Rugby World Cup 2011 - Scottish hearts broken by Ashton

THE pool stages at the 2011 IRB Rugby World Cup are over and so are the hopes of twelve teams who were dreaming of reaching the final.  Quarter-final weekend will ultimately see eight of the top nine sides in the IRB rankings do battle; Ireland, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Wales, Argentina, Australia and France.  The team missing out is Scotland, who lost their proud record of having at least made the last eight of every Rugby World Cup competition. 

CRUSHED: Ashton finally put the knell in Scotland's hopes

    For a while on Saturday morning, it looked like the impossible might become possible, as Dan Parks kicked Scotland into a 12-3 lead against England in Auckland.  However, the English dug in throughout another scrappy performance from our boys.  Once again, Johnny Wilkinson had a shocking day with his kicking and surely, Martin Johnson has to consider picking Toby Flood as his no.1 choice at fly-half.  In the end, it was Chris Ashton who once again managed to bail out England.  Trailing 9-12 with three minutes remaining, Ashton finished off the one flowing move England were able to put together in the entire match.  It makes him the leading try scorer in the tournament and earnt us a 16-12 triumph.  It comes at a cost; with a dangerous tackle on Chris Patterson, Dylan Armitage was cited and since been banned from this weekend’s quarter-finals.  Scotland has been unlucky at the tournament, but when you fail to score any tries against Argentina, Georgia and England, I’m afraid it has to be an early flight home.

UPSET: Tonga celebrate a historic victory over the dismal French

     It could be worse, as you could be French at the moment.  They may be in the last eight again, but at the height of a national embarrassment.  They were dominated by a resolute and magnificent Tonga in Wellington and fell to a 19-14 defeat; one of the biggest upsets in Rugby World Cup history.  Only a late try from Francois Clerc was even enough for Les Bleus to secure the losing bonus point.  The French have looked atrocious from their opening match, but knowing them, they have a performance in them, so England shouldn’t take them too lightly.  For Tonga, victory meant like winning the World Cup to them.  It secures them an automatic place for the 2015 finals, at Canada’s expense.  However they will be regretting the loss to the Canadians, otherwise they would be deservedly in the last eight.  Unless they progress on Saturday, France’s rugby players deserve similar treatment to their football counterparts in the 2010 football World Cup; fly home in standard class!

     New Zealand received a hammer blow as arguably, the best player in the world at the moment, Dan Carter was ruled out of the tournament.  He looked in agony and limped away in tears after an Achilles tendon ruptured finished the 29-year’s old participation in his home tournament.  You wonder whether this is his last attempt at the World Cup, after injury ruined his 2007 campaign too.  The All-Blacks didn’t need him against Canada though, cruising to a comprehensive 79-15 victory, scoring twelve tries in the process.  Four of these came from Zac Guildford, while Miles Muliana returned from injury to cross once in his 99^th test for the hosts.  We’ll see how much Carter’s absence will now affect the New Zealand squad and also, the fans. 

    Wales banished their nightmare of Nantes 2007 in their revenge rematch against Fiji.  Samoa’s luckless and narrow defeat to world champions South Africa on Friday meant a bonus point was only required for the Welsh to progress.  The potential banana skin turned into a no contest encounter, with the Welsh cantering to 66-0 annihilation in Hamilton.  Welsh centre Jamie Roberts scored two tries in this emphatic performance.  The Welsh have looked very impressive in the pool stages, and can look forward to a very intriguing quarter-final showdown with Ireland on Saturday.  Fiji; quarter-finalists themselves four years ago, have had a dismal tournament.  No wonder; they even let Namibia score over 20 points!

     In the final pool match of this World Cup, one more quarter-final spot was up for grabs.  Ireland sealed it and it turned into a mismatch against Italy.  Once Brian O’Driscoll crossed the Italian try line in the opening stages of the second half in Dunedin, there was little doubt who was going to be the winning team.  On his birthday, Keith Earles touched down twice, as Ireland scored 27 unanswered points in the second half.  The Emerald Isle eventually won 36-6 and deservedly ended top of Pool C, leaving Australia with a much harder route now to the final. 

     Quarter-final weekend looks a very tasty one and at least three of the games look too close to call.  The final gets closer and with the hard-working minnows dispatched, the real action starts this weekend!  Good luck to the remaining teams left fighting it out for Rugby World Cup glory in 2011!

