Samoa sevens star Mikaele Pesamino signs for Sale

Sale have completed the signing of Samoa wing Mikaele Pesamino from New Zealand province Auckland.

The 26-year-old was the International Rugby Board sevens player of the year in 2009/10 and the leading try-scorer in this year's World Series with 56.

"This is a massive signing," said Sale head coach Mike Brewer.

"He had the choice of joining other clubs in the UK but has chosen Sale. He's incredibly quick and I'm sure our supporters will be very impressed."

Pesamino scored three tries in the Samoan XV-a-side team's 73-12 victory over Papua New Guinea last year, a win which saw them qualify for the 2011 World Cup.

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The 6ft 2in winger, who was born on the Samoan island of Upolu, has played for Auckland in the Air NZ Cup since 2007.

Sale have been busy in the transfer market this summer following a disappointing season in which they narrowly avoided relegation.

Utility back Matty James, full-back Paul Williams, props Aston Croall and Karena Wihongi and lock Wame Lewaravu are among the new faces at Edgeley Park for the new season.

The 2006 Premiership winners take on Newcastle in their opening game of the new season in September.

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Regions and WRU on collision course...again

THE Welsh Rugby Union and the four regions are on a major collision course again – this time over sevens rugby.

The two sides are heading for a showdown less than a year after the new Participation Agreement heralded in a new deal and peace broke out.

The agreement, reached after months of haggling, gave Wales coach Warren Gatland greater access to the leading players, limited the amount of matches they could play in a season, allowed for a free weekend before the start of a major competition like the Six Nations and brought in a summer international.

But also in the deal thrashed out was a clause agreeing that primacy be given to IRB sevens competitions as and when required. Wales won the World Cup Sevens competition in Dubai in 2009, with Craig Hill and Tom Isaacs, then with Newport and the Dragons, part of the squad. But they fell away again this year, part of the reason being that few leading players were available. Buy online Six Nations Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! We are covering in Six Nations 2011 Hospitality and Tickets.

However, the Commonwealth Games are being held in Delhi in October and sevens is one of the events being contested.

Champions New Zealand are the big favourites with players like Hosea Gear, who scored a hat-trick of tries in the Maoris’ win against England last month, available.

The WRU want to make a show in this competition, they don’t want Wales to be embarrassed, and as a consequence they are expected to invoke the Participation Agreement clause demanding the release of players.

The regions are aware of it and they fear the loss of top players for a number of Magners League games, especially with sevens warm-up matches planned, while the actual competition clashes with the opening rounds of the Heineken Cup.

Wales have been drawn against South Africa, also their opponents in the full World Cup next year, Tonga and hosts India in the Commonwealth Games and coach Paul John, who was in charge for Wales’ World Cup triumph, is on the road this week spreading the sevens gospel.

He began in north Wales yesterday and visits the four regions during the rest of the week.

“The sevens game is getting bigger and bigger on the world stage and in 2016 is set to be included in the Olympic Games for the first time,” said John.

“That has meant countries like Russia have really taken a new look at the sport and the IRB World Series gets stronger and stronger every season.

“We have been drawn in a tough pool with South Africa and Tonga, but it will be a great opportunity for the Welsh players to prove themselves on a major stage.

“With rugby sevens an Olympic sport for 2016 we are constantly looking to improve the standard and competitiveness of our sevens players while sevens also provides a great platform to improve skills and technical ability for the 15-a-side game.” Buy online England v France Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! We are covering in England v France 2011 Hospitality and Tickets.

Call to ban rugby scrums in schools

Rugby scrums should be banned in schools to protect children involved in a sport which is "not safe enough" for them, an expert has warned.

Professor Allyson Pollock, director of Edinburgh University's Centre for International Public Health Policy, called for the ban after research into child injuries.

The study was carried out during 190 rugby matches at five schools.

There were 37 injuries recorded, with 20 taken to accident and emergency.

The tackle was the "commonest phase of play causing injury" with the head and face the most injured body part, along with sprains or ligament damage.

