“Something else than Heineken?…Mine’s a Six Nations thanks”

Who will be walking tall by tournament's end?

The most tribal and entertaining tournament in world rugby begins in earnest this weekend with the 11th RBS Six Nations kicking off in Dublin on Saturday.

Preceded by a fortnight of European Cup slugfests, this edition is as keenly anticipated as it has ever been particularly given that the triumvirate of  France, England and Wales have much to prove the season before a world cup year. Now enough of the small talk…

Declan Kidney’s Ireland start the tournament as defending grand slam champions and slight favourites, but there is a heavy empahasis on ‘slight’ as they must go away to France on matchday two and to Twickenham on matchday three. It is conceivable therefore that they could be heading to Twickenham with their tournament in the balance, but with the quality at their disposal this would be seen as a failure. That said, I think they will lose in France and again either at HQ or at home to Wales. After last years heights it may be hard to pick themselves up to go again. Prediction: 3rd

Les Bleus have a number of injuries going into the tournament with the likes of Maxime Mermoz, and the devastating Fabien Barcella missing out altogether, and Sebastien Chabal, Jean Baptiste-Elissalde and Louie Picamoles missing for the first matchday. Despite this their depth is unrivalled in world rugby, and surely this is their time to finally take a major tournament. Their coach is their weak link  but look out for the electric winger Benjamin Fall. With England and Ireland at home you just feel as though this is their year. Prediction: 1st

All eyes are on the England coaching staff to finally deliver after years of flattering to deceive. The autumn showings were truly an aberration and pointed to a lack of direction, tactics and logic behind selection which undermined anything they tried to put together, the selections of Geraghty at fly-half, Ugo Monye at full-back and Paul Doran-Jones highlighted this blurred thinking. However, England have managed to put together their best squad since Johnson’s appointment and there are signs that they can move beyond the 3rd gear lumbering that we have seen so far during his time in charge. There really are no excuses this time and their tournament desire will be revealed by 6.30 on saturday evening. Prediction: 2nd (Justified this year as opposed to by accident like last year)

Scotland will be looking to continue their incremental improvement under Andy Robinson but it is hard to see them building on the victory against Australia last autumn. At fly-half they have no-one of the quality to give the Evans brothers a chance as both Phil Godman and Dan Parks are limited at the highest level. It’s unfortunate because Max and Thom Evans has real quality but I can’t see them scoring enough tries to beat teams other than Italy. Upfront they are mean but there are too many missing pieces to this puzzle. Will look to scalp England at Murrayfield on matchday five and I wouldn’t put it past them as Robbo looks for some revenge. Prediction: 5th

Wales are in a right old state, and Warren Gatland drastically needs to do something about the inconsistency which sees them either land the Grand Slam or finish in the lower regions of the table. It’s incomprehensible given that a number of welshmen returned from the Lions tour with deservedly enhanced reputations, yet they then went on to be thrashed at home by Australia. If Gatland can solve his foot-in-mouth syndrome and focus on making his team greater than the sum of its parts then they have a chance. All will become clearer after their Twickenham opener however I’m not holding my breath as far as the slam is concerned. Prediction: 4th.

The funny thing is that Italy arguably have the best coach in the Tournament alongside Declan Kidney in Nick Mallett, which is probably just as well considering he perennially has the toughest job on his hands. Throw in the absence of the world’s best Number 8 in Sergio Parisse and their chances of scoring a victory become even more remote, however their cup final is Scotland at home on matchday three. If the weather is kind to them and there is any kind of downpour expect their monster front row to turn on the power and even Euan Murray will be under the screw. They finally have a decent stand-off in Craig Gower and they’re slowly getting closer to the pack but if nothing else they will at least attempt to play with ball in hand. Prediction: 6th

Blackett Hits the Gougers Between the Eyes

70 weeks is about right for this horror show

Yesterday rugby took the first major step towards bringing about the end of gouging in the professional game, with the 70-week ban handed out to David Attoub of Stadé Francais.  In doing so, the disciplinary panel headed by Judge Jeff Blackett have begun the process of healing rugby’s recently stained reputation in the eyes of the public.

