My Lions XV

On March 10th I picked my Lions XV and posted it on twitter @parsley76. Despite some big performances since then I'm sticking by the fifteen I picked.
Here are some thoughts on my selections.

15. Hogg. Has been catching the eye since he burst onto the International scene. Halfpenny is unlucky to miss out but I feel Hogg has the edge in attack.

 14. Bowe. I'm a big fan of Bowe. He may not be the fastest winger in the World but he's big, strong, intelligent, skillful and has Lions experience. Just made his return to action against the Dragons at the weekend, and should be able to show enough form in the next 2 weeks to book his place in the squad. 

  13. Brian O'Driscoll.  If there's one player who can inspire a team it's BOD. 

  12. Billy Twelvetrees.  There's star quality about this guy. He's got the full package you'd want for an International inside centre.  Can pass, run, kick, tackle and has the rugby intelligence to fill in at 10, should the stand-off be out of position.  A partnership with BOD is something I'm really looking forward to and I'm share Gatland will try it out early in the tour.

  11. Tim Visser. What no George North I hear you saying.  Well as a good a player as North is I feel he has been over-hyped since he burst onto the scene as a teenager.  And theres also Alex Cuthbert.  To be fair I think Visser, North and Cuthbert are all very similar.  I've gone for Visser simply because I believe he has the edge in pace and skill.

10. Sexton.  The most complete number 10 in the Home Nations. Plus the experience. A cert to start?

9. Greg Laidlaw. Bit of a left-field selection but just look at his performances for Scotland during the 6 Nations. Very consistent and an excellent goal kicker as back-up should Sexton have an off-day.  I haven't gone with Phillips because despite what he brings to the game I get so frustrated with his link play with the backs.  Alot of the time he arrives too slowly to the breakdown and also can take an age to pass the ball out.  A traditional scrum-half like Laidlaw will keep the game flowing at a good pace and I think that's the way to beat Australia. 

8. Heaslip.  Not his best 6 Nations.  I think the burden of Ireland captaincy affected his play.  I would still pick him as I expect him to recover form and he has that crucial experience as well.  Toby Faletau is slightly unlucky to miss out.

7. Robshaw. He would be my Captain.  I was initially thinking of BOD for the role but I feel the Captain needs to play the whole game and Brian probably won't last the full 80. The end of the 6 Nations saw Justin Tipruic have a stormer against England. That's done enough for Justin to get in the squad for sure.  And Warburton?  Similar in many ways to George North as regards over-hyping.  Will make the squad but I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't make the Lions Test match day 22 squad.
Chris Robshaw has shown with the England captaincy that he can still play his best rugby despite the added responsibility. 

6. Sean O'Brien.  I've gone for the ball carrying impact of O'Brien over someone such as Dan Lydiate, who is more of a defensive specialist. 

5. Geoff Parling.  The second row is a highly competitive position and you could make a case for virtually all the starting locks of the Home Nations, plus choices such as Nathan Hines and Paul O'Connell.  Parling gets my nod because he quietly goes about doing his job to a high standard.  He'll be the backbone that the Lions pack is built on. 

4. Alun Wyn Jones. A true leader and rugby warrior.  Some people think he may get the nod for Lion's captain.  I'm not so sure, though in my eyes he's a cert to start the Test.

3. Adam Jones.  Say no more.

2. Rory Best.  Hard to ignore the great 6 Nations that Richard Hibberd had, although I'm sticking with Best.

1. Cian Healy. Good scrummager. Dynamic in the loose. A key ball carrier for the Lions. 

More

Its been a while since my last blog. Laziness mainly. But with the arrival of my iPhone a couple of months ago I have taken to posting more comments on Twitter - http://twitter.com/parsley76

So I think the days of a match report for every game I watch are long gone. I'll definitely do reports for every game I go to watch live. Looking ahead to November I've got tickets for the Wales v New Zealand game. Always a great day out. And I've already booked my away trip with Edwards Coaches for the France v Wales game in next years 6 Nations. Just need to secure some tickets.

