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

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

REES TO PUT STING BACK IN WASPS’ TAIL

England flanker Tom Rees wants to rid himself of the disappointment of the World Cup by pouring all his energies into kick-starting Wasps’ season after their poor start.

On Sunday Wasps host a Gloucester side firing on all cylinders, in the EDF Energy Cup. The 23-year-old No7 thinks that the sizable challenge will bring out the best in his team whose reinforcements have arrived just in time.

“Gloucester have been flying high,” said Rees. “They have been a strong attacking side for a few years, and now they are adding a real consistency to their game.

“It presents a big challenge for us, and hopefully it will be this big challenge that will pull out a big performance from us.”

The London club have won only once in the Guinness Premiership, while Gloucester, who finished top of the table last season, have begun where they left off and they are the pace-setters after six games.

In the EDF Energy Cup it is all square in their pool – Wasps drew with Newport Gwent Dragons and Gloucester tied with Newcastle Falcons last week.

Heineken Cup champions Wasps have been without World Cup stars Rees, England skipper Phil Vickery, Simon Shaw, Joe Worsley, Josh Lewsey, Laurence Dallaglio and Paul Sackey, as well as Frenchman Rafael Ibanez so far this season.

And Rees is raring to go after a disappointing time in France – he featured in the pool matches against the USA and South Africa, but was not further selected on England’s unlikely journey to the final at the Stade de France.

He said: “It’s very good to be back from France. The World Cup was a fantastic experience but I wasn’t involved on the playing side as much as I would have liked, so it is good for me to be back playing at Wasps against Gloucester to try and back in the swing of things.

“If I’m going to be anywhere near the England team come the Six Nations I am going to have to get back playing well for Wasps.

“It does feel a bit odd coming back when the campaign is already underway – I feel like I’m starting my season now.

“There are guys who are already up to speed, and up and running and have plenty of match practice already. It’s important for us to get back in and get firing, and build our match form up.”

Unlike his international colleagues, Rees did feature for Wasps last week, in their draw with Newport. He was impressed by the performance Riki Flutey, who signed from London Irish in the summer.

“For Riki to come into the team and play slightly differently to how he used to is hard, but he has slotted in really well.

“As a No7 it is important to have a good relationship with your fly-half, and when we played together last week he was talking to me the whole game – it felt like I was the newcomer.”

Rees, who won the man-of-the match award on his first international start against France in March, is positive that Wasps can turn their season around.

“I don’t think we need to push any panic buttons, or change anything drastically,” he added. “I’m convinced that the effort and passion is there in abundance from the lads.

“There are a lot of young guys who are trying to prove their worth. The things that have been lacking are perhaps a cool head at times and that self-belief when things begin to get tough.

“I think that toughness marks out a lot of our senior players – the fact that when the chips are down they are always firing right to the final whistle.

“If these young players could learn just to have that self-belief we will start to close out games. Once we build up that confidence we will be fine.”

Labels: Guinness Premiership, rugby union, Rugby World Cup, Tom Rees, Wasps

Posted by Oliver Pickup at 5:25 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

CHABAL - THE MAN OF MEN

Sébastien Chabal has become the pin-up for the French World Cup campaign, not so much for his on field attendance, but for his natural, hulking looks, and his warrior-like ferocity and physicality when he does enter the fray. His popularity has disseminated globally. Even 15 Facebook groups (at least) have been formed in his honour - ranging from Sébastian 'the caveman' Chabal to end the war in Iraq to Chabal: possibly the sexiest man on earth.

Yet as his wife admits, behind his unkempt mane of hair and tousled beard - left to cultivate in a fashion that earns him nicknames such as Attila the Hun, l'homme des grottes (the caveman) and Sea bass - there is a modest, generous and thoughtful family man.

Chabal, capped 35 times by Les Bleus, has been championed by French women for his looks - the antithesis to the metrosexual - and by the men for his sheer power. His hit on All Black No8 Chris Masoe - dubbed the ‘tackle of the century’ - and full-tilted bosh on Ali Williams is enough to make most men weep. His direct style, whether playing at No8 or, as French coach Bernard Laporte prefers, in the second row, is eye-catching and inspiring.

