England a Year from the World Cup

A year before the World Cup the big talking point involves England, this may seem myopic however,as the host nation England need to have a good World Cup it is vital for the games development and without doubt the greatest opportunity since 2003 to bring rugby into the public eye. In other words displace football as the main sport in public consciousness for  brief period.

England had two games against the two best teams iin the world on successive weekends and unfortunately came up very short. The excuses will be myriad injuries, illness lack of game time. That does not disguise the fact that Stuart Lancaster has failed  to progress the side dramatically. He was handed a blank sheet of paper. Martin Johnson had struggled to get rid of his some of his ex team mates. Lancaster could do as he pleased.

Lancaster came in and had a good six nations Ireland won it but England received the plaudits for gaining purpose and direction. A tour to New Zealand followed. The toughest of all tours England returned with a minor credit. Autumn was meant to be the moment they kicked on and beat New Zealand and South Africa. This has not happened, England have looked slow ponderous and lacking direction. I have never been a fan of Danny Care I have always felt that his delivery has been slow and predictable. Even worse Owen Farrell is not looking like a world class fly half. Compare Farrell's performance today to Sexton's last week and you see the gulf in class. England have strong yeoman like forwards and  backs  with pace to burn but if  your pivot is not working you will not win rugby matches.

England have two major problems that I am not sure can fixed. They concede too many tries, the great England side of 2003 were miserly in giving away points. The other major issue if the lack of decision makers. Over the past two weeks, time after time chances have gone begging because players are making the wrong decisions at key times.

A good six nations is now vital,  whether this will be possible it is hard to say because both Ireland and Scotland are starting to find structure and pattern. France also look like they are coming into form.

In BOD we trust

Brian O Driscoll is without doubt the greatest Irish rugby player of all time. It is fair to say that he was the catalyst behind the revival of Irish rugby. Before  O Driscoll Irish rugby was known for its passion and brief highlights. We had not won a grand slam since the 40's a triple crown since the 80's everybody's second favorite team.

Two things changed this picture:

1. The advent of professionalism which suited the Irish provincial structure better than anyone else.

2 The rise of a global great. 

BOD arrived when the Irish game was discovering that it could thrive in the professional era. In a time when many parts of the rugby world were trying to decide on a structure that would help the national side and the club structure. Ireland had its provinces. They even had a development province in Connacht. How did this have a baring on the young BOD. As it was a centralised structure he was not over played and he was well rewarded. If you look at his Lions team mate Jonny Wilkinson, his body was broken by the sheer volume of rugby he played. This meant arguably he never performed as well as he could have for as long as he could of with England.

 

The environment was right but the man was a genius, not the fastest of foot but without doubt the quickest of thought. Physically he was slightly smaller but this meant that he was more difficult to put down. His tackling was immense and he was like a second openside, scavenging everything on the floor.

Without BOD Irish rugby union would have not had the confidence to win anything. Leinster would have been Munster and Ulster cannon fodder. So BOD thank you.

 

Well Done Yorkshire

That were a reet grand depart. The Tour De France swept through Yorkshire, it was the finest advert for visiting Yorkshire this country has ever seen. What became evident was that this country will turn out for all sports.  It was a joy to see the millions of people climbing up Holme Moss to catch a glimpse of the circus that went by. It also showed that this country has a passion for cycling.

Without a doubt the success of riders like Wiggins and Froome has done much for this. I believe this success was a reawakening of a passion for a sport that was inherent in allowing people to escape the industrial cities of the turn of the century. Maybe the French formalised the tour but it was the British who loved it.

I Believe That We Can Win

I believe that we can win." If you have not heard this phrase at the world cup, you have not seen the USA play in the World Cup. The US have made the last sixteen which was the stated goal of the coach Jurgen Klinsmann.  The achievement cannot be underestimated.  The group they were in contained three sides in Germany, Ghana and Portugal. All these sides were blessed with high quality, high value individuals. The US team by contrast is a team in the true sense of the word. They are a team without superstars, however they have a tremendous team ethic.

