A Pause For Some Perspective

It would be churlish to write a blog centred around rugby this weekend. Churlish and lacking in both perspective and moral fibre given the tragic loss of a true sporting gentleman this weekend. The events of Saturday night and Sunday morning, where Gary Speed seemingly took his own life, have left ex colleagues, friends, teammates and watchers of all sports gobsmacked. It brings to the very forefront of our minds, or should do, a number of very serious questions.

Firstly, it is time for an anecdote. I am a sports fan, no make that a sports nut, as anyone who knows me will tell you. True, I have less and less time for football these days, but I still follow the game. It was 2003, the early days of the football season in the UK, and at the time I was living in Paris. During a week off, I was wandering through the streets near my apartment and stopped for a coffee. Gary Speed and his wife sat next to me and pulled out a map. I recognised him instantly of course. They were struggling to find an address, and I said, if they were struggling they should feel free to ask as I was British. 15 to 20 minutes later, he insisted on paying for my coffees (we'd all had two) for helping him, shook my hand, thanked me for my help and said how nice it was to have met me. I'm rarely, if ever, starstruck, but for the rest of that day I was. I mentioned it to my girlfriend at the time, who didn't have a clue who he was, but he was the very definition of approachable and I can clearly see why not a single person has had even a remotely bad word to say about him today. Hearing footballing hard nuts reduced to tears on radio and tv has truly brought home what a tragic set of events this is.

May his family come to terms with everything. May his wife and boys understand as well as they can what has happened. May the press, for once, deal with them with the dignity that has been requested.

RIP Gary Speed.

It brings to the fore the whole subject of depression in professional sportsmen. In the recent past there have been several high profile cases of sportsmen struggling to deal with their depression, occasionally but not always linked with the end of their careers. Paul Gascoigne, Stan Collymore, Marcus Trescothick and Michael Yardy are four that spring to mind immediately. The relatively public explosion of Gascoigne is the clearest example of this, but the case of Speed shows that, as with all of these things the tip of the iceberg may be the most public case, but under the surface, many more people suffer in silence, and these are the most dangerous cases. Everyone knows Gascoigne's difficulties and is alert to his situation, watching his every move and helping as and when required. Speed, the recently departed Peter Roebuck and doubtless many others, are examples of those that, while giving off an air of contentment, are suffering deep down.

I'm baffled as to why Speed felt the need to do this. A talented footballer and nice person, he was becoming a highly-rated Manager, turning round the fortunes of the Welsh National team with every game. The fortunes of the football and rugby teams in recent months, in stark contrast to their English neighbours, had given Wales a feelgood factor rarely felt in the past 2 decades. A lovely wife, 2 young kids growing up to be good footballers also, job security working for the country he so passionately played for. It's incredibly difficult to comprehend.

I think it's fair to say I'm qualified to comment here. I've suffered in silence with depression in the past. I struggled to admit exactly what I was going through, but managed to fight my way out of it with the help of some good friends and my family. I am happy to say I never got into a situation like Gary Speed obviously did. While depressed, I never ever felt self-destructive, but I can understand how things can well up until the dam bursts.

The lessons that should be learnt are the following: Stay close to your friends (whether you are depressed or see someone who may be). You should always have at least one person that you can confide in and seek the help of. Be aware of your friends as you can sometimes pick up signs and help before they come to you. Also, if you feel yourself spiralling downwards, talk to someone. Somebody can always help.

I've read books and watched documentaries by some leading lights in various fields on this subject (Stephen Fry and Marcus Trescothick are the two famous sufferers who spring to mind, and Trescothick's book is an absolute must for anyone to read).

No rugby related bumph this week out of respect for Gary Speed. Normal service resumed next week.

RIP Gary.

The Hits Just Keep On Coming

Just when you think you can have a week off from updating your blog, when you think you can calm things and have a relatively low key week with "just" the Aviva Premier League to come at the weekend, along with an International game full of intrigue between the Aussies and the Barbarians, the Times somehow get hold of some documents and the brown stuff hits the ventilator in the International corridors once more.

If you've been living in a vacuum and have not picked up on this story yet, let me explain. Following the World Cup, a debrief took place, with players providing answers as to how they perceived things went. These are a frequent occurrence at the top level, and are the sporting equivalent of a "safe to say" meeting in a 'normal' business. An anonymous chance to be as critical as you are prepared to be. It would appear that someone, with no doubt an ulterior motive of some kind, has leaked some of the answers to the press, who have had a field day reporting on them today, justifying their belligerent badgering of the team in New Zealand while doing so.

