Rugby World Cup 2011 - Sorry England go home

QUARTER-FINAL weekend at the 2011 Rugby World Cup provided some great stories, some emotional heartbreak and some graceful and emotional goodbyes.  For England, they don’t fit into any of these categories.

     The death knell in their torrid time in New Zealand came to a painful conclusion at Eden Park on Saturday.  Their worst performance in the competition since the inaugural 1987 tournament was sealed by a 19-12 defeat at the hands of France.  Actually, the scoreline reflects quite positively on England, but if anyone had watched the game, they would have seen that the French were completely on top for 90 per cent of the encounter.  After a flying opening, the English failed to score a point and paid for a number of issues with their basic game.  Some woeful tackling, poor discipline and iffy handling came together to give the French a 16-0 half-time lead.  

DECISIVE: Maxime Medard's try ended England's sorry adventure

     The dangerous Vincent Clerc and Maxime Medard both crossed the try line as for the first time in this tournament; France looked like a decent side, which I had sadly predicted previously.  Matt Dawson; scrum-half in the 2003 winning England team summed it up on BBC Radio 5 Live; “England were blown away in the first half and probably got a proper telling off.  They came out with a little more pace and precision, but they made too many mistakes with knock-ons, penalties and turnovers.”  Ben Foden and Mark Cueto highlighted a slight improvement from England in the second half with tries, but the damage had already been done.  Martin Johnson has refused to answer questions about his future as head coach, but this tournament has been a flopping disaster.  The RFU has insisted it will hold a review into the shambles of this Rugby World Cup.  I hope Johnson keeps his job, but unfortunately, coaches are judged on World Cup success, not autumn internationals and Six Nations championships.  His future is looking very bleak.  To finish matters off, Manu Tuliagi, who had been one of the bright sparks in this dreary campaign, was arrested by police after deciding on Sunday night to jump off a ferry!  It cost him £3,000 for a stupid, daft and foolish piece of behaviour and sadly, if players do this, the media has every right to crucify them.  England have arrived home, a far sorrier and unruly bunch than it was when they left these shores at the end of August.

     Whilst England headed for the airport, Welsh fans were beginning to move from Wellington to Auckland for a World Cup semi-final.  Since that agonising opening weekend defeat to South Africa, the Welsh have been getting better and better.  They are a team that is gelling together at just the right, decisive moment.  Their first semi-final since 1987 was sealed by a very impressive 22-10 triumph against Ireland in what was the best quarter-final of the weekend.  Shane Williams put Wales infront after just two minutes and the Irish resistance got blown away by second half tries from Mike Phillips and Jonathan Davies.  At the start of the second half, Keith Earls had pushed Ireland onto level terms with his sixth try of the competition.  However, as the game wore on, the Irish began to run out of legs and the young, fresher Welsh squad prevailed.  It marks the end for a golden Irish generation, with the likes of Ronan O’Gara, Paul O’Connell and Brian O’Driscoll surely set for retirement now.  Ireland gave it their all, but it wasn’t enough on the day.  Although the final result was devastating for them, they made their mark in this competition by shocking Australia in the pool stages, so they shouldn’t be too disheartened.  Wales go from strength to strength and will fancy their chances against the unpredictable French on Saturday of making a Rugby World Cup final for the first time.

PACKING: JP Pietersen reflects on South Africa's painful defeat

     Sunday’s second semi-final will be between old rivals, Australia and New Zealand.  The Wallabies somehow managed to send the defending champions South Africa packing on Sunday morning.  They won 11-9 in a game full of bruising tackles and competitive build-up play, but lacked clinical scoring opportunities.  The only try of the match came early on, courtesy of Australia skipper James Horwill.  Afterwards, a heroic rearguard action by the Australians was enough to restrict the Springboks to kicking attempts.  Fly-half Morne Steyn sent over two penalties and a drop goal, which did have his side 9-8 in the lead with eight minutes remaining.  However, winger James O’Connor responded for Australia, with a brilliant penalty kick from near his own half to seal the victory for the Wallabies.  The Springboks will be wondering how they managed to have so much possession, yet lose the match, equalling their worst performance in RWC history, which was back in 2003.  It means that still no-one has ever managed to retain the Webb Ellis Trophy.  Coach Peter de Villers hailed an ‘incredible journey,’ but made an emotional goodbye to the job he loved in the post-match press conference.  Like Johnson, his failure to bring the big trophy home will be sadly what he will be remembered for in South Africa.

