It would be fair to say that in the past couple of months, the RFU have not performed to the best of their ability. Coaches, players, clubs and fans have all been vocal in their criticism of the governing body in England, and rightly so. So this week, with the issuing of the results of the inquiry into the independent inquiry into the inquiry of where things went wrong at the World Cup, they apologised profusely to anyone and everyone, and promised to do better. Big deal.
It is somewhat difficult to believe that Rob Andrew has kept his job once more. He is as elusive in his current role as David Campese was when Andrew was playing. He has had the 20% of his job that he did "appallingly" (the responsibility for the senior England side) removed from his remit, along with one assumes a 20% paycut....
In other difficult to believe news, Mike Tindall had £10,000 removed from his fine and had his relegation from the England squad overturned (his contract ends in a month), and Martin Thomas has been replaced early by Stephen Brown as Acting CEO. Brown is in a no lose situation: he cannot do any worse than Thomas, and if he does a good job, he can slide into the role full-time. Good luck to him. If he does a good job, happy days should return to the RFU.
As the shambolic farce draws to a close, I half expect the major players to come to the front and take a bow. I can't even set you a competition as to what RFU stands for, as clearly the last two letters would be F'd Up. Ho hum, on to the smooth.
Relatively smooth is the announcement that has come that there will be a temporary coach of the England side for the upcoming 6 Nations. Lancaster and Rowntree are the current favourites for the leading partnership. A full-time appointment will be made before the summer tour to South Africa. The removal of Andrew's involvement, and the statement that the new coach will report directly to the CEO, added to the fact that the decision will be made late in Spring, or even early in the Summer, would lead to suggest that Nick Mallett (universally respected yet somewhat under-burdened by trophy success in recent years) is a shoe-in for the role. Don't bet on it though, as there will be twists and turns in the meantime, on that you can rely.
FInally to the good news. England's Women have beaten the reigning world champions New Zealand twice in 4 days, to take an unassailable lead in the 3 match series. In a week when the male set-up has been vilified once more, the women have showed them the way to go. It is somewhat ironic that this happens in the week that the BBC are criticised for the lack of women in the shortlist for Sports Personality Of The Year.
SPOTY, as it has become known, used to be the highlight of the Christmas period for me. A 2 hour look back on the best moments of sport from the year, with a competition usually coming out with the most deserving winner. There were funnies thrown in, and a charity game with Frank Bruno hitting a golf ball or something equally preposterous. This was at a time when the BBC were the envy of the world in terms of their sporting archive.... Now, we get 10 short films on the candidates, a little bit of footage (usually with courtesy of Sky Sports in the top corner), a whole lot of back-slapping and not a lot more. I don't even watch now.
I suppose the good news from the rugby perspective this week was the announcement that the BBC have kept the rights to the 6 Nations until 2017. The insufferable ITV coverage during the World Cup (or the first three weeks while I was still in the UK) illustrates that the BBC really is the only channel on terrestrial TV that can do it justice. Sky would knock the BBC's socks off of course, but that won't happen in the short term.
The Premiership is proving to be a little mad this year. Gloucester trekked up to Newcastle seeking confidence after a few tough weeks, and Newcastle needed something given their awful start. Newcastle edged it, much to the surprise of most.
Leicester have shown signs of waking recently, but so have Northampton who slaughtered Saracens last time out. Today's encounter was an epic. Rough and smooth is the title of this blog, and that describes the game perfectly. Roughness from Ashton, Tuilagi, Wood, Agulla and Murphy saw a messy brawl into which Manu Tuilagi, who wasn't even a sub, got drawn, and this after a mere quarter of an hour. Tuilagi and Wood saw red cards, Manu Tuilagi got sent to the stands for his troubles. Leicester reacted the better and stretched to a lead courtesy of an exceptional Matt Smith finish. A second half performance of quality though saw the Saints take a lead briefly, before Agulla, who should maybe have been sent off himself, romped in courtesy of Murphy's (I suspect he will also be cited for his punches) cynical block on Foden. 30-25 Leicester and one of the best Premiership matches in a long time.
Bath seem to be the most unpredictably predictable side and they saw a comfortable 10-0 lead disappear in a poor second half, as Mark Cueto's try helped Sale to a 16-13 win away from home. That a mere week after they themselves saw a big home half-time lead eroded by Exeter. Exeter, for their part, saw off Worcester in a tight game to move, somewhat unbelievably, to 3rd place in the League ahead of tomorrow's games.
Meanwhile, in Wales, Shane Williams signed off with a try, but Wales repeated their losing performance of the 3rd place game in New Zealand, succumbing 24-18 to Australia. Williams was a twinkle-toed winger who will not be forgotten quickly. He and Jason Robinson bucked the trend of battering ram giants on the wing, both having extraordinary success and hopefully showing the younger players of the world that, just because you don't conform to the standard size for a certain position, doesn't mean you can't be world class (see also Neil Back).
As I write this, the Help for Heroes game at Twickenham is drawing to a close. It's probably worthwhile lauding the efforts of players young and old who have put on a great spectacle even if these games are somewhat lacking in a certain je ne sais quoi.
Finally, a 7s rugby series victory for England in Dubai, against the surprising French in the Final. England had done it the hard way, beating New Zealand and Fiji on the way to the final, while the more traditional 7s Nations had an off weekend. The series seems to grow and grow each year, and with the undoubted carrot of gold medals in Brazil in 2016 (why wasn't it fast-tracked to 2012, the home of rugby?) the future is bright for the game of 7s.
Back to Europe next week and I will be in France for it. I can't wait!
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