On the 9th October there were three live Heineken Cup games featuring Welsh sides. I took a break from watching rugby all day and gave the Scarlets v Perpignan game a miss. Sods law, it turned out to be the best game of the three, and probably the 1st round. And Rhys Preistland scored an early contender for try of the season.

Rhys Priestland Incredible Try - Scarlets v Perpignan - HEC Rugby - 09-10 10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eYPkVjs9oU

Blues 18-17 Edinburgh. 9 October 2010

Toulon 19-14 Ospreys. 9 October 2010

Northampton 18-14 Castres. 8 October 2010

Scarlets 18-21 Ospreys 2 October 2010

Bath 3-18 Gloucester. 1 October 2010

Blues 22-6 Connacht. 30 Sept. 2010

Dragons 23-11 Glasgow. 12 Sept. 2010

Ospreys 32-16 Treviso. 10 Sept. 2010

Northampton 27-19 Leicester. 5 Sept. 2010

Ulster 27-26 Ospreys. 3 Sept. 2010

South Africa 22-29 New Zealand. 21 August 2010
Attendance: 94,713

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Tri_Nations_Series

New Zealand 20-10 Australia. 7 August 2010

New Zealand 29-10 Wales. 26 June 2010

Jame Roberts scores Wales first try against New Zealand since 2006.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/welsh/8760225.stm

New Zealand 42-9 Wales. 19 June 2010

New Zealand 66-28 Ireland. 12 June 2010

Wales 31-34 South Africa. 5 June 2010

England 35-26 Barbarians. 30 May 2010

http://www.skysports.com/rugbyunion/match_report/0,20244,11069_40424_1,00.html

Leinster 12-17 Ospreys. 29 May 2010

The Magners League Final. This game clashed with me going to see Reginald D Hunter at the St. Davids Hall in Cardiff. I did manage to catch the first 60 minutes of the game at a nearby pub and saw most of the important action. Great win for Ospreys.

Blues 28-21 Toulon. 23 May 2010

Cardiff Blues win the Amlin Challenge Cup. Awesome

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/welsh/8685409.stm

Biarritz 19-21 Toulouse. 22 May 2010

Leinster 16-6 Munster. 15 May 2010

Ospreys 20-5 Glasgow. 14 May 2010

Blues 13-12 Munster. 9 May 2010

Ospreys 42-10 Dragons. 7 May 2010

Biarritz 18-7 Munster. 2 May 2010

Wasps 15-18 Blues. 1 May 2010

Toulouse 26-16 Leinster. 1 May 2010

Munster 11-15 Ospreys. 24 April 2010

Dragons 14-20 Blues. 23 April 2010

Dragons 49-28 Edinburgh. 18 April 2010

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/welsh/8615005.stm

Scarlets 16-39 Blues. 17 April 2010

Leinster 20-16 Ospreys. 16 April 2010

Biarritz 29-28 Ospreys. 10 April 2010

Leinster 29-28 Clermont Auvergne. 9 April 2010.

More games I've seen...

Gloucester 29-28 Saracens. 3 April 2010

Ospreys 27-19 Scarlets. 2 April 2010

Dragons 28-20 Ospreys. 27 March 2010

France 12-10 England. 20 March 2010

Wales 33-10 Itlay. 20 March 2010

Scotland 15-15 England. 13 March 2010

Ireland 27-12 Wales. 13 March 2010

Blues 20-29 Leinster. 7 March 2010

Dragons 31-22 Munster. 6 March 2010

England 16-20 Ireland. 27 Feb. 2010

Italy 16-12 Scotland. 27 Feb. 2010

Wales 20-26 France. 26 Feb. 2010.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/8536807.stm

Ospreys 19-17 Connacht. 21 Feb. 2010

Italy 12-17 England. 14 Feb. 2010

Wales 31-24 Scotland. 13 February 2010.

This game will go down as one of the great Welsh comebacks of all time. And luckily as I was there, sitting at the end all five tries were scored - amazing.