     As expected, New Zealand saw off a brave Argentina outfit, although the final 33-10 scoreline did flatter them.  Nerves looked to have got the better of the All Blacks, infront of an expected crowd and they trailed early on through Julio Farias Cabello’s try.  Gradually though, the Pumas resistance was worn away by the cup favourites.  Seven penalties from Piri Weepu showed that there is life after the much missed Dan Carter before tries in the last quarter from Kieran Read and Brad Thorn made the game safe.  Felipe Contepomi bids farewell to the rugby stage, after three World Cups where he showed that he was one of the best players to have graced the game in modern times.  Argentina were rightly praised by Graeme Henry, the New Zealand coach for the tough encounter he got and the South Americans can look forward to joining the former Tri-Nations series alongside South Africa, New Zealand and Australia in the newly named Four Nations next summer.

     So, four sides now remain after an intense quarter-final weekend.  All English fans will be gutted by this shameful early exit, but I urge them now to back Wales all the way!  Let’s see what France, Australia and New Zealand have to say about it in what is bound to be an even tenser semi-final weekend coming up.

QUARTER-FINAL RESULTS: Ireland 10-22 Wales, England 12-19 France, South Africa 9-11 Australia, New Zealand 33-10 Argentina

SEMI FINALS

Wales v France, Auckland – Saturday 15 October (9am) live on ITV1 and ITV1 HD

Australia v New Zealand, Auckland – Sunday 16 October (9am) live on ITV1 and ITV1 HD

Rugby World Cup 2011 - The Irish blow it wide open

RUGBY World Cup 2011 is warming up nicely and a shock result at the weekend blew the competition wide open.  Ireland produced a heroic display out of nowhere to defeat one of the pre-tournament favourites Australia in Auckland, 15-6.  Not only does it mean that the Irish should finish top of Pool C, it now means Australia, South Africa and New Zealand could well be in the same section in the quarter-finals.

LEADER: Brian O'Driscoll inspired Ireland to a famous win

    The Irish had laboured through their opener against the USA and few gave them much hope, but the scoreline didn’t flatter them either.  Two disallowed tries in the closing stages could have added even more gloss for the underdogs.  Two penalties each from Dave Sexton and veteran Ronan O’Gara, in addition to a Sexton drop goal were enough for glory.  Two penalties from James O’Connor was the only Wallabies response and by failing to get a bonus point for losing by less than seven points, it severely dents their chances of topping the pool.  Despite winning the Tri-Nations before the tournament, I didn’t predict much from Australia in this Rugby World Cup and perhaps, this result shows the inexperience at the highest level for this young crop of players.

     South Africa might have also made a very unconvincing start against Wales, but the defending champions are beginning to find their feet.  Six unanswered tries saw them easily brush aside a potential banana skin in Fiji at the weekend.  Their 49-3 demolition of the Pacific Islanders was followed this morning by a 12-try romp of Namibia at the North Harbour Stadium.  The 87-0 landslide of their African neighbours included a record-breaking try for Brian Habana, who became the Springbok’s leading try scorer in their distinguished rugby history.  However, Habana’s body language throughout was poor and he was substituted early in the second half, with doubts over the rest of his participation in the Rugby World Cup.  The margin of victory was South Africa’s biggest in RWC history and questions have to be asked of Namibia’s performance, as they simply rolled over and died.  I have to agree with Francois Pienaar, who is a leading pundit for ITV’s coverage and the winning captain of the 1995 South African team that Namibia are not up to this standard of rugby.  All the other minnows; Japan, Georgia, Russia and Romania have put in worthy efforts against teams of a higher standard in this competition, yet the Namibians continue to be left behind.

