I'm thinking it, so I'll say it...

Is playing well for the Quins a bit like playing well as a Middlesex cricketer ???

We'll see - on a frosty Murrayfield afternoon, England's bright young (ish) skipper can be assured of a warm reception from the Scottish back row.

LV= ???

Almost felt sorry for the sponsors, really.

The sharp end of the competition, and barely a flicker of interest. A sparse crowd at Parc Y Scarlets, although the youthful home side’s gritty win against the Premiership big boys from London Irish was, arguably, just as significant a performance as the win at Franklin’s Gardens in the autumn. All eyes on the training paddocks (or freezing “recovery” chambers somewhere  in Poland) as the 6 Nations tournament approaches.

Bath finally perform.  Against a scratch Saints side who faded badly as the match went on. The LV Cup may be their only hope of Heineken rugby next year. But if they’re in this form, would it just be kinder to let them concentrate on the Premiership, and start to build a side ? The critics are whispering the Big Question -  Is Sir Ian’s magic finally running out ?

Time to get your crystal balls out...

Harold Camping, preacher, prophet of Doom, said we were all going up in a fireball in 2011. So allowing for the fact that we're bound to get odd little things wrong from time to time, what does the quarter final draw tell us, fellow fans ?


Munster v Ulster
Leinster v Cardiff Blues
Edinburgh v Toulouse

Saracens v Clermont Auvergne


Munster as top dogs and top seeds have had an exhilarating ride thus far, pinching wins with last minute drop goals, and managing to bring through new talent to freshen up an ageing team. A quarter final at Thomond Park should see them through to the semis, perhaps even to the final, but are they quite the force of yore ?
It is great to see Edinburgh playing with such freedom, and they have the considerable advantage of a home tie, but it is hard to see them overturning Toulouse. The Sarries, however, should be able to make home advantage count against Clermont. It would be nice to see England's Brave-New-World-all-attacking-high -tempo midfield of Hodgson, Farrell and Barritt cutting loose, but don't hold your breath. The club is South African to the core, and see anyone with a double digit number on his back as a tackling, kicking robot, if the latter Heineken games are any indication of the way forward.
The Blues will hit the brick wall that is Leinster at the moment. Even without O'Driscoll, they look to have the air of champions. Everything they do says "Winners". Superbly coached, and having highly skilled players who have the nous to adapt a game plan, they look to be a good bet for the Cup again. The game will at least allow us a sneak preview of a Lions backrow - O'Brien, Warburton, Heaslip anyone ?

If the cap fits...

"You haven't got the money to have the depth of the squad. That's not a criticism of anybody - that's the fact of it."

Richard Cockerill was his usual blunt self at the conclusion of the Tigers Heineken campaign, and there can be no doubt that the Midlanders suffered as key personnel went down with a succession of injuries as they attempted to battle their way out of the group stage. Unusually, their European involvement is over in January, and they can but cast envious looks down the M1 towards Watford.
 
But is he right to blame the salary cap ?
Yes, it is undoubtedly true that the French sides have more spending power - particularly Toulouse, who year on year make marquee signings, and invariably progress towards the final stages of the Heineken. But there are plenty of cash rich clubs (Toulon, for instance) who spend, spend, spend, without making an impact. And there are clubs such as Ulster who progress without breaking the bank.
 
On the French side, there can be little doubt that the Top 14 calls the selectorial shots - some teams are clearly prioritising the domestic league above the European competition. In the Land of the Celts, the Heineken is seen as the ultimate test, and the squads are built up to meet that test. In the Premiership, the sponsors are all powerful. Leicester have plenty of cash, but the emphasis on the crash bang wallop in each and every game may allow a player to think he's playing in the best league in the world, but it will leave him with precious little in the tank when the Heineken games come around, and different, more searching questions are asked.

If we can't see the Wood, will we be able to see the Twelvetrees ?

So no toe in the water for Lancaster in the 6 Nations - with the current injury list, it looks like total immersion for the new coach. Tom Wood, the Saints backrower, will be missing the first two fixtures. At least. His fractured toe is encased in one of those really flattering medical boots, and he will struggle to make the Wales game at the half way point of the tournament.
And he will be missed. He is an abrasive ball carrier, with excellent skills in and around the contact area.



The Scots will fancy their chances of sending them homeward, tae think again...

The Cup that cheers

Addicts of the round ball game tell me that the club scene, particularly in the form of the Champions league, has some claim to be better than the international matches. A full strength Barca side would always beat an international team, they say. Laying to one side the obvious point that the Spanish national side is pretty much Barcelona’s, it is worth drawing some comparisons with rugby. Would we find that, say, Toulouse would beat England ? Northampton v Wales anyone?


