Rugby Round-up

Oh the horror...

2006-04-25T21:32:00.000Z

I've been off the blog in sympathy with England's terrible play... More to follow...

Come over to the dark side

2005-06-04T06:13:00.000Z

The BBC has set up a v. open blog for the lions tour - made up of their own correspondents, plus e-mail and text contributions. Thus Lions in New Zealand Tour Blog: "0353 BST: Col, Ho Chi Minh City
Building up for a great afternoon (2pm kick off here in HCMC)and looking forward to what should be a fantastic Test series. I'm flying to NZ for the 2nd & 3rd Tests - can't wait. No accommodation in Wellington (only there for one night) but we figure we can just drink through it. There may not be many Scots on the pitch but you'll hear the support for sure. "

As such, will mostly defer to them for the rugby coverage...

Euro Rugby Appointments

2004-10-05T17:24:00.000Z

Press release recycling

Leicester Tigers Chief Executive, Peter Wheeler, has been appointed as Executive Chairman of Euro Rugby, the organisation responsible for representing the interests of professional rugby clubs across Europe. Peter replaces Patrick Wolff, Vice-President of LNR, who served as Chairman since the organisation's creation in 2000.

Euro Rugby was formed to enable Member Leagues (England, Italy, France and Wales) and their clubs to:

- Improve communication within Europe at a professional club level;
- Share best practice and information;
- Debate and form policies on issues of a European interest and,
- Have a voice, vision and influence on all matters affecting Professional Club Rugby in Europe.

Peter was elected by the Euro Rugby Board and will take up his position with immediate effect. "I am delighted to be able to take a more hands on role with Euro Rugby," he said.

"Over the last few years Euro Rugby has been effective in combining the force of the European clubs and securing greater acknowledgement for the success and value of the professional club game. Historically, international rugby has dominated the rugby debate, but through Euro Rugby the clubs across Europe are starting to receive greater recognition and a greater share of the voice. I look forward to the challenge of working closely with my colleagues around Europe to further this work."

Leicester Tigers Chairman, Peter Tom, explained how Peter's new role would affect his work at the club. "Peter will remain as Chief Executive and chairman of our playing group and we have continued to strengthenstrengthened the administrative support on the playing side of the club to allow him the freedom to take up this influential new position. He has brought real stability to the club and helped to guideguided us through what has been aone of the most difficult periodperiods in the club's history and we are extremely grateful to him for that. The success of Euro Rugby is vital to the development of the professional club game in Europe and I'm confident that under Peter's chairmanship, real progress can be made."

Patrick Wolff, said: "I have thoroughly enjoyed my role as Chairman of Euro Rugby but am pleased that Peter will be able to devote more time to the organisation in his Executive Chairman position. Peter's experience with Leicester Tigers, who are arguably one of the most professional and leading clubs in the world, will ensure that Euro Rugby takes further strides forward. I wish him every success in his new role I will remain on the Board and will be joined by Serge Blanco who is President of LNR."

Howard Thomas, Chief Executive of Premier Rugby and a Board Director of Euro Rugby added: "On behalf of the board I would like to thank Patrick for the hard work and time he has invested into Euro Rugby and am delighted that he will remain on the Board as a Director. It is an illustration of the advancements made in recent years by Euro Rugby that we now have an Executive Chairman and I congratulate Peter on his appointment."

Notes to Editors:

The Euro Rugby Board:
Peter Wheeler, Executive Chairman
Patrick Wolff, LNR
Howard Thomas, Premier Rugby
Stuart Gallacher, Llanelli / Welsh clubs Mick Dawson, Leinster / Irish provinces David Jordan, Glasgow / Scottish clubs Francesco Cavatorti, LIRE Manuel Martin & Enrique Calvet Chambon, representing the Spanish clubs

ENDS

2004-08-22T07:51:00.000Z

Snopes have certified the Bush rugby pic as genuine:

2004-08-17T21:44:00.000Z

Now that's entertaining: "George Bush delivers illegal, but gratifying right hook to opposing ball carrier." while playing rugby for Yale

2004-08-17T21:30:00.000Z

Now that's entertaining: "George Bush delivers illegal, but gratifying right hook to opposing ball carrier." while playing rugby for Yale

Button sequence for God mode gives user unlimited votes

2004-05-24T22:54:00.000Z

What fun!

2004-05-24T22:18:00.000Z

Great day out at the HEC final. Well done Wasps (and fellow Entertainer Trevor Leota).