     Hosts New Zealand warmed up for their crunch Pool A clash with France at the weekend by overwhelming Japan 83-7 last Friday in Hamilton.  It was entertainment of the highest standard and Coach Graeme Henry will be delighted to see his side run in more points in the second half, following their stale performance after the interval against Tonga the week before.  John Kirwan, coach of Japan and part of the great All-Black team of 1987 was proud of the efforts his players put in and I don’t think there will be a more popular try scored in the competition than that by Japan’s Hirotoki Onozawa.  The whole crowd in the stadium cheered this try, which was nice to see.  Without Dan Carter, Miles Muliana and Richie McCaw, the All-Blacks looked very formidable.  Despite a 46-19 success over Canada in Napier on Sunday, the French still looked far from convincing, blowing more cold than hot.  They will do well on Saturday to repeat the stunning upsets of 1999 and 2007 against the hosts.

     Great is one word that can’t be used to describe England’s World Cup so far.  Unsavoury tabloid headlines of players drinking in bars and dangerous recreational activities such as bungee jumping dominated the build-up to the Georgia game at the weekend.  Martin Johnson was infuriated, but couldn’t really defend his players after a scrappy 41-10 triumph in Dunedin.  England did score six tries, with flying winger Chris Ashton and Shontayne Hape both crossing the Georgian try-line twice, as the European defence tired in the closing stages.  Despite the bonus point gained, the lack of discipline from England was shocking.  They gave away 11 penalties in the first half and if they do that in the knockout stages, forget winning the Webb Ellis trophy!  Toby Flood had a poor game at fly-half and has subsequently been dropped for the Romania game this weekend.  Johnson’s team need to put in a resounding performance on Saturday morning to silence the doubters once and for all.

    After their narrow and agonising loss to the defending champions the previous weekend, Wales bounced back impressively to overcome Samoa 17-10 in the early hours of Sunday morning.  A sole Shane Williams try was the difference in a hard-fought and bruising encounter, which was dedicated to the lives of the four Welsh miners who lost their lives in the tragedy last week.  This was a game that a Welsh side last year would have definitely lost, so it is encouraging to see them edge these narrow battles.

     Scotland didn’t play in this set of matches, but are injury-free ahead of their encounter with Argentina on Sunday.  No doubt they will have been interested to see the Pumas beat Romania 43-8 and signal their intent for this tournament.  Lastly, the Russian team has made its debut at the finals and despite two defeats; a narrow 13-6 reverse to the USA and a walloping against Italy on Tuesday, they have won the hearts of many neutrals for their intent to play proper rugby.  Apart from Namibia, the minnows of world rugby can be proud of their efforts at this Rugby World Cup as the gap continues to narrow between the heavyweights and the lightweights of the rugby union game.

THE WEEK’S RESULTS: Russia 6-13 USA, New Zealand 83-7 Japan, Argentina 43-8 Romania, South Africa 49-3 Fiji, Australia 6-15 Ireland, Wales 17-10 Samoa, England 41-10 Georgia, France 46-19 Canada, Italy 53-17 Russia, Tonga 31-18 Japan, South Africa 87-0 Namibia

Rugby World Cup 2011 - The opening weekend

COLOURFUL: New Zealand welcomed the rugby world spectacularly

THE seventh IRB Rugby World Cup began in New Zealand last Friday with a colourful and electric opening ceremony.  After the opening ten matches of the tournament, no clear-cut favourite has been established, with many of the elite rugby teams really struggling to perform and win matches against the rugby union minnows of the world.  Despite this, there has been no massive upset so far and the rugby is only bound to get better as the tournament progresses.

