There Is A New Boy In Town - Aviva Premiership Round 7 Preview

Whilst the England Squad takes on the Wallabies there is a huge job to be done in the Aviva Premiership as Round 7 arrives in town! The other big arrival this week was Mr James O'Connor who has been given a lifeline by fellow Australian Brian Smith to play some rugby at London Irish until the end of the season. The well-known Wallaby is likely to be thrown straight in at the deep end this weekend against Northampton Saints and it is a good job that BT Sport already had that fixture on their scheduling list! 

The action in Round 6 was as compelling as ever and there is no chance that the Aviva Premiership will be eclipsed by the internationals... the powers that be have shifted the kick off times on Saturday to ensure they we can enjoy every single minute of rugby and personally I would like to say a big thank you for that! The table itself certainly makes for interesting reading and with the game at Twickenham taking away a number of key players there is the potential for a couple of upsets! So let's have a little look, fixture by fixture at what Round 7 of the fabulous Aviva Premiership has in store for us;

Aviva Premiership continues to produce outstanding rugby

This week there are two sets of Friday Night Lights one at the AJ Bell Stadium where Sale host the Exeter Chiefs and the other at Sixways where Worcester entertain Bath. Sale Sharks are the more likely of the two to record a home win… however the team of the moment the Exeter Chiefs will fancy their chances against absolutely anyone at the moment, and rightly so given their outstanding form. The Chiefs are proving that you do not need superstars to shine instead simply combine talent all over the pitch with a huge work ethic and will to win and you have yourself the formula to be a force to be reckoned with. Keep your eyes on Dean Mumm and Ben White – both of whom have try scoring records that their wingers would be proud of and clearly the usual suspects Phil Dollman, Dave Ewers and co will all put in big performances. For Sale, well the will want to step it up a gear or two after their away trip to The Stoop in which they never really got going. Back under the bright lights of the AJ Bell Dan Baird will need to rally his troops to ensure their defence is spot on as Exeter will exploit any gap, however small or large, with ease and Danny Cipriani will need to bring some of that X Factor that we all know that he has onto the pitch to give them a chance of turning over the Chiefs.

Big home test for Sale (Image Peter Curtis-Brown)

Across at Sixways I think that we all hope for the sake of Dean Ryan and his players that they are not too comprehensively beaten by a Bath team that is proving to have more than just ‘youth exuberance’. It is never nice to see a team lose week in, week out however you suspect that this Friday Night will not be the time for the Warriors to record their first win since March 2013. Bath will simply be looking for more of the same, last Friday night against Gloucester their forwards were huge, out muscling Gloucester at the breakdown and in the set piece and hopefully if it is a dry night their backs will be able to show what they can do. We’ve yet to see the best from the likes of Anthony Watson and Jonathon Joseph and I think even the Bath try scoring machine Semesa Rokoduguni has a lot more to give, so the overall message is watch out Worcester the Black, White and Blue men are coming!!

More to come from JJ (Image Patrick Khachfe/Onside Image)

As I mentioned before on Saturday we start our Aviva Premiership fixtures a little later in the day than normal, at 5pm and the first stop is Kingsholm where Gloucester entertain London Wasps. This will be a fascinating fixture, Gloucester will hurting after losing the West Country Derby last weekend whereas London Wasps will be on a high following their quite comprehensive win over Leicester Tigers at Adams Park. I suspect that Gloucester’s training week will be heavily focused on scrummaging as we all saw last Friday night that without a strong scrum you don’t have the platform to work off and points are difficult to come by as a result. Wasps will be buzzing (it really did have to be done, sorry!!) after their win over the Tigers, their forwards were strong for the full 80 however the star of the show was Mr Andy Goode, who had a majestic day with the boot in difficult conditions. It will be fascinating to watch his match up against Freddie Burns who also was the shining light for his team last weekend.  The Shed will be expecting something big from the Cherry and Whites and Wasps will be looking to deliver yet another upset… get ready for a cracker at Kingsholm. 

Andy Goode will be critical again this weekend (Image London Wasps)

The next stop is Welford Road where the Leicester Tigers host Harlequins, two champions who are both not quite on top of their game at the moment. Leicester were disappointing against Bath and surprisingly Cockers (who is now back in match day action) was quite matter of fact about it and didn’t scream or shout!!! Harlequins, well their start of the season problems have been well documented, an ever growing injury list and a little lack of belief has resulted in their lowest table position for a long time. This match will be an interesting one, and could be one of the ‘shocks’ of the weekend as Leicester didn’t look too cohesive last weekend. The amount of changes that the Tigers have had to make due to international call ups and injuries has forced new partnerships all over the field and the question is can they gel within a week? Harlequins will know this is a big opportunity for them, the chance to beat Leicester Tigers at Welford Road doesn’t come around too often and their youngsters will need to step up again in order to pull off the win and continue moving up the table.  