Wales-England update in advance

2004-03-19T22:57:00.000Z

"Andrew Titheridge: One day to go for the match against Wales, and weather conditions are not looking good.

Sir Clive Woodward: There are looking appalling there is a massive dark cloud coming in from the Atlantic and it’s going to be much like today with very strong winds and torrential rain. I can’t recall a Test match that we have played in such bad conditions. We played in New Zealand last year and they were not great conditions but it’s the same for both sides and we have got to get on with it.

AT: When it was rain in Sydney, it was almost a relief because there is no question England can adjust to weather conditions better than most other sides.

CW: Yes I think we are good at adjusting to conditions but it wasn’t a relief in Sydney. I thought that when we played the French England would have been suited to a dry pitch but we adjusted very well. So nothing will change tomorrow if the weather comes down you still have to get the basics right both scrum and line out and in those conditions it’s about getting hold of the ball. Possession is everything even in bad conditions. We’ve done a lot of soul searching after the Irish game and it’s a huge game for the England team tomorrow. Winning is everything and we have got to get England back on track and to winning ways.

AT: You talk about basics and that is what it is all about, how can you be sure that England will front up and not make the same mistakes that they did against Ireland?

CW: Well I know England are going to front up, there is no doubt about that. We must not go over board about this, we pride ourselves in our line out and you don’t win World Cups but not having a great line out. And tomorrow the two main jumpers are Kay and Grewcock and they have been added to with Chris Jones, so it’s a strong line out. Its not just a case of those players, everybody has got to perform, the lifters have got to be just right and its not just down to the guys throwing in or the jumpers. We have to work together as a team and historically it’s been an area we have been good in.

We set high targets on our own throw and high targets in their throw trying to disrupt their line out. You can still win, we lost by only six points last time and it wasn’t all about losing line out throws. We could have snuck the game, we didn’t deserve to win but history will show we had to lose that game and move on strongly. It’s a big big game for us tomorrow and we’ve got to ensure that we get the basics of the game right, things that we have put massive store in. We’ve done a lot of drills this week on line outs and I am sure we will get back to our normal supply of possession tomorrow.

AT: A lot of people have questioned the fact that England seem to throw the ball long when they are in a defensive situation. Certainly last game the ball was thrown to Lawrence Dallaglio who was not there, because he was defended the try line?

CW: I don’t what to go into the whys and wherefores all I know is that the line out has become one of the best parts of the game. It is very competitive both on our throw and on their throw where there is a huge opportunity to pinch the ball. On the ground if you have a powerful pack you are not going to lose the ball on your own put in at the scrum.

You rarely see balls against the head as you did along time ago but the line out is one of the most competitive areas of the game because you can always vary it. We will throw to the back of the line out if its not marked up, if its totally free you must throw it there. I don’t want to keep going back to the World Cup, but we won it throwing to the back of the lineout, which was a real gutsy call.

When Lewis Moody was free, we could have thrown it to the front which would have been the safe option, but that was marked up. You can look at all sorts of examples such as the Lions in Australia where they threw to the front with Martin Johnson, they lost it because it was so obvious to everyone where the ball was going to go. So you’ve got to have a pattern that identifies the free area which is a real skill but for some of the commentators of yester year they will see that the game has changed dramatically in terms of scrum halves coming in and lifting and has moved on tremendously even in the last year.

You’ve got to understand that and work systems where by your hooker is throwing to the free man and doesn’t matter where that free man is, if he is at the back of the line out we will throw it to him there all day, and if he’s at the front, we will throw it to him there all day. But then if you get the technical things wrong like the lifting and the throwing in, then whilst its probably the right call, its not the right call if the ball doesn’t go there or is marked up by other world class players. If it doesn’t work it becomes a very embarrassing part of the game as we showed in the last game, and we are looking forward to tomorrow when we can talk about the Welsh line out play and not the Irish.

AT: But Wales will be confident, won’t they? The last time they played England, which was in the World Cup they nearly caused a great upset and with our result against Ireland they must feel they come to Twickenham with a real chance?

CW: Of course they do, they played very well in Brisbane there is no doubt about that. England again played very poorly but won, but there is no such thing as nearly, you either win or lose in this game and I smile at all our friends from Wales who seem to take great store in that game but they lost and that’s it. It’s a brutal business you either win or you lose and we are going to win. I can not recall a time when England lost two in a row, so we have put a lot of things right already in training and already between the ears which is where we lost it against Ireland and it is a question of getting everything back on our normal professional level. I am pleased with the preparation, we are also bringing back Tindall and Grewcock and we’ve got Julian White to come in off the bench which puts a lot of pressure on Woodman and Vickery because Vickery can play lose head as well. We think White is a tremendous player. We have got a more familiar look about the team for tomorrow an!
d we are on the back of a defeat and we are not used to that."