     As hosts, New Zealand are under great pressure to deliver for a nation, that has suffered this year from the tragic mining disaster and the earthquake that battered Christchurch back in February.  They made a professional start, in defeating Tonga 41-10 in Auckland, but it was far from glorified rugby we’d expect to see from the All-Blacks.  Tonga matched them in the opening ‘Haka’ arrangements, but that was as good as it got for the Pacific Islanders.  They seemed to be overwhelmed by the experience of playing in the opening match and it showed in the first half.  Richard Kahui and Ishrael Dagg both scored two tries as the hosts raced into a 29-0 lead.  After the break, Tonga improved and scored a deserved try from Alisona Taumalolo.  The All-Blacks only managed one further score in the second half and despite the lack of competition from the opposition; there is plenty of room for improvement.  Coach Graeme Henry, who regained his job in 2008, after no-one else wanted it following the quarter-final elimination at the hands of France in October 2007 must be concerned about the amount of handling errors made by the hosts.

BRAVE: Faletau's try wasn't quite enough for Wales on Sunday

     The home nations all made their tournament bow at the weekend, but only Wales put in any kind of performance that they can be proud of.  Typically then, they lost!  The brave Welsh were beaten by world champions South Africa in their Pool D opener on Sunday.  However, the 17-16 scoreline in Wellington reflected how close they came to a mighty upset.  Once the Springboks took an early lead in the third minute, courtesy of a Frans Steyn try, the writing looked on the wall for Warren Gatland’s side.  However, they showed a lot of class and determination in rattling the champions, who looked distinctively average.  Brian Habana, the fastest man in world rugby, was a pale shadow of his domination in 2007 and went off with a knee injury.  It wasn’t long after his departure when Wales crossed the try line to lead the contest, through energetic no.8 Toby Faletau.  Critically, when they needed a score, South Africa managed to turnaround the deficit as Francois Hougaard scored with 15 minutes to go.  A late penalty miss from James Hook cost the Welsh, who must see this as a missed opportunity.  As for the Springboks, they must play better if they want to stand any hope of retaining the Webb Ellis Trophy.

     However, don’t expect Ireland to make a formidable challenge either.  They laboured to a 22-10 success over the USA in New Plymouth on Sunday morning.  Declan Kidney; the Irish coach will be disappointed that his team didn’t get a bonus point for scoring four or more tries.  Ireland winger Tommy Byrne went over for a try on the stroke of half-time in a game littered with handling errors from the favourites.  A ten-minute spell which saw Byrne again and hooker Rory Best go over the line was enough after the interval.  Like Habana, Brian O’Driscoll is struggling for form and his terrible pass in injury time, allowed American centre Paul Emerick to score a poignant try for the US, on the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

      As for Scotland, it is two wins from two, but nowhere near in convincing fashion as Andy Robinson would have been hoping.  On Saturday, only two late tries from Simon Danielli got them out of jail against Romania, one of the weaker teams in the competition.  Despite a bonus point, the 34-24 final score was a real close shave for the Scots.  This morning, they stayed in Invercargill to see off Georgia 15-6.  Terrible weather conditions meant this match was not one that will be fondly remembered.  The boot of Dan Parks got Scotland over the line and they head for harder challenges, at least with points on the board, even though they looked well short of quality. 

      Which bring us onto England?  Although they got the valuable win on Saturday against Argentina by 13-9 in Dunedin, it was a shambolic performance, which had echoes of the Grand Slam collapse in Dublin earlier this year.  Johnny Wilkinson had a day to forget; missing five kicks and hopefully, Saturday’s performance was just a blip from our reliable fly-half.  For long periods, Martin Johnson must have been staring at the barrel of defeat against a team that has plenty of experience, but is beginning to age from the third place finish the Pumas achieved four years ago.  Fortunately, there was light at the end of the tunnel for England, courtesy of a try from replacement scrum-half, Ben Youngs.  Even watching the highlights, it was awful to watch, so imagine what it felt like watching the game live.  A win is a win, but it lacked style, class and panache and will give worried looks to many English followers.

