Sivivatu pasará por el quirófano

Mala suerte para este gran jugador.

Rugby: Surgeon has final word on Sivivatu

All Black winger ruled out for the rest of season

Draw a line through Sitiveni Sivivatu's season.

The mercurial winger was scratched from Chiefs and All Blacks duty after finally giving in to surgery on a recurring dislocated shoulder.

A consultation with a surgeon yesterday confirmed the worst and he will go under the knife in three weeks, with six months rehabilitation to follow. Sivivatu, 28, underwent the same procedure on his right shoulder in 2004.

"While it is disappointing, I'm pretty relaxed about the whole situation," Sivivatu said last night.
"It is just one of those things that happen and I need to just concentrate on recovering well after the surgery."

As for Ian Foster, it's another day as the injury curse continues to strike.

"If any team's in a good position to deal with these sort of things, we are," Foster said.

"It seems to have happened for a while. We're pretty excited by the challenge with the group we've got.

Clearly it's a great opportunity for a number of other players and that's the way we're approaching it."

There had been hope for several weeks that Sivivatu's return to full fitness was imminent, but it was not to be.

"Last year and this year between us and the All Blacks he's been in the rehab phase of it, but the fact that the shoulder has continued to [pop out] has made the decision pretty clear and obvious."

With the World Cup a year away, it seems a good time to cut your immediate losses and think big picture.

Sivivatu's wing spot will be occupied by Jason Hona for tomorrow's clash with the Hurricanes.
Hona, 23, has played one match, coming off the bench in the Chiefs' first-round win over the Sharks, but this will be his first Super 14 start.

His is just one of a raft of changes, some forced by injury, some tactical.

Lauaki has been given time off to recuperate after driving his car through a fence and into a paddock in the early hours of last Saturday morning.

It is expected, if the bruising on his arm has subsided, that he will be available for the home game against the Waratahs next week.

Partidos del Top 14 en Canal Satélite Digital.

Dentro de dos fines de semana podremos ver los partidos de Play-off del Top 14 en el canal 140 de Canal Satélite Digital, TV5 Monde Europe. Con un poco de suerte también nos darán las semifinales y la gran final. Os dejo los horarios.

Clermont / Racing-Métro 92
Viernes 7 Mayo 20h45,

Toulouse / Castres
Sábado 8 Mayo 16h30

Os dejo algunos artículos sobre la fase final del Top 14.

Le Monde. Top 14 : Perpignan et Toulon en demie, barrage à domicile pour Clermont et Toulouse

Scrum. Perpignan and Toulon top the pile

Con H de Blog. Los 10 mejores ensayos de la última jornada del Top 14

Ha terminado la fase regular del Top 14

Perpignan y Toulon han entrado directamente a semifinales, los otros dos puestos se los disputarán Clermont vs Rácing de Paris y Tolouse vs Castres. De momento no veremos ningún partido, pero con un poco de suerte TV3 se enrolla y vuelve a emitir los partidos del Perpignan. "Miracolo, miracolo", gritaban los sacerdotes ciegos.

Top 14 : Perpignan et Toulon en demie, barrage à domicile pour Clermont et Toulouse

Perpignan et Toulon se sont assurés samedi 24 avril les deux premières places du Top 14 à la fin de la saison régulière et la qualification directe pour les demi-finales par des victoires 44-0 sur Albi et 26-23 à Brive. En demi-finale, le 14 mai à Montpellier, les Catalans, champions en titre, recevront le vainqueur du match de barrage entre le Stade Toulousain (4e) et Castres (5e). L'autre demi-finale, le 15 mai à Saint-Etienne, opposera Toulon, vainqueur (26-23) à Brive et deuxième au classement à égalité de points avec Perpignan, au vainqueur du match de barrage entre Clermont (3e) et le Racing-Métro (6e).
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Perpignan, qui disputera sa troisième demi-finale d'affilée, dispose de trois semaines pour préparer cette échéance capitale. En revanche, les Toulonnais devront se rendre vendredi prochain en Irlande pour y défier la province du Connacht en demi-finale du Challenge européen.

De leur côté, les Toulousains se sont imposés face à Castres (25-17). Une victoire qui leur permet de reprendre in extremis la quatrième position au classement et qui leur octroie le privilège de disputer le match de barrage à domicile. Avant cette nouvelle opposition face aux Castrais, le 7 ou 8 mai, le Stade Toulousain disputera sa demi-finale de Coupe d'Europe contre la province irlandaise du Leinster, samedi prochain au Stadium.

Les Clermontois finissent quant à eux en troisième position après leur victoire (26-19) à Biarritz et recevront en barrage le Racing-Métro qui, en l'absence de nombreux cadres laissés au repos, s'est lourdement incliné (17-41) contre le Stade Français lors du derby francilien. Malgré sa défaite contre Clermont, Biarritz finit en septième position. Les Biarrots nourrissent donc deux espoirs distincts de se qualifier pour la Coupe d'Europe la saison prochaine : soit en remportant l'épreuve, avec un premier rendez-vous en demi-finale le 2 mai contre les Irlandais du Munster, soit en escomptant un sacre européen de Toulouse. Les Biarrots devancent le Stade Français (8e), pour le plus mauvais classement du club parisien depuis 1998, et Brive (9e).

Montpellier s'est arrogé la dixième place au détriment de Bourgoin (11e), battu dans un match sans enjeu. Montauban, qui fait l'objet d'une rétrogradation administrative en Pro D2 pour raisons financières, a assuré son maintien "sportif" en battant (22-8) Bayonne. Le club basque finit la saison en treizième et avant-dernière position, synonyme de descente en Pro D2. Le sort des deux équipes reste cependant suspendu à l'appel formé par Montauban devant la Commission d'appel de la Fédération française de rugby et au Conseil d'administration du club montalbanais, prévu lundi, qui doit entériner ou non le plan de sauvetage du club.

