England 30-17 Wales. 6 Feb. 2010

Went down to London for the weekend. Didn't have tickets for the big game. The plan was to watch the game in Richmond, probably in the beer tent at London Welsh again.

Arrived in Richmond at about 11:00, a good six hours before kick of. Walked to Harlequins ground at The Stoop, was a good walk of about two miles. We wanted to have a drink in the club house, unfortunately the steward on the gate informed us that the whole venue was ticket-only for hospitality. By this time it was about 12:30 and we had a look round Twickenham stadium, very quiet, the Green King beer tent was not even open yet, didn't start serving till 1 pm. On our walk back to Richmond we spotted Richard Hill and Phil Bennett talking outside the rugby museum and got their autographs - so it wasn't a wasted walk after all.

Eventually found our way back to Richmond, checked in at London Welsh ground to discover it was twelve pound just to enter the beer tent. Decided to save our money and watch the game in Richmond town centre. Settled in at The Bull pub to watch the Ireland v Italy game. The pub was mainly full of Welsh fans who had travelled down for the day.

The first half of the game was full of errors and forgettable play by England and Wales. Considering Wales were playing away I was fairly satisfied at the score of 3 all with 10 minutes before half time. Then with six minutes to go the moment of the match occurred - Alun Wyn Jones was yellow carded for a trip on Dylan Hartley. England slotted a penalty and score a try each side of the half when Wales were down to 14 men. A very costly sin bin. At 20-3 down the game looked all but over. Fear not, Wales decided to play and found some fluency as they stretched England with Adam Jones eventually diving over the line. All the play was now coming from Wales and with ten minutes till the final whistle James Hook produced a sublime piece of centre play to ghost in under the posts. The pub went wild and everyone started to believe Wales might actually come back to win the game just like 2008. It was all set up for a grandstand finish but England were reading from the same script. Delon Armitage intercepted a pass from a Welsh attack on the flank and this resulted in a try for Haskell. One minute their was hope, next the game was over. Still, it was a good second half by Wales. Exciting in patches, and the Hook try was true class.

One that got away perhaps. Nevermind.

My man of the match: Danny Care.

Friday night games. Are you a fan?

I think Friday night 6 Nations game are generally a bad idea. They're perfectly fine for club matches when attendances are usually below 10000 but when you have seven times that number at a game more consideration is needed.
I chose not to go to the Wales v France game this year because of the transport issues. Watching a 6 Nations game should be one of the highlights of a rugby fans' year. Nobody wants their day ruined straight after the match by having to endure the chaos of getting home from a packed city. Saturday is the ideal day for a match; 2 to 3 pm kick off. Game finishes at 5. No mad rush to go home at the same time. Fans can stagger the time they leave.

The other Nations should all host a Friday night 6 Nations game, then the IRB should assess whether to continue with this experiment.If the fans had their say I think the majority would prefer not to have a Friday night game, but in the future I think a compromise will be reached when each Nation plays one Friday night game every other year.

I have been lucky enough to go to the last 3 France v Wales games. Last year's game was the first Friday night 6 Nations game. I found the atmosphere was down on 2005 & 2007. Most of the home crowd had been working. The French fans seemed quite quiet, even during their winning performance. Although the paper plane throwing in the 2nd half was annoying. I don't recall many Mexican waves.
I suppose the result of the match helps as well.

Originally posted at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A63661836

LV= Cup

Blues 45-24 Newcastle. 31 Jan. 2010

I joined the Blues Supporter's Club at the start of the season and was sent a complimentary ticket to this match. I got to go upto the hospitality area on the top level of the main grandstand. Quite nice it was too. Before the game Craig Quinnell did a short interview with Ben Blair and Rhys Thomas for the benefit of those in the hospitality lounge.
The game was a comfortable run out for the Blues and allowed alot of fringe players to get a first team game. As the 6 nations was only 1 week away no Wales squad players were involved. A good day out.

Wasps 13-18 Scarlets. 30 Jan. 2010

Dragons 40-19 Ospreys. 29 Jan. 2010

Heineken Cup. Rounds 5 & 6

Harlequins 20-45 Blues. 24 Jan. 2010

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/8466424.stm

Ospreys 17-12 Leicester. 23 Jan. 2010

The Welsh team produced an all around solid game to beat the Tigers. James Hook, playing at inside centre was especially creative, and his centre partner Andrew Bishop had a fine game in defence. The match will be remembered not for the great win but for the fiasco surrounding the Lee Byrne substitution. He left the field as a blood replacement and on his arrival back it appeared the correct protocol was not observed. This resulted in the Ospreys playing with 16 men for about 1 minute, before referree Alan Lewis was notified. A few days after the game an independent tribunal handed the Ospreys 22,000 Euros fine and suspended Byrne for 2 weeks, meaning he would miss the England v Wales game. Byrne and the WRU appealed, and rather amazingly, had the ban lifted, and the fine dropped to 5000 Euros. This is the first major appeal I can remember being succesful. It's a huge boost to the Welsh team and a big surprise.

Munster 12-9 Northamton. 22 Jan. 2010

Northampton 34-0 Perpignan. 17 Jan. 2010

The Saints secured a bonus point win with the last move of the game in dramatic fashion. Perpignan were already out of the cup so the result is not as impressive as it may seem.

Clermont Auvergne 27-7 Ospreys. 16 Jan. 2010

Ulster 21-13 Edinburgh. 15 Jan. 2010

Some games

Leicester 34-8 Wasps. 9 Jan. 2010

Ospreys 26-0 Blues. 1 Jan. 2010

Worcester 6-26 Northampton. 26 Dec. 2009

The game sparked to life with 15 minutes to go as Ben Foden made a break from his own half. He fed Chris Ashton to score a a well worked try. Foden was in good form and managed a try for himself as well.

Scarlets 14-21 Ospreys. 26 Dec. 2009