The day started off well. We've ditched going to Servinis to breakfast and found a better place in Canton called Saffron Cafe. Servinis was always a bit pricey and the place too cramped. Saffron is just brilliant, £4.40 for a big breakfast with tea, and the food is perfectly cooked. The cafe is spacious and clean and the staff are friendly, well worth a trek to Canton for this excellent breakfast. But don't just take my word for it, check out this review:

http://www.qype.co.uk/place/342472-Saffron-Cardiff

As for the game, I'll leave it to the BBC match report to do it justice.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/8508259.stm

My man of the match: Shane. A second half performance that was World Class.

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

Heineken Cup rounds 3 & 4

Perpginan 14-37 Munster. 20 Dec. 2009

Toulouse 23-7 Blues. 19 Dec. 2009

Biarritz 49-13 Dragons. 13 Dec. 2009

Clermont Auvergne 40-30 Leicester. 13 Dec. 2009

Blues 15-9 Toulouse. 12 Dec. 2009

Went to watch game. It was a nice dry day and I was bit surprised at the poor turn out of 10,500. This was the second time the Blues have beaten Toulouse in Cardiff this year. Both games have featured no tries. The quality of rugby on display was poor from both sides. Sam Norton-Knight at ten kicked alot of ball away and the Blues never really got any cohesion into their game. Luckily Toulouse were in no mood to play an expansive game and the match turned into a defensive tussle. The Blues won because they were the least worst team - it was that bad.

Munster 24-23 Perpignan. 11 Dec. 2009

Solo try of the year?

Burger's supreme effort for Perpignan against Munster on 11 December was pretty cool. Watching the game live on TV he showed an amazing turn of speed and then found an extra gear to burn past the covering defenders. That's probably my favourite solo try of the year, although Spies has scored some great ones too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAHIFkeQt0E

Originally posted at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A60770991

Some games...

Dragons 30-14 Leinster. 6 Dec. 2009
A really good Dragons team performance, albeit against a Leinster 2nd string.


Ospreys 19-14 Munster. 5 Dec. 2009


Barbarians 25-18 New Zealand. 5 Dec. 2009
The Baa Baas first win over the All Blacks since That Game in 1973. Bryan Habana showed his class with a hatrick of tries.

Scarlets 16-17 Edinburgh. 4 Dec. 2009


Wales 12-33 Australia. 28 Nov. 2009
A poor game for Wales. The game kicked off and it was down hill all the way for the home side. Wales lost three players in the first half to injury, both wingers and Matthew Rees. Australia were dominant throughout and played some quality rugby.

Blues 3-31 Australia. 24. Nov. 2009

Wales 33-16 Argentina. 21 Nov. 2009

Went down to watch game, this time with tickets already bought for the upper tier. After the usual breakfast at Servinis we headed to The Vulcan. It was five to eleven and there were about ten people already outside waiting for the pub to open. On the way back to the centre we found another decent pub called the Tavern. Met up with Neil, Andy and his Dad and had a few drinks. It was an early kick off so we headed into the stadium 45 minutes before kick off. The roof was on and a new pitch had been laid for the game, apparently the 25th time in ten years. I was disappointed with the turn out, about 53,000, but on the upside there were no queues at the bars.

The first half was a fairly scrappy affair. Argentina showed little attacking intent and the first try was a quick bit of thinking from Stephen Jones. Wales were awarded a penalty and the Pumas assumed Wales would kick for goal. As the Argentinian players walked back to their line, Jones took a quick tap and sprinted over in the corner.

The second half got off to the best possible start. Shane Williams latched onto a charged down kick in the Pumas half and side-stepped his way over the line. From that moment on Wales were in full control of the game., although they didn't really find any real cohesion. They needed to go through the phases more. A surpise try from the Pumas after a failed clearance from Jonathan Davies briefly changed the momentum of the match.

The stage was then set for Shane to produce the moment of the match and score his 50th international try (48 for Wales, 2 for the Lions). He scooped up a loose kick from Argentina on the half way line and looked up to see a lot of space on his left hand side. After easily beating the first up tacklers he coasted in past the covering full back. From my upper tier vantage point Shane made it look like a simple try, that is the class of the man.