Prof Pollock, one of the study's authors, said: "High tackles and scrums should be banned. The sport is not safe enough for schoolchildren and not enough is being done to protect the safety of children.
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She said moderating play may change rugby, but it was better to have a safe game than a dangerous one.

"Concussion is under-reported because it's not being monitored properly. Repeated concussions may have severe long-term consequences," the professor added, warning that teachers and coaches have a duty of care towards children.

"If youngsters were coming back from school trips with these rates of injuries it would be enough to trigger a major inquiry."

In the 193 matches played by 470 children in Scotland between January to April last year, the injury incidence during the match play was 10.8 injuries per 1,000 player hours.
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Out of 37 rugby injuries amongst the youngsters, 29 were sustained by children aged between 14 and 17 and eight in the 11 to 13 age group.
Injury surveillance

A spinal injury was admitted overnight in hospital and the 19 other injuries seen at accident and emergency were discharged without admission.

Eight of the injuries resulted in time off school. Five of those injured were off school for one day, one was off for three days, one for five days and the spinal injury caused the youngster to be "off school long-term", the research said.

The study, to be published in the Journal of Public Health, also said a rugby injury surveillance system in Scottish schools should be "strongly encouraged".

The Scottish government helped to fund the research.

A government spokeswoman said: "We initiated preliminary work around this study and we will now look closely at the findings of the research.

"While the Scottish government is fully supportive of school rugby, it's very important we have accurate data about injuries sustained on the pitch to ensure that young people are not being exposed to disproportionate risks."Buy online England v France Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! We are covering in England v France 2011 Hospitality and Tickets.

Evans forced to retire

Thom Evans has lost his battle to return to action following a serious spinal injury.

The 25-year-old Scotland winger damaged two vertebrae following a collision with Wales full-back Lee Byrne during the RBS Six Nations.

Evans was stretched off in a neck brace and needed emergency surgery to stabilise his spine.

However despite working hard in rehab over the past four months to get back to full mobility, Evans has now told family and friends that he has now accepted medical advice that he will not play again.

And former Scotland winger Roger Baird, who mentored Evans, believes the news is sad for the game and the player.Buy online Six Nations Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! We are covering in Six Nations 2011 Hospitality and Tickets.

Blow

"It is devastating for Thom because all you want to do is play top-class rugby for as long as you can, and there is no doubt he would have contributed a lot to Scottish rugby in the years to come," Baird told The Scotsman.

"It is also a huge blow for the Scottish game and the Glasgow and Scotland teams because we just don't have players with his searing out-and-out pace.

"Although he was quite late to rugby we spoke a lot about his defence, positioning and other things and he took them all on and didn't make the same mistake twice.

"He is genuinely brave and strong, with good intelligence for the game, and I could only see him getting better.

"But you also have to get things into perspective. The great thing is that Thom is able to walk."Buy online England v France Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! We are covering in England v France 2011 Hospitality and Tickets.

Wales should take time over Gatland contract

Rugby Correspondent Andy Howell believes the WRU should be in no rush to hand coach Warren Gatland a new contract beyond the 2011 World Cup IF the WRU feel the need to examine Warren Gatland’s contract position they should cast their gaze across the Severn Bridge towards English football.For it might just stop them making an expensive mistake.Gatland is playing a clever game by revealing he’s considering several offers to leave his post as Wales coach following the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.The Kiwi’s current deal expires at the end of that tournament and the WRU could let it run its course and not offer Gatland an extension, as the Union did with Steve Hansen in 2004.But there seems to be a desire among members of the inner circle at the Welsh Rugby Union to keep the highly-paid Gatland on after the World Cup.There’s a danger the public utterances of the canny Gatland will result in them panicking and rushing to offer the 46-year-old a new deal.Buy online Six Nations Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! We are covering in Six Nations 2011 Hospitality and Tickets.Yet look at the football World Cup and how teams can implode overnight; the last thing you want to do is offer a new deal now. England were destroyed 4-1 by Germany on Sunday – the culmination of a dismal World Cup campaign – and that showed the mockery of the Football Association racing to tie up coach Fabio Capello before a ball had been kicked in South Africa.The FA negotiated the removal of an escape clause in his £6m per year deal amid supposed overtures from Champion League kings Inter Milan.Inter supposedly wanted him to replace Real Madrid-bound Jose Mourinho and terror set in at the FA’s Wembley headquarters.