The main man is back but I suspect that the masks will stay! (Image @LeicesterTigers)

On Sunday London Irish host the Northampton Saints at the Madjeski and Saracens welcome the Newcastle Falcons to Allianz Park. Clearly the arrival of James O’Connor at Sunbury has been a huge talking point and it will be superb to see him run out on Sunday. Ignoring all of his off the field problems there is absolutely no doubt that James O’Connor is an extremely talented rugby player and he will be a huge, huge asset to London Irish this season. As a squad the men in green need to bounce back from a difficult game up at Kingston Park and front up against the mighty Northampton Saints. Their visitors, well last weekend they showed everyone just how powerful they are and how much they mean business this year. Having the strength to beat Saracens by 1 point is a big achievement, but beating them by 21 is absolutely monstrous. It was the collective effort of the whole Saints squad that combined together for the full 80 minutes to steamroller the best team in the league to date and I’ve no doubt that they will want to build upon that performance this weekend in  Reading. 

Welcome to London Irish (Image @LiRFC)

The final game of the weekend is back at Allianz Park and as I have just mentioned Saracens had a tough old time last weekend, conceding more points than they have done at any stage in the last four seasons and this will still be causing them a lot of pain. It was the manner in which they lost the match that was the most shocking factor, overpowered up front and exploited defensively for the full 80 minutes… that is certainly not something that you would expect from the wolfpack. However let’s not get too carried away as Saracens are a mighty and proud team and I have no doubt that they will bounce back with a bang at home this weekend. The Newcastle Falcons will be pleased with their last gasp victory against London Irish, a win is a win at the end of the day however it comes about and they will be looking for any opportunity to try to distance themselves from Worcester. My personal view is that they may be more than a little overpowered this weekend on the artificial surface and will struggle to match the angry Saracens XV. 

Allianz Park welcomes back Premiership Rugby

If you have friends, other halves, spouses or partners who are not into rugby then I suggest that you say goodbye to them on Friday night and meet up with them again on Sunday evening because this weekend absolutely nothing else matters. With 1 QBE International and 6 Aviva Premiership matches there are 560 minutes of rugby to enjoy and I for one will be watching as much as I possibly can!!! I suggest that you clear your diaries, start your countdown now and get ready for a colossal weekend of rugby. 

England vs. Australia – The Build Up Begins

The QBE Internationals, the time of the year when the elite of English rugby take to the field in the finest stadium in the world (yes I am biased) and battle it out against the best teams in the world. There isn’t anything quite like it and with just a few days to go before the first of the 2013 QBE International fixtures it is time to get serious and have a little look at England and their first opponents the Wallabies. 

Nothing quite comes close to an international weekend at Twickenham, the otherwise quiet and unassuming London suburb comes alive with the sights and smells of English Rugby, The Cabbage Patch fills with supporters and for 12 hours absolutely nothing else matters other than the rugby. This autumn England face a huge test of character hosting Australia, Argentina and New Zealand and the pressure is on with just two years before the home Rugby World Cup. England really need to stand up and be counted for now because we all know that 2 years is just a blink of an eye in rugby terms and what happens on the pitch this autumn will have a significant psychological impact leading into 2015. 

Before I dive straight into the England squad let’s take a little look at our first visitors; the Wallabies. Australia have been through a tough time recently and often during the press conferences after the games James Horwill looked like he was a man on death row and why? Well, since the start of the 2013 Rugby Championship his team have conceded 217 points and lost 5 out of their 7 games. However their most recent performances against Argentina and the All Blacks were significantly better but it is fair to say that Ewen McKenzie would have expected more from his talented squad. The prospect of turning over England in their own backyard is one that will certainly bring out the best of Australia and Stuart Lancaster’s squad will not be underestimating the Wallabies. Quade Cooper has sorted his head out and is back to his best… Will Genia is as dangerous as ever and as for Israel Folau, well he is simply an outrageously talented rugby player. Up front they have some ammunition too with the likes of James Slipper and Stephen Moore and I’m certain that they are going to bring their A Game this weekend.

