|
After all the bad news with injuries for the summer tour can Ireland put in a performance this evening that could brighten the mood a little? Looking at the teams:
Ireland: R Kearney (Leinster), S Horgan (Leinster), G Duffy (Connacht), F McFadden (Leinster), A Trimble (Ulster), R O’Gara (Munster) cpt, P Stringer (Munster); M Horan (Munster), S Cronin (Connacht), T Buckley (Munster), E O’Donoghue (Ulster), D Tuohy (Ulster), J Muldoon (Connacht), N Ronan (Munster), C Henry (Ulster).
Replacements: J Flannery (Munster), T Court (Ulster), M O’Driscoll (Munster), D Wallace (Munster), T O’Leary (Munster), J Sexton (Leinster), P Wallace (Ulster).
Barbarians: P Warwick, D Smith, C Lualala, S Rabeni, C Heymans, B James, P Mignoni, D Barnes, S Brits, C Johnston, J Thion, M O’Kelly, A Quinlan, G Smith, X Rush.
Replacements: B August, J White, R So’oialo, M Williams, B Kelleher, J-B Elissalde, F Estebanez or P Sackey
The old axis of Stringer and O’Gara could well ensure we see nothing of the potent talent further out. That said, if the Barbarians start anything like they did against England last week the opportunities might be too blatant to avoid.
Still, with a glass thats always half full, McFadden scoring first and an Ireland winning margain of 6-10 points is well worth a quid at 90/1, or more likely get evens on Shane Horgan rumbling over at any point. bet365 for the odds.
That time of the tournament again and the Gods have spoken, the shortlist announced as follows:
Imanol Harinordoquy
Mathieu Bastareaud
Morgan Parra
Thierry Dusautoir
Tommy Bowe
Shane Williams
Come on lads, show some imagination will you. Undoubtedly Harinordoquy and Parra deserve their places but the rest seem to hint that this list was made before the tournament. Shane Williams, as ever the hero of Wales, but has he had a better tournament than Poitrenaud? Tommy Bowe is in fine form but surely Earls or O’Leary are ahead of him thus far. As for Dusatoir and Bastareaud, just seems lazy when you compare them to Italy’s two try newcomer Canavosio.
Dyou not think?
 An all too familiar sight
Just to get things straight, I’m a Hooker. I should say I was a Hooker really but the feeling never leaves you. So officially I’m a believer but I’m just bored of scrums.
Scotland Vs England on the weekend was admittedly a total horse tranquiliser of a game. I dozed off for about ten minutes of the second half and wished I’d slept through the lot, well at least the scrums.
- The idea of any sort of Hooking contest is long gone.
- They eat up valuable game time.
- You can win the Heineken Cup and Grand Slam with a rubbish one.
Don’t get me wrong I don’t think we should head down the league route with a flaccid leaning formality. In principle, scrums work. In fact last weekend showed as much, four tries were scored direct from scrums, at their best they tie in the forwards and allow for the flashy strike moves, bonza!
All to often though, they are the dullest of affairs. Six men barely managing to control the force of ten others all under the control of one other who in the main, baffles.
Arguably the scrum of the weekend was Ireland taking one against Wales having been camped on their own line for several minutes. Inspiring stuff undoubtedly. The scrum ended up in a heap, Heaslip picks up, Mr Joubert waves play on. So if the side with the upper hand in the scrum has the ball and uses it the Ref waves play on. Seems perfectly acceptable but it isn’t like that all the time, hardly ever, never in fact.
I vote for radical change. A new kind of restart. I’m open to suggestions on what this could be. Rugby was a sport born out of another sport, so it couldn’t hurt to look around for a few suggestions, how about:
 The Bastareaud Williams match up would be classic
 One to launch strike moves from
 We've already got the headguards
Any other suggestions more than welcome
Having been duped by an unreliable source in my previous report . I was happy to find the truth today, right in front of me, in HMV of all places.
 Andwood or Jedand, either way they make a wonderful couple. It seems so obvious now its in front of you doesn’t it. The shared penchant for hair dye, the overtight jeans/shorts. I’ve been racking my brains for the last couple of weeks as to why we hadn’t been told who Powell’s partner in crime was, how ever could I have been so blind?
From the looks of things, it should be a great partnership. Andy’s got himself a few weeks off and I can’t imagine a better place for him than acting as muscle for Jed or Wood. Likewise for the twin, we all knew the Spartans of the entertainment world Messrs Walsh & Cowell were never going to let both of them live. Sooner or later one of them was going to be let out into the forest to fight the wolves, now this one has Andy by his side.
Although I consider this conclusive proof ( I was there after all) I appreciate some of you may still have your doubts so I have taken the liberty of enhancing the above photograph. Finally, with the help of digital technology, we can put this matter to bed, once and for all…
 Conclusive Proof
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.