John Carter, who plays with Chabal at Sale Sharks, flinches at the thought of the Sea Bass in full flow. “He is naturally one of the most powerful people you will find,” Carter, who at 6ft 3ins and 16st is no wimp, says.

“He doesn’t actually need to train particularly hard to compete with most people. He can walk into the gym and keep up with (England’s prop) Andy Sheridan on the weights bench, which is quite amazing. He is a game-changer. The things he does in a game will determine whether or not his team will win or lose the game.”

Carter concedes that England are perhaps getting off lightly, as throughout France’s World Cup, Chabal has been utilised as a lock, and a replacement one at that. “At No8 he immediately has the ball in his hands and that’s where he is most effective. For us at No8 he is outstanding. For most countries he would be outstanding at No8, but Laporte wants him in the second-row.”

With only 7.5 per cent body fat, Chabal is mostly rippling muscle, and when he strips off at the Stade de France on Saturday, many an Englishman will be trembling. Yet few would imagine that this colossal 29-year-old is a relaxed and modest man, dedicated to his family and his friends.

“When I think that people imagine that Séb deliberately set out to look like Attila the Hun, it makes me smile,” Annick, his wife, said in a recent French publication (Paris-Match). “No one is more sensitive and withdrawn than him. The beard is, in fact, a way of hiding behind a screen.”

Chabal began to grow his beard when his daughter Lily Rose, now two-and-a-half-years-old, was conceived. He had planned to shear it when Lily Rose was born, but Annick liked it so much that he kept it for her. And, though the merchandising men continue to have a field day, producing T-shirts, banners and other Chabal paraphernalia, here is a man who drives a small Smart car - “you have never seen anything like it,” admits Carter - and who has confessed to being “afraid of ghosts and spiders”.

When unable to attend the family dinner due to rugby commitments he will, according to Annick, “connect up his webcam so that he is with us at the family table.”

Aside from being a devoted family man, Chabal is a great friend to his team-mates. “He is a very down-to-earth guy who mucks in with the lads - he’s very chilled out,” continues Carter. Chabal is known within the club for his generosity, advice and gentle humour.

Though not the ring-leader, he has been known for his practical jokes; his distinctive laugh booming through the corridors at Edgley Park. He is also renowned for his cooking skills - he regularly lays on team barbeques - and his kindness.

“You are friends with all your team-mates but there are some people who are more generous, and Chabal is one of them,” offers Carter.

Far from the Neanderthal image the media like to portray, Chabal would sooner be found sipping an espresso and talking politics than in a cave. “He will happily drink coffee all day,” suggests Carter.

There will be nothing so civilised about Chabal’s performance against England. Direct and punishing running will bludgeon the Red Rose’s defence. Whatever the outcome, one thing is for sure: after the semi-final he will log on to his computer and wish his little girl bonne nuit.

Labels: France, John Carter, rugby union, Rugby World Cup, Sale Sharks, Sebastian Chabal

Posted by Oliver Pickup at 11:59 pm | Permalink | Comments

GUARDIAN UNLIMITED RUGBY WORLD CUP PODCAST

I was hauled in at the last minute as they were desperate, so be kind ... Here it is. Preview for the England v Tonga showdown, green hair dye and all.

Labels: rugby union, Rugby World Cup

Posted by Oliver Pickup at 4:33 pm | Permalink | Comments

How can England retain the World Cup on the back of such a poor tour?

As England prepare to defend their World Cup trophy, once again domestic and commercial commitments look to compromise international success.

A sub-standard and lethargic England team had the stuffing knocked out of them at altitude in the heartland of South African rugby - Bloemfontein - on Saturday. By half-time the score was 30-3 in the Springboks’ favour, and the game was effectively over; the final score - 58-10 - was a record win for the Boks against England. At the beginning of their international season, the win will be a fillip to South African confidence. The battered, weary England squad will trudge on to Pretoria this weekend for another mauling.

What is most worrying for Brian Ashton is that his team will play Jake White’s team in Pool A in the World Cup on 14th September - only three and a half months away. Ashton’s squad, robbed of many stars thanks to club commitments, a long winter programme, and weakened further by a 72-hour lurgy, had their preparations for this first Test seriously disrupted, and started - quite rightly - as underdogs.