As Lawrence Dallalgio rightly pointed out our England team need to build on their win against the All Blacks in 2012... that performance has to be the benchmark and the minimum standard for any game that this squad partakes in between now and the 2015 Rugby World Cup Final (an optimistic view from myself there)! They must also build upon their individual experiences from the 2013 Lions Tour, having had players and coaches out in Australia it is vital that the lessons learned are transferred and built upon here.

So what weapons do we have in our armoury to ensure that the Wallabies leave with their tails between their legs? Well clearly it all depends on Stuart’s match day selection but if we look at the likely staring 15 we certainly have a lot going for ourselves. 

In the backs you suspect that Marland Yarde will be tearing it up down the wing alongside the rejuvenated Chris Ashton. Marland has a little more in defence than Chris however both are born try scorers who create possibilities out of nothing and have first class finishing skills. At the back we are likely to be in the safe hands of Mike Brown who brings with him a steely competitive edge and a never say die attitude. Personally I'd be perfectly happy with Ben Foden there too, he is back to his very best form and there is hardly anything to choose between the two of them. Now, a lot has been discussed regarding the centre partnership and personally I wouldn’t put my mortgage on getting the selection right, so all that I will say is that that our two centres have huge shoes to fill and will need to be prolific in order to give our XV the impetus to seize the victory. Owen Farrell’s 10 shirt is ready and waiting however his half back partner is slightly less certain, Ben Youngs and Lee Dickson are the front runners… both are play makers with huge work-rates and both will do the job well. Personally I would like to see Lee Dickson handed the starting shirt given his blistering start to the season but we will wait and see! 

Owen's boot will be critical this Autumn

Clearly the injury to Alex Corbisiero is a big blow, his scrummaging proficiency and all around game is unrivaled and we all wish him a speedy recovery. Given Corbs’ knee problem we are likely to see a double Vunipola representation with Mako wearing the 1 shirt and Billy wearing 8. Both are huge men, both are in the form of their lives and both are very, very hungry to put in huge performances for their country. You would assume that Tom Youngs will orchestrate things from hooker supported by his Leicester team-mate Dan Cole and then selection gets ‘tasty’ again with Courtney Lawes and Geoff Parling the likely lock pairing to be joined by Chris Robshaw, Tom Wood at 6 and 7 respectively. 

On paper England have a strong XV and a bench that has a lot of power, the question on everyone’s lips is will this England squad buil on where they left off against New Zealand or will they stutter and falter against an angry Australian XV!? It is fair to say that it is crunch time for Stuart Lancaster and our England squad, it goes without saying that a huge start to the game is critical and that a comprehensive win over the Wallabies is the desired outcome. We will have to wait a few more days to see if this happens or not, so for now let’s enjoy the anticipation and build up because the international season is a special time, it only happens once a year and it is something that should be savoured. 

International Season, Hurricanes and More - Aviva Premiership Round 6 Review

Rounds 6 and 7 of the Aviva Premiership are what you would call ‘International Season’; the time of the year when the stars of the ‘big’ teams head off to do their bit for their countries and some of the ‘smaller’ ones lick their lips in glee. They say that there is no place like home and after the bright lights of Europe it was great to get back to some domestic action and what better way to start it than with one of the oldest derby fixtures. Europe provided some of our Aviva Premiership teams with renewed confidence and energy after enjoying some huge wins whilst for others it simply added to their heartache and problems. It was always going to be a big, big round for all concerned and it certainly didn’t disappoint... so without further introduction let's have a look at what happened in Round 6 of the Aviva Premiership; 

Friday Night Lights were reserved for The Rec and Bath versus Gloucester, these two giants have been playing each other since 1882 and there is absolutely no love lost between them at all. Whilst Bath have enjoyed a strong start to the season, Gloucester still haven’t recovered from that shocking home loss to Newcastle Falcons in Round 1. However a Derby Day and especially one of the West Country variety often completely ignores the ‘form book’ and provides a thriller regardless of table positions. With the likes of Anthony Watson, Semesa Rokoduguni, James Simpson-Daniel and Jonny May on the same pitch, we all fancied a dry night in which they could let loose and play some high tempo rugby… instead we were treated to torrential rain and a West Country mud bath.  The 15-13 score line suggests that it was a tight game, in fact Bath had the measure of Gloucester throughout, despite an iffy night with the boot for George Ford. Released from England duty, Freddie Burns scored all 13 of Gloucester’s points and was the shining light in an average team that gave away 21 penalties in total. Clearly Nigel Davies’ interesting selection policy for their final Heineken Cup fixture did not pay off and he will be looking for an improvement, certainly up front, against Wasps next weekend. Bath will be boosted by the win and the way in which they dominated, Garvey, Louw and Fearns were outstanding and I doubt that a trip to Sixways next weekend will faze them too much!! 