Gouging is an ugly subject. One which I don’t like seeing, don’t like talking about, and don’t like hearing about so here’s to hoping that it is the last time I have to write on the topic. It is truly a reprehensible offence which has no place in the modern game, providing no advantage to any team, serving only to try to injure the victim. At best it is seeking to unsettle the opponent, and at worst it is career-threatening and life-changing. In the past I have commented on the perpetual inconsistencies of the citing process, and it is this which Attoub is understandably unhappy with, and will form the basis of his appeal.

He would however, be wrong to feel hard done by if he and Stadé ever sit down at any point prior to the promised appeal and looked at his case and the indicators leading to the ban he has incurred. The RFU have consistently been the most pro-active when it comes to issuing heavy punishments for gouging, with Dylan Hartley sidelined for 26 weeks in 2007  for his pair of citations against London Wasps and Neil Best for 18 weeks a year on against the same opponents. Seru Rabeni also was hit with 14 weeks for an offence that like Best’s, was described as “reckless contact around the eye”. All these bans were driven by Judge Blackett, who also sat on the panel that increased Mauro Bergamasco’s sentence for gouging against Wales from 13 to 17 weeks on appeal and after Best’s ban was issued Blackett stated:

“Players have to realise the damage they may cause even if there is no intent to make contact with the eyes. Placing a hand around the face of an opponent is becoming more prevalent and needs to be stopped. This suspension must act as a deterrent.”

Blackett had made it quite clear that the offence had no place in either the English game or rugby at large and was doing his utmost to make the gougers think about the consequences of going head-to-head with him at a hearing.

Tincu set a dangerous precedent

So one can only imagine the judge’s fury as a number of decisions were made outside of his control which diluted the tough stance that he and by extension rugby had been seen to have taken. There was the case of Marius  Tincu, the Perpignan hooker, who after being banned for gouging  for 18-weeks against the Ospreys (more on them later) he and his club argued that a private company in Ireland, the IRB who are not just any company but the arbiters of our game, had no right to stop a french player from plying his trade in France. The case was dragged through the French courts to the end result that the ban only existed in the Heineken cup.

Then there was the case of the team who cried wolf, which led to my losing a great deal of respect I had for the Ospreys and to this day it seems strange to me that their actions did not court wider controversy. In the aftermath of their 15-9 victory against Leicester the Ospreys alleged that they had victim to gouging at the hands of Julian White not only in that game but 2 months previously in the reverse fixture at Welford Road. White was held to have no case to answer in either game and so the actions of the Ospreys are tantamount to defamation especially considering the claims the prop. In the event, Martin Corry was cited and banned for 6-weeks for unintentional contact with the eye area NOT gouging. The Ospreys public apology to White was presumably lost in the post.

Following this there were a number of paltry bans including 9 weeks for Olivier Azam, and 8 weeks a piece for the most damaging to rugby’s reputation inflicted by Sergio Parisse and Schalk Burger. And so bearing in mind all the above, when Blackett next got the opportunity, even without the mandate from the IRB to clamp down on gouging, he was always going to throw the book at someone. Quite frankly Julien Dupuy dodged a bullet. They started with a ban of 40 weeks and by way of his guilty plea, exemplary disciplinary record and suitable level of contriteness, it was reduced to 24 then 23 weeks on appeal.

Max Guazzini: A misguided sensationalist

Attoub therefore was primed to feel the full force of Blackett’s and the IRB’s fury and in doing so has taken the fall for Parisse, Burger, Quinlan and Azam and all those who are guilty but never caught. For this I can empathise with Attoub but not when it is remembered that his actions fully deserved the sentence. By pinning his entire defence on the photographs being doctored, Attoub was denying that the incident ever took place and so when they were found to be genuine, this was construed as lying. Coupled with his terrible past record of 3 prior bans including one for reckless contact with the eye area, and shoddy hearing performance, justice was served.

So what next? Stade owner Max Guazzini is doing neither his own nor his teams image any favours with his paranoid diatribes about the xenophobic persecution of the french. I would suggest they be magnanimous about the sentence as Dupuy has been rather than the go down the Tincu route of invoking employment law. By refusing to accept the sentence it is a slap in the face to the authority of the ERC and the IRB and Stade should be threatened with a one-year ban from Europe if they allow Attoub to continue to play and effectively ignore the rules as set down by the IRB.

