Loser goes out! Tense in this household as wife's mum's family are from Kilkenny. We go over in August.
I know a handful of people who have gone out there - they'll be thoroughly enjoying themselves, the lucky sods.
Just seen that Gareth Thomas today became the first Welshman to win a stage of the Tour de France. Da iawn, Gareth
Brilliant. Done Jameson's, Bushmills, the lot. Loved the Wild Atlantic Way and the friendly people. Definitely coming back!!
New Zealand are the benchmark by which all other teams judge themselves. This has come about by the New Zealand Rugby Union evolving a system where everything points towards having the best possible national team. This is probably the only country, and the only sport, in which such a happy outcome could happen. There are no privately-owned clubs in NZ, just state-run franchises who naturally feed into the All Blacks machine. In a country where rugby is practically a religion, this has led to the AB's being the best in the world, not always World Champions but always the standard for top-quality international rugby. So, as Dave says above, beating them, by whatever means, by whatever margin, with a side with some but not all of the Northern Hemisphere's top players in a scratch team, is definitely cause for huge celebration. If the Lions win the series next week, there will be uproar.
Murray doesn't look particularly comfortable in this despite being two sets and a break to the good. Clearly not completely over that injury yet.
Murrays through in straight sets. Pretty comfortable in the end, though his serve isn't up to standard yet. He'll need to improve that as he plays some more experienced players. Good start though.
Geraint Thomas stays within 2 seconds of Peter Sagan at the front in a bunch sprint at the end of Stage 3 of the Tour de France, and retains the maillot jaune for a third day. Great stuff from Sky, and particularly from Thomas.One of Sagan's pedals became unclipped during the sprint but he managed to reclip it and pull shared again. Doesn't sound much, but at over 40 mph in the middle of a hurtling mass of cyclists it takes some doing!
Murray's first serve is always a problem. Just checked his ATP stats and his average is just 58%. This is possibly why he hasn't made it to the same consistent level of Federer 62%, Nadal 69% or Djokovic 65%. Not a lot of difference between Muzza and Fed, but Fed has been playing longer, so his stats could be more diluted by a greater number of matches.
Britain's Aljaz Bedene beats the Croatian Ivo Karlovic 6-7 7-6 6-7 7-6 8-6. Not a single service break until the very last game, epic serving from both players. Fantastic entertainment.
