Six Nations Prediction

England could finish anywhere.
With a whole big pot of luck, they could win it.
With an average run of luck and injuries, they could finish somewhere between third and fifth.
With a poor run, they could conceivably finish last.
Wales, Ireland and France have all got to be favourites in their clashes against England, regardless of location – [...]

Andrew must go

After his review with the delusional Rob Andew, the BBC reports what can only be a lack of either honesty or judgement from the England hierarchy.

The former England fly-half claimed that Martin Johnson’s side were far better than the one "hammered" 28-14 by Australia and 32-6 against New Zealand a year ago.

Was he watching the [...]

Andrew Delusional

Lukewarm on the heels of the famously delusional England head coach Andy Robinson (a la England cricket coach David “we flippin’ murdered ‘em” Lloyd), Rob Andrew is the latest to fall into a delusion, this time of alleged improvement and competitiveness.

"We have closed the gap considerably when you look at what happened last autumn, when [...]

Lion Man

Just reading Ian McGeechan’s autobiography Lion Man.
I recommend it.
McGeechan is so renowed for his coaching that it’s easy to overlook what a good player he was (and he stopped playing before I can remember watching much rugby).
However, there’s one passage where he describes his coaching philosphy:

"I believe that when you put new players in or [...]

Lewsey Wades into England Coaching Regime

The pressure on the England coaching regime is getting serious. England legend Josh Lewsey has waded in with a scathing attack to match his famous Matt Rogers tackle: “Mike Ford didn’t win anything, while John Wells never played international rugby. Wells’s achievements as a coach are terrible – what justifies these people keeping their jobs?”
What indeed. [...]

Despair

After the latest team announcement, all I now need is for the RFU to sell the naming rights to Twickenham and my misery will be complete.
“And a warm welcome this afternoon to the Nike Rugby @ Twickenham Stadium to watch England vs the All Blacks.”

Erinle Selection

The selection of Erinle at inside centre guarantees that, apart from a couple of inside passes to Cueto hitting the line from fullback, the ball is going to get to 12 and no further.
To be fair, despite Geraghty at 12, in the past couple of games the ball wasn’t exactly being fired out wide but [...]

Mindless Kicking

Mike popped up on our post yesterday with this comment:

I was very disappointed with all the rugby served up this weekend.
As a Welshman I’m absolutely devastated with the way our game has gone after so much hope in 2008,
but I just think it is the way the game is going today.
Teams are scared of [...]

Can the Not-So-Sweet Chariot Swing Any Lower?

I really enjoyed the game on Saturday.
Why?
Because my money was on Argentina. With the weather forecast looming and knowledge of England’s poor out of hand kicking, I viewed the 5/1 on offer as fair game and well it proved. I laid off mid-game at 5/2, job done.
And thank goodness because without the added financial incentive, [...]

Louis Deacon – Central to the Cause

Louis Deacon plays a very important part in the England first XV hence his continued selection for the Argentina game this weekend.
His role – to make Steve Borthwick look good in comparison.