It remains to be seen whether this sort of sentencing will be universal but it had to begin somewhere and Blackett can only be commended for taking a stand. It should also be remembered the french are by no means the only nation guilty of this heinous crime despite what many journalists would have you believe. It is in keeping with their Jekyll and Hyde nature however that a nation of players so capable of the sublime is at the same time capable of such horrors.

Guazzini and Attoub should bear in mind that in sport those who talk the most often have the least to shout about.

“What name do you want on this trophy again?…”

As the rugby world staggers into 2010 fresh off the back what was somewhat of an annus horribilis for the world game, the new year has both the promise of change and that new car smell about it. It is a big year for a number of sides, with The Ospreys, Toulouse, Bath, Wasps, the Stormers and the Brumbies all under pressure to deliver the goods in their respective competitions.

On an international front, with a World Cup beckoning it’s pretty much a big year round, but predictably it is at Twickenham’s Ivory towers where the heat will be felt the most. If I were a betting man, these are the teams I would be backing to either score some big victories or be caught up in the mid-table malaise.

Delon Armitage will be looking to do the damage for club and country

Guinness Premiership – Given the acrimony in which last season ended, nobody would have thought that Saracens would have been the table toppers at the turn of the year. It remains a fact in my eyes however that at some point they will have to play some rugby. Each of London Irish, Northampton Saints, Wasps and to a lesser extent Leicester Tigers can hit you for a score from their own half but they simply cannot outside the threat of a ball-starved Noah Cato and their outstanding hooker Schalk Britz. For this reason I think they will have to settle for the play-offs this season.

Saints look as though they are ready to breakthrough but their scrum can be targeted and Foden isn’t quite there defensively as a world-class full-back so I see London Irish being crowned champions next may. That said, only a fool would count out Leicester and the weekly humiliations suffered by the Wasps pack means they are going to be lucky to hang on to their Heineken spot.

Bath will surely escape the mire at the foot of the table with Butch James and Michael Claasens to return to the side, thus leaving Leeds wedged in the trapdoor. But then again stranger things have happened…

The brothers Evans have been impressive.

Magners League – I must hold up my hands at this stage and make a confession, I never cared for the Magners League. Not when it started, not even last season and as a dedicated rugby connoisseur I am indeed quite ashamed of this. I’d make the same excuses time after time, “It’s all the second string sides…the commentary is in welsh…there is Rambo: First Blood on the other side”. To cut to the chase, this October I watched a game and it was pretty good (although I defy anyone to find Connaught v The Dragons entertaining) but it did make you wonder why the Welsh sides could fit their entire home support inside a Fiat Panda.

I digress, the Scottish sides are a force to be reckoned with here (Admittedly I never thought I’d say that) but Leinster are just oozing class and whether they win the league or allow Glasgow or the Ospreys to take it depends on how much the Heineken Cup takes its toll. This applies equally to the dogged, indefatigable Munstermen. This is the Ospreys best chance for a title given their propensity to wilt in the face of sheer intensity. Unfortunately for them, there are just too many parallels between them and the equally talented but brittle Gloucester under Dean Ryan. If they go empty-handed again, the end of the season should be the end of this current squad as they lack the werewithal to win anything major. You heard it here first.

(P.S. – Surely the IRFU must do something with the Connacht province. Scoring 107 points in 9 games just is not good enough and its high time that the IRFU either shut down the province completely or started giving them the same budget as the other 3 teams. If people maintain that not having relegation improves quality then this mob sadly beg to differ.)

Even with the quality of lock Iosefa Tekori, Castres haven't a hope of taking the Top 14 despite their pace setting.

Top 14 – All of them being French, trying to predict the the winner is likely to be a fruitless endeavour. Nevertheless it must surely be Clermont’s year, 10 times beaten finalists including the last two years running. They are probably the best team in France, with the most potent attack, the meanest defence, the best squad, arguably the best fly-half, the list goes on. However, I reiterate this is the French we are talking about.