Northampton Saints versus Saracens, the big game of the weekend and with the names on the starting team sheets you always knew that it would be a thunderous affair at Franklin’s Gardens. I think that it is fair to say that not even the most optimistic of Northampton Saints’ fans, would have predicted a 6 try bonus point win!!! Saracens were un-characteristically sloppy in defence, their set piece didn’t fire on all four cylinders and their wolfpack mentality was sadly missing. Individually and collectively Northampton were outstanding; Fotuali’i showed his full repertoire, Manoa was huge, Luther Burrell waved at Stuart Lancaster and Ben Foden almost certainly played his way onto the bench for next weekend’s England game. All is not lost for Saracens; you only have to look at the way in which their players reacted after the game to know that they will be back with a huge response next weekend. They are a proud team who hate to lose by 1 point let alone 21 and you can almost put your mortgage on the fact that they will steamroller Newcastle Falcons next weekend at Allianz Park.

 

Samu Manoa was simply outstanding (Image @SaintsRugby)

Historically at this point in the season Harlequins would be flying high in the upper echelons of the Premiership table… however with four losses on the bounce and one of the longest injury lists in the Aviva Premiership things were not looking too rosy for Conor O’Shea’s team going into Saturday’s fixture. On the other hand the Sale Sharks have enjoyed a solid start to their 2013/14 season, their key men are now sparkling and under the leadership of Dan Braid things are slotting into place nicely. Taking all of these factors into account you had to wonder whether another upset was on the cards at The Stoop!? Sadly for Sale fans it was not to be as Harlequins produced a solid performance and restored some pride recording a 24-3 win. It was not a beautiful game of rugby to watch and Sale could have made the final score much more respectable score had they been more clinical and finished off their opportunities. The oldest man on the pitch and Harlequins captain Nick Easter led by example and rallied his troops to victory with their young guns, Jack Clifford and Luke Wallace putting in huge performances on the day. Quins will head to Welford Road with a little more spring in their step however I suspect that they will be in for a difficult time and as for Sale, well they will be hosting the Aviva Premiership team of the moment the Exeter Chiefs on Friday night… good luck with that one!

 

Wallace is a huge talent at Quins

So, moving straight onto the Chiefs, they showed absolutely no signs of a ‘European hangover’ despite that extremely disappointing loss last weekend to Glasgow Warriors. We always knew that they were going to be far, far too much for the struggling Worcester Warriors and the term ‘cricket score’ sprung to mind if the Chiefs played to their full potential. The final result was 40-6, and I’ll let you decide whether you think that is a cricket score or not!!? To be fair to the Warriors their heads didn’t drop until the 70 minute mark which isn’t bad considering that they were outplayed in most, if not all areas of the pitch. At the heart and soul of the ‘Tomahawk massive’ was their captain Dean Mumm who scored this 5th try in 8 games, not a bad radio for a lock!! Tom Johnson and Dave Ewers were two men who had points to prove to Stuart Lancaster and both did so in emphatic style and Steenson continued to slot kicks for fun, retaining his excellent goal kicking stats. Worcester still haven’t recorded a win in the Aviva Premiership and sadly for Dean Ryan and the players things are looking bleaker as the weeks go on. There is no doubt that the squad are putting their hearts and souls into their matches, however as an outsider looking in, it is difficult to see where the big turnaround is going to come from and the word ‘relegation’ is certainly one that you would associate with the Warriors at this stage.  

Dean Mumm's Try Celebrations (Image @ppauk)

Sadly for Richard Cockerill his team did not provide him with the ‘welcome back win’ that he would have liked… the fact that it was a loss to Wasps, one of their oldest and fiercest rivals, will make it hurt even more! Leicester were surprisingly quiet, despite losing 7 players to England duty and having an injury list that rivals Harlequins, you always assume that the Tigers will pull it out of the bag and this time they couldn't. London Wasps, like Bath, were extremely strong up front for the full 80 minutes and never really looked like losing the game. The man of the match Andy Goode had a superb game in extremely difficult conditions, slotting drop goals and penalties galore and having a great time doing it! On an individual basis for Leicester I’m sure that Owen Williams would have liked his first start to have gone a little better and David Mélé seemed to be a tad frustrated at times during the match! It will be a big training week for both teams as Leicester head back to Welford Road to host Harlequins and Wasps get ready to feel the force of The Shed at Kingsholm next weekend.

