Al's Blog from the Bog

So Eddie O’Sullivan has gone. Certainly pushed, his departure has been dressed up as a resignation, which will benefit all parties. Whatever, at least Ireland can now move on and, hopefully, regain some of the lost ground. Let’s just hope that whoever takes over is given the same level of support and autonomy as O’Sullivan was, and is brave enough to make some sweeping changes.

Over in England, meanwhile, rumours abound. Will Martin Johnson be brought in to the setup as Team Manager? The BBC seem convinced he will. But is this enough? I have great respect for Brian Ashton but I wonder if he is the right man to be leading the coaching team. When one considers what Sir Clive Woodward achieved, or rather how he achieved it, I wonder if a more significant shake-up and approach might be more productive. After all, with the pool of players in England far exceeding that of any other rugby nation, it should be reasonable to expect a lot more in terms of results.

rugby international, rugby, Six Nations, sport

So the 2008 Six Nations Championship (a rugby competition between England, Scotland,Ireland, Wales, France and Italy) concluded on Saturday. Congratulations to Wales on their Grand Slam (winning all their matches), their second in four years.

Before the it began, the pundits were predicting the most open tournament for many years, and they were right. All the teams were much closer in the standard of rugby they played than for a long time, but Wales were certainly the best team and deserved their win.

You could argue that this “closeness” made the competition very exciting and, in terms of the results and winning margins, perhaps it was. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though. The quality of rugby was far, far from a high standard. Why was it close? In simple terms it was because most teams (Italy excepted) have gone backwards, which made most of the games dull and tedious.
Read more…

rugby international, rugby, Six Nations, sport