Rugby - Hands Off Black!

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H. Ellis also needs to improve his discipline a bit. He does some silly things. Yes, the younger players did some good things. It was also nice to see G. Murphy in some form, even if the oppo set things up very nicely for him too often.

I notice this morning that Chris Whitaker, Waratahs' skipper and George Gregan Wallaby understudy, is off to Europe at the end of the S14 season. To an undisclosed club. It turns out his parents are English, so presumably it will be an English club. Good luck to him, he has been a very loyal servant of Oz rugby. Very good player, always said to be a better deliverer of the ball than George. It's a move that could have some impact on George's Wallaby future, too. George and Chris were the permanent first and second choice #9s. If the new Wallaby coach decides to flick George, he will need to find two new #9s.

[Havak]

I'll be interested to see where Whitaker ends up. I am fairly sure it will not be Tigers as we have two goodish scrummies and a young lad with promise in reserve.

You are right about Ellis's temper - it lets him down. That should improve with a bit more seasoning though.

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Stumbled on the Sky rugby show last night. Only ruined by a lengthy piece on Leicester's HC fightbacks.

[LDiCesare]

Hello, I missed my internet connection these weeks, but I wanted to make comments on this:

Munster v Perpignan
Perpignan doesn't, indeed, travel well, but who knows?

Biarritz v Sale
I don't know Sale. But Biarritz is in great form now. Their match against the Saracens was just great, and they didn't need the yellow cards to win. I've been very impressed by Bidabe at center. He used to play wing but made a strong show.

Toulouse v Leinster
Leinster will struggle. But then Toulouse managed to lose at home against Bayonne a few weeks ago, so if Leinster don a white and blue jersey, they may very well win.

Leicester v Bath
Methinks the result of this game will be interesting. Expecting Havak's comments in case of Leicester's victory. In case Bath beats the Tigers, well, it's not like Havak ever showed a sign he disliked that team, did he?

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Expect Havak to be humble in victory, gracious in defeat.

And expect pigs to fly.

I saw quite a lot of the Bath -v- Wasps match on the weekend. Wasps were bad, Bath very good. So who knows what that means for the HC? Bath were ordinary last week until the Paddys let them back into the match.

Leicester struggled to a draw against Sale. It wasn't televised. There's probably a censorship law against showing G. Rowntree's moosh on TV when children might be watching. I'm sure Havak will give us an unbiased view of the Leicester performance.

Regardless, the HC matches all promise to be very interesting affairs.

[Havak]

As I am sure LDiCesare knows Leinster play in Blue and White.

Bath. Now there is a team worth loathing. They can't put two decent performances together to save their lives. They will raise their game for us every time however - our rivalry goes back a very long time. Still seeing Wasps lose is never a bad thing.

The unbiased view of the weekends game is that Sale looked a class above in the first half - and a class below in the second. I think we were lucky that they failed to maintain their intensity. Of note ahead of the 6N was that old stager White got the upper hand on Sheridan forcing the latter to concede several penalties at the scrum.

Moody was so fired up he got yellow carded in first half injury time when (for a second time!) he chased the restart and caught Chabal before his feet landed. Stupid stuff from Lewis - he never came back on with Abraham replacing him as the bin was up. Still with Sanderson sidelined for a month Moody could still make the team next weekend - Sale's Lund did nothing to show he was the man to take the seven shirt over.

As for Chabal - how can a man appear so terrifying for a half - only to be a spent force for the next half. He needs to work on his stamina so he can last longer than 40 mins!

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Cripes. I've just realised I'm going to have to support Bath in a forthcoming match. With those two big thick logs of locks of theirs. *sighs* The things one sometimes has to do for a cause.

[Havak]

And the causes people sometimes have to do things for.

Support B..... no, it's no good Finbar, I can't even write it!

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Come on, make the effort! Struth, I can almost now - just about - type Leicester without ... excuse me a sec, I'll be right back ... hurling.

Gee, the Bath locks are ugly. They make G. Rowntree look almost passably human.

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The last thing I need first thing in the morning:

Former England international Jeremy Guscott expects England to start with Mike Tindall and Jamie Noon as their centres against Wales at Twickenham.

Then again, who would be surprised?

[Havak]

I'll work on it but it is far easier for me to write is phonetically as Baaarrrffff to be honest.

I'm just curious but have you ever seen a handsome lock?

Okay so the Bath pair have the surly gypsy prize fighter look off pat but they are by no means unusual. I am more worried that Robinson continues to ignore youth (all the young uns bar Forester have been shipped out to the A side)

As for Tindall-Noon? It's a certainty as Abbott and Smith are joining the A side in Italy and he will not play JSD there. Smith is not in great form - but he is still in better form than Tindall so I would suggest Turnip is playing to type and being very conservative (witness the locks where the old bath crufters play whilst Brown and Deacon languish in Italy - poor souls).

And with the injuries and releases to the A squad it seems highly likely Dayglo will make the 22. He may even start at 6. Such a forward looking choice.

*edit* Hmm I beg your pardon - Brown is still with the 27 strong senior squad until the final 22 gets named later today. I suspect he, Voyce and JSD will be cut for sure.

[Havak]

Let me return to one of my favourite rugby muppets - the one and only coach of Llanelli Gareth Jenkins.

One of his players was red carded at Ulster last Friday for stamping. The coaches reaction?

Scarlets director of rugby Gareth Jenkins was left seething and said he would meet Wales' referee chief Robert Yemen to complain about Allan's display.

"There was no doubt there was a rucking that was seen as a stamping, but you've got a man dumping the maul and he's on the wrong side," said Jenkins.

"Dafydd reacted without having any major intent, there's no way he should be red-carded for it.

"There was a complete lack of refereeing ability on that field."

Well I'm not sure about the Celtic League system but had he made this comment after a Premiership or a European match he would be up on a charge of bringing the game into disrepute. The guy just cannot keep his big mouth shut.

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I'm still trying to think of a handsome lock. I'll get back to you.

[Havak]

Well please for gawds sake don't say Plank.

The player that Loud mouth Jenkins was defending above - got a four week ban from the citing panel. Kind of undemrines his point?

Here is the final (conservative) cut:

England team to play Wales at Twickenham on Saturday:
J Lewsey (Wasps); M Cueto (Sale Sharks), J Noon (Newcastle), M Tindall (Gloucester), B Cohen (Northampton); C Hodgson (Sale Sharks), H Ellis (Leicester); A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), S Thompson (Northampton), M Stevens (Bath); S Borthwick (Bath), D Grewcock (Bath); J Worsley (Wasps), L Moody (Leicester), M Corry (capt, Leicester).

Replacements: L Mears (Bath), J White (Leicester), S Shaw (Wasps), L Dallaglio (Wasps), M Dawson (Wasps), A Goode (Leicester), T Voyce (Wasps).

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Mmmm. Last year revisited. Maybe he hopes the unit will get better with practice. I don't know how Wales will stack up - who does? - but you have to fear for the ball disappearing into a midfield mire.

Oh, and I had Plank on my short list. Actually, D. Vickerman seems not to have suffered the usual facial abuse. Yet. His Afrikaan features remain striking.