Andy Goode lead Wasps to victory

The last match of the weekend was up at Kingston Park for Newcastle Falcons against London Irish. Both teams will have fancied this as a fixture that they wanted to win and true to form it was a tense and tight game throughout. As ever at Kingston Park the weather was not exactly tropical and with the ‘winter hurricane’ on its way it was no surprise that things were a little challenging for kickers Rory Clegg, Ian Humphreys and Shane Geraghty. On paper and given their European form you suspected that London Irish would sneak an away win however sometimes the elements and luck goes against you. Irish's last minute penalty slipped under the cross bar and that caused euphoria for Newcastle and a very long and unhappy trip back to London for Irish. However with the potential arrival of James O’Connor this week I’m sure that the squad will pick themselves back up again in time to take on Northampton Saints on Sunday at the Madjeski Stadium!

After another scintillating weekend of Aviva Premiership Rugby it is time to rest and recharge the batteries before next weekend because trust me it is going to be a big one! There are 6 Aviva Premiership Round 7 clashes and a certain QBE International fixture at Twickenham to enjoy, so I suggest that you rest your voices as much as possible and clear your diaries because we have another huge weekend of rugby ahead of us! How very exciting!!!

The QBE Debate

The QBE Internationals are a huge event in the international calendar for England, they kick start the ‘New Year’ with a bang and set the platform for the following 6 Nations. This year and in 2014 they are even more important given the proximity of the forthcoming home Rugby World Cup. The build-up to the fixtures starts almost as soon as the Summer Tour ends and picks up pace around October; it is the time of year when every single member of the rugby world shares their opinions regarding squad selection, the Captaincy and the most effective starting XV. As soon as the EPS Squad is announced the dust settles slightly and the players go into training camp to put in the essential preparation before taking on the best in the world. This is the point at which we find ourselves at today and with a little over a week to go before the first International against Australia it was an appropriate time to attend the QBE Debate.

 

The QBE Debate at News Times HQ

QBE have been the sponsors of the Autumn Internationals since 2011 and every year they host a pre-series debate, this is something that had previously slipped under my radar until last night!! The venue was The Times HQ in Central London and the debate was led by Stuart Barnes who had the task of leading and controlling an extremely distinguished panel and audience of over 100 guests. The panel consisted of Stephen Jones; The Times Rugby Correspondent for 30 years, New Zealand legend; Sean Fitzpatrick, Australian legend; David Campese and two England legends; Martin Bayfield and Lawrence Dallaglio. With 312 caps and a couple of World Cups between them we were certainly in safe hands and anticipating a healthy debate. 

 

Two of the distinguished panel members (Image@dallaglio8)

Naturally the focus was on England and their chances in the forthcoming QBE Internationals and beyond, it is fair to say that with 2 years to go before a home Rugby World Cup the next 25 days are perhaps the most important in the tenure of Stuart Lancaster. Interestingly the panel made the point that since Sir Clive Woodwood’s reign things have been a little disjointed with the changing of management. Instead of one coach building on from where the other left off, each individual came in and tried radically changed things for the better. The superior option would have been to build on the success of Sir Clive’s time like New Zealand did when Steve Hanson took over from Sir Graham Henry. It was noted that Stuart Lancaster has and is making big inroads however one question that was left lingering in the air was ‘have we given him too much to do?’

The panel had quite strong views regarding England’s chances this Autumn and for 2015 and it may or may not surprise you to know that the collective opinion was that England are a way behind where they should be - this was in the context of physical conditioning and performance levels. Lawrence and Martin were slightly more complimentary than the rest however we certainly weren’t being given 'media censured’ answers. The question marks over England of course won’t be resolved at The Times HQ, instead Stuart Lancaster and his men will need to answer them out on the field on 2nd, 9th and 16th November. If things go extremely well this autumn then the momentum and psychological advantage that it will give to our squad will be invaluable as the core group of players that we have now will be the same group, potentially bar one or two, that will be playing back at Twickenham in 2015. However we have all seen the form that the All Blacks are in and no-one is under any illusions, this won’t be a walk in the park, but if England can pull off the remarkable and dare I say it gain 3 wins from 3, then everything will get very, very interesting. 

 

Can England replicate that win again!?