Not the best of games but a win, and some quality individual play.

My man of the match: Shane

More rugby

Worcester 12-12 Bath. 19 Nov. 2009

Just when you thought you'd see any open running game in the Premiership then this game comes along. Both teams initial thought was to kick the ball at every opportunity. One of the dullest games I've seen all year.

Ireland 20-20 Australia. 15 Nov. 2009

Ireland were slow in patches and their forwards took a long time to get going. Australia played an all round good game with Rocky Elsom in solid form as usual. The home side didn't really look like winning but they scrambled a draw at the end with a typical BOD burst in midfield.

England 16-9 Argentina. 14 Nov. 2009

How poor were England? Unbelievable! Every area of thier game was shockingly poor. It was a like watching a bunch of robots. No flair, terrible individual errors and little passion. Only Lewis Moody, the human dynamo, can take any credit from the match. Argentina brought a limited game play and England brought their worst performance for many a year. Winning the match was England's only saving grace.


Wales 17-13 Samoa. 13 Nov. 2009

A frustrating game for Wales as they created a number of chances but failed to score more than one try. James Hook was in good counter-attacking form and Halfpenny scored a neat try from a Biggar cross field kick. Samoa certainly tackled well and there were some crunching hits. The win was put in doubt when the visitors scored an interception try. Wales were hanging on in the last ten minutes. A disappointing game.

Harlequins 15-15 Scarlets. 8 Nov. 2009

Dragons 20-9 Sale. 6 Nov. 2009


Well done Dragons. A good old fashioned team performance from a team with no big names. Their commitment to the cause was on display for all to see and they ran out deserved winners against an experienced Sale outfit.

Leinster 23-6 Blues31 Oct. 2009

Wales 12-19 New Zealand. 7 Nov. 2009

The day started off well. We went to check out the Vulcan pub to see if it was still there. Thankfully one of Cardiff's oldest pubs will not be demolished to make way for a car park . We went down without tickets and the touts we trying to offload their tickets for one hundred quid. Much too much. On the way to the Cayo Arms this guy asked for directions to the Mocyhn Du pub. We showed him the way and he mentioned his sister had one spare. No good to us, we needed two. The Cayo Arms was jam packed and after a quick pint headed upto Canton for a drink in the Canton Hotel. On the way back into the city centre we popped into the Mocyhn Du and the guy we meet before spotted me and told me he had two spare tickets now, sitting together. What great luck. We purchased the tickets for the cost price of fifty five quid. They were lower tier tickets behind the posts. Not the best seat in the house but better than nothing.

The National Anthem was particularly powerful before the match. During the Haka the crowd chanted "Wales, Wales" and drowned out the All Black noises. And so to the match. The first half was a good old fashion arm wrestle and neither side really dominated. Dan Carter certainly tested Wales' back three but James Hook was equal to the test at full back. Both defences cancelled each other out and the Wales set piece seemed to be doing okay. Going into the second half it was 6-6. The third quarter of the game the All Blacks upped their intensity and from what looked like a fairly conservative move they scored in the corner through their hooker after some decent phase play. With 15 minutes to go the score was 9-19 and Wales managed to finally get some fruitful possession. Shane Williams made a telling break and off loaded to Martin Roberts who was entering the All Black 22 at pace, only for Carter to come out of nowhere with a move stopping tackle. The replay show a high tackle but the ref didn't spot it, and to be fair to the ref I don't think it was too apparent when it happened. Wales clawed back three points and with time running out a draw was the best possible result. Then out of nowhere Alun Wyn-Jones intercepted a pass deep in Wales' half and galloped towards the New Zealand try line. He was actually running directly towards the posts that we were behind. For him it must have seemed like a really long sprint but for us it was all over in a few seconds. And the briefest hopes of Wales' fans were dashed when the move broke down. It was almost a very exciting finish to a fairly average game.