But the only winner was Capello with a possible £12m pay-off now in the pipeline.

Just weeks after that escape clause was removed Capello is teetering on the brink with Club England chairman Sir Dave Richards saying he needs two weeks to address the Italian’s future.Hardly a ringing vote of confidence when you’ve got two years to run on your contract.The worry is the WRU could also end up with egg on its face if it offers – and Gatland accepts – a deal to extend his stay in Wales.

Unless results improve, and Wales make a real fist of the Six Nations and World Cup next year, why would some of the powers-that-be want to keep him on?

Only one thing matters in international rugby. It’s called winning, something which Wales have lost the art of since beating England at the Millennium Stadium in February 2009.Since then, Gatland’s men have lost 10 of their 15 internationals when he has been in charge (he missed the North America tour last summer because of his Lions duties in South Africa) with just wins over Italy (twice), Samoa, Argentina and Scotland.Hardly anything to write home about – and it could get worse with New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina joining Fiji in coming to Cardiff this autumn.Let me stress, I believe Gatland should see out his current deal.Judging by some of the rugby Wales play, allied to their spirit, resilience and fitness levels, the players clearly still have faith in him as the right man to take them to the World Cup.Buy online Six Nations Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! We are covering in Six Nations 2011 Hospitality and Tickets.Wales won 10 of their opening 15 fixtures – including that magnificent 2008 Grand Slam and a home victory over Australia – under Gatland after he took over the reins following that miserable Gareth Jenkins-led World Cup flop in 2007.It could be argued Wales over-achieved during that period.But having played some magnificent rugby and erected a stone-wall defence in the 2008 Six Nations there’s no reason why they can’t repeat it, especially with the talent at Gatland’s disposal.But his overall record with Wales reads played 28, won 14, lost 14 – a modest 50% success rate.Buy online England v France Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! We are covering in England v France 2011 Hospitality and Tickets.That Gatland is a wanted man isn’t a surprise given an impressive CV compiled at Ireland, London Wasps, Waikato and, initially, Wales.But if he wants to fulfil his dream of coaching the All Blacks he has to qualify first by guiding a Super 15 team back home.What the WRU need is a calm hand on the tiller and patience in dealing with Gatland’s post-World Cup future.It’s far too early to consider it now... let’s see what shape we are in at the end of the Six Nations.Otherwise, Capello might not be the only international coach getting a handsome pay-off.Buy online England v France Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! We are covering in England v France 2011 Hospitality and Tickets.

