SPORTING CLICHES are often abused. Every tournament has a Group of Death and every player is weighed and measured to see if they will be found inferior or capable of…
European Champions Cup
New Year predictions: 2013
GET THE chopping block ready. Remove the ceremonial stretching-rings. It's time to put my neck on the line. The season has, so far, provided very few genuine shocks. However, as…
Heineken Cup: Winners and Losers
EVERY YEAR, as Christmas drew closer, my school rugby team would embark upon a festive fitness regime. Regardless of how much frost there was, we would work on early morning…
The French are flying in the Heineken Cup
IT'S THE half-way stage of the Heineken Cup and for the French clubs things are looking good. With three of the six pool matches gone, only Biarritz of the seven…
Hit and miss for French in Heineken Cup
TWO ROUNDS gone and four to go in the group stage of the Heineken Cup, and while some clubs are looking good others (no names, Edinburgh) are still looking for…
Options at 9 for Kidney as Ireland look to forget whitewash
THE AUTUMN Internationals are just around the corner, with the Irish tasked to banish all memories of that humiliating 60-0 whitewash in Hamilton. If you cast your mind back, Ireland…
Europe Round Two: Winners and Losers
YOU CANNOT win the Heineken Cup in Round Two, but you can go some way to losing it. After another action-packed weekend from across the continent, here and the winners…
Why the hype over France’s Gael Fickou
LET'S NOT get carried away. Gael Fickou had a good game for Toulouse in their win over Leicester on Sunday, but was the 18-year-old’s try-scoring performance really that special? Sure,…
Harlequins and Saracens pose strongest English threat in Europe
A BRIEF scan of the results from Round One of the Heineken Cup highlighted that English sides may not be as far off the pace when it comes to the…
Can Exeter’s remarkable rise continue against Leinster?
THIS TIME three years ago, Exeter were still in the RFU Championship, in the middle of a week that started by playing London Welsh at Sandy Park and finished with…