Off Topic Other Sport

I can't remember which match is at was but i heard Dallaglio say something about a team that has the most punts down field from their own 22 statistically has the highest win ratio, boss the kicks you boss the match... The Welsh kicked for fun against us and we beat them as our Full Back caught everything thrown up to him. We kicked nearly every time versus France and we lost...SteveB needs to address that for me...

Stats, damn stats and stats again, the death of a good coach, the job of an analyst...!!

 

The Welsh were pretty dim hoofing it to our best receiver every single time.

 

So the Irish did it, and fair play to them for accomplishing the Grand Slam and in good style. It was a bit of a nervy watch for the Irish i would have thought after our boys put up one hell of a fight in the first half, but they couldnt match them in the end when a man down to what is technically a red card, but in terms of a live action incident was quite harsh. I still think the Irish would have won with it being 15 v 15, and the final score didnt reflect on the good work i thought the English lads put in to the match.

Congratulations to the Irish, Farrell and his boys, they look like they will be around for some time now, even with Sexton retiring soon, World no.1 team, and they deserve that tag too.
The French still look like they are a team who if they all turn up no one can beat them, and in Dupont they have a World Class player who could lead them to World Cup glory...!!
Scotland are a team punching above their own weight and again i give praise to Gregor Townsend for getting his team to push both the French and Irish all the way in their matches, just to be out played in the end due to a lack of top class players compared to those mentioned...
England have been a big disappointment, lets not beat about the bush on this. The Eddie Jones era has finished, but the damage of it could last a while. Borthwick has one hell of a job on his hands to turn this around, and seeing the Englishmen help coach the Irish and French to a possible World Cup title will be a little galling to the heads of the English RFU me thinks...??
The Welsh have put themselves in to a right hole with contract deals going wrong, an aging team, Alun Wynn-Jones is still one of their best forwards and he's nearly 50...!! (only joking on the age Alun...) Gatland has come out and said the Welsh will surprise a few next World Cup but the surprise would be if they actually got out of the group stages for me...
And finally the Italians, who for me have been a credit to the 6 Nations, trying to play the sort of rugby that has worried the opposition with quick plays on the break, super at turning defence into attack but undone by the lack of quality to trouble the established order. The pushed the French all the way in game 1, even had the lead with 10mins or so left in that match and were on top of the Scots for long periods of time in that match undone by a brilliant counter attack try at the end...

A good tournament, best team won, some with a lot of improvement needed. Can't wait for the World Cup, lots to look forward to...

 

Football is just plain bloody ridiculous. Just take a look at this nonsense from the president of Bayern Munich:

Monday: Bayern Munich president Herbert Hainer:

“Nagelsmann proved against PSG that he is tactically and strategically outstanding at the highest level. We’re planning long-term with him, we can see clear progress.”

Thursday: Nagelsmann sacked.

 

Keeping an eye on the "Hell of the North" today, which surprisingly isn't anything to do with Hull. The race can throw up some brilliant spectacle, and it is great to see it being attacked from the start. It will be interesting to see if the number of Jumbo Visma can beat MVDP, who has been in great form prior to the race.

 

I watched quite a bit of the Paris-Roubix yesterday and it dosnt get any easier to watch seeing them go over those bone shaking cobbles dos it...!!

MVDP deserved his win, by far the most aggressive of the front riders but just a shame that Wout van Aert dropped back because of a puncture as it would have been a very interesting last 4 or 5km's in the end...

Great race, ridden by absolute head the ball cyclists who have to have a sadist streak in them to ride the race as they must be absolutely shattered come the end of the 260km of riding, over 50km of that on the cobbles...!!

 

A good piece by Guillem Balague on Real Madrid and their Champion League obsession for anyone interested...

Real Madrid v Chelsea: Power & demands - why Los Blancos are Champions League masters

 

Can i say that the Art of Defending has long gone after watching what can only be described as Key Stone Cop defending from the Manc lads last night. And it's not just the United lads that are to be called out here but most of the Premier league defenders if you watch enough of them.

This obsession with them all playing out from the back as if they are Rio Ferdinand, Bobby Moore or Franz Beckenbauer is now getting beyond a joke. Maguire turns slower than the Titanic, so when De Gea passed him a ball with three defenders buzzing around him, they got what they deserved. And speaking of De Gea, when did taking a ball on the half volley some 30 yards form you own goal with no real pressure around you seem a good idea...??

It proves to be a most entertaining and laughable watch at times, but in reality the standard of defending is nearly lost...!!

 

Wow, Man.City 4 - Real Madrid 0 !!

Wasn't expecting this sort of result. Cannot ever remember Real getting such a thrashing like that in the Champions League
Bravo City!

 

Not that I want to compare this great Citeh side with a Liverpool side of the past, but Liverpool turned over Los Blancos at Anfield 4-0 in the Champions League back in 2009 to complete a 5-0 aggregate win over them in the last 16 of the competition. Beat them 1-0 over in Madrid to do the double over them, and keep two clean sheets...!!

Liverpool v Real Madrid 4-0

I was there that night and can still remember it quite vividly... Happy days...

Just for parity, we lost in the next round to Chavski, Citeh have made the final and beat the holders...!!

 

I see that Graham Potter has a very good chance of becoming the next manager of the French 1st Division side, Nice. Hope he gets the job, a thoroughly decent man who fell foul of the nutcases who control Chelsea. Hindsight of course, but he did make a big mistake in leaving Brighton, where he was doing so well.
Apparently, Nice is owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who bought the club in 2019 for €100 million. A consortium led by Sir Jim Ratcliffe is now battling-away trying to buy Man.Utd. Interesting, hope I've got all that right!

 

BBC have a podcast about the Man Utd takeover that is well worth listening to. "How to buy a football club"

 

Golf selling its soul to the highest bidder, as long as its from Saudi Arabia...??

So the professional golf world is to be shaken up and all brought under the one umbrella despite the highly controversial spilt within the players of both the PGA & DP World Tours when some of them took flight for more money, less golf, as they jumped ship to the newly formed LIV Golf Tour.

Its a right ole mess this, and the Saudi money men have got their way simply down to money and not for promoting the game of golf that they have spouted out today...!!!

Money wins the day once again...!!!

 

Fascinating 1st Ashes Test. The shots played by Warner, Lab-us-cockney and Smith were almost childish. Good to see them all go cheaply.
Stokes's captaincy feels like Percy Fender reborn.

 

If only we’d opted for a wicketkeeper….

 

Think Root was taking it too far this morning.

 

A really exciting 1st Test and can't wait for the rest of the Series.
Felt that England lost it rather than Australia won it. That declaration on day 1 was a touch too cavalier, our wicketkeeper appeared like a deer in the headlights at times while he also seemed to have forgotten to Pritt Stick his gloves. A touch more judicious batting on Day 4 might have helped too. But you can't argue with a Test Match that goes down to the wire, and this one certainly did. Just a shame it's not on national TV.
Instead we can watch repeats of the Repair Shop.

Of course always good to see Lab-us-cockney fail. Who decided to change the pronunciation of his name?

 

What a difference a day makes hey...?!?! England, so poor with their plans to a very strong batting line up blow them out for very little after being well under the pump following the first days play at Lords. KP and Vaughan wade in to the 'not taking it serious' debate, which carried a bit of weight at times, but it shows that sport has a way of balancing the books if you keep at it.

Should be another great Test match in prospect, shame I am in work so cant watch it, but the Beeb text messaging service will do me good for now...

England to be 270 for maybe 3 or 4 by close of play would be acceptable i think, as chasing over 400 on a quickening flat track might prove to be bloody hard work...!!

Very much game on for now...