness returns, then les bleus are lacking one of their traditional strengths.
Second place will have come as something of a shock for England, but should not hide that they still lost two out of five matches. Worrying still was against Italy and Ireland the team went walk about for a while, whilst beating France was built on brute force and nothing else. The last 20 minutes against Wales and the whole match in Edinburgh should be what occupies the RFU members’ minds, but so should coach Brian Ashton’s conservative selection policy. Ian Balshaw was a liability at best, Lesley Vainikolo should be allowed time to develop in the English Premiership and whilst he was man of the match against Ireland, Jamie Noon should not be keeping Matthew Tait out of the side. So how all three played the majority of the matches should be taxing a few minds tomorrow. But by far and away the best thing the RFU can do now is get on the phone to Shaun Edwards, whose contract with Wales is up, and beg, plead, negotiate, promise, anything in fact, to get him on board.
Whilst Ireland boss Eddie O’Sullivan will be sleeping a little uneasily after his team’s showing, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Whilst prior to the World Cup he was recognised for sticking to the tried and tested, with scrumhalf Eoin Reddan the only played to upset the old order, this 6 Nations may have opened his mind a little. Sure the likes of Tommy Bowe, Luke Fitzgerald, Rob Kearney, Andrew Trimble and James Heaslip only made the team because of injuries, they show that there are a number of players who can perform if Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy and Shane Horgan aren’t performing.
O’Sullivan might also like to leave the captain’s armband with Ronan O’Gara. Brian O’Driscoll isn’t so much as struggling for form, as much as over-trying when things aren’t going well. There were signs of the old magic here and there and it might do him the world of good to focus on his own game for once. Ireland and the paying spectator would be the obvious beneficiaries. For now O’Sullivan should be safe, thanks to the four-year contract he signed pre-World Cup, but a new direction, with new personnel would surely serve him well.
There have been calls galore for Scotland coach to be given his marching orders. After all any man so blindly loyal to Dan Parks, should not be an international coach goes the line. But frankly Parks is the tip of the iceberg. Scotland has probably fewer world-class players than any other team in the tournament (and I include Italy in that) with only captain Mike Blair and the redoubtable Chris Paterson of any decent standing.
The team reeks of mediocrity; Simon Webster, Andrew Henderson and Nicky Walker in the backs and Hadden’s tactics have done nothing to change that perception. When he looked at the backline and saw dross he decided to beef up the pack and try to out-muscle teams. So out went an out and out openside and in came converted number 8 Ally Hogg. Out went the traditional quick rucking game that has allowed them to punch above their weight for so many years and in came one long arm wrestle of a game plan. Their one win of the tournament, against England, came when the opposition were worse than them and the decision to focus the professional game away from the borders heartland, appears to be having the inevitable effect. The game has been a mess for many years and it would be a massive pity if they were to drift further and further out of the reckoning.
One coach that won’t be going anywhere is Italy’s Nick Mallett. It was refreshing to hear him during the build up to their final match against Scotland saying that he would rather take an improved showing with the ball in hand, than a win secured by 10-man rugby. He has done well to build on John Kirwan and Pierre Berbizier’s work and was true to his word of developing their play. The fact that outside centre Gonzalo Canale will look back on two spilled passes with the try-line at his mercy is testament to that. In the past the ball wouldn’t have made it that far down the line.
The flyhalf role is still a problem, though converted-three quarter Andrea Masi did show some improvement as the tournament went on. Andrea Marcato, their drop goal hero against Scotland, has been their find of the season and looked comfortable in the unforgiving arenas of Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium and Stade de France. He is still young and will probably fill the number 10 shirt in years to come, as he did on occasions this tournament. Simon Picone and Pietro Travagli are solid scrum halves, though need to start making breaks of their own, rather than just being a conduit between backs and forwards. Then there is their pack that is as solid as ever and captain Sergio Parisse, who was phenomenal against Scotland, throughout the tournament and is probably the best number 8 in the world right now.
What Italy needs now is for their domestic structure to be sorted out, with the need to turn rumours of two teams entering the Celtic League into solid negotiations. With Mallett on board to drive the bargaining, the FIR should start pushing hard now.