Toulon, el equipo de moda.

El equipo francés Toulon se encuentra en la primera posición del Top 14, un equipo formado a base de talonario y parece que también bastante cabeza.

Peter Bills: Toulon are on the money and mean business
By Peter Bills
Thursday April 22 2010

He's 5ft very little, is the proprietor and publisher of 'Soleil Productions', a comic-book business, and as far as I know, has never played rugby seriously in his life.

He's a funny chap, too -- he hovers down on the touchline during matches in a nervous manner and he is never far away from a camera lens.

No matter, Mourad Boudjellal will celebrate his 50th birthday in June and the rugby club he owns, RC Toulon, is attempting to give him a rather special gift -- the French Championship Shield, the famous 'Bouclier de Brennus'.

Toulon haven't won it since 1992 and at various stages in the years since then, the club beside the Mediterranean hit such turbulent financial waters they were in danger of being submerged.
At one point, they had a €1.5m deficit, were demoted to Division 2 in 2000 and then struggled to get back among the elite. Eventually, they won promotion after five years of struggle in the lower league, but immediately slipped back down again the following season.

Equate all that, then, with the state of RC Toulon today. With this coming weekend's final round of French Top 14 fixtures, Toulon are a point clear at the top of the table. If they win at Brive on Saturday, they will go into the Championship play-offs as the top-placed side.
Furthermore, they have qualified for next season's Heineken Cup and will play Connacht for a place in the final of the Amlin Challenge Cup tomorrow week.

But under Boudjallel's ownership, Toulon have done an awful lot more. Off the field, they have galvanised a region once famed for its rugby prowess. Racing Nice, along the Mediterranean coast, were French Championship runners-up in 1983 before disappearing into anonymity -- to an extraordinary extent.

Last weekend, Toulon moved their home fixture against reigning champions Perpignan from their 13,700-capacity Felix Mayol stadium in the heart of Toulon, to the 60,000-capacity Stade Velodrome in Marseille. 58,250 turned up, a triumph for Toulon-born Boudjallel and what he has achieved at the French naval port town.

He's done it chiefly by opening his cheque book very wide indeed. Some of the game's finest players have been lured by the riches on offer.

Toulon have always had style. The club emblem is a bunch of sweet-smelling spring flowers lily of the valley, and the reason is buried deep in the pages of history. On May 1, 1895, Felix Mayol, the popular concert hall singer from Toulon, went to Paris to perform his first concert. He was greeted at the station by a lady admirer who handed him a bunch of lily of the valley, a flower traditionally given on May Day in France.

Mayol's concert was a notable success and lily of the valley became his personal emblem. Not long after the First World War ended, Mayol bought the land where Toulon Rugby Club's home now is, and donated it to the club. Lily of the valley became the club's emblem, too.
But, in modern times, Boudjallel has needed more than just a sense of history to revive his home-town club. He has spent a fortune recruiting top-line players and coaches.
fortunes

Coaches like the Australian Tim Lane, New Zealander Tana Umaga and now Frenchman Philippe Saint-Andre have been hired to improve the team's fortunes. None have come cheap, but their wages pale into insignificance alongside those of the players.

Jonny Wilkinson, currently driving the club towards the title with his metronomic goal kicking, is said to be earning close to €1m a season. Umaga, still playing besides coaching the backs, is reckoned to have been paid around €300,000 for 10 matches when he first arrived.
In no particular order, ex-Australia captain George Gregan; Victor Matfield, Joe van Niekerk and Lawrence Sephaka of South Africa; former All Blacks Jerry Collins, Andrew Mehrtens and Anton Oliver and England's World Cup-winning wing from 2003, Dan Luger, have all been signed.

Nor does the spending stop now Toulon have been successful. All Black prop Carl Hayman, the best tight-head prop in the world, has signed a two-year contract, starting from next September, at €620,000 a season.

Other recruits for next season already include wing Paul Sackey from London Wasps and Sale Sharks lock and captain Dean Scofield.

Get the extent of the challenge Connact face in their semi-final against Toulon?

Henson vuelve

Una buena noticia, un gran jugador vuelve a los terrenos de juegos. Se podrá criticar que es más o menos mediático, pero no que sea un jugador de poca clase. Bienvenido y suerte.

Henson volverá a jugar al rugby

Quiere volver a la práctica activa del rugby. Gavin Henson ha comunicado a los Ospreys su intencion de comenzar los entrenamientos y empezar su particular pretemporada en julio. El equipo galés y también la selección del ‘Dragon’ recuperarían así a un jugador importante en los tres cuartos.

Henson abandonó la disciplina de los Ospresy esta temporada, tomándose un tiempo para recuperarse de una serie de lesiones además de una profunda depresión que le produjo una lesión en el tobillo y que le costó el puesto en la última gira de los British & Irish Lions el pasado verano. Muchas circunstancias que afectaron a su juego y, sobre todo, a su cabeza.
“Gavin ha sido honesto con nosotros desde el principio”, comentó el presidente de los Ospreys, Mike Cuddy, al Daily Mail.

“Me dijo que quería estar de vuelta con nosotros para la próxima temporada y poder jugar antes de final de año. Todas las lesiones de larga recuperación, especialmente en los aductores y el tendón de aquiles, le ha machacado. Se tomó un período de descanso y ahora se siente con fuerzas”, comentó Cuddy.