On balance, I suspect that the club sides would struggle to match the front line national sides. Top soccer sides can go shopping for the very best players. Even in these sobering economic times, the Premier League, La Liga et al can still afford to pay out eye watering amounts of cash. Some subs benches are groaning under the weight of the money stuffed into the back pockets of their occupants. Although a club such as Toulouse are “rich” in rugby terms, they would struggle to compete in the Championship in our Football League. Rugby teams simply demand such a reservoir of specialist talent that at this stage of the season even the big squads are under strain. Look at Leicester - one of the biggest, richest clubs in Europe, but they looked forlorn this weekend against a rather more tigerish Ulster. Too many injuries to cover. Sir Alex Ferguson would simply whistle up some multi millionaire junior pro on loan at Accrington Stanley, and problem solved.

But the Heineken continues to be compulsive viewing. Cardiff struggled to put Irish away - doubts remain over the power of their front row. They’ll be in it as long as Gethin stays fit.

In a similar vein, The Scarlets were always going to find the going tough against the Saints. Once Mallinder’s boys decided to stick the ball up their tight fitting jerseys, the flying West Walians were grounded.

The most disappointing match of the weekend was the Sarries v Biarritz face off, which proved to be a pretty dour affair. When will this talented French outfit face the plain fact that their negative approach keeps costing them matches? Both sides were crammed full of talent in the backs, but the game was dominated by slow, slow “rucks”, where robotic forwards formed an orderly queue and heeled the ball back as slowly and as carefully as if it were made of crystal glass. The idea, of course, is to give the scrum half as much distance between the ball and the opposition, but as a tactic it is as dull as very murky ditch water.

 If rugby is to refresh the people that other games cannot reach, it needs to sort this out.

Big LOLs from Big Lol.

The big Wasp's been sticking his oar in again ahead of the 6 Nations campaign. Always described as "World cup winner Dallaglio" by the journos, his views carry considerable weight.
But his recent contributions don't necessarily hold water.
Firstly, he claims that Tom Wood would be the obvious choice as the next England leader because back rowers make good captains. Well, he would, wouldn't he ? In the same breath he dismissed Robshaw's claim on the basis that he lacked experience. That word again. Think about all the benefit England derived from Tindall's "experience" this last summer...
On the same tack, he felt that Farrell and Morgan were too inexperienced. How could they be expected to cope with the rampaging Scots up at Murrayfield, he asks. England need results, so Hodgson should be at 10. In terms of flawed thinking, it's right up there with the Titanic's crew's feeling that that "it's just scratched the paint, Skip".
Dallaglio was part of a winning side in 2003 because, quite simply, they had more nous, more muscle and infinitely more game winning experience than any other side. They had the balance of all the elements required to win a rugby match.
But all those elements came together over time. England's mistake over the past few years has been to stick with experience as these stars have faded, which has led to tough selectorial decisions not being made. All this may happen again as the home RWC of 2015 leads to those in power at Twickers prioritising a narrow win at Murrayfield over the development of such talents as Farrell and Morgan.

Pruning the Red Rose

Challenges aplenty for interim coach Stuart Lancaster as he and his newly formed team tip toe through the selectorial minefield. Should they pick a young, fresh faced legion of twenty somethings to get hijacked by the Scots at Murrayfield ? Or do they play it safe to get the new regime moving forward with some wins, then evolve over time? Go back to a thirtysomething in Charlie Hodgson at 10, or take a punt on Owen Farrell ?

Injuries may force their hand - with no Wilkinson or Tindall ("retired from active duty"), Tuilagi or Flood (crocked), the midfield has to be reshaped anyway. Farrell has to worth a look. He is calm under pressure, and has the ability to see and create space in a crowded midfield. England badly need a controlling force to work in tandem with Flood - when he recovers. The question will remain - which of the two is a 10, and which is a 12 ? Same old, same old. The point is that Lancaster and the rest of us will never know the answer to that question until Farrell gets his exposure at the highest level. After all, a year ago, who would have imagined that Rhys Priestland would be one of the top 10's in international rugby ?

Foden Frenzy?

Saints' comfortable 32-14 away at Newcastle threw  some of the current season's talking point into some relief.

First of all, it should have consigned one recently touted view to the selectorial dustbin - the idea that England should sideline their most important attacking force, Ben Foden. Journos, players agents, coaches, Uncle Tom Cobbly et al have been pushing the claims of (in no particular order) Delon Armitage, Mike Brown and Nick Abendanon as alternative England full backs, with the Saints player somehow providing an answer to the vexed question of who provides a spark at centre. Quite simply, to move Foden would be asking a great deal of a player who, as a scrum half, had to relearn the game from 15. To ask him to do so again because England have someone almost as good to replace him is, in effect, to avoid the initial problem.

The Saints win also underlined the importance of the man mountain that is Soane Tonga'uiha. He is MASSIVE, and that Saints pack never looks remotely as threatening when he is off the park.

Lastly, sadly, the win showed a Newcastle side that is gradually dropping off the pack. Like a busted cyclist half way up the climb to Alpe D'Huez, they will keep pumping the legs, but now there is no one in their rear view mirror, and little prospect of there being one for about nine months. Old boy Tom May's try to seal the Saints win must have been a bitter pill indeed.