The reason why I haven’t given the game away fully regarding quotes from the panel and answers to the audience’s questions is due to the fact that the debate will be featured on a full double page spread in The Times on Sunday and on The Times QBE Internationals micro-site. Personally I think that breaking news before The Times is a little risqué and therefore I shall leave it to Stephen Jones and the team to reveal all on Sunday.  

Once again it was another superb night in the rugby calendar and I must say a huge thanks to QBE and The Times for hosting. It isn’t too often that you get to enjoy chatting away at a champagne reception with Martin Bayfield, Sean Fitzpatrick, David Campese and Lawrence Dallaligo now is it?! The stage is set and the preparations are well under way and with today’s Captain’s announcement we will be one step closer to the 2014 QBE Autumn Internationals. The message from the QBE panel was clear, these forthcoming Internationals are extremely important for England; they need to step up and be counted for now in order to generate and build the momentum needed to take on the biggest test that any team can face; a home Rugby World Cup in 2015.

The Heineken Rugby Show

The Heineken Cup or The H Cup depending on where you live has been in existence since 1995 and in its 18 years there have been exactly 6 French Winners, 6 Irish Winners and 6 English winners. For the past couple of months the tournament has been making the headlines for all of the wrong reasons. The ‘European Debate’ has been well documented and still remains unresolved however now that the rugby has started it is time for the politics to take a back seat. Heineken have been the proud sponsors of the competition since the start, this season they have created ‘The Heineken Rugby Show’ and last night I was lucky enough to attend to the filming of the very first one! 

The first of 6 Heineken Rugby Shows 

The venue for the evening was The Cabbage Patch, which is undoubtedly one of the most famous rugby pubs in Twickenham and therefore a very fitting venue for the show. The Patch was suitably dressed for the event looking resplendent in green and surprise, surprise the drink of the evening was Heineken! Admittedly before last night I had never actually tasted a Heineken, as you all know I’m more of a champagne lady; however I was pleasantly surprised as I delicately sipped my Heineken bottle throughout the night!

Leading proceedings was Mr Will Carling OBE, who never actually won a Heineken Cup during his career, in fact he was the only one of our three legends who hadn’t, and of course it would have been rude to remind him of this fact more than once during the night wouldn’t it!?!!  He was joined by two very well-known faces on and off the pitch; Matt Dawson and Scott Quinnell. The objective of the show was to discuss and enjoy all things Heineken Cup related and answer some of the burning questions about the competition. The questions flew in from around The Cabbage Patch and from everyone’s favourite form of social media Twitter using the #HeinekenRugby. Rest assured that the answers were more than satisfactory and as you would expect from the three panelists there were a few great stories thrown in for illustrative purposes too!!  

The view from behind the camera! (Image @TheRugbyAgency)

So without giving too much away, as the first Heineken Rugby Show will be live on the Heineken YouTube Channel on Thursday, what did we learn!? Firstly the reasons why Matt Dawson didn’t play in his Heineken Cup Final were twofold; both injuries were inflicted by a certain Mr Quinnell. Firstly he managed to knock out Dawes and then proceeded to rub salt into the wound by pulling his shirt and managing to pop his shoulder out at the same time… now that’s what you call ‘affection’. Matt also elaborated on his outrage regarding Julien Tomas’ yellow card for not straight feeding into the scrum and all three men got off the fence and picked their 2013/14 Heineken Cup Winners and I think you’ll be surprised at the teams chosen! 

The H Cup (Image @MeeraPatel)

There was so much more discussed but I really don't want to give the game away. Overall it was a fantastic evening, the Cabbage Patch was an excellent venue and all night the stories and banter flew thick and fast. As with any live recording we had our bloopers, the highlight being a crooked line out throw that smashed more than a few bottles of Heineken… luckily there were plenty more to fill the void!! However on a serious note the fact that we have enjoyed 1,920 minutes of blistering rugby in Rounds 1 and 2 provided ample content for some serious rugby discussion and Matt, Will and Scott were on fine form. I am very much looking forward to seeing the first show online on Thursday and with 5 more in the pipeline over the course of the year it will be a great way to review this legendary competition in what might be its final hoorah! Personally I couldn’t resist getting slightly involved so watch out for my guest appearance during the show… that’s if I make the edit!!!

With 45 days until Round 3 we have a little while to wait until the European action starts again, however with domestic challenges and the Autumn Tests on the horizon time will fly by and it will be Friday 6th December before you know it. I must say a massive thanks to Heineken for putting on a superb evening, I’ve no doubt that the next 5 shows will be just as action packed and entertaining and I cannot wait to return for Show 2!