The irony about the US style of football is that is reminiscent of the Premier league. A game based on high work rate and high energy. The US team have worked harder than many teams with the central midfielder Bradley covering more ground than any other player. They are an example of what a coach with limited resource's can do. If you look back to to the Charlton, Republic of Ireland sides of the early 90's.  They had a plan and stuck to it. Klinsmann has done the same with the US side they are fit and strong and stick to the strategy that he has laid out. Contrast this with England; Hodgson has been lauded for his policy of bringing in youth. This has masked a fairly serious issue that the England side was without any kind of strategy. If they did have a strategy it was either not obvious or England did not have the players to carry it out.

Maybe the English game is suffering from arrogance due to all the players playing in a high quality national league. Maybe the arrogance is historical,  football in England has historically been an insular game. It is time to realise that England will not produce  enough high quality footballers to win a world cup in the way many fans expect. They have too often on the past tried to fit every good player into the side. Now is the time to define the style and fit the players most appropriate into it. Until then and during this world cup I will be following the US and hoping that they can shock the world.

National Passion and Pride

England fans are often fond of saying that the England football team play with passion. The players may be lacking technical skills, they may struggle to keep the ball but they play with passion, they play for the three lions. Whether that was true in the past, in this world cup the same old statements have been used but the England performances have shown none of this passion. Contrast this with other countries like Chile, USA or Costa Rica. These countries show not only passion but commitment and a willingness to follow a plan.

What is the reason for this? If you believe the media you would say that the players have it too easy, they want for  nothing in the premier league, so why put themselves through the hassle of the England team. I believe that it is simpler than that, I believe that the English game is so parochial that the idea of coming together as a squad is too difficult a concept for the players.  Liverpool hates Manchester United. Arsenal hates Tottenham. These divisions are so deeply set that it flows down to the players, leading to poor England performances. Is this a simplistic view? Maybe!

Waddle Rants, England Stirs

On Thursday night, England were knocked out of the football World Cup. Not unusual, any observer of World Cups since 1966 will tell you that England goes to a world cup full of hope, then gets knocked out.  This then causes anguish and much gnashing of teeth. The difference this time was there was no expectations  at all. However; grim frustration has set in. The English game is richer, than any other game on the world. It is regularly touted as a league that cannot be beaten, for excitement, atmosphere,  marketing in general. This in contrast to the national team whose performances in the recent history of international  have gone steadily downhill since 1966.

On Thursday Chris Waddle , former England winger articulated the frustration of a nation. The crux of his rant was that since the inception of the Premier league the England team has suffered, as the FA, the custodians of the English game have got richer. The original idea of the Premier league was to help make the England team better as fixture lists were meant to be cut. Instead the game has been flooded with high quality foreign players. This means players who are English qualified are not getting exposed to high quality, high pressure football.  Unfortunately this has been happening for so long that  the strength and depth of the English squad is so damaged that the poor tournament play will only continue.

Is this a grim view? Yes! But we have a blueprint for disaster and that is the Scottish game, Scotland regularly qualified for the world cup and produced great players.  Now, Scotland are in crisis,  their game is broke and this is due to the largesse of the 90's where Scotland was importing players and managers. Yes England that is the future and I am not sure whether it can be stopped.

The Post Colonial Football Era

It's been a really long time since I committed any of sports thoughts to the world wide Web. Why? Well life gets in the way! Writing is however a discipline that should be practised.

Watching the world cup has been fantastic the football has been exciting and free flowing. Almost refreshing. I have been excited by this tournament in a way that I had not thought possible. What is the source of this new found excitement? It is the emergence of teams that have previously never been considered as contenders that has excited me. The US, Costa Rica, Mexico to name but three. All these teams have played in different styles but they are willing to play without fear. The biggest result, Chile beating Spain,  the former Lords and masters of South America beaten by Chile. Chile played with such abandon and excitement that Spain were overwhelmed.

The opposite of Chile and Costa Rica is England a country supposedly steeped in football, but we're abject and lifeless in defeat. Vive la Revolution.  Long may it continue. Before long the premier league will be back and England will be back thinking that exciting league equals successful national side. Hopefully the memories of the world cup will mean that that myth is debunked.

The Lance Armstrong story

Lance Armstrong has risen to the top of his sport. In the process destroying lives, but most importantly shattering illusions. His first book is called 'its not about the bike' and was a tremendously inspirational read. In fact it was the one book that I know many non readers got into too.

The interview he did this week was at best a token apology at worst it was a cynical attempt to do what he has always done. Manipulate the media. Granted Oprah Winfrey did jot press him on any of the key issues but never the less the only time he appeared sorry was when he was talking about his son. The impression that was left I believe was a man who was more sorry that the evidence was so over whelming that he had to confess. Not that he was sorry for doing it.