More interesting is that Stade are currently outside of the Heineken Cup places and Perpignan and Biarritz are teetering on the brink. A situation well worth watching.

Super 14 – With Dan Carter and Chris Jack back this years title has the Crusaders name written all over it. So impressive in last years final, the Bulls will struggle to repeat the same heroics as it’s been a long year for the core Springboks. They will be there or thereabouts come seasons end but the main SA threat will come from the Stormers this season after their excellent recruitment of Bryan Habana and Jaque Fourie. Keep an eye on the Chiefs and Lelia Masaga for top try scorer as well as the Brumbies.

Heineken Cup – As we do a round by round prediction I won’t go into any great depth here. Munster continue to rage against the dying of the light and their second-half destruction in Perpignan showed they aren’t finished yet. I see the title going to France which is as much as I will say, be it Paris, Clermont or Toulouse.

Warren Gatland in his natural habitat. The press conference.

Six Nations – This will be the most interesting Six Nations tournaments for years given that in terms of World Cup preparation England, (and their entire coaching staff bar Johnson) are drinking in the last chance saloon and they only have enough change for one round. I am backing them for another 2nd place finish. Second because Marc Lievremont surely cannot manage to foul-up another competition with the talent available at his disposal. They still amazingly lack a dominant fly-half but Trinh-Duc is good enough for them to take the title. Ireland may come 2nd but more probably 3rd in my eyes.

Warren Gatland should rightly be under scrutiny come February. Their autumn finished on a low note after a battering at the hands of Australia, and given Gatland’s propensity to make bold claims about the quality of other teams and their players, he should be prepared to suffer the same fate at the hands of the fans and the media. I don’t see much improvement on their part so a 4th place finish is not out of the question.

Now off with the crystal ball for a while, it’s giving me a headache.

My Five Favourite Things of the Year

7's Became an Olympic sport

There is nothing better to clarify the mind after a breathless year of rugby and incident than sitting on a ski lift in the French Alps. My colleague Tom McArthur has already produced an insightful, root and branch review of the year, so this would be the perfect time to resurrect the “Facebook Favourite” “My Five Favourite Things…”.

Covering the last 12 months in rugby,  I have broken down the big hits, scintillating scores, dead eye goalkicking and thunderous tight play into bite size morsels for your delectation. Fill your boots.

#1 – B&I Lions Tour 2nd Test: The Empire Strikes Back…Almost – Still to this day it is unthinkable that the Lions did not win this test match. After administering one of the most one-sided first half thrashings you will ever see, second half injuries and the unfortunate Ronan O’Gara combined to thwart a Herculean Lions effort leaving Morné Steyn with a 60m heave for the series, the rest is history.

It was one of the greatest test matches of the decade if not the greatest, for the sheer intensity with which the game began and the tightest of finishes, this game had it all. What if Schalk Burger had been sent off? What if the Lions hadn’t succumbed to two front row injuries? What if Ugo Monye had finished one of his three opportunities for a score? Did Jaque Fourie go into touch? Why didn’t O’Gara get the ball to the safety of touch? All questions we have been asking ourselves ever since. This will be remembered as the tour that launched the likes of Jamie Roberts, Tom Croft and Tommy Bowe as world class performers not to mention the outstanding Heinrich Brussow.

The Lions went on to record a landslide victory in the next test yet for sheer drama and quality of play this is the test that will be remembered in 50 years time.

He's come a long way from being Hari-ordinary

#2 – Tries, Tries and more Tries – For all the talk of how the breakdown is suffocating and paralysing attacks, there were a numer of outstanding tries scored this year. The fact remains that once you get in behind a defence there is not a great deal they can do to prevent a score going over. This has been demonstrated recently by the All Blacks in France, and most accurately by the Lions.

Back in March Ireland and France played out a thriller in Dublin which Ireland edged late on their way to a Grand Slam. Both Ireland tries by O’Driscoll and Heaslip were gems but it is the opening try of the match by Imanol Harinordoquy which is my tip for try of the year, beginning at a lineout of the France 22 and ending two phases later with France’s number 8 crashing over in the corner.

Memorable solo scores have also come from Philip Burger at Munster, reminding players to be careful who they kick to, the electric Sitiveni Sivivatu and Cedric Heymans brilliance in France’s victory over the All Blacks in NZ.