Any other suggestions gratefully received
The wonderful people at bet365 and myself offer you the opportunity of a great result from some great games.
I was so tempted I had a go myself
 You've got to be in it to win it
Wales Vs France 20:00, 26/02/2010
Wales: Lee Byrne (Ospreys); Leigh Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues), James Hook (Ospreys), Jamie Roberts (Blues), Shane Williams (Ospreys); Stephen Jones (Scarlets), Richard Rees (Blues); Paul James, Huw Bennett, Adam Jones (Ospreys), Bradley Davies, Deiniol Jones (Blues), Jonathan Thomas (Ospreys), Martyn Williams (Blues), Ryan Jones (Ospreys, capt) Replacements: Ken Owens (Scarlets), Rhys Gill (Saracens), Luke Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), Sam Warburton (Blues), Mike Phillips (Ospreys), Andrew Bishop (Ospreys) , Tom Shanklin (Blues).
France: Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse); Benjamin Fall (Bayonne), Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Francais), Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), Alexis Palisson (Brive); Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Morgan Parra (Clermont Auvergne); Thomas Domingo (Clermont Auvergne), William Servat (Toulouse), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Lionel Nallet (Racing-Metro), Pascal Pape (Stade Francais), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse, capt), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont Auvergne), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz).Replacements: Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais), Jean-Baptiste Poux (Toulouse), Julien Pierre (Clermont Auvergne), Alexandre Lapandry (Clermont Auvergne), Frederic Michalak (Toulouse), David Marty (Perpignan), Julien Malzieu (Clermont Auvergne).
Well, well or oui, oui. This has got game of the tournament written all over it. Gatland has thankfully managed to keep his gob shut all week and with the emotive victory over Scotland behind them Wales may be in with a chance. They will have to raise their game considerably though, entertaining as it was, they should have lost a fortnight ago. Alongside of this they need the French to be somewhere way beneath the level that they played at last time out. Which, thankfully for the Welsh, they may well be.
Tip: Double Result: France-Wales 8/1 @bet365
Italy Vs Scotland 13:30, 27/02/2010
Italy (Squad): Matias Aguero (Saracens) Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Francais) Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Francais) Riccardo Bocchino (Femi CZ Rovigo-) Marco Bortolami (Gloucester RFC)Gonzalo Canale (Clermont-Auvergne)Pablo Canavosio (MPS Viadana)Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester Tigers) Lorenzo Cittadini (Benetton Treviso)Carlo Antonio Del Fava (MPS Viadana) Paul Derbyshire (Petrarca Padova)Gonzalo Garcia (Benetton Treviso) Quintin Geldenhuys (MPS Viadana)Leonardo Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso) – captain Craig Gower (Bayonne) Andrea Masi (Racing Metro Paris)Luke McLean (Benetton Treviso) Fabio Ongaro (Saracens) Salvatore Perugini (Bayonne) Kaine Paul Robertson (MPS Viadana) Alberto Sgarbi (Benetton Treviso) Josh Sole (MPS Viadana) Tito Tebaldi (Plusvalore Gran Parma) Alessandro Zanni (Benetton Treviso)
Scotland: H Southwell (Stade Francais); S Danielli (Ulster), M Evans (Glasgow), G Morrison (Glasgow), S Lamont (Scarlets); D Parks (Glasgow), C Cusiter (Glasgow, capt); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), R Ford (Edinburgh), E Murray (Northampton), J Hamilton (Edinburgh), A Kellock (Glasgow), K Brown (Glasgow), J Barclay (Glasgow), J Beattie (Glasgow).
Replacements: S Lawson (Gloucester), A Dickinson (Gloucester), N Hines (Leinster), A Strokosch (Gloucester), M Blair (Edinburgh), P Godman (Edinburgh), N De Luca (Edinburgh).
The Scot’s must see this as their chance to shine and deservedly so. I can see nothing more than a healthy victory for them.
Tip: Handicap Scotland -11.5 19/10 @bet365
England Vs Ireland 16:00 27/02/2010
England: D Armitage (London Irish); Mark Cueto (Sale), Mathew Tait (Sale), Riki Flutey (Brive), Ugo Monye (Harlequins); Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon), Danny Care (Harlequins); Tim Payne (Wasps), Dylan Hartley (Northampton), Dan Cole (Leicester), Simon Shaw (Wasps), Steve Borthwick (Saracens, captain), James Haskell (Stade Francais), Lewis Moody (Leicester), Nick Easter (Harlequins).
Replacements: Lee Mears (Bath), David Wilson (Bath), Louis Deacon (Leicester), Joe Worsley (Wasps), Paul Hodgson (London Irish), Toby Flood (Leicester), Ben Foden (Northampton).
