GP knockout stages - who is your money on?
This weekend sees the titanic clash of the top 4 teams in the Guinness Premiership: Gloucester, Wasps, Bath & Leicester.
It’s been a long old season, interrupted by the World Cup, but during that time we’ve witnessed a dramatic struggle to gain the ascendancy in the league. Once again, Gloucester have topped the regular season, and once again Wasps have timed their run to perfection, waiting until the 11th hour to slide into second spot and a home semi-final.
Wasps, however have shown a slight fallibility of late, leaking tries in a defence that’s normally more miserly than Scrooge at Christmas, though they possess a cutting edge in attack, spearheaded by the golden-boy Cipriani. Gloucester have instead excelled in defence, their tussle with Bath last weekend giving a textbook version of how to stifle everything that the in-form Bath could throw at them.
And as for Bath, over the latter end of the season, they’ve displayed a delicious brand of that elixir of ‘total rugby’ that the ELV’s have so conspicuously failed to deliver. The sight of Matt Stevens throwing dummies and pinning his ears back for the gap, and Lee Mears barrelling his way through tackles before offloading with the deftest of hands, is a sight to behold and adds a killer edge to their attacking play.
And finally we come to Leicester. They slipped through the back door at Sale’s invitation and have quietly gone about their business. Despite the apparent unrest at the club, not least amongst the coaching staff, they have put in some dominant performances, exemplified when they thrashed Wasps at Welford Road back in March. However, typifying Leicester’s season, they were then on the receiving end of a loss against the same opponents just one week later.
The business end of the season is not a game of consistency though, and the mouthwatering fact is that each of the remaining four teams has the capacity to beat the others. Each of the teams contains match-winners, both in attack and defense. Each of the teams has put in a dominant performance in recent weeks.
It is therefore too close to call. Smart money would normally be on the big guns with the big match experience: Wasps and Leicester. However, Gloucester have performed when it mattered this season and raised their game for the big occasions, where once they may have faltered. And write off Bath at your peril.
Who do you think will win?
By Justin Aylward
McGeechan appointed Lions coach in 2009
There’s a sense of deja vu - the Lions are touring South Africa, home of the World Champions, led by Ian McGeechan, the greatest Lions coach ever. Can he really do it again?
All we need now are replacements for key players like Johnno, Gibbs, Guscott, Wood, Jenkins. Is it time to start picking those Lions XVs?
Johnson announces squad to tour New Zealand
Martin Johnson has shown the first glimpse of his selection intentions, and thankfully, Iain Balshaw won’t be unleashed on the All Blacks this summer.
Steve Borthwick is named as captain, with uncapped players Topsy Ojo, Danny Care, Jason Hobson, Dylan Hartley, David Paice and Nick Kennedy featuring.
The full squad is shown below. Are there any surprises? Do we stand a chance?
Backs: M Brown (Harlequins), P Sackey (Wasps), D Strettle (Harlequins), T Ojo (London Irish), M Tait (Newcastle), M Tindall (Gloucester), J Noon (Newcastle), T Flood (Newcastle), O Barkley (Bath), D Cipriani (Wasps), C Hodgson (Sale Sharks), R Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks), P Richards (London Irish), D Care (Harlequins).
Forwards: A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), T Payne (Wasps), M Stevens (Bath), J Hobson (Bristol), L Mears (Bath), D Hartley (Northampton), D Paice (London Irish), S Borthwick (Bath, capt), B Kay (Leicester), N Kennedy (London Irish), T Palmer (Wasps), T Croft (Leicester), J Haskell (Wasps), J Worsley (Wasps), M Lipman (Bath), T Rees (Wasps), N Easter (Harlequins), L Narraway (Gloucester).
Gloucester top at the end of regular season
Gloucester overcame Bath 8-6 on the last day of the Guinness Premiership to clinch top spot at the end of the regular season. James Simpson-Daniel was sublime, with one of the tries of the year and picked up the Man of the Match award.
Unfortunately for the Cherry and Whites, it’s not actually the end of the season - they now face Leicester in the semi-finals and then the winner of Wasps or Bath if they make the final.
Wasps snatched second place with a bonus point victory over Leeds, and that secures the London side an all-important semi-final.
Leicester snuck into the top four at the eleventh hour with a last-minute victory over Harlequins to set up a showdown with Gloucester. Sale was the most disappointing team at the weekend, seemingly devoid of ambition in a 17-7 home defeat to London Irish.
The debate about the value of the knockout stages has been fairly quiet over the last couple of seasons. It seems to me the first opportunity to reduce the number of matches in a congested end-of-season schedule, but on the other hand, the next two rounds of matches should be incredible occasions.
What do people think? Presumably Wasps fans are in favour, whilst Gloucester fans might not be so keen?
Last chance for Premiership playoff places
In a way it’s a shame that Gloucester and Bath are already guaranteed a semi-final berth - their showdown this weekend would have taken on much more importance.
As it is, Wasps and Sale have it all to play for, the former taking on lowly Leeds and almost assured of a place, the latter taking on London Irish at Edgeley Park.
Harlequins and Leicester are the only other teams with an outside chance of climbing into the last four - they play each other on Saturday and will need other results to go their way.
Leicester’s defeat to Newcastle, and then Wasps bonus point victory over the same team has slightly taken the sting out of the tail of the playoff race. Gloucester, Bath, Wasps and Sale should make it, and set up a fascinating knockout finale.
The final is on 31st May at Twickenham - end of season specialists Wasps, and consistently strong Gloucester are currently joint favourites (9/4 with Paddy Power).