      Final word in this first round-up goes to Canada, who caused a minor upset this morning.  The Maple Leaf that has appeared at every RWC tournament beat Tonga 25-20, despite being ranked lower in the IRB rankings.  Two late tries in the final 12 minutes were enough for the North Americans, who can now look forward to an exciting duel with the unpredictable French on Sunday.

THIS WEEKEND’S RESULTS: New Zealand 41-10 Tonga, Scotland 34-24 Romania, Fiji 49-25 Namibia, France 47-21 Japan, England 13-9 Argentina, Australia 32-6 Italy, Ireland 22-10 USA, South Africa 17-16 Wales, Samoa 49-12 Namibia, Tonga 20-25 Canada, Scotland 15-6 Georgia

Eurovision Song Contest 2011 - Azerbaijan pulls off a surprise triumph

By Jason Wright (Entertainment Expert)

THE most competitive and campest night of the year always delivers a talking point or two each time.  The 57th staging of the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night promised to be a spectacular occasion and it didn’t disappoint.

     For the first time since 1998, the contest did not take place in the capital city of the host nation.  Germany opted for the Esprit Arena in Dusseldorf over their capital Berlin.  In its day job, it’s a second division football stadium, but the tenants happily vacated their home for a few weeks to allow Europe’s greatest music competition to take centre stage.  43 countries, equalling the record, participated and the previous week’s semi-final heats whittled the field down to 25 countries in line for the showpiece prize.

IMPROVEMENT: However, Blue couldn't crack the top ten

     In recent years, the United Kingdom has plummeted from Eurovision contenders to no-hopers.  The BBC has had enough with the viewing public’s pathetic decisions of recent Eurovision performers, so decided that the only way it could win Eurovision again was to make the decision on the country’s act.  Step forward former boyband pin-ups Blue with the song ‘I Can.’ Confidence was high and the boys delivered a great performance.  However, it wasn’t their night and they finished a disappointing 11th, though it has been suggested that a sound fault in their dress rehearsal, which was marked by the juries, going towards 50 per cent of the final result was their downfall. Nevertheless, the UK will take this result as a step in the right direction.

     Like the UK, Ireland has also been in the doldrums in recent times.  It stepped up the game this year by sending in X-Factor rejects Jedward.  The quiff-haired twins were surprisingly so liked, a win looked to be on the cards.  Fortunately for those who despise them, that didn’t materialise but they still came ahead of Blue in 8th place.  Jedward got 12 points from the UK and even more shocking still, 12 from the majority of the Scandinavian countries.  Everyone now knows Jedward and so could this be the start of world domination?

GLORY: Azerbaijan celebrate a shock Eurovision success

     Ultimately, the night belonged to Azerbaijan with their powerful pop ballad ‘Running Scared,’ performed by duo Ell and Nikki, one half originating from London no less.  Tipped as a possible contender, not even bookies suggested it could win but they nailed the performance on the night and so deserved the plaudits.  The leaderboard and competition itself showed that at long last, Eurovision is finally returning to its glory days of the nineties when the competition was always close.  Azerbaijan might have runaway with the victory but behind them, margins with separated by just inches of points.  This has certainly been made possible by the EBU’s decision to bring back jury voting in 2009 to curb the political voting of the Noughties.  Yes, some of it is still evident, like high point exchanges between Scandinavians, near guarantee of maximum points for Eastern and Balkan countries and of course, the at least one exchange of 12 points between Greece and Cyprus.  Everyone agrees though, these powers have become less common in the result now.

     This was a night that many favoured failed to step up to the challenge.  France, the bookies favourite finished 15th whilst heavily backed entries from Hungary and Estonia ended up in the bottom four.  The only main liked contender, Sweden, looked at one stage to be winning but fell back the run-in to wind up third.  Host nation Germany, once again represented by last year’s winning act Lena, also had a disappointing night, ending in tenth.