Henson se ha mantenido en forma durante todo este tiempo. A parte de otras cosas, estuvo en una localidad noruega durante el último mes junto con otros doce personajes famosos, grabando un programa para la televisión que consistía en pasar una serie de pruebas físicas, como nadar en las frías aguas de los fiordos, escalar glaciares, descender en rafting por los rápidos de varios ríos, con el objetivo de alcanzar el punto más septentrional del continente europeo: Cabo Norte.
Henson pasó con nota todas ellas.

Los más probable es que su vuelta a los terrenos de juego se lleve a la práctica a través de los London Welsh, con quienes los Ospreys tienen un acuerdo por el que sus jugadores pueden volver a la actividad tras largos períodos de inactividad o, simplemente, para que sus promesas vayan cogiendo experiencia competitiva.

Para ser grande hay que pensar en grande

Peter Bills continua pensando en grande para conseguir grandes cosas. El rugby va creciendo y debemos aprovecharlo.

Peter Bills: Clubs should be lauded for ambition

Despite the negative reaction in a few quarters to my suggestion last week that the Heineken semi-finals ought to have been staged in far bigger stadiums, the evidence mounts of huge successes for clubs who have boldly taken ordinary club games to larger venues.

The remarkable 47,106 Saracens drew to Wembley for their Guinness Premiership match against Harlequins at the weekend was a triumph for their determination to be adventurous, to push the boundaries. By no means everything Saracens have done this season has been meritorious in my eyes, but I applaud the club's ambition and courage in this respect.

Sure, they could have come a cropper because Wembley is not a cheap venue to hire. Some, like my critics from last week, would doubtless have rubbished the idea that an ordinary Premiership game between two London teams would have lured almost 50,000 to Wembley. Imagine that, just a few years ago!

But clubs like Saracens are pushing the boundaries and they are getting the support and results their ambition deserves.

London Wasps are trying something similar this coming weekend. They have hired Twickenham for the game against Bath and expectations are that a similar crowd to Wembley last weekend, around 50,000, will turn up.

Whichever way you look at it, this is an absolute triumph for the Guinness Premiership and for those clubs willing to back a hunch. And intriguingly, a similar picture is unfolding across the Channel in France. Last weekend, RC Toulon hired the 60,000 capacity Velodrome stadium in Marseille for their Top 14 match against the champions Perpignan.

The atmosphere was extraordinary; a sea of flags with the colours of both clubs and a vibrant atmosphere. At Toulon's cosy but very small ground in the middle of their town, the capacity is just 13,700. Yet they drew an astonishing 58,250?a quite remarkable difference.
Nor was this the sole example of clubs taking a punt on whether they can lure greater audiences in better stadia. Bourgoin, one of the least fashionable of the French Top 14 clubs who have struggled desperately against relegation all season, have a capacity of just 8,160 at their tiny Stade Pierre Rajon.

Last Saturday, they met Stade Toulouse and moved the fixture to the Stade Gerland in Lyon, home of the soccer Champions League semi-finalists Olympique Lyonnais. In an instant, even a sell-out 8,160 was transformed into a 30,000 crowd.

By any measure or means, these are extraordinary figures. What they reveal is a clear desire among a healthy percentage of the sports viewing population in both England and France to pay to see good quality rugby matches in top notch stadiums. As far as I'm aware, Bourgoin haven't sold out their crumbling old stadium once this season. Yet the minute they move to the major commercial hub of Lyon, they draw 30,000.

The man who started all this in France and England was Stade Francais owner Max Guazzini, the most innovative businessman rugby union has seen either side of the Channel in decades. I remember talking with Guazzini at his Paris office a year or two back, not long after he'd filled the 80,000 capacity Stade de France for an ordinary Top 14 league game between Stade Francais and Biarritz Olympique.

He smiled, and confessed "The first time we did this, when I was driving to the Stade de France for the game, I thought to myself 'You must be mad – how can we sell enough tickets to meet our costs for this event'".

But that was just the point. Guazzini made these matches 'an event' and people have flocked in ever since for them, in both France and England.

Now no-one is saying that if Saracens played every home game at Wembley, they'd get nearly 50,000. Nor do Toulon believe they could virtually sell out the atmospheric Velodrome in Marseille for every match of their season.

But it is perfectly possible to discern a serious trend here. Which leads me back to the Heineken semi-finals. Why on earth wouldn't ERC twice come close to selling out Paris, or the San Siro, Milan or Croke Park, Dublin for two matches of the magnitude of their semis?

The likes of Saracens, Toulon and Bourgoin are proving the point by their ambition.

Cetransa El Salvador campeón de Liga

Enhorabuena Cetransa El Salvador.
Lo cierto es que estoy cansado que todas las televisiones repitan hasta la saciedad que Cetransa El Salvador se ha proclamado campeón de la Liga, demasiado rugby, todos queremos más fútbol, que pesados en la radio hablando todo el día de rugby.


El Cetransa El Salvador obtuvo una victoria muy trabajada, más de lo que se esperaba, ante el colista de la categoría en un partido donde la clara superioridad de los chamizos se puso de manifiesto durante algunas fases del partido. Los cuatro puntos obtenidos ayer junto con la derrota de la Vila le dieron matemáticamente e el campeonato de liga de División de Honor.

Los de Gorostiza demostraron su superioridad desde el primer minuto. Los pucelanos inauguraron el marcador en el minuto 7 con un ensayo de Kennedy tras un avance rápido por el costado derecho. Joe Mamea logró nuevamente adelantar al Cetransa gracias a un contraataque muy bien conducido por todo el equipo vallisoletano. Cozens culminó con la trasformación situando el marcador con un claro 0-12 favorable a los chamizos.