Overall it was an enjoyable tournament, but questions of style still remain and the way some of the teams lined up makes you wonder if they even have a basic grasp of the fundamentals of alignment and quick passing. There is still an emphasis on defence though, with teams flying up, whilst the back three sit deep, so that both of options of running or kicking the ball give way to recycling it once again in the forwards. Thank god therefore Wales and their ability to find gaps where they didn’t exist, the tournament would have been a lot duller without them.
Jez’s Allstars - Team of the tournament:
1) Andrew Sheridan (ENG), 2) Leonardo Ghiraldini (ITA), 3) Martin Castrogiovanni (ITA), 4) Carlo del Fava (ITA), 5) Ian Gough (WAL), 6 Ryan Jones (WAL), 7 Martin Williams (WAL), 8) Sergio Parisse (ITA), 9) Mike Blair (SCO), 10) Ronan O’Gara (IRE), 11) Shane Williams (WAL), 12) Gavin Henson (WAL), 13) Tom Shanklin (WAL), 14) Vincent Clerc (FRA), 15) Lee Byrne (WAL)
JI 17/03/08
domenica 9 marzo 2008
Notes from a sporting week 03/03/08
Silly Danny:
Why oh why couldn’t you have stayed in with a cup of tea and a packet of biscuits? Hopefully that is the question England fullback Danny Cipriani will have been asking himself on Thursday after he was unceremoniously dumped from the England team who went on to lose 15-6 to Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday, after he was photographed leaving a nightclub at just after midnight on Thursday morning. According to Cipriani he went in to the Mayfair club for around 20 minutes, had a chat and a soft drink, dropped off some tickets and then headed home to bed just after midnight (though why said friend couldn’t pick them up from anywhere else and at a more sociable time, has not been cleared up).
In all likelihood he would have made little difference to the score or performance seeing as it was the Scottish forwards’ dominance of the breakdown that was the key factor, allied to the England pack’s ability to undo a lot of hard word with stupid offences at key times. Sure he may have relieved Wilkinson of the burden of kicking from deep, but any hope of seeing his running game in action would have been lost amid the mud and England’s statuesque backline.
There should be the probability of him making his start next weekend against Ireland at Twickenham, so poor was England’s display that it would be better to see what he can do over 80 minutes, rather than wait for the two-test tour to New Zealand in the summer and coach Brian Ashton has said he will be in contention regardless of what occurred in the last seven days.
But why then did Ashton react in so harsh a manner to so minor an offence? Like so many of these incidents that become public we are not really given much insight into what occurred. All we were told was that he was dropped after ‘inappropriate behaviour’. Quite what was inappropriate about his behaviour and/or what rules he broke were not revealed. If there had been a midnight curfew, just tell us. All that has been said is that the players were told to be sensible. He wasn’t drunk, nor had got into a fight. So he may not have been in bed come the witching hour, but so what? There are many players who admit to sleeping very little the night before a match and the effect isn’t always obvious. Just because you go to bed at midnight does not mean you’ll be away with the fairies for your nightly eight hours.
A lot was made in the Sunday newspapers that it was Ashton’s attempts to show who was in charge after the speculation that followed England’s march to the World Cup final last year, when Mike Catt and Lawrence Dallaglio ‘revealed all’ in unflattering terms for Ashton. If that was Ashton’s motivation, then more fool him. His coaching style has been one based on trust and mutual understanding between coach and players. He has never been a table thumper, doing things in a quiet, intelligent manner. One hack suggested that it was an anti-Wasps conspiracy following Dallaglio’s comments, Josh Lewsey’s exclusion from the squad despite good form and the overlooking of Shaun Edwards for an England coaching position. Utter nonsense, seeing as England captain Phil Vickery comes from said club.
Contrasts have been made to the Clive Woodward era and the man himself has admitted that he would never have reacted the way Ashton did. What Woodward did was treat his players as adults. Yes they could go out and get leathered the night before a match, but woe betide them if it affected their performance. As Cipriani’s coach, Edwards, said, rather him go out for a while and enjoy the (alcohol-free) company of friends, than sit in and fret all night.
From Cipriani’s point of view he needs to come back, just be himself once more and show what a talented prospect he is. The worrying thing is though he, along with the rest of us, appears to have little idea of what rule he broke. Under Woodward the whole squad knew as it was written down and signed off by coaches and players. Unfortunately Ashton, who we have been told a thousand times, does not like the management side of being head coach. Well tough. He needs to get hold of things in the way Sir Clive did and stay true to himself and his philosophies. Hopefully then both parties will have learned from this sorry saga and work together for the benefit of England, God knows they need it.