     Meanwhile, the shock of the night came from Italy.  In their first contest since 1997, ironically the last time the UK won the damn thing, the Italians finished runner-up after polling as a rank outsider.  Eurovision of course wouldn’t be Eurovision without a selection of manic acts although only one made the final cut this time.  Moldova brought out six people who should belong in a mental institution rather than on a music stage, ridiculously finishing 12^th!

     In overall, it was night full of excitement and suspense.  Congratulations to Azerbaijan on a brilliant success and for only the second time in Eurovision history, next year’s contest, to be held in the Azerbaijan capital of Baku as many expect, will be outside of Europe, as Azerbaijan is technically within the Asian border.  Hail Azerbaijan!  

£113 Million Result for UK EuroMillions Winner

THERE was a British winner of the EuroMillions jackpot on Friday night, bagging a massive £113million in the process.  However, Camelot has revealed that the identity of the winning ticket is yet to be revealed.

If the winner can be found, it will the biggest win for any UK individual since the lottery format came into existence back in November 1994.  The winning numbers on Friday were 9, 30, 35, 39 and 46 with the two lucky stars being 6 and 8.  It is still unclear also where the winner lives, or whether it is an individual or syndicate victory.

Nine European countries play the EuroMillions draw, which has been around since March 2004.  The UK winner was the only ticket to match all seven numbers from across those countries that participated.  Until Friday’s win, the most that anyone had won the EuroMillions jackpot was £84million earlier in this year.

EuroMillions is now played in Luxembourg, Austria, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Switzerland as well as in the UK.  Since June last year, ten people have scooped the EuroMillions top prize.

Six Nations Review - A Championship That Failed To Live Up To Potential

The conclusion last week of the 2010 RBS Six Nations was nothing short of a damp squib.  A championship that had been billed by many to be among the best for the generation, turned into six weeks of scrappy, and disappointing rugby action and badly highlighted the Northern Hemisphere’s weaknesses.  With a 2011 Rugby World Cup a mere eighteen months away in New Zealand, it looks very unrealistic on any of our sides challenging the world superpowers from the All Blacks, South Africa, the out-of-form Australians and even Argentina.

Top of the class were undoubtedly the French.  For once, Les Bleus played as a team unit throughout, got the results they needed and as a result, another Six Nations Grand Slam, their first since 2006.  However, it was more professional and cagey, than the flamboyant, bullish style that we all know that France can play.  In Paris last Saturday, the nerves got the better of them and had England shown more discipline, they may well have lost their chance of the Grand Slam.  However, I don’t see this French side having the capability to challenge for the top honours in the world game.  There is definitely a puzzle missing in this jigsaw.

Defending champions Ireland struggled to live up to their potential and it showed.  Apart from an excellent win against Wales, the Irish laboured to wins at Twickenham and against Italy, but they were outfought and outplayed against France in Paris, and Scotland ended their Croke Park fairytale on a very sour note.  For the Irish, their big-game players did not turn up and perform, similar to their shocking 2007 Rugby World Cup performance.  It was a tournament to forget for them, despite finishing as distant runners-up.

Once again, England underachieved and failed when it came to the crunch.  Finishing third in this championship is now a norm and if we start celebrating it, something is wrong.  Turgid against Ireland at home, followed by a shocker at Murrayfield, Martin Johnson is still relying too heavily on the players that bought back the Webb Ellis Trophy seven years ago.  True, young talent is coming through to replace the old guard, but they need more experience and time to shine and that is running out.  Johnson’s naivety with some of his tactical decisions highlighted that he still has a way to go to become a top international coach.  We need to stick by him and not make any rash decisions, but England is running out of excuses for failing to deliver.  Winning something big in 2011 is imperative for this side.

Wales look a pale shadow from the side that stormed to Grand Slam victory two years ago.  Gifting England victory in the Twickenham opener summed up their campaign from start to finish.  It lacked quality and very error-prone.  However, they did produce one of the greatest fightbacks in the code’s history to record a famous win over Scotland at the Millennium Stadium on matchday two.  Also, their spirit to not accept defeat against France should be highlighted as a success.  The never-give-up attitude and determination means Wales are still a force to be reckoned with.  Costly errors are denying this side from getting anywhere successful.