Lance had one aspect to his defence that everyone else was doing it. The problem with this defence is that it is an attempt  at blaming someone else. Contrast with Tyler Hamilton who eventually did a mea culpae and you have a true picture of the situation.

So what next for Lance, personally I hope prison for perjury and racketeering. Whether this will happen is another matter.

England's long road to redemption

The autumn internationals are nearly over for another year and again the topic of English rugby rears its head. After an initial promising first season as England coach Stuart Lancaster is having that difficult second album. In music terms the band knows what it is all about in the first album. Come the second album the band has started to feel full of its self importance and forgotten the reason they are there.

For English rugby last season was all about establishing English principles of rugby. Tough forward play and confidence in set piece play. Don't worry about what the rest of the world is doing England plays the English way and it works. This season things seem to be going slightly wrong. The set piece looks shaky to say the least, both the scrum and lineout are unreliable but without a consistent reason for the unreliability, different things go wrong every week. Forward play is unsure and weak with an urgency to play the ball out wide without doing the grunt work up front. These issues are compounded by a captain who is making the wrong calls for penalties and lineouts. Next week England face a great All Black side a good performance will give England some redemption, another stuttering performance and England will be under pressure for the six nations.

Why do people stop playing Sport?

I love watching sport. I find it inspiring and exciting most of all unpredictable. Watching sport is great but playing is better and far more fun. The great irony of our society is that sporting stars are adored but nobody plays sport everybody has an opinion on the England football team but how many people lace the boots up on a Saturday afternoon.

The developed world over people are getting fatter and media companies have paid more and more for access to sports rights. It's like an inverse ratio the more people play for sports the more people watch the more unhealthy people have got.

Just an observation.

Lance Armstrong and the bad old days

Blogging has been a sporadic past time. However if you have any interest in sport and life it would be wrong not to comment on potentially the story of the year. Lance Armstrong was the only cyclist that moved out of the consciousness of the cycling public and into the public consciousness. His story was not only compelling but exciting. He gave America a knowledge about the Tour due France and a hero to follow against the nasty Europeans. Unfortunately he was a liar a cheat and worse a bully.

Is cycling damaged for good for the tour followers yes. However the signs of a revival are good. The revival is coming from two unlikely places. The first place is the uk a non-traditional  place for the two wheeled past time. The other place is women, GB cycling has made super stars out of these untainted girls and that it is where all the positives for cycling lie.

The Dark Side of Football

Football in England has long been held up as an example to the world. Maybe not for its quality but its sheer money  making potential. It has been shown to be a modern game shaking of the old style management of the 70's and 80's to become a modern sport which corresponds with the stadiums that it is generally played in.

Football is actually not the different animal that it was in the 70's and 80's. This has been shown by the conviction by the FA of Liverpool player Suarez and the impending  trial of the England Captain John Terry. The major concern for me has been the attitude to some within football usually ex pro's. They have been apologising dramatically for the behaviour of these  players.

The apologists are in denial about the state of their game a quarter of players are black yet there are only two black coaches. Only one Asian  footballer in all 92 professional clubs and not one gay footballer. These are not statistics any modern organisation would like never mind the national game.

2003-RIP

From world champions to champions of farce via a final appearance.What has gone wrong with English rugby? Is English rugby all bad. Like any difficult situation English rugby cannot see the wood for the trees. The world cup was that bad that there has been no talk of redeeming features for England, no shoots of recovery, just a mess. However anyone who has studied science will tell you that a negative result is still a result. So what have we learnt from the mess.

1. Martin Johnson was the greatest captain England has known but the transition to manager was a mistake. Was it too soon, was he too close to his players? All this is speculation the black and white stats of it say simply he failed.

2. The coaching staff was useless. In 2003 when England were a side packed full of experience and leaders the coaching staff was everywhere extolling the various virtues of what they did. This time round they were nowhere to be seen. This is far worse as this side were far younger and far less mature.

3. Be nice to everybody particularly your hosts. Part of the disastrous campaign can be without doubt attributed to its poor perception in the public eye. Whether it be drunken nights out or dodgy dealing with hotel staff.