Ireland: G Murphy (Leicester), T Bowe (Ospreys), B O’Driscoll (Leinster) capt, G D’Arcy (Leinster), K Earls (Munster), J Sexton (Leinster), T O’Leary (Munster), C Healy (Leinster), R Best (Ulster), J Hayes (Munster), D O’Callaghan (Munster), P O’Connell (Munster), S Ferris (Ulster), D Wallace (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster).Replacements: S Cronin (Connacht), T Buckley (Munster), L Cullen (Leinster), S Jennings (Leinster), E Reddan (Leinster), R O’Gara (Munster), A Trimble (Ulster)
The waiting is almost over. England come in after back to back victories Ireland with a disappointingly heavy defeat, it really could go either way. I’m not a subscriber to the view that England have a particularly poor selection of players just that they are playing poorly together, playing poorly but winning also.
Twickenham is an interesting choice for Sextons 6Nations debut, particularly lining up alongside the much maligned O’Leary. Deccie the Leg is so ever so keen on his panel you might think he would excercise this theory at 9. I’m certainly not going to question his judgement on this or Murphy’s inclusion juts hope that come 6pm saturday I leave Twickenham with a smile on my face, I’ve seen them play here 6 times and have yet to see an Irish victory, I’m not sure I could take another loss.
Tip: Ireland by 1-5 points 5/1 @bet365
The following suggests they were on the hunt for more than just breakfast:
 Get your motor running...
Sorry I couldn’t resist. What was he thinking?
For all of you heading to Cardiff for the rugby on Saturday, the following is a quick list of the best breakfasts you can find. Its the most important meal of the day you know…
No. 8: Westgate St. The official breakfast of the WRU, not that you would expect many of the squad in there come Saturday morning. Still it couldn’t be closer to the stadium and a full Welsh for a fiver makes it a decent candidate.
O’Neills, St. Mary Street: Its a bit of a shame that a ‘chain pub’ makes it at No.2 but they do so on merit. The closest pub to Cardiff Central station and opening from 10 for food on Saturday, makes this an ideal option for the travelling fan. Also a good place to continue after the game. Open till 1am, live music and the joyous carnage of St Mary St literally on your doorstep.
Hayes Island Snack Bar: Something a bit different. Smack bang in the middle of Cardiff City Centre. This little wooden cabin bills itself as ‘Cardiff’s Parisian style, al fresco dining expereience’ while I don’t know about that, I do know that it does a cracking sausage sandwich and is a great place to watch the world go by. Its also not a pub, might seem like a mixed blessing but think about it, we all know there is a long day ahead, an hour off might not be the worse thing in the world.
The Yard: Close to the station, a good place to head to for real ale lovers, their website describes them as Brains ‘flagship’ pub, whilst I’ve no idea what that means, it does suggest its a good place to go if you like your beer brown and flat. Also they have got some interesting deals if you haven’t got a ticket (but have a few quid)
AJ’s Coffee House: City Rd. Out of the main city centre and a personal favourite this is a great place to ease yourself into the day. A plethora of breakfast options, bagels, waffles the lot. Clean, friendly, freshly prepared, free newspapers. Textbook.
If you have any other suggestions or have a dodgy sausage at any of these then comment here and I will amend accordingly
htt p://www.urban75.org/photos/wales/hayes-island.html
Ferris Included in Starting Line-Up Sweet sweet music to my ears. Having listened to Gatland prattle on about closing roof’s and untrustworthy locks all week I have been proud to hear the legend of Deccie keeping it positive and brief. O’Connell pitched in with the following earlier:
Structurally their attack goes out the window. Once they’ve offloaded and broken you, it becomes a scramble defence and that’s when it comes down to work-rate and desire.
‘You have to expect the unexpected and then react to it. That’s what we did last year against France a few times.
‘You can’t panic when they do open you up, because it will happen. You have to keep a cool head and make sure you don’t concede seven points.
Spot on. One of the highlights of last weekend for me was Evans’ try saving tackle, actually unbelievable, he must have been the only person in that stadium sure he had stopped a try, probably not even certain himself. It was only his desire that stopped it and that’s exactly what Ireland must show come Saturday.
It was fantastic to win the Grand Slam last year. So much so that if we do lose on Saturday, its not such a big deal. We won one last year. In fact I’m happy with we’ve won one. Although we have been the most consistent performers in the tournament for a while now, I can’t be the only one to have thought they might be the nearly golden generation. Throughout last year they have got results which would have been near misses but for three things; composure, edge, Kidney.
So what I am saying is if they do lose on Saturday it will be to the better team. No-one can argue with that.
Oh, and Gatland! What is he playing at? He’s now engaging in mind games with an inanimate object? I’ve a lot of time for the Welsh but I wouldn’t mind Scotland winning that one. I’m intrigued to see who’s fault it might be
|
|