Parecía que ya estaba todo el trabajo hecho y el partido sentenciado para los pucelanos pero no fue así, ya que el colista con su garra y orgullo logró complicarle la contienda al líder.
En la reanudación, la línea de zagueros valenciana logró aguantar durante algunos minutos a los atacantes chamizos. Pero en el minuto 67 El Centransa logró derribar el muro abejorro en la persona de Justin Wilson con un nuevo ensayo aprovechando un despiste de la zaga local. Con la transformación del apertura Cozens (12-19) certificaba la victoria y el título para el equipo vallisoletano.

Les Abelles: Mercanti, Corney, Pérez, Parra, Durand, Butazzoni, Bottarini, Burgos, Nin, McNoughton, Calvo, Villalba, Nontoliu, Sevillano y Possi. También jugaron: Conejero, Tribaldos, Gómez, Nadal y Serrano.

Cetransa: McDonnell, Rodríguez, Serrano, Sánchez, Craig, Criado, Joe Mamea, Souto, Salé Ibarra, Cozens, Martin, Palu, Wilson, Carter y Kennedy. También jugaron: Caballero, Miranda y Núñez.

Marcador: 0-5 Kennedy. 0-10 Mamea. 0-12 Cozens. 5-12 Calvo. 7-12 Nin. 12-12 Calvo. 12-17 J.Wilson. 12-19 Cozens.

Árbitro: Pedro R. Montoya.

Incidencias: Campo de juego Río Turia de Valencia . Unos 500 espectadores presenciaron el encuentro.

El mundo está cambiando

Sudáfrica convocará a tres jugadores que no esten jugando "sus competiciones." Los euros están venciendo la batalla a las viejas tradiciones del hemisferio Sur. ¿Como terminará? Pregunten al presidente del Banco Central Europeo o al Boss de la Reserva Federal Norteamericana.

Tres europeos para los Springboks

Sudáfrica ha cambiado la regla que impedía a jugadores sudafricanos que compiten en Europa poder jugar con los Springboks. Cada convocatoria de Peter de Villiers podrá contar con 3 Springboks europeos, cosa que ha enfadado a Bryan Habana, que considera que dicha medida será perjudicial para el rugby sudafricano. Habana es un grandísimo ala, pero dista mucho de ser Kant. Se equivoca con sus declaraciones, pues esta medida beneficia a su selección, porque el cupo máximo de 3 europeos le permitirá poder contar con estrellas que estén jugando en Europa (ahora mismo, por ejemplo, podría llamar a Frans Steyn, Jean de Villiers o C.J. Vanderlinde) sin afectar demasiado el desarrollo de jugadores en el suelo patrio. Lo que molesta a Habana, tal vez, sea algo personal, pues parece ser que él rechazó una buena oferta europea para seguir con los Springboks, y ahora ve que podría haber compaginado las dos cosas.

Estadios demasiado pequeños para la Heineken Cup

Ya estamos en las semifinales de la Heineken, los dos estadios elegidos para albergar los partidos son los de Toulouse y de San Sebastian. Para el autor demasiado pequeños, deberían jugarse las semifinales en estadios de más de 80.000 personas, porqué seguro que se llenarían.

Peter Bills: Heineken Cup semis deserve bigger billing

By Peter Bills
Thursday April 15 2010

I remember the reaction last time. There I was, walking down a street in Toulouse, and the mobile rang. On the line was an irate ERC official who'd been incensed by a piece I'd written suggesting they ought to be broadening their horizons regarding the Heineken Cup.
Oh dear, look away now if you're from ERC. Because the point is even more relevant today than it was then, a few years ago.

It's an absolute nonsense that the two Heineken Cup semi-finals will be staged in Toulouse and San Sebastian. Toulouse v Leinster will be in the French club's backyard and Biarritz v Munster, in the Real Sociedad soccer stadium just across the border in the Spanish coastal city of San Sebastian.

A weekend out in Toulouse and San Sebastian for rugby fans? What on earth could be wrong with that, you may think. Well, what is wrong is exactly what was wrong several years ago. ERC is still not thinking big enough for this fantastic tournament.
By common consent, the quarter-finals of this year's Heineken Cup were perhaps the best ever. Classic matches, terrific contests, great locations. A friend of mine hired a private jet, took off on Friday afternoon for Dublin with a few friends and watched the Leinster-Clermont Auvergne classic.

They then flew down to northern Spain to see Biarritz the next day and afterwards, flew up to Toulouse to attend their match against Stade Francais on Sunday before returning to London. What a weekend and all thanks to the fabulous Heineken Cup.
In truth, 2010 won't be remembered as a classic for the Six Nations. But it almost certainly will be for the Heineken Cup, cementing its increasing reputation as one of the best rugby tournaments in the world.

So why the gripe at ERC? Simply this. Once again, they have missed a golden opportunity to showcase their tournament to a vastly wider audience.
'Le Stadium' in Toulouse holds about 37,000, San Sebastian around 32,000. That means that thousands of rugby supporters in both Ireland and France won't get anywhere near either stadium. They won't get a ticket.

Then there's the considerable army of general rugby fans who adore the game and would love to see a major event in this tournament. But again, they have been given no hope, no chance by the ERC's insistence that a toss of the coin should decree the venues of the semi-finals. And amazingly, they put no demands in place for the winning clubs fortunate to earn a home semi-final.

For example, had Leinster been successful, it ought to have been a stipulation of staging the semi-final that it was held at Croke Park, with its 80,000 capacity. In this case, it's an absolute nonsense firstly to give one club home-town advantage in the semi-finals and then let them choose a stadium with a capacity below 40,000.