State of the Nation - Wales

The question regarding this team is not how far do they still have to go, it's how far can they still go before the next World Cup.Let's face facts: potential though this side has and competitive though it is, this is not a team that can go on to lift a World Cup, nor is it a team that will take a Grand Slam or Six Nations any time soon.Warren Gatland arrived in the principality with a fanfare in 2008, taking a side that had been knocked out of the World Cup by Fiji to a Grand Slam in the Six Nations.Since then, things have not been so good. Of the last fifteen games, Wales have won only five. With many of this current crop hitting full international maturity and with the World Cup one year away, you'd be hoping for a better return than this right now. They've been more consistent under Gatland, they've been better-organised, in many ways more competitive across the board. It's winning appears to be the problem.Having blown a 16-3 lead at home to a rag-tag South African team, Gatland talked before the series against New Zealand about mental strength being required to achieve the first win for Wales against the All Blacks in 57 years. That was a couple of days before his side fluffed several chances to build up a significant lead and then were caught napping twice for tries that turned the shape of the game. In the second half, mentally, the Welsh fell right off it.In the second game the Welsh were better but still got stuffed by nineteen points. That's the problem once again - other teams seem to be able to find a new level to close out a win or adapt to find a winning game, Wales don't. Occasionally the talent within the team finds something miraculous - remember that comeback against Scotland - but you just can't rely on things like that happening every time.So what's to be done? It's difficult to say. New players, like Dan Biggar and Tom Prydie, are popping up and giving decent accounts of themselves but looking at the collective, the Welsh are just lacking someone with a bit of X-factor to conjure up the magic that would ice the cake Gatland has baked so skillfully.However, it must also be remembered that the June tour was undertaken without several key players: James Hook, Shane Williams, Martyn Williams, Duncan Jones and Tom Shanklin were all missing, as was new flanker Sam Warburton who looks as though he will be a great one day. Perhaps they would have provided a little spark.Buy online Six Nations Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! We are covering in Six Nations 2011 Hospitality and Tickets.
Perhaps. But what this Welsh team now needs is a big win and then some continuity from that. If it doesn't come in November, it might not come at all before Warren Gatland's contract comes to an end after World Cup 2011 - which would be a shame considering how well the Welsh have pulled together in his tenure.Buy online England v France Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! We are covering in England v France 2011 Hospitality and Tickets.

Cipriani not quitting rugby

New Australian franchise Melbourne Rebels coach Rod MacQueen has played down media reports from the UK that had reported that English fly-half Danny Cipriani is trying to get out of his newly signed rugby contract and pursue a career in soccer. The Daily Mail had reported that the 22-year-old had grown so disillusioned with rugby, after his well-publicised breakup with his English girlfriend, model Kelly Brook which had left him brokenhearted, that the ex-England international may be interested in trialling for two English Premier League clubs.
“Danny’s a little broken-hearted after the breakup with his girlfriend, but as far as I know, he’s not trying to get out of his contract”, said Rod MacQueen. after apparely receiving a text message from the player who rubbished the rumours, who is currently in Los Angeles training with NFL players to improve his footwork, before joining up with the Rebels later in the year. Buy online Six Nations Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! We are covering in Six Nations 2011 Hospitality and Tickets.

Cipriani had played 7 times for England but had since struggle to hold on to a position in the side, after narrowly missing out on selection for the 2007 World Cup, and being axed from the Six Nations Cup for inappropriate behaviour. While he has time on his side, being quite young, England manager Martin Johnson had insisted that Cipriani would not be in the equation to play for England whilst he is playing in the southern hemisphere and would therefore most likely not figure in next year’s showpiece in New Zealand. Buy online England v France Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! We are covering in England v France 2011 Hospitality and Tickets.

Panama says six-nation power line ready in Q1 2011

* Will connect six nations, 37 million consumers

* Project seen reducing power shortages, cutting costs

* Panama also working on Colombia cable for 2014



CARTAGENA, Colombia, June 24 (Reuters) - Panama said on Thursday a 1,788 km (1,110 miles) electricity transmission line serving 37 million people across six Central American countries should be operational by the first quarter of next year.

The SIEPAC line was first proposed more than two decades ago and was meant to be completed in 2006, but it has suffered repeated delays. It will connect consumers in Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala.

"All that remains is for 30 km (19 miles) of cable to be finished in Costa Rica, and then for Costa Rica's Congress to approve one more protocol," Panama's Secretary of Energy, Juan Manuel Urriola, told an oil conference in Cartagena, Colombia.

"It should be operating by the first quarter of next year."

The transmission line is expected to reduce power shortages, cut operating costs and attract foreign capital to the region, as well as optimizing the sharing of resources like hydropower.

One feasibility study in the 1990s estimated SIEPAC could trim charges for electricity consumers by up to 20 percent.

Urriola said Panama was also working with Bogota to build a separate 614 km (380 mile) transmission line heading east into neighboring Colombia, which was expected to be working by 2014.