Scotland was the surprise of the championship and deserved more than they got.  They lost control of a winnable match in Cardiff and really should have taken advantage to beat a limp England at Murrayfield.  However, Andy Robinson is injecting belief and pride into the players that hasn’t been there for a long time.  For them to win last week at Croke Park was well-deserved, because not only did it lift them off the bottom of the table, but it would have been unjustified as well.  Despite a 5^th placed finish, the Scots can hold their heads up high on a decent, solid campaign.

Lastly, the Italians propped up the table again, but they are steady improvers.  They pushed England all the way in Rome, beat Scotland fair and square and outscored France in the second half in Paris.  If there was a prize for belief and competitive instinct, Italy would win the Grand Slam.  Their passion and commitment makes up fully for the distinct lack of quality.

Most games turned into tedious, tense affairs, rather than the free-flowing, attacking rugby we’ve seen in recent championships.  Let’s hope 2011 is slightly better.  Congratulations to France on achieving the Grand Slam, but for all six teams competing, there is significant room for improvement and with the World Cup approaching fast, the clock is ticking away….  

Goal-Line Technology Rejected - Another Own Goal From FIFA!

Another meeting involving the world’s football governing body and once again, another own goal.  At a high-profile conference in Zurich, FIFA president Sepp Blatter and his fellow officials from FIFA have rejected the calls from many, both inside and outside of the game for goal-line technology.  I personally hope that this won’t come back to haunt them.

The need for video technology in football is of essential importance, especially as we have the technology to do it.  It is a debate that has raged on for nearly five years and is not set to continue.  Maybe there hasn’t been enough corporation from other football governing bodies, but whatever the outcome, this was the chance for FIFA to show their authority and once again, they have failed to deliver.

Jerome Valcke, FIFA’s general secretary said that “Technology should not enter into the game, it was a clear statement made by the majority of the IFAB.”  “Let’s keep the game of football as it is.”  So, if the World Cup in South Africa is plagued by controversial decisions, then who do blame.  It could well be another tricky summer for officials and linesman, quite possibly on the run from angry football associations.  The World Cup in Germany suffered from this.  Graham Poll could have avoided human error, when deciding to give Josip Simunic three yellow cards, during the Croatia v Australia group match.  Then the Australians were knocked out by Italy, due to a blatant stoppage time dive from left-back, Fabio Grosso.

Recently, Ireland were robbed of a place at the 2010 finals by Thierry Henry’s ‘Hand of God,’ in the World Cup play-off in Paris and just today, Birmingham’s Liam Ridgewell was denied a blatant goal in Birmingham’s 2-0 FA Cup 6^th round defeat at penniless Portsmouth.  His header was clearly shown over the line by ITV cameras, before David James could block the shot.  Ironically, this came just hours after the frustrating meeting in Zurich.  Talk about stupidity. 

Technology works in so many other sports.  Both Rugby Union and Rugby League have embraced the device with winning results.  Cricket’s success of the 3^rd umpire has made decisions for dodgy dismissals a thing of the past and the game of Tennis has been advanced by the introduction of Hawk-Eye on some critical points.  Football has been very slow to possibly embrace the technology and now, it has ruled it out altogether is very disappointing. 

FIFA did say that they would consider extra officials behind the goal-line, a feature that has been trialled with the UEFA Europa League this season.  However, having watched many Europa League games this season, I have branded this as a spectacular failure by UEFA.  Consequently, it wouldn’t surprise me if FIFA’s incompetence would mean these feature would be installed into competitive games.

Maybe it is time for associations like the FA and UEFA to break away from Blatter’s viewpoint and trial technology.  What is for sure, technology in football is needed and would make the game a better place.  Sadly, after today’s meeting, it looks like we are even further away from this proposal. 