It is all very disappointing. Every week another obstacle is placed in the path of progress. The RFU, who have rightly been criticised in the aftermath of the World Cup for their distance from Martin Johnson, their at times shambolic leadership and their lack of accountability relating to various decisions, have been trying to move forward in recent days, looking at new coaches and stopgap measures. For this leak to throw a proverbial spanner in the works is bad timing at best, machiavellian in all probability as someone within RFU Towers tries to create an opportunity for themselves.

People may say, well what about the criticism bandied about by the players? Personally, treated in context, and not taken in isolation, these comments, if treated with the seriousness with which they have been made, could be the real catalyst for change. The vast majority of players, if not all, who have had the incredible chance and honour to pull on a white jersey with a red rose adorning it, do so with the utmost pride, total dedication to the cause, oodles of self-belief and strength of personality. The comments they have made need to be taken seriously. They are the men who are on the field, literally, as they are being talked to by coaches and management alike. They are the ones who see the attitude of the men who are there to guide them to glory, or not as the case may be.

If these players say that a coach is not as good as 20 others in the Premier League, if they say that a coach changed his mind every five minutes and gave conflicting views of what he wanted, if they praise the loyalty of the manager while criticising those who saw this loyalty and used it to their own benefit, then I for one believe them and say that the RFU should do what to me has been patently obvious from Day 1.... (and I make no apologies for entering into metaphors here)

The slate needs wiping clean. The line in the sand needs drawing. The baby needs throwing out with the bathwater.

Step 1: Every member of the coaching staff needs to go now.
Step 2: An RFU Director of Rugby needs to be appointed. He should act as a guide to the full-time coach (if and when required)
Step 3: A new full-time coach needs appointing by the new Director of Rugby as soon as possible
Step 4: Said coach needs carte blanche (within a pre-determined budget) to appoint his team of coaching staff
Step 5: The coaching staff needs a contract that takes them through to the week after the 2015 World Cup Final, when everyone will have to reapply for their jobs if they want to stay

This is the only way I can see the mess being cleaned up.

In the past year we have seen farce after farce surround the upper echelons of the RFU: John Steele, Martyn Thomas, Rob Andrew, Martin Johnson, John Wells, Brian Smith, Dave Alred... big names with big salaries who have all either been called into question, sacked or resigned in the last 12 months for a catalogue of reasons.

It is time to sort things out RFU. The millions of rugby players and spectators who contribute week in and week out to the Union deserve better. Much better.

Angry? Me? You bet!

24 down, 55 to go

Sunday saw the end of Round 2 of games in the 2011/12 Heineken Cup. Reigning champions Leinster, fresh from a close thing in the South of France last week, hosted Glasgow, who had mugged Bath in stoppage time. Later, the two sides who felt aggrieved last weekend, would meet at the Rec in Bath, more of that to come.

So Leinster kicked off early in Dublin and Glasgow's side, like their touring fans, must have wished they'd stayed in bed. Hangovers accompany any European weekend in Dublin's fair city, be the game at the RDS or Lansdowne Road (note lack of sponsor name used). Leinster clearly had no cobwebs, and Nacewa very much to the fore, they ran in 4 unanswered tries after Duncan Weir had briefly given Glasgow the lead. This was Leinster at their best, forwards and backs combining seamlessly, O'Driscoll missing, but not missed, as a new kid on the block, O'Malley, stepped into the breach with 2 tries, slightly outperforming his more illustrious partner D'Arcy who managed the 4th synonymous with the bonus point.

Shellshocked, Glasgow shored up their perforated defence in the second half, and indeed managed a try to pull things back to 31-13 with just over ten minutes to go. Alas, that was as good as it got, and with yet another last second play (what is it with injury time scores this year?) a 5th Leinster try meant a 25 point margin (38-13), a bonus point win for Leinster and a marker laid down for everyone else in the competition. Heaslip won moustache of the match, sorry man of the match.

Rounding off the weekend, in a slightly misty South West, Bath were the hosts of the runners-up in the Top 14 last year, Montpellier. World cup stars were very much to the fore during the build-up, with Stephen Donald making his first start against his fellow replacement world cup final fly half, Francois Trinh-Duc. Both sides were looking to make up for disappointment in the first round of games, and it was Bath who got off to the better start.