PANAMA AIMS TO BE ENERGY HUB

"We're working on these projects with Central America, now we're working with Colombia, and we'll look to see what other opportunities there may be," Urriola said.

"We want to become an energy hub for Central America."Buy online Six Nations Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! We are covering in Six Nations 2011 Hospitality and Tickets.

Panama is one of the best performing economies in Latin America, growing 2.4 percent last year even as most of the region contracted. The global economic recovery and a $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal is expected to contribute to projected growth of around 5 percent this year.

A generation after it shed a tradition of military rule, analysts say canny fiscal management and good stewardship of the canal have made the tiny country a model of success for today's frontier markets. [ID:nN23208633]

Delegates at the oil meeting in Cartagena heard about the big estimated benefits of integration schemes like Panama's, but also that such projects were often pegged back by a lack of political will and fear by states of relying on neighbors.

Luis Fernando Alarcon, general manager of Colombia's ISA group, said a separate proposal to add electricity connections between Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile and Peru was estimated to create some $3.4 billion in savings for those nations.

But he said those governments had been too slow to take advantage of the readily available benefits from integration.

"The national benefits of electrical interconnection are a banquet served right in front of us," he said. "But due to lack of political will and lack of political agreement, the meal just remains on the table and we are not able to enjoy it." (Editing by Jack Kimball; Editing by David Gregorio)

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Carolyn Hitt: ‘What might have been’ moments for Wales in 2009/10

AND so, the end is near. A long, arduous and, at times, deeply frustrating season for Wales has been framed by encounters with New Zealand.

It began last November with a creditable effort against the All Blacks in Cardiff and will finish tomorrow with the aim of a pride-salvaging performance in Hamilton.

Seven months and 12,000 miles separate those matches, but how far have Gatland’s Wales really come?

While regional rugby travelled towards the respective peaks of European and Celtic League silverware for the Blues and Ospreys, Wales’s journey had that all too familiar two-steps-forwards, one-step-back feel.

Rugby had its fair share of front-page as well as back-page coverage too. Alfie came out, Mike Phillips stepped out (with Duffy) and Gavin Henson is still out (without Charlotte). Not forgetting Andy Powell who was temporarily kicked out (Buggy-Gate).

But what are the key moments we’ll remember – and in some cases try to forget – from the 2009-10 international season?

The Try That Never Was

In the autumn clash with the All Blacks Alun Wyn Jones almost capped an immense game at lock with a dogged 70-metre sprint into Welsh rugby history.

With the score at 19-12 to the visitors, he nicked the intercept from New Zealand scrum-half Jimmy Cowan and was on the path to the posts. But it was a solo trip.

Company arrived in the unwelcome form of All Black wing Zac Guildford who tapped down the second row’s desperate pass to a distant Tom Shanklin. Great effort, but yet another “what might have been” moment for Wales.Buy online Six Nations Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! We are covering in Six Nations 2011 Hospitality and Tickets.

Shane’s Argentine Tango

The debate on rugby’s kicking obsession peaked in the autumn as players produced the kind of aerial ping-pong-athons that Wimbledon currently favours. On the eve of the Argentina match Shane Williams reminded the world that when William Webb Ellis picked up the ball and ran with it he just might have been on to something.

Declaring his aim to “create things rather than make 60 yards with a left-foot peg down the corner”, he was true to his word.

When a straight path to five points beckoned, he eschewed prose for poetry. Stepping two tacklers and dipping under the armpit of a third, Shane led the Argentine defence a merry tango to the line.

Scooping up spilled ball, he scored another with an arcing run behind the posts. The pocket dynamo’s milestone 50th try was a rare moment of sparkle in Wales’s lacklustre autumn campaign.

Aussies Rule

All that glistened was gold in Wales’s final match of 2009 against Australia. While the Wallabies showed flair and daring, the usual flag-bearers of northern hemisphere creativity went through an astonishing 18 phases at one point and still couldn’t conjure anything from it. Disgruntled fans were voting with their feet by the 75th minute, steaming out of the stadium to seek early solace in the bars and pondering the disappointments of the previous four weeks.

