Rugby - 6 Nations, Heineken Cup, You Can't Beat A Northern Hemisphere Winter!

[Havak]

If ever there was a time for him to prove himself....

Wasps lost to Blues and Tigers development side lifted the A league title by beating Quins - not a bad weekend all round.

[kittenOFchaos]

True. Fascinating contest. Toulouse, I suspect, are stronger up front and have the firepower and potential magicians in the backs. Plus they will have a 16th player with them on the field - Ian Balshaw.

Balshaw is a superb winger, England just put him out of position by playing him at 15 when he is not able to cope with the high ball. As a result he looked a complete prat. The fault isn't with him, the guy does have serious talent and I've seen him score many excellent tries.

A quick google and I find this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/may/02/iain-balshaw-biarritz-munster

[finbar]

I've seen some absolute howlers from him even on the wing. He's one of those players - when he's good, he can be terrific; when he's not, he can be an utter liability. And his errors at 15 on the weekend had little to do with the high ball.

[Havak]

Consistency and all round footballing ability - neither were quite good enough for him to make it at the top level in the end.

[kittenOFchaos]

35 England caps is making it somewhat at the top level.

I'm not advocating him playing for England, just that I've seen him score some pretty good tries.

[finbar]

That Steve Borthwick has 57 caps surely makes the cap tally a dubious measure of ability.

[Havak]

Not to mention that most of those caps came when he was very young and they thought his game would develop - Woodward dumped him before the 2003 campaign and he didn't feature again until his mentor Ashton became England coach. Ashton then stubbornly tried to make him a fixture.

He can indeed be an exciting player to watch - but it is not always for the right reasons.

Generally when a player his age has already had four clubs it indicates somehting is awry with his development.

[Havak]

And the UK lurches disasterously to the right once more....

[finbar]

Yes, depressing. Not helped by a silly voting system. Still, I was cheered up by the Leicester result. Just a shame it was Saracens.

[Havak]

He fielded an understrength side but it was disappointing. Bath are playing very well - we cannot play like that next sunday and hope to win.

I honestly wonder how many people who voted Lib-Dem will be happy they are putting the Tories in. And I am surpised the Labour party has not moved against Brown yet. But either way another election for us in the autumn I am sure.

[finbar]

How quickly things move. The coalition will last until the Lib Dems implode, despite the supposed blessing he has received, Clegg having sold out a major section of his party. Not to mention the bile that's going to flow within the Tory ranks having to cooperate with the Left of the Lib Dems. At the subsequent election, I expect the LDs will be wiped out, with its Left deserting to Labour and its Right to the Tories.

What does Mr Skivington have to do to attract J****'s attention? Or, for that matter, Phil Dowson? I suspect Dan Ward-Smith's selection is a few years and a serious leg injury too late. Still, nice to see Simpson and Waldouck and, better still, Jon Golding, being recognised. I've always thought Waldouck worth a try. Better than Harpe.

[Havak]

Nail on the head there Finbar - unless the LibDems secure some kind of PR (and the Tories are only talking of alternative vote which won't help them enough) the next election will see them wiped out as a party.

But I'm kind of content with Con-Dem-Nation. They will have to bring in financial measures so drastic that it should see the Tories out of power again for another fifteen years when this administration collapses. Always a silver lining you see...

Hasn't Ward-Smith been playing at lock? And if Palmer is getting in ahead of Skivington and W-S ahead of Dowson I have to conclude Jonno is simply no judge of form. Then again it is a squad that he expects to get drubbed - maybe he is saving them for the autumn?

Can't fathom Wigglesworth in a srummy slot either - not exactly had a great season. Typical Jonno squad really little logic to it. Cough *Hodgson*.

[finbar]

I'm happy with the coalition, too. For the same reason. We came to feel sorry for Gordon Brown in this household. The biggest mistake he made in his life was falling into the New Labour clutches. But then he probably had no choice. Flawed personality, but some admirable core beliefs that were subsumed. A truly tragic story. Take him in front of either Cameron or Clegg - Etonian puffballs - any day. There was a wonderful descriptiuon of Cameron on "The News Quiz" last week - "a head like a buttock".

Last time I saw Ward-Smith earlier this season he was at #8. Yes, the squad is typically schizophrenic J**** in its make-up. Good choices, and inexplicable ones.

[Havak]

Cameron does have an unusual face. Though Clegg beats him what with the brown stains all over his nose this last week.

Brown made mistakes - not least of which was letting his overwhelming ambition to enter number 10 blind him to absolutely everything else - but even with all his flaws he was a better option than the Tories.

Cleggs constituency is Sheffield Hallam - a Tory seat during my time in the city and may soon be again.

Still after the emergency budget screws us into the ground all these evangelisers of the Blue noses that never had to live through Thatcher will start changing their tune.

Fairly sure Wasps moved W-S into the second row after an injury crisis - still Easter will get the Eight shirt anyway (and the Kiwis will munch the lumbering hulk up all day long).

[Havak]

I see Ospreys have got themselves into hot water again.