Donald's move to the blind side, vision and stunning long pass setting up an early try, before his interception, 70 yard burst and clever offload allowed Bath to recycle, draw a penalty for slowing the ball down and then spread the ball wide where Flatman, in true prop forward style, was unstoppable from 1 yard. To be fair, he took a bad pass well and fleet-footedly dived over.... Trinh-Duc was yellow carded having been the man fingered by Mr Rolland for slowing down the ball under the posts.

Bath led 13-3 at this point, and looked like running away with the game, particularly as Montpellier had been reduced to 14 men. However, a second penalty would get them back to within a score, but another kickable chance went slightly left, meaning the half closed with a score of 13-3. An early Bath score should have settled nerves, and Donald hauled himself to his feet and slotted 3 more points despite a hand injury. Gorgodze had clearly had his half-time brew spiked with caffeine pills though, and his supercharged second half performance, allied with Trinh-Duc's accurate kicking, gradually brought Montpellier into the ascendancy. Indeed, they scored their first try when with half an hour to go, Bustos Moyano benefitted from a knock on and a forward pass to romp in in the corner, and add the conversion too, to make it 16-10.

Montpellier reached their first French final last year, having made a speciality of winning close games (Castres by 1 in the Quarter FInal, Racing Metro by 1 in the semi final which I attended in Marseille). They are clearly not side whose feathers ruffle easily, and Moyano slotted another penalty with 10 minutes to go, to bring back thoughts of last week once more. As Bath rang the changes, the Montpellier pack took the upper hand, pushing Bath off the ball with remarkable consistency. They pressed and pressed, but Bath's defence was up to the challenge time and again, and when Gorgodze let the ball slip in front of the Bath posts, as Montpellier sought the drop goal chance for Trinh-Duc, which would have given them the record of P2, D2 in Heineken Cup rugby, the game was up and Bath cleared their lines to a collective sigh of relief amongst West country folk.

So that was that. 24 games gone and I don't think even the staunchest fan of Rugby Union could have expected the thrills and spills we have seen so far. Favourites in freefall, very much unsung sides performing beyond expectations, last minute thrills and spills, ridiculous scenarios (overcoming a 24 point deficit in the last 17 minutes, 41 phases and an 84th minute drop goal, blocked drop goal turned into a try). Next up is the double header in December.... put a ring around the date on your advent calendar folks.

Country Table
1st Wales - 91.7% (5-1-0)
2nd Scotland - 75% (3-0-1)
3rd Ireland - 56.3% (4-1-3)
4th England - 42.9% (6-0-8)
5th France - 37.5% (4-1-7)
6th Italy - 12.5% (0-1-3)

The Welsh continue to ride the crest of the confidence wave, and the two Scottish sides, while living on the edge, have only lost one game, and that away to the reigning champions. The Irish too have been sitting a little close to the fire, but in Munster and Leinster have two sides capable of going all the way. The English and French, with the odd exception (Toulouse and Harlequins spring to mind) have disappointed, and the Italians are progressing, certainly at home, and have picked up a draw from their 4 games. The double header will certainly be interesting....

Stat Attack

Those who know me will know I love the statistics, so this section will come as no surprise. Just a few of the crazy numbers that have come out of the Pools so far:

15 - the number of games (out of 24) that have finished within 1 score. That shows the intensity of the battles so far this year, and is incredibly high versus previous years.

10 - the number of games that have finished after the last points were scored. Again, a ridiculously high proportion, showing the value of the losing bonus point system, making sides play till the end.

95 - points scored at Murrayfield in the highest scoring game. Normally a game with 95 points is one-sided, this as far as I can tell, is the highest scoring senior game with a single point margin (let me know if this is wrong)

0 - number of points scored in the first half between Biarritz and Saracens, but this belies the battle and interest in the first half

2 - Ronan O'Gara drop goals to win games in stoppage time. I'll be very surprised if this increases as the tournament goes on...

12 - the number of games I've correctly predicted. Out of 24, this is pitiful but can only get better.

19 - the number of Amlin games I've predicted correctly (Agen let me down in the 20th game)

Well as ever, let me know your thoughts. People do by e-mail at marktheeggchaser@googlemail.com or on twitter @theeggchaser, but I'd love to see comments here.

Speak next week when I may have something different for you (that's called a teaser)

Heineken Cup: More Last Minute Shenanigans

Friday may have been almost as ridiculous as last weekend, but it left me with the sentiment that these close games just couldn't keep happening. Surely at some point there will be a series of games with little tension, a fair bit of one-way traffic and no last minute drama. Surely?