In truth they were never expecting to win with such a rag-tag touring squad, coined “plumbers and decorators and part-time rugby players” by the South African press and “Dad’s army” by the English papers. That England can only field a second string team, which comprises largely of older (some uncapped) Premiership veterans and young, unblooded talent, brings into question the decision of the timing of the tour: why would England want to hand South Africa such a huge psychological advantage ahead of their showdown in St Denis? What can they possibly hope to learn?

Already this tour is looking every bit as woeful as the 1998 “Tour of Hell” to Australia. The 76-0 defeat in Brisbane is a record defeat for the Red rose; second on the list is this latest result. That the Aussies went on the win the World Cup in 1999 and the South Africans have been going through a sticky patch themselves suggests that Saturday’s score line even flattered England; especially when one considers that the Boks - normally relentless punishers - came out from the interval laughing and joshing and did not manage to score in the first 30 minutes of the second half.

The previous weekend, while Wasps edged out Leicester in a bruising all-English European Cup final, the Northern Bulls beat the Coastal Sharks in an all-South African affair in the Super 14 final, thanks to a Bryan Habana injury-time try. Habana touched down twice against England. Whereas Wasps and Leicester’s Englishmen didn’t board the plane to Johannesburg, the South Africans were able to field their strongest team; 10 men who played in the Super 14 final started for the Boks.

Before kick-off Ashton told reporters he was looking for physicality and intelligence from his team: “We’re not looking for excuses. We have to match them upfront.” Up front 34-year-old Kevin Yates (last capped 10 years ago), 35-year-olds Mark Regan and Stephen Turner (who made his first start and was replaced by 34-year old debutant Darren Crompton after 53 minutes) did as well as could be expected, but it was only a matter of time before the Boks turned the screw.

Basic errors allowed the Boks in, but far from the intelligence that Ashton had hoped for, some of the England players showed a lack of basic competence, and in many ways looked like they didn‘t want to be there; who would blame them? Yes, they were playing together for the first time as a team, and yes, there is a mixture of talent throughout the squad, but there was a risible paucity of cohesion. Ian Balshaw’s speculative drop-goal attempt after only 12 minutes - which, from 40 metres out, sliced embarrassingly into South Africa’s 22 - hinted not only at a lack of English invention but also a desperation.

Against such strong opposition, blooding young players and handing caps to veterans in the dusk of their careers is not conducive to giving anyone but the South Africans a confidence boost. As the Boks prepare with purpose for the World Cup in France, England will be left decimated, needing a from-the-roots-up rebuilding job. Compared to Clive Woodward’s meticulous ripening of the last World Cup squad, where England entered the tournament as favourites after a Six Nations Grand Slam, and June international wins against New Zealand and Australia, Brian Ashton’s team look years away from the finished product.

The ludicrous schedule of tours to the southern hemisphere has been questioned by many, and the International Rugby Board has now admitted that the timing of these tours is far from ideal. Too late this time round - the IRB have decreed a repeat would not happen in future - but that is scant consolation for English rugby.

In the bigger picture this age of sporting professionalism, where the lines between sport and business are blurring further every day, there is pressure to commit to more games - both internationally and domestically - to sate the unquenchable thirst of sport’s audience; and it is harming many countries, not least England. And it’s not just in rugby union.

It is no consequence that in the last year England’s most popular three sports - football, rugby and cricket - there have been personnel changes at the very top. With such crammed domestic season, salt-and-peppered with ill-timed international commitments, how can English teams be expected to win? Sven-Goran Eriksson resigned as England’s football coach after the World Cup in Germany, complaining that his squad were over-tired after a gruelling domestic season - the same excuse used by Chelsea and Manchester United after their pitiful FA Cup final showing this term; a game which should have been a special occasion enhanced by sparkling football, but New Wembley’s first final was clamorous.

Similarly Duncan Fletcher stepped down at the conclusion of April’s long and tragic cricket World Cup, and again the excuse for failure was that his players had not been afforded enough of a break.

Though the doughty Brian Ashton will never look for excuses, he can be pardoned in part for England’s ill-preparation ahead of September’s World Cup. Just don’t be surprised when England stumble and fall, and Ashton resigns citing that his players were tired and the schedule of England’s international season has been woefully flawed.

Labels: Brian Ashton, England, media, rugby, Rugby World Cup, South Africa, sports media

Posted by Oliver Pickup at 12:21 am | Permalink | Comments