New Zealand deserved to win, but I don't think either side played anywhere near their potential and in that respect it was a disappointing game.

7 matches in October

Blues 20-12 Ospreys. 24 Oct. 2009
After the two previous games with no tries this was a welcome fairly open game. The home side pack were too good for a below strength Ospreys team.

London Irish 18-12 Leicester. 24 Oct. 2009
No tries. Little excitement. Lewis Moody confortably won his battle against Stefan Armitage.

Scarlets 18-3 Dragons. 23 Oct. 2009
Rainy conditions. Lots of errors. No tries. Little to remember.

Ospreys 25-24 Clermont Auvergne. 18 Oct. 2009
Ospreys were classy in the first half then nearly let it slip in the second. Thankfully they held on for a vital win.

Harlequins 19-23 Toulouse. 17 Oct. 2009
A second half comeback from a spirited Toulouse side bodes well for their chances in this year's Heineken Cup.

Toulon 31-23 Saracens. 15 Oct. 2009
Jonny Wilkinson was in a good form.

Leicester 32-32 Ospreys. 11 Oct. 2009
In which the Ospreys built up a big 18 point lead only for the Tigers to stage a remarkable comeback. Leicester centre Billy Twelvetrees announced himself on the National stage with a man of the match performance and instantly became a cult hero. With a name like that what else do you expect? Top notch entertainment. For Ospreys fans it was painful viewing in the second half and you could argue they were lucky to come away with a draw.

Blues 20-6 Harlequins. 10th Oct. 2009

Went down to watch this game. As usual the day started with a hearty breakfast at Servinis. This was my first visit to the new Cardiff City Stadium in Leckwith. It was an early kick off so we headed straight for the pubs in Canton before heading to the stadium. It's only a ten minute walk from Cardiff Castle to Canton and then another ten minutes from Canton to the stadium, which is not as long as I thought it would be.

It was a bright sunny day and at kick off I was disappointed with the attendence; only 11,000. The first half was not full of high quality rugby. From a Blues perspective it wil be remembered for one thing, the injuries. Four Cardiff players went off injured, Bradley Davies, Gareth Thomas, John Yapp and most worryingly captain Paul Tito. After the break the Blues scored the first try with some tidy counter attack play that saw Leigh Halfpenny cross the line. Harlequins then started to dominate large parts of the second half. They were without their England stars Easter, Monye and Care but still caused the home side alot of problems. The balance of the game looked to have switched to Quins in the last ten minutes as they put heavy pressure on the Blues line. A certain try was on, only for Quins full back Mike Brown to knock-on yards from the line. This turned out to be the truning point of the game and the Blues pushed on to grab another try after Deniol Jones' kick forward was chased and converted by a sharp Halfpenny.
It was an average game that could have gone either way.

My man of the match. Halfpenny

Leinster 9-12 London Irish. 9th Oct. 2009

Ospreys 31-10 Edinburgh. 4th Oct. 2009

Super round-up

The end of last season the games came thick and fast and as a result I lost interest in keeping up with this blog.

I watched all the Lions tour to South Africa except the Cheetahs match on 6 June as I was in France and couldn't find anywhere showing it. There is alot to remember about the tour but if I had to pick out one memory it would be this: the turning point of the 3 match series. Early in the second half of the 2nd test, both props, Gethin Jenkins and Adam Jones were injured in the same passage of play and had to leave the field. This meant uncontested scrums for the rest of the match, and the Lions dominance from the first half was gone, and they never recovered.

A welcome consolation win in the third test restored alot of pride.

30 May:
Royal XV 25-37 Lions

3 June:
Golden Lions 10-74 Lions

6 June:
Cheetahs 24-26 Lions

10 June:
Sharks 3-39 Lions

13 June:
Western Province 23-26 Lions

16 June:
Southern Kings 8-20 Lions

20 June:
South Africa 26-21 Lions(first Test)

23 June:
Emerging Springboks 13-13 Lions

27 June:
South Africa 28-25 Lions (second Test)

4 July:
South Africa 9-28 Lions(third Test)

After the Lions I watched a couple of the Tri Nations games; South Africa wins again. And watched my first domestic game of the season the other night, the Blues grinding out thier first home win at thier new stadium against the Scarlets.