I called this a golden opportunity lost and this is why: had ERC cast their eyes upon a broader vision, they could have made semi-final weekend a wondrous experience.
Had they staged both ties in Paris, one on Saturday evening with the other on Sunday afternoon, it would have been a weekend of unforgettable passion, emotion and shared experiences for rugby followers all across Europe.
lame

At 80,000, Stade de France has the capacity to handle all the interest there would have been for both ties.The last time I raised this point with ERC, the lame response was that the French fans won't come out to support in sufficient numbers, they won't travel.
Believe me, that view is now bunkum. Anyone who saw the thousands of French in Cardiff this year or attended the French Championship final in Paris last June would know that simply isn't the case. Trains were running back to Perpignan all night after their Championship final against Clermont.

It's time Heineken semi-finals were always played in stadiums big enough to handle the booming success of this event.

And why can't these semi-finals act as a showcase for rugby in Europe in general? Why not hire Barcelona's Nou Camp one year and stage both semis there? Or the San Siro in Milan, where Italy somehow found 80,000 interested in rugby last November for Italy v All Blacks.
It's time ERC showed greater confidence in expanding its event. After all, rugby can only be the winner.

- Peter Bills

Al Frente II

De nuevo una enorme columna del gran Phil Blakeway.

Al Frente II



Arte, puro arte, refinada estrategia y depuradas tácticas, conjuntamente. Arrojo, solidez, resistencia, temple, bonhomía y perseverancia, individualmente, cual ejemplos de virtudes más altas, de aquellas que en otros tiempos se recitaban de memoria por escolares atentos.
Hablo, naturalmente, de la Primera Línea, como el lector avisado ya habrá supuesto. Demostraré que, mal que le pese a los amigos de la alocada novedad, esos que desprecian lo que el poso del tiempo decanta para mejor, que los tres integrantes de la Primera Línea son luz y anclaje del Club, de la Comunidad, de la Nación, de la Civilización, que por este orden y de mayor a menor calidad, enumeramos las sociedades donde se mueve todo jugador de rugby, sin que ellas sepan de tan meritoria labor. Porque, estimados lectores, ya afligen al universo mundo suficientes desdichas como para que a los lastimeros sollozos de esta o aquella latitud se añadan los de las nuestras. ¿Imaginan Uds. que los cánticos que se elevan al cielo desde Cardiff o Dublín o Londres fueran fúnebres en lugar de festivos o épicos o incluso dipsómanos? Y sin embargo ¡cómo disfrutamos cuando miles de gargantas entonan el Mae hen wlad fy nhadau tránsidos de gozo con el inconmovible ánimo del que espera mantener incólume la ciudadela amurallada, o la estrofa que envía de nuevo a los del rey Eduardo a casa, tae think again, por más que sepan que desde el Sur siempre han de regresar y que apoderarse de la copa con las asas de ofidio les costará blood, toil, tears and sweat , o cómo los esforzados caballeros del verde gabán se aprestan hombro con hombro a resistir, ahora y siempre, al que ose hollar su isla!


Tengan por seguro que esas ocasiones serían ensueños evanescentes si las cervicales de Windsor, Faulkner y Price en Arms Park o las de Clohessy, Woods y Popplelwell en Landsdowne Road o las de Probyn, Moore y Rendall en Twickenham, o las de Paparemborde, Dintrans y Dospital en el Parque de los Príncipes o las de Milne, Burnell y Sole en Murrayfield no hubieran crujido en cada embate poderoso de sus contrincantes y contendido hasta la extenuación, para mejor ventura de los trece de atrás.


Verdad es que los agarres trabados y los sólidos hombros de segundas y terceras líneas sostienen la lucha titánica de los colosos del lugar donde el Tiempo se detiene, y que la inteligencia y picardía de los medios y la agilidad y velocidad de los tres cuartos adornadas por la sangre fría y parsimonia del Hombre Sólo ante el Peligro que viste el nº 15 son ingredientes todos necesarios. Pero eso es algo sabido y como nadie canta las virtudes del nº 123, bien está que aquí lo hagamos. Sí, he dicho bien, y no es la primera vez, el nº 123. A nadie se le escapa la metáfora, porque de nada sirve el portentoso nº1 si el talonador impulsa el balón hasta la segunda línea contraria (es que en algunos sitios todavía se talona, que lo sepan los que solamente disfrutan del oval por televisión), o un nº 2 contorsionista que saca el balón de ese mismo lugar, si la barbilla del nº 3 se incrusta en su ingle doblado por el impulso de los ocho rivales, o si cada miembro de la Gran Hermandad entra en liza por su cuenta.


Las cosas pueden cambiar, va de suyo, pero es probable que desde una muy tierna edad ya se conozca el destino del joven jugador. No será infrecuente el caso de quien, despreciado por otros grupos humanos de menor calado moral e intelectual, a saber, elegido siempre el último para el concurso balompedístico o baloncestístico, se encuentre recibido con alborozo entre las gentes ovales, siempre atentas a la caza y captura de fisionomías adecuadas, algo que ni siquiera en los tiempos del rampante profesionalismo ha cambiado: sean dadas gracias a la deidad que a cada uno le pete por la existencia de los Jones galeses, que vocean alto y claro el estereotipo. Así que la criatura que a la edad que le sea permitido empujar se vea formando parte del alto muro que compone la primera línea, difícilmente querrá alistarse en otra unidad. Irá, además, adquiriendo esa sutil afinidad de carácter y fina inteligencia común con sus compañeros de posición que le convertirá en la sal de la tierra: ¿a quien esperamos tener a nuestro lado cuando el tercera psicópata del equipo contrario desata en el campo su personalidad patológica? ¿a quien reclamamos en las más inverosímiles contiendas físicas, lúdicas o no, que se proponen en los terceros tiempos? ¿quién está dispuesto a desplegar la ironía de su mejor humor para jolgorio de la concurrencia de ambos equipos en esas ocasiones? ¿quién devolverá una mirada limpia y regocijada cuando sea obsequiado con la más refrescante y turbia pinta de cerveza? Sí, señores, el primera línea, el soporte del equipo, el cimiento de la sociedad ovalada.