Well done Ireland

2004-03-08T23:58:00.000Z

Just got back to proper web access - congrats to Ireland over becoming the first team to beat England at HQ since 1999, and first side to beat the new World Champs. Well done.

How to beat England

2004-02-22T23:06:00.000Z

A theory from the Judge:

1) England have identified that the match isn't just played between the try-lines. Though players act very lackisdasically when touching down/running out ball a lot of the time, you can challenge as much as you like there.
2) The length of the in-goal isn't fixed. From memory, it can be from 0 (practically 5) - 25 metres long.

Therefore
3) Teams should minimise the depth of the in-goal to prevent England kicking through to score.

Negative - if you're defending a 5m scrum, and have almost no in-goal, the fly-half has little room to work in.

One of the tries...

2004-02-22T22:45:00.000Z

OB is predictably correct:

" have, naturally, played the tape many times.. One thing is crystal clear: McHugh was looking at the incident from behind Grewcock. He could not be expected to see through both him and a Scottish tackler. What he did undoubtedly see was the ball come out backwards. He would not have been able to see it come off the Scottish knee.

Therefore, unless he gets something different from his TJ, he MUST not give a knock-on.

Was it in fact a knock-on? Very hard to tell without a side-on view. The ball was knocked loose by Grimes, the second man into the tackle. Grewcock was still moving forward, but only just. Grimes did not move backwards after contact. When Grewcock lost the ball, he was leaning forward, and Grimes certainly knocked the ball backwards with respect to Grewcock - when the ball hit Grimes' knee it was behind Grewcock's hands. That does not tell us if the forward momentum of the ball had been cancelled, but nor does it prove the opposite.

If you cannot be sure, you do not give a knock-on. Under the circumstances, McHugh did nothing wrong. At best it was a very marginal decision that could well have been correct if measured with a micrometer.

Bouch - would you like to point me at the time of the six incidents, so that I can study them? "

Hew's no use to anyone, he's no use at all....

2004-02-22T22:33:00.000Z

M. Dominici managed to drop the ball spectacularly when over for a try. Well done Dave S...

The Scotland trip

2004-02-22T22:31:00.000Z

Just back from tour to Edinburgh. As the folk say:

"I want to be an Entertainer
I want to be an Entertainer
I want to live a life of danger
I want to live a life of danger

Entertainer
Entertainer
Life of danger
Life of danger"

Etc.

For the Shrek:

Wish I had a faster connection....

2004-02-16T22:55:00.000Z

I think this is the right link to get up the highlights of the 6N games. Including the brilliant first Robinson try. Though I still kinda prefer the Thomas try they screwed up, and the French try - more multi-phasic. For which Jason's second try shows the goods - backwards and forwards with the ball to tear the oppo apart.

Cruel (and hypocritical) to be kind...

2004-02-15T23:49:00.000Z

The Grauniad's 6N section is up to its old tricks:

" France 35 - 17 Ireland
Febraury 15: France found their Six Nations rhythm early, running in four tries compared to Ireland's two.
Minute-by-minute report
Eddie Butler: No gain without pain "

Best tries of the weekend

2004-02-15T23:46:00.000Z

1) The Gareth Thomas try that didn't happen due to crossing.
2) The Jauzion (????) french try that went the length of the pitch on a kick return with lots of flow
3) Robinson's first try - beauty of a gather and give by Robbo, Lewsey draws the two men and passed in as tackled out, JR stands up his man and sprints to the try line.
4) Probably Robinson's second try - was pretty darn good too...

Talked out

2004-02-15T23:44:00.000Z

I've done all my chatting in the pub and around. But here are endless view on the England game.

Me - wasn't that Robinson try absolutely smashing? You know the one I mean, number one....

Wood on the 6N

2004-02-15T23:31:00.000Z

Interesting opening comment from Keith Wood in the Rugby Spesh - he thought Italy were going to win one, maybe two, games this year. Obvious is vs Scotland. The other he's thinking of surely must be vs Wales, and I think that there's a real chance of that.

How good were Wales?