Guinness Premiership review
Last weekend in the Guinness Premiership saw the top two, Gloucester and Bath, open up some breathing space as two other big guns, Leicester and Wasps, faltered.
On Saturday, a Bath team in fantastic form met a Saracens team deflated and depleted from the previous week’s Heineken cup exploits and the result was never in doubt. Bath ran in nine tries with Barkley scoring 31 points, Bath running out winners by 66 – 21. The manner in which Bath played, rather than the big result will be of great concern to their title rivals but it is yet to be seen whether this crop of players have the “big game mentality” required to win a Premiership final.
In the only match with nothing in particular riding on it Worcester beat Bristol 22 – 21 at what will be the last match for Bristol at the Memorial Stadium for two years as they move to Rodney Gardens in Newport while their stadium is redeveloped.
One of the big benefits of a play-off structure with relegation is that almost every match has significance all the way until the end of the season. However it is strange that one of the clubs with seemingly little left to play for - Newcastle - managed to beat a team needing to fight for every point to qualify for the play-offs – Leicester.
Newcastle resisted a tough late fight back from the tigers to win 28-25 and severely impact on Leicester’s hopes of a playoff place. This will also be further ammunition for any anti-Loffreda elements within and outside the Leicester camp with rumours that a certain Mr White might be keen on a job in the midlands.
Also on Saturday Sale took a big stride towards a playoff berth by defeating Harlequins 23 – 16 at the Stoop. Sale are now third and you would back them to beat London Irish at home to secure a play off place whereas Harlequins must now defeat Leicester at Welford Road to stand a chance of making the Twickenham final.
Gloucester defeated an uncharacteristically sloppy Wasps at Adams Park 25 – 17 to put themselves in a great position for a home semi final in the playoffs. They now just need a bonus point from their match against Bath on Saturday to guarantee a home tie. Wasps on the other hand need to refocus and find the necessary determination to win their remaining two matches, against Newcastle tomorrow and Leeds on Saturday to get themselves back on track.
Just in case anyone should forget about the rugby London Irish are capable of, they scored seven tries to defeat Leeds 43 – 20. There was no Heineken hangover for the Exiles as they walked over the already-relegated northerners.
After Wednesday’s match between Wasps and Newcastle it will be clear what each of Sale, Harlequins, Wasps and Leicester need to do to earn the final two playoff places. I am very excited, I hope you all are too.
By Jon Hobbs
ELVs to be trialled next season
The IRB has inflicted these ‘essential’ changes on Northern Hemisphere rugby, from club level through to international. The changes below have been copied from the BBC, since I thought people might have a few things to say about them.
Changes to be trialled worldwide include:
- Players can defend a maul by pulling it down.
- Introduction of an offside line five metres behind the hindmost feet of the scrum.
- No restriction on the number of players who can participate in the lineout from either side (minimum of two).
- The receiver in a lineout must stand two metres back from the lineout.
- Flags are no longer considered to be in touch in-goal except when a ball is grounded against the post.
Further ELVs to be trialled in an elite northern hemisphere competition, expected to be the European Challenge Cup, include:
- For all offences other than offside, not entering through the gate, and Law 10 - Foul Play, the sanction is a free kick.
- If the ball is unplayable at the breakdown, the side that did not take the ball into contact will receive a free kick.
- If a maul becomes unplayable, the team not in possession at the start of the maul receives a free kick.
Introducing Our Rugby Club
Our Rugby Club is giving rugby fans the chance to help a small or medium-sized rugby club climb through the leagues by offering collective financial assistance.
By bringing together a community of like-minded rugby supporters and by pooling our financial resources, Our Rugby Club will make a significant investment to a club which can then purchase state of the art training equipment, attract new players and coaches and provide everything required to transform the club and move up through the leagues.
Our Rugby Club members will pay an annual subscription of £30, every penny of which will be invested in the partner club. With a target number of 10,000 members, Our Rugby Club will be able to offer £300,000 per year.
The venture will not only bring this direct investment, but significant media coverage will result in increased match attendance and opportunities to increase ticket revenue, sponsorship and merchandising.
In return, members will be offered a number of benefits which will be agreed with the partner club. These could include discounted match tickets, opportunities to meet players and coaches, competitions to win International tickets and maybe even the opportunity to participate in a trial match for the club. These will be supplemented by online forums where club members can share views on performance, selection, tactics and other club matters.
The exact nature of our potential relationship will need to be fully discussed and agreed in consultation with the chosen club. The aim is to invest in a club and make it successful both on and off the pitch. Our Rugby Club is run by genuine rugby fans and will not be buying a stake in the partner club - the aim is to make a real success out of an existing club by investing our members’ money and generating additional opportunities for the club to develop.
A number of clubs have already expressed interested in developing a relationship, and members are starting to register their interest in becoming a member. Please visit www.ourrugbyclub.com for more information.
Have your say on the ELVs
There have been several threads about the ELVs on here recently, with some strong feelings among rugby supporters.
The RFU have obviously been reading the comments from Spike, Rob Watson et al and are inviting the rugby public to share their opinions on the proposed law changes.
The web address is below, and without wanting to sway you in your opinion, make sure you follow the link and tell the powers that be not to meddle with our brilliant game!
Feel free to post your arguments here as well, so that people can make an informed decision.
Munster and Toulouse book their place in Heineken Cup final
Munster edged past Saracens to join Toulouse in the Heineken Cup final, who had beaten London Irish on Saturday.
Both games were gripping to watch, and could have gone either way, but the prospect of Munster against Toulouse is what all the neutrals were hoping for.
We’ll have full reaction later in the week, but for now, let us know where you think the games were won and lost? Did the English sides deserve to go out?
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