Convengo, sin embargo, en que hay otras maneras de llegar a la Primera Línea, e incluso viajes de ida y vuelta, como fue el mío, pongo por caso. Y digo también que, como gentes cabales que somos, la unidad no significa uniformidad. Pero de eso ya les hablaré en próximos capítulos de este folletón.


Carpe diem.

O'Driscoll puede largarse a Francia

El gran O'Driscoll puede dejar las verdes tierras irlandesas por la hermosa París, a la que espero acudir este verano.



O'Driscoll may link up with Cheika
By Daivd Kelly

Brian O'Driscoll has said he would be willing to consider a move away from Ireland -- but only after his contract expires following the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Speaking exclusively to the Irish Independent ahead of Leinster's crunch quarter-final against Clermont Auvergne, Europe's most bankable star refused to rule out a move away from Leinster in the future.

"I don't rule anything out," said O'Driscoll, who in the past has been courted by clubs, notably Biarritz.

With current Leinster coach Michael Cheika due to hook up with Stade Francais from next season, speculation has inevitably linked the pair to a reunion at some time.

"I did have a big interest in moving," he says of his past links with a move abroad. "I was a bit dismayed about Leinster going through three coaches in three years and I wondered were Leinster going anywhere, but Michael Cheika gave us that stability.

"But that doesn't mean you have to stay in one club for your whole career. If the situation arose, I'd certainly be open to the idea of it.

"I still have 18 months left on my current contract. I'll wait until he (Cheika) gets over to Paris and see if he wants an old, battered 32-year-old.

"I'm really happy where I am and enjoying my rugby. I'll cross that bridge but it will be further down the track."

Lomu ha muerto y ha resucitado

"He muerto y he resucitado, con mis cenizas un árbol he plantado, su fruto ha dado,y desde hoy algo ha cambiado", cantaban Los Secretos. Parece que es lo mismo que le ha ocurrido a Lomu esta mañana, que esto de internet lo carga el diablo. No es la primera vez que le ocurre, ya le pasó algo similar el año 2004.

Rumours of Lomu's death miss the mark

Rugby legend Jonah Lomu is alive and well, despite rumours of his death circulating around the web today.

Club officials at Marseille-Vitrolles, the French club where the former test star currently plays, confirmed to the Herald that their star winger was anything but dead.

One rumour, spread around the web via users of the Twitter website, claimed the rugby great passed away after suffering a heart attack in his car.

Another rumour concerned an unidentified old man who allegedly told visitors to Lake Rotorua of Lomu's death.

One Twitter user lamented what they thought was the loss of their rugby hero.
"All my childhood idols are dying. Steve Irwin, Edmund Hillary, Jonah Lomu, that guy from Jaws," wrote a user called Amemait.

The hoax is not the first of its kind. In April 2004 the veteran of 63 appearances for the All Blacks was forced to publish a message on his official website to dispel rumours that he had died while waiting for a kidney transplant.

He would eventually receive a new kidney, courtesy of radio host Grant Kereama, later that year.

Una Heineken Cup de grandes jugadores.

Este fin de semana, y parece que sin Teledeporte, tenemos los partidos de cuartos de final de la Heineken Cup, grandes equipos, grandes jugadores, emoción, rugby al cien por mil pero parece que en esta piel de toro lo vamos a tener que ver en internet o buscar algún pub inglés o irlandés.

The Heineken Cup is just getting better and better

A swift glance at the sheer quality of players in this weekend's Heineken Cup fixtures shows this season as special

Will this be a vintage Heineken Cup season? Despite – or maybe because of – the relative lack of English representation in the last eight, the answer is potentially yes. None of this year's quarter-finalists have fluked their way through to the knockout stages and you could stitch together a fantastic XV from those involved. Take, for example, the assorted midfields: Brian O'Driscoll, Yannick Jauzion, Mathieu Bastareaud, Jean de Villiers, Gordon D'Arcy and James Hook are all players either gifted or influential enough to grace any era.

Sometimes – and heaven knows it is easy to do – we forget how good some of these guys are. And, crucially, just how swiftly the game changes. Last week a panel of notables unveiled the shortlist for an ERC European Dream Team, drawn from players who have decorated the European club game in the past 15 years. It was a decent list (see below), as you would expect.

But what struck me looking down the candidates was the absence of virtually anyone under the age of 30. Barely a dozen of the 60 players mentioned will be involved this weekend. Could it be that the judges, who included Lawrence Dallaglio, Ieuan Evans, Fabien Galthié and Michael Lynagh, were swayed more by sepia-tinted memories of the great men they played and drank with, rather than the up-to-the-minute evidence of their own eyes? Or was the game – ahem – simply better back then?

Comparing eras is always hazardous. The panel are also justified in ranking flash-in-the-pan success beneath consistent achievement. But if this season's European rugby has proved anything it is that, breakdown interpretations aside, the pace, fitness and professionalism of the leading sides is superior to even three years ago.

Clermont Auvergne were quite outstanding at home to Leicester in December but, remarkably, sit only fourth in the Top 14 table. Leinster are proving doughty Heineken champions but failed to beat London Irish either home or away in the pool stages. The moral? Either the best modern sides are depressingly ordinary or standards right across the board are better than they have ever been. I tend towards the latter theory, which may be why today's leading lights do not always dazzle as obviously as some of their predecessors.

So perhaps it is time to stop harping on about how things ain't as good as they used to be. The future could be better still. It does not require much imagination to see Dan Biggar, Johnny Sexton, John Barclay, Danny Cipriani, Alex Goode and Billy Twelvetrees making a considerable impression on European audiences (albeit from afar in Cipriani's case) in the next two or three years. Maxime Mermoz, Sam Warburton, Tom Prydie and Tom Homer would all appear to have rosy career prospects.

