No me gustan los ingleses, y es mejor decirlo que ser hipócrita

Os dejo una traducción libre de un artículo publicado en The Rugby Blog, el original está aquí.


¿Odian los franceses a los ingleses?


Los comentarios de ayer por el entrenador francés Marc Lievremont eran extraños, pero todo el mundo parece estar hablando de la última 'guerra de palabras ". 

Lievremont dijo: "No me gustan los ingleses, y es mejor decirlo que ser hipócrita". 

"Tenemos algunos problemas con los ingleses. Los respetamos - bien en mi caso por lo menos yo los respeto. Pero no se puede decir que tengamos la más mínima cosa en común con ellos. Agradecemos a nuestros primos italianos con los que compartimos la misma calidad de vida. Apreciamos a los celtas y su convivencia y con todas esas naciones tenemos algo en común.  No nos gustan los ingleses ". 

"Le ganamos a Irlanda pero abandonamos Dublín con el apoyo de todos los irlandeses que nos dijeron que por piedad debíamos batir a los ingleses". 

Johnno no quiso ser arrastrado a una respuesta, del mismo modo que no contestó las palabras de Gatland –entrenador de Gales, antes del partido ante los Dragones.

Johnno dijo ayer, "Se trata de la pasión y eso es lo que hace el torneo. Habrá un elemento de esto en el  juego. Quieres participar en este tipo de cosas. Sí, puede haber un poco de una mentalidad de asedio en algunos chicos y, sí, me habría quedado un poco impresionado si un inglés hubiera dicho alguna cosa así. Pero todo está sobrevalorado. Esto sólo es un poco de charla. 

"Esta semana no va a ser tranquila. Habrá mucho alboroto alrededor del partido. La mayor presión es externa, pero todo se reduce a manejar las cosas bien en el campo. Nada cambia en ese sentido. Y sólo porque lo manejamos bien en Cardiff, no significa que se maneje de la misma manera aquí. " 

Giteau al Toulon, ¿Henson vuelve a Gales?

Toulon sign Matt Giteau to put Gavin Henson's French future in doubt

Gavin Henson looks unlikely to stay at Toulon after his short-term contract ends in May, following the French club's signing of the Australia centre Matt Giteau.

The recruitment of the 28-year-old Giteau, who has 91 Australia caps, on an 18-month contract that will start after the World Cup in the autumn, will leave no room for the Wales centre Henson in the Toulon starting line-up, given the presence of England's Jonny Wilkinson at fly-half.

Henson joined Toulon from Saracens last month, hoping to play regularly at inside-centre and put himself into contention for a place in the Wales World Cup squad. He is set to make his debut against Agen this weekend, after recovering from a calf strain, as Wilkinson is on England duty and the Argentina fly-half Felipe Contepomi is injured.

Giteau, who said that he will return to the Brumbies in the summer of 2013, in order to be in contention to face the Lions that year, has been signed to operate in tandem with Wilkinson. Toulon have said they will decide whether to make Henson an offer after watching him play but he seems bound to return to Britain, especially as staying with the French club would put him in danger of not being released for Wales's pre-World Cup training camps.

Wasps' leading try scorer, Tom Varndell, is unlikely to play again this season. The former England wing has been ruled out for 12 weeks after damaging ankle ligaments in Sunday's Premiership defeat by Gloucester. The Gloucester wing James Simpson-Daniel, who also suffered an ankle injury in the match, will be out for between two and three weeks after a scan revealed he had not suffered a break.

The England team manager, Martin Johnson, has released Danny Care, the reserve scrum-half, to Harlequins this weekend. Care's club, who have only one other fit scrum-half, play Sale on Saturday.

Twitter y rugby

Desde Scrum, cada cierto tiempo, nos dejan los Tweets más destacados del mundo del rugby, os pego este artículo de Scrum.


Tweet Treats - Volume XV


Back by popular demand (OK, a couple of people asked what had happened to it) is our semi-regular look at what rugby's leading names are saying on the social networking phenomenon that is Twitter.

There appears to be no stopping the growth of the micro-blogging site and it continues to hit the headlines following Wales' decision to impose a Twitter ban during this year's Six Nations. Thankfully there is still plenty of banter going on out there but sadly it crosses the line on occasion.

Former England hooker and BBC commentator Brian Moore pulled the plug on his account (@brianmoorerugby) this week having had enough personal abuse aimed his way in the wake of the Six Nations opener in Cardiff. Love or loathe his style of delivery, his Tweets were often insightful and his concise analysis will be missed.

He's not the only one threatening to down tools in the face of some out-of-hand banter with former England star and ESPN analyst Austin Healey - never one to shy away from a verbal exchange - pondering his next move going by his latest post.

"@brianmoorerugby I think I'm going to just go back to abusing people in person has a much better feel don't you think"
He's still around, for now, and crops up again in our pick of what rugby's Twitterati have been Tweeting about of late:

"Home sweet home! Good journey with just @dannycare9 and myself on the team bus back home! Nursing a small but very worthwhile hangover!"
England's Ben Foden - aka the Most Unpopular Man in Wales - reveals that the rest of the England squad were lost in Cardiff - but they left their share of the beer.

"Back across the bridge...don't know where all the lads are there's only myself and @ben_foden on the coach! Weekend off to chill!!"
Danny Care was Tweeting on the way home too - great conversationalists obviously.

"Looking forward to a trip to Rome tomorrow for the BBC team along side Keith Wood. Any words you wanna see if I can squeeze in??"
Sidelined by injury, Ireland's Tommy Bowe gets his kicks as a pundit for his side's game against Italy - but my not get invited back.

"You always get the impression watching the French that if they cared a lot, all the time, they could literally do what they like #skills"
Bath's Oly Barkley was amongst those impressed by France's opening Six Nations victory over Scotland.

"Pulling into Paris plenty of traveling jocks(not in 1st of course) loads of banter 6 nations is great isn't it"
Former England interntional and ESPN analyst Austin Healey does his bit for Anglo-Scottish relations.

"@IamAustinHealey: If hartley snaps in cardiff and kills someone gatlands fault?"Bit of sledging never hurt anyone! you should know that"
Wales legend Jonathan Davies weighs in on the verbal jousting that preceded England's victory over Wales in Cardiff with this question to Healey.

"Let's take a breath, we won. Tomorrow we'll look at it closer, let's not shoot off out mouths now"
Injured Ireland No.8 Jamie Heaslip urges his followers not to make any rash judgements about his side's far-from-impressive opening victory against Italy in Rome.

"Can someone send me the words to the Welsh National anthem? Keen to join in. What a cracking song!!!"
Former England international and Sky Sports pundit Will Greenwood gets a little swept up in the emotion of Friday night's Six Nations opener in Cardiff.

"Wow! The history, the emotion, the brilliance of those who have gone before. It is the 6 Nations. Love it. Here's to a great Championship..."
Former England captain Will Carling auditions for a return to the pundits pool with one of many updates to his tens of thousands of followers during the Millennium Stadium clash.