Blues 19-15 Scarlets. 26 Sep. 2009

Didn't think much of the new fly half Norton-Knight. Rush and Tito, powerful games.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/welsh/8266267.stm

More round up

Northampton 15-3 Bourgoin. 22 May 2009

Challenge Cup Final. A game full of good rugby that will be remembered for a couple of incidents that resulted in yellow cards. As the Saints asserted their dominance the French team resorted to bully boy tactics and frankly got dirty play. I was impressed with Saints hooker Dylan Hartley during this game. One of the best hooker displays I've seen for a long time.



Bulls 36-23 Crusaders. 23 May 2009

Super 14 Semi Final. A pulsating contest with the Bulls playing some superb rugby. Outside half Morne Steyn kicked 21 points, including 4 impressive drop kicks. The highlight of the match and one of the moments of the season was Spies' try. He found himself with the ball in his own half and the number showed incredible athleticism and pace to out-sprint the Crusaders backs to score under the posts. One of the best tries you'll ever see from a forward.

Leicester 16-19 Leinster. 23 May 2009. Heineken Cup Final

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Heineken_Cup_Final

Canada 23-32 Wales. 30 May 2009

http://www.setanta.com/UK/Articles/other-sports/2009/05/30/Rugby-Canda-v-Wales-report/gnid-55111/

Cardiff Blues 26-26 Leicester (aet). 3 May 2009

Went down to watch the Heineken Cup semi final at the Millenium stadium. It was a Sunday and Cardiff was not as busy. There is definitely a better atmosphere on a Saturday in the city. Cardiff Rugby club was virtually empty three hours before kick-off.

The first half was fairly evenly contested until Leicester wing Hamilton touched down after a telling break from Flood. This first try increased Leicester's confidence and they continued to dominate the possession well into the second half. A second try early in the after the break saw the Leciester take their lead to 26-12. With only twenty minutes it was getting pretty grim for the Blues. They weren't played bad but they couldn't quite get the better of Leicester's excellent defence. At fourteen points down and in the 74th minute the Blues had a line out in Leicester's half. This was to be the start of an incredible 6 minutes of rugby from the home side. Clean line out ball was secure and I watched the Blues backline go through a planned move. My eye was drawn to the arcing run that Jamie Roberts was making. Shanklin, the outside centre came in as decoy runner and Roberts drifted outside to latch on to a great pass from Nicky Robinson. Roberts then burst through the midfield defence and sprinted towards Leicester's twenty two. The Leicester fullback wasn't near him and Roberts had enough pace to cross the line for an excellent team try. It was great watching it from my position in the stand. Ben Blair converted a difficult kicked.

Leicester restarted and the Blues received the ball in their own twenty two. What followed turned out to be one of the tries of the season. The ball found it's way to Jamie Roberts and he made the telling break through the midfield defence again. He got his way to the half line and passed to Tom James on the wing who put the burners on and sprinted towards the line. In a classic bit of wing play he went round the covering defender and had enough gas to score in the corner. The stadium erupted, was this to be an amazing comeback? Ben Blair kicked another superb conversion to level the scores and the final whistle came too soon for Cardiff.

Twenty minutes of extra time, ten minutes each way, turned out to be a tense affair. No side really managed to create any clear chances. There was one heart stopping moment in the first period when a long range drop kick from Leicester nearly went over. Extra time yielded no further points and the game went into an historic penalty shoot out. Five kicks at goal from the 22 metre line in front of the posts. After 5 kicks it was 4 all and it went into a sudden death scenario. Martyn Williams missed a kick and it was left to Jordan Crane to slot one over to claim the win for Leicester. Incredible drama. Anyone who went to the game will never forgot those last 8 minutes in the game when Cardiff scored two tries.

On balance of play Leicester probably deserved the win but what a cruel way to lose.

My man of the match: Jamie Roberts.