THE FINAL POOL RESULTS: Georgia 25-9 Romania, South Africa 13-5 Samoa, Australia 68-22 Russia, France 14-19 Tonga, England 16-12 Scotland, Argentina 25-7 Georgia, New Zealand 79-15 Canada, Wales 66-0 Fiji, Ireland 36-6 Italy

CLOSER: Just eight teams can still dream of lifting the trophy in 2011

THIS WEEKEND’S QUARTER-FINALS

Ireland v Wales, Saturday 8 October, from Wellington, 6am UK time, live on ITV1 and ITV1 HD,

England v France, Saturday 8 October, from Auckland, 8.30am UK time, live on ITV1 and ITV1 HD,

South Africa v Australia, Sunday 9 October, from Wellington, 6am UK time, live on ITV1 and ITV1 HD

New Zealand v Argentina, Sunday 9 October, from Auckland, 6am UK time, live on ITV1 and ITV1 HD

Rugby World Cup 2011 - Favourites begin to show their class

WITH the pool stages at the 2011 Rugby World Cup coming to a close, the quarter-final line-up begins to take rapid shape.  In the last week, we’ve seen evidence that the cup favourites have taken their game up a notch and some more landslide results as a consequence.  Although to the neutral, this can be seen as disappointing in light to a true contest, the underdogs know that barring a disaster, it’s four games and then an early flight home, whilst the heavyweights play out the latter stages. 

RETURN: Cueto made a successful comeback, with a hat-trick

     Having scathingly criticised England for their opening two performances, Martin Johnson’s men finally arrived at this Rugby World Cup with a ten try whitewash of minnows Romania in Dunedin.  The 67-3 scoreline didn’t flatter the English either, with signs that their A game has now been brought to the pitch.  Mark Cueto marked his return to the test side, with a devastating hat-trick in the first 30 minutes.  The flamboyant Chris Ashton also crossed for his own hat-trick, as Romania simply couldn’t cope with the onslaught.  To not concede a try and only three points in total also underlines that the defensive work in training is beginning to pay off.  Let’s not forget that Romania is a lower-ranked side, but the performance was much better than the one witnessed in beating Georgia six days earlier.  Only against sterner opposition, like Saturday’s crunch encounter with Scotland in Auckland can we truly assess where England are at in comparison to the other favourites.

TORMENT: Scotland have to look on, as the Pumas celebrate

       Sadly for the Scots, it will now take a miracle to qualify for the quarter-finals.  In conditions more akin to rallycross, they were narrowly beaten 13-12 by Argentina in Wellington.  It was a game of few chances and that was always going to be the case between two well-matched sides.  The crucial, game breaking moment came with nine minutes remaining.  Dan Parks had come off the bench to kick Scotland 12-6 ahead.  The Pumas response was absolutely scintillating.  Lucas Gonzalo Amorosino weaved his way past three Scottish tackles, before diving over for the pivotal try; one of the best individual ones of the World Cup so far.  Stalwart Felipe Contepomi, playing in his last World Cup kicked over the conversion.  In the dying stages, Contepomi looked blatantly offside during the final Scottish attack.  Rather than wait for the certain penalty, Parks attempted the drop goal which wasn’t even close.  The advantage went and with it, so did Scotland’s hopes in cruel fashion.  They now must beat England, score four or more tries and prevent Johnson’s side from gaining any points.  It has to be considered as a long shot.

      If they don’t underestimate Georgia, Argentina’s prize for escaping Pool B will be an exhilarating quarter-final clash with the favourites and the hosts.  New Zealand dispatched France with consummate ease in their Pool A decider at the weekend.  In fact, they were so clinical; the bonus point was wrapped up shortly after the interval.  Israel Dagg was the star man for the All-Blacks, crossing for another two tries.  They won the match 37-17 and by five tries to two; one of those being an intercepted try for the French.  Dan Carter looked back to his best and it was a celebration for Richie McCaw, who was playing in his 100^th test match.  As for France, they will have to seriously improve if they want to advance past the quarter-finals.  However, knowing the French, they have the capabilities to turn in a performance of magic at some point.  England still has to be prepared for the quarter-final bruiser that awaits them.

       In the battle of the Pacific Islanders, Samoa beat a desperately poor Fiji outfit 27-7.  However, they failed to score a crucial bonus point in the match, when it was there for the taking.  Although they will give South Africa a physical and bone-rattling test on Friday, expect the South Africans to finish their hopes off and progress as Pool D winners.  Wales looked impressive again, especially in the second half of their 81-7 destruction of a very tired Namibia yesterday.  Namibia’s tournament has been forgettable, but they did play four games in sixteen days, which is a big ask for a second-rate, amateur team. 