4. Establish patterns of play. England went to the world cup with no idea of their best side. They did not know which style of rugby they wanted to play they were defensively child like. Offensively they were devoid of any plans.

 Four years between world cups, should give you some ideas of these things. There appeared to be lots of false dawns during Johnson reign but none of it led to anything conclusive. Where now for England, it is hard to say four years is a long time but is it long enough to sort England out. Strong leadership is vital and at the moment that is sadly lacking from the RFU.

In Praise of Seven

The rugby world cup has come and gone again and the trends of world rugby have spun again. In the mid 90's when I had my rugby awakening the trend in the back row was for large back rows. It was not unusual for England to take the field with three number 8's. The reason was bulk was king the bigger the bosh the more games you would win. This continued until the start of the new millennium and was exaggerated by the advent of the professional player and the love of the weights section of the gym. The classic scavenging 7 fell out of flavour for the ball carrying bruiser.

This changed at the end of the 90's when Neil Back finally got the run in the England side he deserved. Not only did he bring tremendous ball scavenging techniques but also great  general ball skills, acting as much as a second scrum half as a back row. He also dominated the ground game. Ever since then the world has been looking for a similar player. The greatest 7 of the modern era is Richie McCaw as mentioned previously without him New Zealand would not be the same side and would not have won the world cup. Australia lost to Ireland partly because they were without David Pocock and partly because Sean O Brian was brilliant. Wales beat Ireland because Sam Warburton was outstanding, tackling anything that moves and winning everything on the floor.

England were awful because they played with three blindside/number 8 type players. They looked ponderous because without a link player they could not get their game going the backs were getting slow recycled ball. That led to ponderous and slow movements in the back line.

The moral of this blog is that any side that finds a great open-side has wrap them in cotton wool and only bring them out on the big occasions. Play without one because you think bigger is better and prepare for trouble.

Where now for English Rugby?

English rugby has some issues, off the pitch the administration of the game is a mess with real issues regarding leadership. On-field issues are the subject of this blog particularly a world cup campaign that never got going.

England have always had tremendous expectations in the rugby world cup, a young side was going down under, they were just starting to come into form. Exciting backs such as Chris Ashton and Ben Foden were starting to lead the back line well. The forwards were developing into a tough unit with young players such as Dan Cole and Courtney Laws combining well with the older players such as Steve Thompson and Andrew Sheridan.

What happened in New Zealand was a disaster England never performed well and expectations were dashed. As so often rugby us a simple game that starts in the forwards. England's forward effort never got going. In the first game against Argentina it could be thought that England were on the way up. However off field antics were endemic of the form on the field. I think Martin Johnson was expecting men of the calibre he played with in 2003 and all the way through his Leicester career. Men such as Neil Back, Will Greenwood and Richard Hill. Instead he got a group of children who could not understand the limits of a good behaviour. The fact that they were not willing to accept that the behaviour off the pitch was not good enough showed on the field, People were hiding on the field, when it required somebody to take a lead when times were hard nobody stepped up.

England now have a major soul searching exercise to carry out. It stars with the coach and filters down. Everybody  involved with the world cup has to consider what went wrong and whether they can take an active part in fixing the situation.

Rugby World Cup Late Summary

Many words have been written about the world cup. Not one journalist has said that the wrong team won the tournament. New Zealand were the outstanding team, even getting over the loss of the talisman Dan Carter. They played classic All Black rugby, not the open rugby that they have played over recent years but the pragmatic, hard-nosed rugby associated with the all blacks of old. Richie McCaw was absolutely outstanding as a leader on and off the field, if he had have gone they would have lost the tournament.

As a tournament it was excellent, without a doubt the first rugby tournament where the minnows have competed. Whether they be from Eastern Europe, Pacific Islands or North America. They all competed with distinction and were only humbled by the tournament format.

The traditional rugby powers had mixed tournaments none more so than the enigmatic French. Losing to Tonga in the group to contributing to the excellent final. They were frustratingly enigmatic but that it is truly the French way. England and South Africa had forgettable tournaments worthy of their own blog.

The Welsh and the Irish were unfortunate to meet each other in the later stages of the tournament. The contrast between the two is stark Wales are on the way up with a good young side and potentially a captain who could be one of their greats. Ireland are on the way down with the end of a golden generation of players including possibly the greatest player to pull ona green jersey, Biaan O Driscoll. Australia have still not learnt to scrummage this is limiting the chances they have of winning the world cup.