All hail the giant killers:
So that is what they mean by the romance of the cup. After years and years of having to listen to the hollow ramblings of the BBC, finally we have a semifinal line up to look forward to
Whilst Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and, to an extent, Liverpool fans have become accustomed to their place in the May showpiece, for once none of them will be anywhere near the final. Hooray for that.
You see the heads of those four clubs may feel that their presence adds ‘glamour’ and ‘appeal’ to the competition, when all they have done in recent years when getting there is bore us to death. This year we know that at least one of the finalists will be from outside the top flight, which means that even if the one remaining Premiership team, Portsmouth, does win the trophy that a) it will be a different name from the usual suspects and b) there will be someone new in Europe next year, receiving more money from doing so and hopefully being able to attract better players to help them improve further.
The beauty of the FA Cup has always been the democratic nature of it, allowing the smaller teams a fair and even chance of beating one of the bigger sides. Whether it continues next year, is irrelevant for now, unless of course you’re a fan of one the 19 Premiership clubs who failed to make it to the semifinals.
Letdown at the Dome:
The O2 Arena is no stranger to anticlimax after it lay dormant for five years after the Millennium celebrations, until some bright spark hit upon the idea of using to host sports events. Sadly the latest, which had the potential to be the best yet, was nothing short of a damp squib.
David Haye versus Enzo Maccarinelli in the cruiserweight title unification bout was the UK’s biggest fight since 1993 when Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn met, but failed to go past two rounds, thus leaving the crowd in the arena, not to mention thousands in the UK and across the pond in the USA disappointed and no doubt feeling a little short changed.
The first round was dull apart from Maccarinelli’s fierce left hook that he failed to take advantage of, whilst the second belonged to Haye, who went in hard and reaped the rewards when the referee stopped the bout.
Apparently Macca looked nervous when he entered the ring and it seems they betrayed him on his biggest fight night yet. A shame really as the Welshman is a fantastic fighter, yet so too is Haye. But such is the manner of boxing in this day and age, when the ballyhoo and baiting that takes place before a fight almost always overshadows anything that takes place in the ring. It has even got to the stage where death threats are shrugged off.
They shouldn’t be. It should be upto the governing bodies (lord knows how many there are) to come down hard on it and stamp it out. But that’s never going to be the case when they take the attitude that no publicity is bad publicity. If the boxers actually worried more about their performance in the ring, rather than out of it, then maybe we might start having world title bouts, that for once live upto the hype.
JI 10/03/08
Why oh why couldn’t you have stayed in with a cup of tea and a packet of biscuits? Hopefully that is the question England fullback Danny Cipriani will have been asking himself on Thursday after he was unceremoniously dumped from the England team who went on to lose 15-6 to Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday, after he was photographed leaving a nightclub at just after midnight on Thursday morning. According to Cipriani he went in to the Mayfair club for around 20 minutes, had a chat and a soft drink, dropped off some tickets and then headed home to bed just after midnight (though why said friend couldn’t pick them up from anywhere else and at a more sociable time, has not been cleared up).
In all likelihood he would have made little difference to the score or performance seeing as it was the Scottish forwards’ dominance of the breakdown that was the key factor, allied to the England pack’s ability to undo a lot of hard word with stupid offences at key times. Sure he may have relieved Wilkinson of the burden of kicking from deep, but any hope of seeing his running game in action would have been lost amid the mud and England’s statuesque backline.
There should be the probability of him making his start next weekend against Ireland at Twickenham, so poor was England’s display that it would be better to see what he can do over 80 minutes, rather than wait for the two-test tour to New Zealand in the summer and coach Brian Ashton has said he will be in contention regardless of what occurred in the last seven days.
But why then did Ashton react in so harsh a manner to so minor an offence? Like so many of these incidents that become public we are not really given much insight into what occurred. All we were told was that he was dropped after ‘inappropriate behaviour’. Quite what was inappropriate about his behaviour and/or what rules he broke were not revealed. If there had been a midnight curfew, just tell us. All that has been said is that the players were told to be sensible. He wasn’t drunk, nor had got into a fight. So he may not have been in bed come the witching hour, but so what? There are many players who admit to sleeping very little the night before a match and the effect isn’t always obvious. Just because you go to bed at midnight does not mean you’ll be away with the fairies for your nightly eight hours.