With a loss to New Zealand, an unconvincing win against Samoa, a comfortable victory over Argentina and a stuffing from the Wallabies, Wales were far from legends of the fall.

Tripped Up In Twickenham

Until February 6, 2010, the Twickenham Trip was merely something Max Boyce wrote about in Hymns & Arias. In the 37th minute of Wales’s opening Six Nations game against England, the phrase took on a whole new meaning.

As Alun Wyn Jones sent English hooker Dylan Hartley sprawling, a yellow card for the Welsh second row signalled a purple patch for the men in white. Wales conceded 17 points.

Yet with admirable grit, they clawed their way back into the game with a thunderous flop over the line from Adam Jones and a sublime individual try from James Hook.

But with just three points separating us and the Old Enemy, the cruellest of interceptions saw James Haskell clinch the game for England. It was a soul-destroying start to the tournament as the losing side felt the better side.

The Greatest Game

Was there ever a more surreal Six Nations weekend? It started with the Wales Today News Flash, as a kilt-lifting Scottish fan ensured that Hawick Balls were no longer just mints.

It ended with Andy Powell taking a golf buggy for a 15mph spin down the M4 in search of a full Welsh breakfast.

In between we had the greatest Welsh revival since Evan Roberts hit the pulpit.

“One of the most amazing games I’ve ever been involved in as a player and a coach,” was how Gatland described the last-gasp mayhem that saw Wales – 10 points adrift in the dying minutes – fight back to a 31-24 victory.

As one delirious fan said later: “It was the life of a Welsh rugby supporter summed up in five minutes – from down in the dumps to ecstatic heights in no time at all!”

That Friday Feeling

Wales’s first ever home Six Nations game on a working weekday for fans turned into a tough day at the office for the players. Just like the Scotland game, they saved the best ’til last but this time there would be no Lazarus-like miracle. While rugby clubs across the nation celebrated the main bonus of Friday night rugby – healthy bar takings – supporters who’d made the effort to be there straight from work left the stadium and found it was a bit late to commiserate… or catch an Arriva train home.Buy online Six Nations Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! We are covering in Six Nations 2011 Hospitality and Tickets.

New Kids On The Block

Wales has always seemed unnecessarily wary of that sporting dictum: “If you’re good enough you’re old enough”. But after the Dublin drubbing Gatland sprinkled some surprising teen spirit over the final Six Nations game against Italy. Tom Prydie, 18 years and 25 days old, on his debut, revealed he was “left shaking” by this most unexpected of call-ups.

The boy, who had played just 167 minutes of professional rugby for the Ospreys, broke Norman Biggs’ record to become Wales’s youngest ever player.

And by the end of the season the wing was still getting more game-time for his nation than his region.

It was also the season Bradley Davies came of age, his powerful performance against France all the more remarkable following the sudden death of his mother.

Newly-capped and intriguingly named Tavis Knoyle established himself as an entertainer off as well as on the field, giving great service in the interview anecdotes department.

The chirpy scrum-half revealed the only major tour he’d been on prior to New Zealand was to Butlins “with the Glynneath boys dressed as women”.

And tomorrow youth is to the fore again as the Welsh Outside Half Factory gives Dan Biggar the biggest shift of his life.

The task of ending Wales’s uneven season on a positive note rests on his 20-year-old shoulders.

The Ospreys number 10 is known for his confidence.

The poor guy is even occasionally derided for it, a situation that could only arise in a country that still confuses confidence with arrogance.

Let him be cocky – he’s going to need every last drop of self-belief as he goes head to head with the world’s greatest number 10 and marshals his men against the All Blacks on their own territory.

After last Saturday, and indeed the past seven months, let’s see if Biggar can move Wales on to better things.Buy online Six Nations Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! We are covering in Six Nations 2011 Hospitality and Tickets.