Look out this weekend for Biggar, Sexton and Leinster's towering second-row Devin Toner. Wait and see how Ben Foden, Chris Ashton and Courtney Lawes fare at Thomond Park. Pick your likely semi-finalists (Clermont Auvergne, Munster, Ospreys and Toulouse, for me). And then ask yourself the question: if this is an ordinary European year, what on earth will a good one look like?

Shortlist for the ERC15 Dream Team XV (to be announced in May)

Full-backs Josh Lewsey, Geordan Murphy, Clément Poitrenaud, Tim Stimpson, Mark van Gisbergen

Wings Vincent Clerc, Cédric Heymans, Dafydd James, Josh Lewsey, Emile Ntamack

Centres Pat Howard, Yannick Jauzion, Christophe Lamaison, Brian O'Driscoll, Fraser Waters

Fly-halves Diego Domínguez, Austin Healey, David Humphreys, Stephen Jones, Ronan O'Gara

Scrum-halves Philippe Carbonneau, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, Austin Healey, Rob Howley, Peter Stringer

Props Christian Califano, Pieter de Vililers, Peter Clohessy, Darren Garforth, John Hayes, Sylvain Marconnet, Jean-Baptiste Poux, Rodrigo Roncero, Graham Rowntree, Julian White

Hookers Jerry Flannery, Raphaël Ibañez, Mario Ledesma, William Servat, Keith Wood

Second rows Ben Kay, Martin Johnson, Paul O'Connell, Fabien Pelous, Simon Shaw

Flankers Neil Back, Jean Bouilhou, Martin Corry, Rocky Elsom, Greg Kacala, Olivier Magne, Alan Quinlan, David Wallace, Martyn Williams, Joe Worsley

No8s Lawrence Dallaglio, Anthony Foley, Jamie Heaslip, Christian Labit, Scott Quinnell

Continental drift

Those waiting for a raft of major "marquee" signings to join English clubs and replace the likes of the overseas-bound Carl Hayman and Danny Cipriani are advised not to hold their breath. "The days of big players coming in from outside and establishing the Premiership at the level it was at two years ago are probably gone now," suggested Sir Ian McGeechan last week. No kidding. It could be some time before the big-spending French clubs lose their current allure.

Under the influence

Modesty normally forbids but it is not often one is credited with overturning centuries of tradition. A small clutch of UK-based journos were chewing the cud – OK, drinking it – in a Limerick hotel on Good Friday evening when the manager told us our trip across the Irish Sea for the Magners League fixture between Munster and Leinster had been the clincher in persuading a local judge to open the city's bars in defiance of normal Easter custom. The local economy reportedly benefited by more then €7m (£6m). No wonder our cheery host Sean bought us all a pint.

Heineken Cup: Rise of the Celtic hordes

Tres equipos de la Magners League en los cuartos de final de la Heineken Cup, sólo uno inglés. La crisis de la Guinness parece que afecta tanto a los bolsillos como a los resultados -ver el artículo de ayer-. 11 años hace que un equipo inglés no se lleva la máxima competición internacional. Esperamos el fin de semana con "Ansia en la Plaza Francia", como canta Calamaro.

Heineken Cup: Rise of the Celtic hordes

The number of close games in the Guinness Premiership is greater than in any of the world's other major leagues: far greater, according to recent statistics compiled by the people who run the tournament. Winning margins are smaller, points are harder to score, tries are significantly more difficult to come by and crowds, seduced by the brutal competitiveness of it all, are on the increase, to the extent that gates in top-flight English rugby are fast closing in on Super 14 levels, much to the puzzlement of the southern hemisphere supremacists who consider rugby in this neck of the woods to border on the medieval.

So everything in the garden is rosy, right? Wrong. For the first time since they first banded together in 2001, the Celts are the ones ahead of the game in these islands. There is now clear blue water between the Magners League and the Premiership, and the evidence is to be found in the one competition that involves everyone: the Heineken Cup. When the quarter-finals are played this weekend – the most eagerly-awaited weekend of the season for the union connoisseur – three Celtic sides, two Irish and one Welsh, will be involved. The English? They have Northampton, and no-one else. It is the country's worst performance in Europe since 1999, when, because of a mass boycott, they failed to perform at all.

The Magners League was once dismissed as a joke by those living south of Hadrian's Wall and east of Offa's Dyke. They had a point. The tournament was frequently distorted by waves of disinterest sweeping in from Ireland, where everything was geared to performance at European and full international levels, and weakened by Scottish teams incapable of beating anyone but each other. During the middle years of the last decade, there were always more English teams than Celtic ones to be found in the knock-out stage of a Heineken Cup.

That is not the case any more. Last season, Ireland and Wales both sent two sides through to the last eight, with England managing only three. This season, the differential has grown. When Mark McCafferty, the chief executive of Premier Rugby, reflects on this in public, he puts it down to a "blip", albeit a blip that must be watched closely by those on radar duty. Privately, he knows that the concentration of talent in the provincial-district-regional set-ups of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, allied to the greater financial muscle of the French clubs, is impacting on English fortunes in cross-border rugby.

Hence the stresses and strains within the Premiership community, where the likes of Northampton and Leicester feel the musketeerish "all for one and one for all" approach – salary caps, financial equalisation and the rest of it – has had its day. They favour the unfettered free market and to hell with the level playing field, arguing that while a rugby economy can go either up or down, it goes nowhere on the flat.

