History will be kind to me because I intend to write it

SACKEY AND HIPKISS MISS PLANE TO NEW ZEALAND

England tour squad flew out to New Zealand on Monday without London Wasps’ flying winger Paul Sackey and Leicester Tigers’ centre Dan Hipkiss.

The pair sustained injuries in Saturday’s bruising Guinness Premiership final, which Sackey’s team, led by the now-retired Lawrence Dallaglio, won 26-16.

England’s first choice winger Sackey, 28, impressed in last year’s World Cup. And he played the full 80 minutes at Twickenham, but picked up a knee injury which needs attention.

Six-cap Hipkiss, who turns 26 on Wednesday, had to be led off in the first half after fracturing his right cheek and will also miss the two Tests against the All Blacks.

Hipkiss’s opposite man at the weekend, Dominic Waldouck, has replaced him on tour, while the Guinness Premiership’s leading scorer, Tom Varndell, has taken Sackey’s place.

Uncapped 20-year-old Waldouck said: “Being asked to tour New Zealand is fantastic, and I'm very excited and honoured to have been selected.

“It will be my first senior tour, and to go to New Zealand will be a massive challenge, but it's a great opportunity to gather experience and learn from other players on the tour.”

Varndell, 22, has been in the international wilderness for two years. "It's a great honour to be called up with so many quality English wingers around,” he said.

"My last senior tour was to Australia in 2006, so I'm looking forward to having the opportunity of being part of the England squad again."

Tour manager Rob Andrew, whose team first play the All Blacks next Saturday, added: "Both Dominic and Tom are excellent players, and I look forward to working with them over the next three weeks."

Labels: Dan Hipkiss, England, New Zealand, Paul Sackey, Rob Andrew, Tom Varndell

Posted by Oliver Pickup at 4:46 pm | Permalink | Comments

START OF A GOLDEN AGE FOR ENGLISH RUGBY

Rugby chiefs have finally agreed on a deal that will put an end to the club versus country debate, and pave the way for a new “golden era” where English rugby will flourish both on and off the field.

Representatives of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and the Premier Rugby Limited (PRL) were relieved to announce the new eight-year deal – which will commence from July 1 next year – at Twickenham yesterday.

The PRL had been at odds with the RFU for over a decade after losing important players due to international duties at key stages in the season without any financial compensation.

Despite this squabbling, England have reached the last two world cup finals, and Premiership teams have won six of the last 11 Heineken Cups and six of the last seven Challenge Cups. With both clubs and country pulling in the same direction, England fans can expect even more success.

“We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with PRL,” opened Martyn Thomas, Chairman of the RFU Management Board. “It has taken a long time to put together. We believe that we have got an agreement that is positive it will work if both parties of the agreement pull together.

“It will take England through two rugby world cups, and we hope that the stability and certainty that the agreement will provide will be vital to the development of the game, both at club and country level.”

RFU Chief Executive Francis Baron said: “Our objective is simply to make England number one and our club competitions number one. The RFU will be providing around £110m to the Guinness Premiership clubs over the course of the agreement.

“The key to implementing the agreement will be the establishment of the Professional Game Board, who will be responsible for overseeing the professional game.”

The exhaustive 150 page document – “Nobody has ever produced such a detailed document in professional rugby; we have tried to deal with every issue and deal with it comprehensively,” continued Baron – sets out plans for seasons to be played in series of ‘blocks’.

The idea is to allow players to represent their club and country as much as possible. The block system is structured to include commitments to the Premiership, European competitions as well as International games.

Though, for fear of ‘burnout’, players will only be able to play a maximum of 33 games in any one season (including a maximum of 11 for England).

Three elite player squads (EPS) – Senior, Saxons and Under-20, each of 32 players – will allow players to prepare better for upcoming internationals. Clubs will also be financially encouraged to nurture English talent, and special coaching schemes are to be introduced to develop English coaching talent.

“It is very exciting,” added Elite Rugby Director Rob Andrew. “It is an English solution for the English game – that’s the most important thing. For once and for all I hope we have put the club versus country debate behind us, and we can now really seriously talk about club and country.”

Labels: Francis Baron, Heineken Cup, Rob Andrew, Rugby Football Union, rugby union, Rugby World Cup

Posted by Oliver Pickup at 11:00 pm | Permalink | Comments

ASHTON: GIVE ME THE ENGLAND JOB FOR 2011

England's jubilant coach Brian Ashton, touched back down to England with one message for Rob Andrew, head of the RFU – hand me the reins for the England team and let me take them to world cup glory at New Zealand 2011.

The former Bath coach, who replaced Andy Robinson only ten months ago, inherited a team who had lost eight out of their last nine games. Against all odds, and with hardly any preparation Ashton managed to take England to the world cup final.

Yet even this fantastic achievement has not ensured he will keep his job for longer than the originally agreed period of a year – his contract is due to terminate in December.

However Ashton believes that with the correct preparation and with his superb knowledge of England’s youngsters coming through, the national side can go one better than second place in four years time.

Andrew, head of the RFU, has remained diplomatic about the subject of renewing Ashton’s contract. Ashton, by contrast, wants to shout the fact that he wants to keep his job from the rooftops.

“I love this job,” he beamed. “It’s a difficult job, but it is also one of the most rewarding jobs I think in British sport, probably in world sport as well. I thoroughly enjoy coaching England.”

He believes that the work he did at the National Academy from 2002-2005 will help his case. Ashton helped to launch the Academy and has been able to keep a keen eye on up-and-coming young players as a result. His knowledge of their skills will mean that he can get the most out of their talents.

Youngsters Danny Hipkiss, Matt Stephens, Mathew (sic) Tait and Toby Flood all gained important experience by playing for England in the world cup final, and there are scores of more plying their trade in the Guinness Premiership.

“There are a load of young players coming through the game and that I know exceptionally well from my time as National Academy manager,” Ashton continued. “To be given an opportunity to work with them again would be fantastic.

“Potentially they are some of the best rugby players England have ever had. These players need managing the right way, and hopefully some of them will get the opportunity to play another 40 international games for England before they hit another world cup tournament.

“That obviously will make a massive difference in terms of experience that they will have to bring in 2011. They will be the senior players as opposed to being the junior players as they are now.”

The Lancashire-born coach admits that the preparation for this last world cup was far from perfect, and that it is import for the RFU to have a period to reflect on where things may we improved for next time.

“I took over England nine months ago – a team that had lost eight out of their last nine games,” he mused. “A lot of players who played in the world cup weren’t available in the Six Nations for me, so we effectively started out campaign four months ago. We got to the final, and were very, very close at some stages to winning that final.

“We need to go through a review process – not from when I took over but a review of what has happened since 2003, just to make absolutely certain that we give ourselves the best opportunity to prepare over four years for that 2011 tournament.

“We have to make sure that we don’t go into the 2011 tournament in January 2011 with the same sort of situation that faced me when I took over here.”

Labels: Andy Robinson, Brian Ashton, RFU, Rob Andrew, Rugby Football Union, rugby union, Rugby World Cup

Posted by Oliver Pickup at 8:29 pm | Permalink | Comments