      Pool C is the one pool that looks very interesting going into the final weekend.  Australia had been expected to coast past the USA and did so on Friday morning, dispatching the Americans 67-5.  Adam Ashley-Cooper highlighted their clinical approach, with a hat-trick as the Wallabies ran over 11 tries.  The match was overshadowed by what looked to be a horrific injury to Anthony Faingaa in the closing stages.  He went off on a stretcher, with the likelihood of not only his tournament being finished, but the possibility of his rugby career being in severe doubt.         

     Finally, both Canada and Japan may be going home, but they provided those who got up at 4.30am this morning with a cracking match.  In a keenly-fought contest in Napier, a late penalty from Ander Monro was enough to earn a 23-23 draw for the Canadians.  It is only the third draw in RWC history and incredibly, these sides couldn’t be separated in 2007 either, drawing 12-12 on that occasion.  For me, Canada and Japan have given us plenty of memories in the pool stages and look to be the two most improved teams in world rugby.  Hopefully it won’t be long before they can begin to seriously threaten the real rugby elite.  With one more weekend of pool matches remaining, all rugby fans will be looking forward to an intense final weekend, some emotional farewells and then the real fun begins.   

THE WEEK’S RESULTS: Australia 67-5 USA, England 67-3 Romania, New Zealand 37-17 France, Fiji 7-27 Samoa, Ireland 62-12 Russia, Argentina 13-12 Scotland, Wales 81-7 Namibia, Canada 23-23 Japan, Italy 27-10 USA

Britain's Got Talent 2011 - Scotland upsets favourite

By Jason Wright (Entertainment Expert)

SCOTLAND’s Jai McDowell was the surprise winner in Saturday’s final of Britain’s Got Talent.   Although most of the talk has been that the talent certainly hasn’t been up to the standard in recent years, the grand finale of 2011 promised to be big and entertaining with perhaps the best of mix of acts that it could deliver this year.  Luckily, the quality of the final didn’t disappoint.

     Scottish tenor McDowall poured emotion and soul into his performance and deservedly won high praises from the judges.  It gave him a glimmer of hope that he could pull off an upset and that’s what ended up happening, despite a perfect performance from young singer Ronan Parke.

PERFECTION: Ronan's rendition of 'Because of You' was stunning

     Parke, 12, the bookies favourite and at the centre of a ‘fix’ scam document last week produced an invincible performance of Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Because of You.’  However, it wasn’t just these two acts that grabbed the attention on Saturday night.

     Retired pensioner Steven Hall may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but his breakdancing was certainly an entertaining act.  Despite suffering a sore throat on the night, Hall kicked the show off in explosive fashion, which was followed up by a solid rendition of the audition performance by Michael Collings.  Despite only having 24 hours to prepare after Friday’s semi, Collings confidence shone through. 

     Risk-taking was a key term of the night’s action.  Comedian Les Gibson made a brave gamble to ditch the Ross Kemp/Kevin Webster impressions for accents of the judges.  Although his David Hasslehoff and Michael McIntyre impressions were spot on, Gibson was wide of the mark with Simon Cowell and got a tongue lashing from Cowell afterwards.  Nevertheless, he has been a breath of fresh air in the competition and is bound to get an ITV Christmas show on the back of his performances in the show.  Another favourite with the fans, dancer Razy Gogonea, took a huge risk with adding a new element into his routine, in the form of fireballs.  Like Gibson, Razy’s ambition got the better of him, and it didn’t quite work off.  Surprisingly, his routine was overshadowed by pianist Paul Gbegbaje.  He took a risk with a song that no-one had ever heard off, and his ambition worked and won him deserved praise. 

     Fellow pianist Jean Martyn was the only female in the line-up, and the mad woman was a crowd pleaser, but her chances of winning the show were rather slim anyways.  Ballet dancer James Hobley was lacklustre in a performance that was almost a carbon copy of his semi-final routine, whilst boyband New Bounce closed the final off with a crowd-pleasing performance, although they have some way to go if they want to fulfil predictions of following in the footsteps of JLS.

     Just over half an hour later, the acts were called back to the stage for the public’s verdict. In a change, the full voting result was revealed by Ant and Dec, in reverse order…

10th – Jean Martyn

9th – Les Gibson

8th – James Hobley

7th – Steven Hall

6th – Paul Gbegbaje

5th – Michael Collings

4th – Razy Gogonea

      Razy’s risk certainly didn’t pay off and with New Bounce in third; it left Ronan and Jai in the contention.  Surely now, despite Jai’s heroics, this was, once the obligatory long pause finished, Ronan’s to win.

FATE: The tension builds as Ronan and Jai await their fate

     However, to the complete shock of Jai, this was his night and his victory.  For Ronan, this was a distinct feeling of déjà vu, with Susan Boyle having lost out in a similar way two years ago to Diversity.  However, his future looks very bright and the gracious attitude he showed in being beaten by Jai certainly won him a new-found respect.