#3 – “But coach we are World Champions, why are we staying in Grantham for a wednesday game?…What do you mean I’m in Watford next week?” – I have already repeatedly professed my delight at the return of the midweek tour match, and as proven by Munster first and now Leicester, Saracens, Gloucester and Cardiff they are doing a roaring trade.

The importance of these matches is clear on a number of levels. There are a number of players that are great club players, but they will never reach the quality required to be an international (unless they play for Leicester and have the last name Deacon but that is a another story). But for men such as Hugh Vyvyan, Kevin Sorrell, Gary Powell and Adam Eustace these games are why they started playing rugby, a chance to test themselves against the best in the game.

Very few fans get to see their own international sides play in the flesh let alone others so this brings the game closer to the fans that repeatedly have their pockets troughed to pay the stars. They also offer the coaches an opportunity to test combinations in less important games. If this results in Martin Castrogiovanni deconstructing an entire springbok pack single-handedly then so much the better.

European rugby's player of 2009

#4 – Rocky VI: Murrayfield and the Heineken Cup – After years of being eclipsed by their countrymen and perennial finalists Munster, BOD’s Leinster finally snared the Heineken Cup after a nailbiting final against the Leicester Tigers. The undoubted driving force behind Leinster throughout the season was the Wallaby force of nature Rocky Elsom, who strong-armed Europe’s finest into submission before responding to Robbie Deans S.O.S. at the end of the season. Meanwhile Jonny Sexton blossomed into the man who would go on to finally oust Ronan O’Gara from the Ireland starting fly-half berth.

#5 – London goes 7’s Loco and Gollings does it Again – It was the year 7’s finally got it’s due as it was readmitted into the Olympics from 2016. Paul Treu’s South Africa swept almost all before them all year until the London leg of the IRB sevens series where Twickenham became the cauldron of noise and colour that has been all too absent in recent years as Ollie Phillips and seven legend Ben Gollings led the side to their first home trophy since 2005.

England came back from three tries down in the final to knock off New Zealand after a sensational last minute equalizer by Dan Norton and a touchline conversion by Gollings. Micky Young then sealed it with a snipe in extra time.

We at IATC would like to thank you for reading what we have to say and getting involved with the debates in general. After all, we write to be read, as the late David Ogilvy said, “You can’t save souls in an empty church” and we have the finest congregation of them all. Recommend us to your friends and we shall repay you in kind with some of the finest analysis, time-wasting articles and comment threads the world has seen.

Happy new year.

The numbers finally add-up for Fenby

Fenby starts opposite Isa Nacewa today.

Normally, Llanelli Scarlets fielding a rookie accountant turned winger would not be of consequence anyone other than the Scarlets hardcore supporters, however there is interest for all aspiring professional rugby players down in west Wales.

Three years ago, Andrew Fenby was the Newcastle university squash  captain and playing reserve rugby at then National 3 Blaydon. As the famous Irish stout manufacturers would have you believe, the cream does eventually rise to the top, he was put into the first team and he scored tries. Lots of them. Even as Blaydon moved upto what is now National 1, his record was better than a try every other game, a lot from long-range courtesy of his serious speed, step and slashing lines.

The Newcastle Falcons took him on loan and in their Black he was no less prolific scoring 9 tries in 2 games for the A team then 2 tries in 3 games in the Guinness Premiership before seeing out the season at Blaydon before leaving for Llanelli upon completion of his accountancy course.

Its a great story and congratulations to the guy, he is just one example that there is talent down the league system if the clubs are willing to look. Another from the north east to break through to the professional ranks is Rupert Harden whom Gloucester signed from Tynedale this summer. Already the prop has featured against Australia in a tour match this season, joining the long long list of props to have gotten underneath Matt Dunning at scrum-time.

The next to watch out for is Nick Royle from Fylde who is currently with the England 7’s squad and has been terrifying teams in National 2 for years now and will probably land at Sale next season.

Now  in case you haven’t seen Fenby in action (and you probably haven’t) here’s some tries including the length of the field solo effort from the kick-off against Nottingham in last years EDF Trophy.