RUGBY SHORTS   Farrell In Another Car Crash .......

…BUT THIS time only metaphorically! Monday night saw Andy Farrell finally make his rugby union debut at the Met Police’s sports facilities, Imber Court. It was in fact a Guinness ‘A’ League game, so chances are he would be the only player many of the 1,000 spectators would recognise anyway, as Harlequins hosted Saracens on a balmy evening in East Molesey. Quins did in fact win - comfortably - 30-12; the rugby from the quartered-shirt boys was pretty fast paced, with some good passing, and tactically quite impressive thanks to the excellent coaching of Colin Osborne. The Sarries boys in white, however, didn’t look too threatening at any point. They managed 2 tries and a conversion, but since we’re here to discuss the league convert and his transition to union, the verdict is so far is that once everyone had figured out which one he was [the new severe grade 1 haircut confused many], he played blind-side flanker pretty well for someone who had never played a competitive game of rugby union in his life.

©Action Images PLC

He stayed on for 65 minutes and came off the pitch to rapturous applause - most of which was probably from sheer relief that nothing broke and he was in one piece. And far more importantly, his debut saw him score the first try for his home side. So, he can run, pass, catch, scrummage, score tries and almost manage an entire 80 minutes. His northern league roots have instilled in him some very vocal habits of getting his team going, and there was no lack of encouraging team spirit and camaraderie as his voice constantly resounded around the pitch - a definite leader in the making. And at the end of it all, he commented “I’ll wake up tomorrow morning and feel like I’ve been in another car crash.”

Hopefully, ‘9/11’ will now go down in rugby history as the day England’s new hope and the ‘Man of Steel’ began his highly successful union career, and with legends such as Richard Hill behind him, it will be interesting to see what happens next. I will reserve judgement for a few matches yet, but rumour has it Faz will be making his premiership debut against Newcastle this weekend, and England Elite training begins on the 19^th. Will he don the hallowed white shirt bearing the rose of England this November? Watch this space…

And A Phoenix Rises Out Of the Ashes

A SHORT while ago we reported on the Dan’s Fund For Burns, a charity set up in the aftermath of the Bali bombings of 2002 where the Hong Kong Vandals expat team lost 9 of their 11 players. Last weekend saw the first memorial ‘Day Of Rugby’ at Cambridge University in honour of those who’s lives were lost, and it was a day to remember. The sun was glorious all day, the rugby was brilliantly organised with a 13-team Sevens tournament on St John’s College playing fields, featuring teams from the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore & New Zealand, most playing in memory of one or more players killed whilst on holiday, enjoying the sport they loved. The final was held at the Cambridge University Rugby Ground, and was won by the Aardvarks, a team with its roots in Edinburgh University. And then came the showcase match with over a 1,000 spectators, the Oxbridge Legends vs the International Legends.

Photograph - Tim Skepper

Nick Beal, Saints, England & British Lion proudly captained the Legends to a 25-15 victory over a younger, fitter Oxbridge team. World legend Jason Leonard was named Man Of The Match, and surprisingly played the entire match [thanks to the principle of rolling subs that was employed, so he was in fact never on for more than 15 minutes.] Former England U21 Captain and Wasps No. 8, Peter Scrivener provided the hilarious commentary, mostly extracting the Michael from his former team mates [fuelled by the constant stream of Magners provided by yours truly who was supervising the bar]. NZ Maori Chad Eagle flew 12,000 miles to play his part, and other internationals who partook included Steve White-Cooper, Chris Sheasby, Rory Jenkins, Darren Garforth, Harvey Thorneycroft, Steve Ravenscroft, Ali Hepher, John Sleightholme, Florent Rossigneux. England A and Saracen Andy Lee came off the bench onto the pitch, got slapped about for a moment or two, popped his shoulder and popped off again, much to the amusement of those who were fairly shocked he was on the team sheet [sorry Andy!!!]. The team was coached by Matt Dawson and Scott Gibbs, but if the truth be told, Matt Dawson has become expert at posing in his designer sunglasses in the sunshine while perched on a table for long periods of time!

Of course the purpose of the day was to raise money, and the original aim was to raise £50k from this event and the Black Tie Dinner in December. The reality so far is approximately £65,000 already, and the dinner is three months away. Dan’s Fund For Burns is truly becoming a phoenix.

Kiwi Double Standards

THEY MAY have trounced Australia and South Africa very convincingly to win the Tri Nations for the seventh time, but fair play has definitely not played a clear part in the antics of the southern hemisphere teams. In June last year, Lions Captain Brian O’Driscoll was double spear tackled by Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu. The attack saw O’Driscoll out of the tour and rugby for months to come. The punishment for the protagonists - absolutely nothing, and we [in the Northern Hemisphere] were accused of being whinging girls. The subsequent footage of the O’Driscoll spear tackle was so compelling and dangerous that the IRB vowed to rid the game of such foul play and outlawed the manoeuvre. During the Tri Nations this year, All Black skipper Richie McCaw was spear tackled by Wallaby Lote Tuqiri in a fairly spectacular fashion. The result: no injury, a personal apology from Tuqiri and an 11 week ban for the Wallaby. But has anything been learnt in the previous 14 months? Probably not, since the ban may be for 5 matches, but only one of those matches is a test - last weekend’s final match of the Tri Nations which the Australians lost 24-16 to South Africa. He will be available to play in the Autumn Tour of the Northern Hemisphere. And even the New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark did a pretty convincing impression of a whinging girl, as she was “horrified” by what she saw and publicly gave her opinion. Interesting that she had nothing to say a year ago! 

Finally Another Useful Rugby Website

IT’S GOOD to see that Rugby For The Girls…Men In Shorts is not the only website in cyberspace to have an alternative view on rugby that will be useful. There’s a bunch of rugby nuts in Twickenham who’ve had a similar idea - but this time it’s for everyone! You won’t need to visit another website to find out where to drink, how long it’ll take you to crawl from the Eel Pie to Twickenham Stadium, where the closest cashpoints are, and the directions to the police station when you’re pretty convinced that your missing slightly inebriated friend might have decided to nick the Police horse!