A lot was made in the Sunday newspapers that it was Ashton’s attempts to show who was in charge after the speculation that followed England’s march to the World Cup final last year, when Mike Catt and Lawrence Dallaglio ‘revealed all’ in unflattering terms for Ashton. If that was Ashton’s motivation, then more fool him. His coaching style has been one based on trust and mutual understanding between coach and players. He has never been a table thumper, doing things in a quiet, intelligent manner. One hack suggested that it was an anti-Wasps conspiracy following Dallaglio’s comments, Josh Lewsey’s exclusion from the squad despite good form and the overlooking of Shaun Edwards for an England coaching position. Utter nonsense, seeing as England captain Phil Vickery comes from said club.
Contrasts have been made to the Clive Woodward era and the man himself has admitted that he would never have reacted the way Ashton did. What Woodward did was treat his players as adults. Yes they could go out and get leathered the night before a match, but woe betide them if it affected their performance. As Cipriani’s coach, Edwards, said, rather him go out for a while and enjoy the (alcohol-free) company of friends, than sit in and fret all night.
From Cipriani’s point of view he needs to come back, just be himself once more and show what a talented prospect he is. The worrying thing is though he, along with the rest of us, appears to have little idea of what rule he broke. Under Woodward the whole squad knew as it was written down and signed off by coaches and players. Unfortunately Ashton, who we have been told a thousand times, does not like the management side of being head coach. Well tough. He needs to get hold of things in the way Sir Clive did and stay true to himself and his philosophies. Hopefully then both parties will have learned from this sorry saga and work together for the benefit of England, God knows they need it.
All hail the giant killers:
So that is what they mean by the romance of the cup. After years and years of having to listen to the hollow ramblings of the BBC, finally we have a semifinal line up to look forward to
Whilst Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and, to an extent, Liverpool fans have become accustomed to their place in the May showpiece, for once none of them will be anywhere near the final. Hooray for that.
You see the heads of those four clubs may feel that their presence adds ‘glamour’ and ‘appeal’ to the competition, when all they have done in recent years when getting there is bore us to death. This year we know that at least one of the finalists will be from outside the top flight, which means that even if the one remaining Premiership team, Portsmouth, does win the trophy that a) it will be a different name from the usual suspects and b) there will be someone new in Europe next year, receiving more money from doing so and hopefully being able to attract better players to help them improve further.
The beauty of the FA Cup has always been the democratic nature of it, allowing the smaller teams a fair and even chance of beating one of the bigger sides. Whether it continues next year, is irrelevant for now, unless of course you’re a fan of one the 19 Premiership clubs who failed to make it to the semifinals.
Letdown at the Dome:
The O2 Arena is no stranger to anticlimax after it lay dormant for five years after the Millennium celebrations, until some bright spark hit upon the idea of using to host sports events. Sadly the latest, which had the potential to be the best yet, was nothing short of a damp squib.
David Haye versus Enzo Maccarinelli in the cruiserweight title unification bout was the UK’s biggest fight since 1993 when Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn met, but failed to go past two rounds, thus leaving the crowd in the arena, not to mention thousands in the UK and across the pond in the USA disappointed and no doubt feeling a little short changed.
The first round was dull apart from Maccarinelli’s fierce left hook that he failed to take advantage of, whilst the second belonged to Haye, who went in hard and reaped the rewards when the referee stopped the bout.
Apparently Macca looked nervous when he entered the ring and it seems they betrayed him on his biggest fight night yet. A shame really as the Welshman is a fantastic fighter, yet so too is Haye. But such is the manner of boxing in this day and age, when the ballyhoo and baiting that takes place before a fight almost always overshadows anything that takes place in the ring. It has even got to the stage where death threats are shrugged off.
They shouldn’t be. It should be upto the governing bodies (lord knows how many there are) to come down hard on it and stamp it out. But that’s never going to be the case when they take the attitude that no publicity is bad publicity. If the boxers actually worried more about their performance in the ring, rather than out of it, then maybe we might start having world title bouts, that for once live upto the hype.
JI 10/03/08
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