     As for Jai, it was an inspired song choice that won it for him in the end.  He collects the prize of £100,000 and more importantly, a place on this year’s Royal Variety Performance in front of Her Majesty the Queen.

     Congratulations to Jai McDowall on a sensational Britain’s Got Talent win!

Volcanic ash cloud returns

LONG: Could be a frustrating night for many passengers

MISERY faces thousands of airline travellers yet again, as the volcanic ash cloud over Iceland returns to haunt people again.  The latest eruption, which occurred on Sunday, caused misery for millions of passengers last year.  Although it is believed to not have the same impact as it did in 2010, there is still plenty of disruption and delays particularly today for many passengers.  Tonight, a number of these will face the severe possibility of sleeping on the floors of airport terminals across the country yet again.

     The ash cloud is across all of England, but it is Central Scotland that has been the worst affected part of the UK today.  Most flights in and out from Edinburgh and Glasgow airports were cancelled, as those delayed were forced to either wait around, or to be diverted onto coaches to airports in the North of England that weren’t as badly hit.  Newcastle airport was one of those not so fortunate.  Easy Jet and Ryanair have cancelled approximately 75 per cent of all Scottish bound flights, but Ryanair are furious with the cancellations they’ve had to make.  They attempted to defy the ash cloud today; the Irish airliner claiming that a test flight made earlier this morning showed ‘no evidence of volcanic ash on the wings or engines’ of its test aircraft.  It’s chairman has accused the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) of incompetence.  In the end, it was the Irish Aviation Authority who forced Ryanair to back down on safety grounds.

     The transport secretary Phillip Hammond has responded to those claims made by Ryanair;

“The CAA can confirm that at no time did a Ryanair flight enter the notified area of high contamination ash over Scotland this morning.  My information is that the Ryanair jet did not in fact fly into any of the ‘red zones’ designated by the CAA.”  He told Sky News.

     It isn’t just the general public affected.  Barcelona have decided to travel earlier than initially planned to London.  They will touch down at Heathrow airport this evening, to avoid being caught up in the ash cloud chaos before Saturday’s UEFA Champions League final against Manchester United.  Barack Obama was forced to arrive in the UK 24 hours earlier than initially anticipated, cutting short his state visit to Ireland in the process.  The Met Office predicts most of the ash cloud will have left the UK by tomorrow lunchtime, although this depends on the latest ferocity of the eruptions on the Icelandic volcano.

    It might not be about to create the mayhem it did last year, but the Icelandic volcano is back as a factor in travel plans and many stranded passengers face a long and frustrating evening.

New Zealand in mourning after Pike River tragedy

TWENTY-NINE miners are suspected to have been killed by a second explosion in a coal mine in New Zealand.

TRAGIC: NZ flags fly at half-mast

The miners had been missing since they got trapped by a first collapse last Friday on the Pike River mine in Greymouth.  On Tuesday night, another explosion put paid to another possibility of another mining miracle, after the epic rescue of the Chilean miners last month.  After five days of no contact, the outcome of this did seem to be inevitable.  However, this won’t change the pain that all the families of the dead must be feeling.

All are grieving, but are also feeling frustrated and angry with the final outcome, feeling that the authorities in New Zealand haven’t done enough to help their trapped loved ones.  Now, the authorities have to deal with the finger pointing from these families, who feel that the rescue operation was far too slow in operation.  CCTV footage was shown on Monday of the first blast, which left the miners at least a mile and a half underground.  The potential of another blast, coupled with the fear of poisonous gases in the mine have prevented rescuers from going into the risk zone.  A day before the fatal second explosion, progress seemed to being made, with a hole being drilled to where the workers were believed to being working.  However, the families feel that these reasons were a 100% cover-up.  One resident in the Greymouth area, where this tragedy happened said that this was “The darkest hour ever, it doesn’t get much worse than this.”

The age range of the trapped miners ranged from 17 to 62.  They included two Britons, both from Scotland.  One of the Britons, Malcolm Campbell was due to get married to a local girl next month.

Infront of a worldwide media gathering, a sombre New Zealand prime minister John Key summed up the general feeling of remorse and overwhelming sense of tragedy;

“This is a national tragedy.  It is a tragedy for the men’s families, for their workmates and friends, for their community and for our nation.”

The Queen has sent her condolences in a message to Key, saying that “I am deeply saddened by today’s news and my heart goes out to all the families and friends of these brave 29 miners.”  It is still not known what triggered the second blast, but it is believed that the dangerous toxic gases have now cleared, so rescuers can start entering to find the bodies.  