Six Nations Preview - The Closest Battle Yet?

This blog was first published on February 3rd at http://happydude88.livejournal.com/

 

This weekend sees the start of the 2010 RBS 6 Nations Championship. One of Rugby’s biggest assets returns and for the next six weeks, fans of England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Italy & France will be glued to the BBC’s television screens, hoping that their side can end up walking away with the Championship, possibly the Triple Crown and definitely, the Grand Slam. So, here are the contenders and how I think they will do:

IRELAND

Ireland comes into this year’s tournament as defending champions and Grand Slam holders. Once again, the Irish have the same abundance of team spirit and quality and will be the bookmakers and my favourites to retain the trophy. However, with rugby still very closely fought in the Northern Hemisphere, one slip-up could see Grand Slam hopes disappear at a drop of lightning. The usual men are back to defend their trophy, with Captain Brian O’Driscoll leading the way. On their day, Ireland can beat anyone in the world, they have to be highly confident of keeping their trophies from last year safely locked away at Croke Park.

ENGLAND

Are England good enough? It is a traditional question and one that many fans and rugby experts keep talking about. Since the 2003 Rugby World Cup winning team, inconsistency has dogged international rugby and for too many years. It is time for England’s players to wear the shirt with pride, passion and perform to the highest levels that they can. As for Martin Johnson, this is his 2nd Six Nations in charge and there can be no excuses this time around. Formidable at Twickenham, but still very dodgy on the road – and with difficult trips to Paris & Murrayfield on this year’s calendar, I fear it could be another frustrating championship for everyone connected with England.

FRANCE

If you thought England were so inconsistent, then what about Les Bleus – who have had so many off-colour performances that leaves you wondering whether a bunch of Paris schoolboys can do better. France have the ability to rip any rugby team to pieces, then can have days when they wake up with ten minutes left to play, and realise the game is lost. Last year’s Twickenham visit was a perfect example. The first half of that game saw some of France’s worst rugby in Six Nations history, but the second half was different – shame for them that the game was over at half-time then. Full of flair and charisma, if France can perform on the big stage for long enough without doodling off, they could well be Ireland’s closest challengers. The match between the two at the Stade de France could be the deciding outcome.

ITALY

The Italians are always the outsiders and more often than not, end up with the wooden spoon in the RBS 6 Nations. Fourth is their best finish, in 2008, but with every passing year, they get slightly better and Rome is never an easy place to go. The charmers of the rugby game still aren’t quite on the same rugby level as the likes of England and Ireland, but their determination and attitude to the game is second-to-none. It would be nice to see them avoid bottom spot this time around and I believe they can do that too.

WALES

Grand Slam dominance in 2008, followed by the slip to 4th in the 2009 table, Wales’s recent Six Nations history is hot and cold. Theoretically, they have the most talented squad in the championship, but sometimes, the team unity is lacking and when the pressure is on, they have a tendency to crack underneath it. The first game against England at Twickenham will be crucial to their prospects, if they want to return back to the top.

SCOTLAND

Now coached by former England flop, Andy Robinson, the Scot probably come into this tournament with as much confidence as ever before. Not since the team of the mid-1990’s have a realistic hope of causing a major surprise. With the reliable Chris Patterson still kicking as well as ever, plus their usual determination to mix-up and spoil the tactical plans of more creative teams, no-one will want to play the Scots this time around. A shock, but welcome victory over the Australians in November at Murrayfield highlights this. Scotland will be dark horses this year and their game on Sunday against France could be spiciest encounter of opening weekend.

The tournament is nearly here, consequently the talking can stop and the action can begin. It could well be the closest fought Six Nations for a decade, with maybe five sides having a case for winning the championship. What is definite, is that we are in for six weeks of gruelling and pulsating rugby action.

Also, this is the first Six Nations without the ‘Voice of Rugby’ around to watch. RIP Bill McLaren, you will be sorely missed, but never forgotten.