2004-02-15T23:28:00.000Z

Personally, have a lot of doubts - opened well, but 23-10 vs Scotland (or even 23-3) isn't so great. Seems like another "nearly performance by their all-singing, all-dancing, occassionally-scoring, winning-once-so-far new attack.

But here's a match report much more enthused than I

Why?

2004-02-15T23:26:00.000Z

The BBC brings back Rugby Special for the Six Nations, and kicks off with one of my favourite tunes, the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army"...

Far too many damn questions

2004-02-13T20:45:00.000Z

Ready for the Six Nations? Really ready for the Six Nations? OK, try the "rugby laws" quiz. Not too many questions...

2004-02-01T21:34:00.000Z

An on-going tale - an interview with Andre Watson, the ref of the World Cup Final, on the ongoing Watson vs Clive Woodward controversy....

Rugby challenge

2004-01-30T20:05:00.000Z

How many of the RFU's founding teams have you played against?

Early teams on the list still exist under the same names. Later ones, may have died out, or changed names. Richmond is a possibility too:

"Harlequins, Blackheath, Guy's Hospital, Civil Service, Wellington College, King's College and St. Paul's School.

Gipsies, Flamingoes, Mohicans, Wimbledon Hornets, Marlborough Nomads, West Kent, Law, Lausanne, Addison, Belize Park, Ravenscourt Park, Hapham Rovers and Queen's House."

"BEAUTICIAN!"

2004-01-03T20:17:00.000Z

What a brilliant line-out call:

"Here's an amazing but true tale to warm the cockles of your New Year heart.

Our hero is Tasco, a nuggety and bent-nosed hooker in a pretty good under 15s school side. On the historic day in question they are handing out the father of a hiding at home to a lowly competitor.

Nothing special about this late ‘70s early winter outing, except that amongst the few spectators were members of their school's revered First XV, scheduled to play next on the same ground.

A kick sailed over the touch line just where the first grade boys were milling around. Now, thought the hooker, was a great chance to catch attention trialing a lineout play his team had concocted during the last training session.

And so it was that he made the call. “Beautician,” he said.

That immediately caught the attention of the first grade boys. This was not a call of the genre of, say, “Harbour Bridge” or “46”. Or even the infamous “99”, which everyone in the district knew to be the signal for instigation of fisticuffs.

Later, Tasco was able to recall with pride that the perfect positioning of the lineout enabled the spectators – including glitterati like the first grade coach and school principal, the school captain, and most importantly the first grade hooker, a gentleman known as Fishhead – to view what transpired in the same detail and with the same clarity as Tasco himself.

The hooker released the ball with as much force as the needed accuracy and guile would allow, straight at the face of his opposite number standing at front of the lineout. In the split second it took the perfectly directed throw to reach its target, he could see the eyes of the opposing hooker:

(a) Light up with surprised glee that the ball was coming his way, then
(b) Expand in panic as he realized this was as intended, then finally
c) Disappear from view to be replaced by the back of his skull, from which the ball ricocheted some twenty feet in the air.

The thing that really sealed the deal, as the crowd doubled over in hysterical laughter, was that the referee had no idea about what had happened and awarded no penalty. He did not even rule that the ball was not in straight.

For the rest of the game, everyone on the team wanted to throw a “Beautician”. Whenever the ball went out, five voices would yell “Beautician” before the hooker could say anything. Second rowers were kicking the ball out deliberately just so there would be a lineout.

Never had Tasco known such celebrity. He even lived out his ultimate rugby fantasy. The team fly half instructed him to feign injury, and then insisted on taking his place at hooker and lineout thrower.

So when Tasco instantly recovered, he played fly half for the rest of the game!

As for the First XV boys, they laughed loud and long. The loudest laugher was Fishhead, which was an unusual sight. Here was a character that was only known to school juniors for episodes of profound mirth following sequences like:

“Hey Fishhead”
“That’s Mr. Fishhead to you, s*it for brains”. Wallop!

Fishhead was said to be so impressed with “Beautician” that his coach had to restrain him from using it.

This order broke down only in the very last game of the season, the grand final. Fishhead’s team was more than a converted try behind going into the last few minutes of a brutal game.

Unfortunately, unlike Tasco’s opponent, Fishhead’s immediately came out throwing punches and the two hookers were sent off.

Coach’s head went into hands. A legend was born.

Many years later, and this is where I come in, I can confirm that rugby teams at the very same school still used the very same “move” under the very same name. And no one knew the story of the origin.

But the first grade coach ten years later was the same fellow, and he swears that this tall tale is in fact true. "