Biarritz and Saracens started the ball rolling in South West France, where the clubs' figureheads (Wray and Blanco) sat in adjoining seats. They weren't supposed to be doing, but Serge is a big boy.... Hard to believe whenever I see him that this was the guy who consistently illuminated European rugby during the amateur era. He is one player I would loved to have seen in the Heineken Cup, deprived as we were of him in the UK outside of International matches. After a 95 point thriller the night before, this took us to the other extreme, with no points in an attritional first half. Balanced on a knife edge at 5-3 to Biarritz after Harinordoquy's try (offside?), Farrell hit the post with a penalty, and Biarritz didn't look back. Peyrelongue injected direction and kicking ability (how Yachvili was missed for both those reasons) and they stretched to a 15-3 lead, before Saracens had the last say, scoring a converted try in the last minute (when else) to claim a vital bonus point in a tight group.

Why is it a tight group? Because the Ospreys spoiled the Welsh clubs' 100% record in Italy. Treviso, fresh from a heavy defeat against Saracens the week before, proved that at home they will not be pushovers. Indeed, only a strong late showing by the Ospreys allowed them to come back and take a point in a 26-26 draw. 2 weeks of the tournament and the second draw....

Next up the all English battle between Gloucester, so strong at home, and Harlequins, so strong everywhere. Having been beaten at home in the Premier League by Saracens, Gloucester had a point to prove to the Kingsholm faithful, but were sadly lacking a killer instinct despite periods of prolonged ppossession. They looked a shadow of the side that pushed Toulouse close last week in France. Harlequins kicked on from their sketchy performance against Connacht in the tournament opener and strolled to a 28-9 win, silencing the vociferous Shed along the way.

At the same time, in Toulouse, Castres were hosting former Champions Munster at their local rivals' ground due to a higher capacity. I must confess to not having seen the first hour of this, only turning over when the result had been decided in the Gloucester vs Quins game, but Castres started extremely well and took a deserved lead into the last quarter by all accounts. Munster, as unbiased Mr Wallace had told us at least twenty times in a sycophantic Sky build-up, never know when they're beaten, and they turned the heat on in the last 15, closing the gap to 24-24 as the clock ticked round. Deja-vu? I said to anyone who was listening that this was set up for an O'Gara last minute drop goal.... Guess what. 40m out, straight in front, O'Gara's trusty right boot sent the ball flying over. Consecutive get out of jail free cards used by Munster as the ridiculous nature of the tournament continued.

Last up, Connacht hosted Toulouse in their first home game. They could have asked for an easier baptism than to welcome the most successful side in European history, and they were soon 3-0 down as Beauxis's boot weighed heavy. They were never at the races really from that point on, and 3 Toulouse tries to 1 from the Irish, along with the boot of Beauxis, saw Toulouse to a straightforward 36-10 win.

At the same time, Leicester were hosting Ulster in a nervy affair, which saw the boots of Ian Humphries and Toby Flood cancel each other out from long distance in a first half which ended 9-9. Leicester, without a home win this season in the League and in Europe, were grateful to Ben Youngs for the impetus required to set them on their way. He returned from injury from the bench, to provide the spark that freed Flood, whose grubber kick was pounced on by Smith for the only try of the game. Flood added 2 penalties either side of that try and the final score of 20-9 slightly flattered Leicester.

So another great day of rugby. The champions just don't seem to know when they are beaten, and the bonus point system really does make otherwise dead games keep their intensity till the final whistle. With 2 more games to come this weekend (Leinster and Glasgow battle it out in Dublin and Bath receive Montpellier) I am sure there are more thrills to come, but for the moment, this European Cup is poised superbly.

Welsh and Scottish sides are rampant thus far, with big name sides (mainly English) struggling to live up to their reputations. Northampton are the biggest losers thus far, but Gloucester would have expected something from today's game, Munster are struggling but stumbling over the line and Leicester have a 100% record without really convincing. It all bodes well for the double headers which approach before Christmas, which include a mouth-watering Leicester vs Clermont, Toulouse vs Harlequins, Munster vs Scarlets, Saracens vs Ospreys, Leinster vs Bath and Cardiff vs Edinburgh. I will be in Paris for both of those weekends.... not much sightseeing will be done, of that I am certain.

Back tomorrow with a quick report on Sunday's double and a look at the stats.