As a tournament it was a truly fantastic tournament in a rugby mad country that deseves to hold it again despite the IRB having financial concers.

The Minnows of the Rugby World Cup part 2 (The Pacific Islands)

As the group stages of the rugby world cup come to an end it seems appropriate to discuss the group of smaller nations. Samoa, Tonga and Fiji these are not like the eastern European nations or North American nations where rugby is a past time taken up by a small fanatical minority. Rugby in the Pacific Islands is at the heart of village and even national life. There is probably not a professional team in the world that does not have a Tongan, Samoan or Fijian on their books. There is also a number of international sides that are grateful to have a number of these natural born rugby players in their sides.

These countries do not have a fair deal and if the IRB does anything from the enormous funds it takes from the world cup it should protect the Pacific Island nations. These nations could be viable test entities challenging for glory at world level. The Tongans today beat the French which would happen more regularly if these players could get together more often. They are prevented from doing this because they have the demands of their professional clubs to fulfill. What other sport would handicap potentially good sides just because they do not have financial clout?

RWC 2011 (The smaller nations Romania, Georgia)

It has been three months since I updated this blog, work, laziness etc have contrived to make me some what slow in my posting. However the rugby world cup has appeared and the writing bug has hit me again. After a week we could talk about the established nations of rugby and the problems they might be having the rustiness the etc. In the first week of the world cup it is most appropriate to talk about the smaller nations. The plaudits so far most go east to the Carpathians and Georgia and Romania, one a new nation and one a re-emerging force.

Rugby in Romania is an interesting but tragic story, it was the sport of the repressive communist regime of Ceaucescu and they were good at it. When the dictator fell the game fell but it was still played but not supported it flickered and nearly died, but thanks to the IRB and the rugby brotherhood it survived and in this world cup the Romanian nation exploded onto the scene as a side who might be a struggle to beat with strong organised forwards and solid defense. .

Georgia has rugby union as a national sport based partly on an ancient wrestling game played throughout the country the majority of the team play in the french leagues. The men of Georgia are large men who take pride in their forward ability. They again they played well against the Scots and I for one am looking forward to the clash of these two nations.

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Tour de France, is my heart ready to be broken again?

The Tour de France is nearly upon us again and I am being bitten by cycling fever. Le Tour is a truly seductive event, it takes in some of the finest scenery in the world and the sheer brutality of the event is compelling and as a soap opera it is unbeatable. I want to believe in the Tour de France, I love the event, I remember watching LeMond beat Fignon by 8 seconds in a time trial around Paris. Then the drugs came and they have not gone away. Pantani, Delgado, Ulrich, Mayo and Vino great names in the Tour all drug cheats. Every year we have a new winner an every year since the Festina affair in 98' has become a drug cheat issue. Even the years of Armstrong are clouded by drugs and claims of endemic EPO abuse led by Armstrong himself.

So we come to the Tour de France 2011 before even one peddle has been turned in anger we are in a drugs controversy, the current champion Contador is claiming a false drug test caused by clenbuterol in tainted meat.. Yet I am feeling hope, the reason is the potential shown by Bradley Wiggins, an Olympian and champion cyclist he could win and he brings none of the baggage associated with previous yellow jersey wearers. I hope he wins and restore my faith, in reality he will fail and be beaten by a cyclist with a questionable association with drugs.

Sepp Blatter: the man who holds back progress.

What a state world football finds itself in. Football is the only truly global game, a game that is simple to play and requires minimal equipment and is easy to understand is being destroyed by the man at the top of it. The world cups of 2018 and 2022 were decided by a small group of men. Some of which were brought by cash bribes, it is now obvious that whatever the sense of a proposition. The way to win a world cup bid was by cash. The proposition of a world cup in Russia is understandable, it is a powerful country with a footballing history. Qatar is a different proposition, no love for football or stadium.A world cup played in 55 degree heat does not make sense, it is now obvious that this world cup was purchased, with no thought to anything other than money.

Sepp Blatter was the man who took the world cup to Africa, a great achievement for the continent. Considering South Africa had held the rugby world cup and the cricket world cup it was inevitable Sepp Blatter has made enough errors in this job, no technology, bribed officials and a lack of sense and compassion for the game make him a target for the chop. He has been for another four years so let the madness continue.