Icelandic Ash Leaves Air Travel In Shutdown Mode

For the first time in living memory, there is no-zone flying area in Britain, following the massive eruption of a previously dormant volcano in Iceland, which spread massive amounts of ash into the skyline.  For the past 48 hours, airports across the UK and Northern Europe have been turned into parking lots, with up to half a million people affected by this air travel lockdown, which has nothing to do for once, with human elements.

Airports have closed in Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and France, leaving many passengers stranded, furious about the lack of communication and sleeping on benches, rather than comfortable hotel or holiday apartment beds.  The air chaos has also had effects on other forms of transport, with EuroStar almost completely booked up and a high demand on the ferries too, with the port of Dover struggling to cope with the increased amounts of consumer traffic.

This sky lockdown has been caused due to volcanic ash from the volcano eruption, which has been erupting for nearly a month now, but nothing quite like what we’ve seen in recent days.  Plus, there are no signs of this eruption ending anytime soon.  All airports in the UK have shut until at least 2am tomorrow morning, and British Airways has now cancelled all flights out of Heathrow tomorrow.   Only minimal services coming out of Glasgow and Irish airports, as the ash cloud descends across the UK.  There have already been reports of ash falling to the ground in Northern Scotland, though the health risk is thought to be minimal.  It shouldn’t cause serious harm, but health warnings are urging everyone to take precautions. 

Neither recent industrial action, nor terrorism threats could do what the volcano 900 miles away has done, grounded air travel to a comprehensive halt.  Safety is the paramount concern here and it is simply not safe for planes to fly through the ash smoke – otherwise their engines will either fail, stall or shutdown.  The possible results would be cataclysmic to even think about it.  This is the biggest shutdown since 9/11, with over 4,000 flights cancelled and more heading that route as the weekend goes on. 

Travel industries have urged customers not to panic and try to understand what is happening here.  Some are complaining of a lack of information, which is perfectly understandable and the disruption is likely to continue into next week as well.  With the snowstorms of the start in the year, plus the recent British Airways strikes and the threatened rail strikes, 2010 is turning into a miserable year for the travel industry.

Snow Returns - Bringing Tragedy & Carnage

Just when everyone thought that the winter wonderland or winter nightmare, whatever way you think was over, more came over the past week, causing carnage in areas of Scotland and Northern Ireland, but also bringing tragedy to a family, her friends and a community.

17-year old Natasha Paton was tragically killed in a coach crash in the early hours of Wednesday morning, when a school trip went ahead, despite severe warnings of hazardous conditions from the police.  Lanark Grammar School decided to proceed with the outing to the Alton Towers theme park in Staffordshire, and have received a barrage of criticism from parents and fellow pupils.  All have expressed their anger that the trip was allowed to set off from the school in the first place, considering the dangerous conditions around.

Having left the school at 5.30am in the morning, approximately twenty minutes into the 500-mile trip to the theme park, the coach plunged into a river, following the atrocious snowstorms that paralysed Southern Scotland.  Thirty-eight pupils, five teachers and the coach driver were taken to hospital, all treated for injuries.  Five remain in hospital, all said to be in a stable condition.  Strathclyde police insisted the conditions were ‘horrendous, and the snow had a major part to play in the crash.’  It is unclear whether the children, including Natasha were wearing the standardised seatbelts at the time of the crash, though that speculation is seen as unnecessary at such a tragic time for everyone involved.

The parents of Natasha Paton are said to be ‘devastated at the loss of our beloved daughter.’  The school opened yesterday, for specialised counselling and a special assembly of remembrance.  Known as a keen follower of Chelsea football club and a fan of social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, Natasha was said by many to be ‘always happy, wearing a smile on her face.’  Her loss will be felt by many, some as a completely unavoidable incident, should the trip have not happened. 

Meanwhile, across the UK, storms have affected many parts of the country and are set to continue throughout the Easter weekend, boosting the number of the 2million holidaymakers battling to getaway for the weekend, for a trip abroad.  Forecasters have described the weekend to be ‘cold, wet and windy.’  Scotland and Northern Ireland have been almost paralysed completely by the snow, with the Environment Agency putting in seventeen flood warnings in place.  72,000 homes have no power, after numerous power lines came down, with some areas suffering 20 inches of snow falling, even more on higher grounds.

What a wonderful start it is to British Summer Time, it is making a real mockery of the calendar, but that doesn’t matter to the friends and family of Natasha Paton, a young girl, whose ambitions have been taken away in such tragic circumstances.  I only can express my sorrow and condolences to the Paton family for this horrific incident, as the winter chill continues to bite us all in the most worst imaginable ways possible.

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….  

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.