The French, generally the most successful of the six Heineken Cup nations, are set to grow more powerful now Toulon and Racing-Metro 92 have joined the traditional big spenders. But it is the upturn in Celtic fortunes that most alarms the Premiership clubs. In this season's Heineken Cup pool stage, English sides won only seven of 20 contests with Magners League opponents.

"As a coach, the games you welcome most are the tough, close games," said Tony McGahan, the Australian who took over the reins at Munster when Declan Kidney was appointed to the Ireland job in 2008. "In this respect, the standard of the Magners League has improved dramatically. You can see evidence of that improvement when you look at what is happening in the Heineken Cup. It's difficult to get to the back end of a competition like the Heineken unless you're able to play in different styles and handle different environments. Those are exactly the demands increasingly placed on teams in our league."

Another, more celebrated man of Munster – the grand Irish lock Paul O'Connell, who led the Lions in South Africa last summer – can be heard singing from the same hymn sheet. O'Connell was one of those who, a few years back, could be guaranteed to miss half a dozen Celtic matches at the start of a campaign. He doesn't miss them any more.

"It's grown tougher by the season and now we've introduced a play-off system that will allow teams to make a meaningful challenge for the title while contributing players to their national sides, it will only increase in stature," he said. O'Connell, nursing an injury, had just watched a Munster-Leinster derby played in front of 26,000 people at something close to Test pitch. At its best, Premiership rugby can be every bit as good. Unfortunately, it can no longer claim to be better.

11
The number of years since English clubs performed this badly in the Heineken Cup.

Peter Bills: Ofcom decision highlights financial precariousness of English rugby

Peter Bills: Ofcom decision highlights financial precariousness of English rugby

If you take heed of the cries of anguish from sports bodies like the Rugby Football Union, last week's announcement by Ofcom, the communications regulator, that Sky Sports will have its wings clipped in a financial sense over TV rights, is a disaster.

The result of a 3-year enquiry by Ofcom into Sky's domination over sports rights in British television has concluded that it is charging others far too much for access. The regulatory body announced in a report that such a position of dominance of the market and the tariffs it sets for others to gain access is no longer tenable. Cuts of up to 23 per cent have been proposed.
Of course, this has rung alarm bells in places like Twickenham where negotiating vast TV fees with BSkyB for coverage of the English game has become an assumed right. Perish the thought that a nasty regulatory body like Ofcom, more interested in the consumers and what they are being forced to pay for such a service, might come along and wreck a very cosy, beneficial arrangement.

For the fact is, even in a country like England where the population has ballooned close to 65 million and where hundreds of thousands of young people play the sport, professional rugby still cannot pay its own way. Twickenham may wave balance sheets at critics like myself and say sneeringly "Look at us; we're creaming it."

They may be, but look at a club even as successful as London Wasps, past Heineken and Guinness Premiership champions and home to a multitude of international coaches - Ian McGeechan, Warren Gatland, Shaun Edwards - not to mention a host of big name international players. A booming business? Wasps are seeing crowds down by anything between 1,500 and 2,000 each time they play. Season ticket holders are quietly slipping away, content to buy tickets for the occasional game now rather than pay for every match.
Of course, some of this is to do with the world's worst recession for 80 years. But top class rugby's struggle to pay its own way and run as a successful business long pre-dates the recession.

What has masked the problems of all the English clubs, where losing anything between 1 and 2 million pounds a season is considered the norm, has been two factors; one, the wealthy individual benefactors who have become owners and lost tens of millions collectively over the years since 1995 when the game went professional and secondly, the TV money. Without that, the whole ship would have capsized years ago.

No wonder Francis Baron, Chief Executive of the RFU, rushed to the airwaves this week to denounce the Ofcom decision and warn of the consequences to several sports, rugby included. The game is petrified of seeing a reduction in the money BSkyB will pay to the RFU for TV rights. Twickenham knows that no-one else would pay anything like as much and a reduction in the fees would be catastrophic for Twickenham and the English clubs. Furthermore, Baron's contract to pay the money to the Premier clubs has 7 years to run.

The only trouble was, the man from Twickenham was economical in furnishing his listeners with certain other relevant facts. Of course, it hardly takes a genius to see that if BSkyB are unable to go on charging their rivals such inflated fees for access to their sports rights, that loss will be passed on to governing bodies like the RFU.

But what Baron did not mention, was the amount of wasted money at Twickenham itself and, by inference, the English clubs. Consider, for example, the sum of £100 million, the amount the RFU is giving the English clubs over an 8-year period to help shore up businesses which still cannot stand on their own economic feet, after 15 years of professionalism.

And where has the lion's share of that money gone? To pay for a glut of overseas players who have come into the English game, trousered vast salaries and denied places in the English Premiership club teams to countless numbers of aspiring young English players.
If Baron is sincere about his guardianship of the game's money, why did he not summon his lawyers last year when it became clear that the Premier owners had, allegedly, conspired to divert this £100 million, intended to guarantee the flow of young English talent into the England squad, into their own private clubs and pockets.

This flood tide of overseas players has significantly reduced the number of players available for the England team. Thus, the national side has suffered failure after failure since that famous World Cup triumph seven long years ago. Since then, England has won nothing and continues to look as though they're going to win nothing for another seven years.

Yet the thought of insisting most of that £100 million focuses on the English game, doesn't occur to Twickenham. It has been happy to sit back and see it disappear out of the game in the pockets of Samoans, Tongans, New Zealanders, South Africans, Australians, Argentinians and such like.
The wailing in anguish and gnashing of teeth from people like Baron is because they can see their own profit margins taking a hit because of the Ofcom decision. No wonder he revealed RFU lawyers are studying the judgement with a view to a legal challenge. But perhaps Twickenham would do better to study its own spending habits and make savings there.
For sure, there are plenty to be made.