Murrayfield accounts show rare surplus of £600,000 after turnover rises by £4m

SCOTTISH rugby clubs will be told at Saturday's annual general meeting at Murrayfield Stadium that the sport is in rude health with a financial surplus being posted for the first time under the current management board.

Gordon McKie, the SRU chief executive, reported yesterday that turnover had risen by nearly £4million to over £33.5million, which he stated stemmed largely from Heineken Cup and British and Irish Lions monies, shared out among the participating unions.
When McKie took over at the union's helm in 2005 turnover was falling, debt was rising and he insisted there was no firm grip on where the expenditure was going.
Five years on, he said ahead of the coming agm: "Great results will be announced. Our turnover is up by just under £4million, partly due to Heineken and British Lions, but also other increases we have managed to achieve in what has been a difficult environment.
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"For the first time in a long time Scottish rugby has a surplus to report this weekend, which will create an interesting dimension because we're not in business to make a profit and what we bring in by way of revenue we spend. What we want to do is break even but this year, if you forgive the expression, we couldn't spend it quick enough. Consequently, a small surplus has been achieved of £1.5million pre-interest, £600,000 or so after interest.
"Average debt last year was less than £15million, broadly the same as the previous year, though we have spent close to £1million on capital expenditure in and around Murrayfield – pitch growth heaters, new reception, car parking and tarmac, and on a central warehouse to bring all our kit under one roof for example.
"The year-end debt is slightly up but that's because last year we had the benefit of Heineken Cup ticket monies and we had launched November ticket sales, but we haven't begun to do that because we don't know about the games."
McKie did not detail how turnover has risen by £4million, but that information should come to light at the agm. Ticket sales were actually down this year on 2009, by over £2million, largely because Scotland had one fewer home match in the RBS Six Nations Championship than last year, but that was compensated by broadcasting revenues – notably the share of an improved BBC deal for the Six Nations Championship – rising by more than £3million and 'other operating income' going up by almost £3million.

Included within that latter bracket is income generated by the Heineken Cup final being held at Murrayfield in 2009, an increase in Heineken Cup participation monies and attendances at games involving Glasgow and Edinburgh, and the addition of a share of British and Irish Lions income from last summer's tour of South Africa.
There is little doubt that McKie has brought a vice-like grip to Scottish rugby's finances and has driven the debt down to a manageable level after arriving at a time when figures were causing alarm, but criticism has come from those who believe the books have been managed to the detriment of the standard of the game itself. McKie argues otherwise, as expected, and will use the 2010 accounts on Saturday to explain how his board has increased investment in international and professional rugby (by £1.1million to £16.1million), to community and performance rugby (by £400,000 to nearly £3.9million) and to 'club support and development' (by £460,000 to £1.79million), which means overall expenditure has gone up from £28.67million to £32million.
With a one-off final payment in settlement of the outstanding 20-year lease with the Netherdale Sports Trust factored into the figures, the SRU is left with a pre-tax profit for the year of £1.37million.
On Saturday at Murrayfield, however, McKie knows he can expect clubs to respond by asking for more money to be spent on the grassroots of the game while the professional team coaches continue to push for additional funds to strengthen their playing squads for tougher and longer campaigns in the newly-expanded Magners League.Buy online Six Nations Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! We are covering in Six Nations 2011 Hospitality and Tickets.

Rugby's future in IRB's hands

Gary Boshoff

What was encouraging about the past weekend’s international fixtures was the improved performances of the Northern Hemisphere sides against their Southern Hemisphere opponents.

England and Scotland in particular gave impressive performances against Australia and Argentina respectively. Even Italy staked a claim for Northern Hemisphere rugby with a much improved performance against the Springboks in Witbank. This is especially meaningful as Italy have not really been able to shed its Cinderella status since joining the Six Nations Championship – they have been the wooden spoonists since joining the competition years back.

These are important developments ahead of the Rugby World Cup scheduled for New Zealand in 2011. Add to that the performance of Wales, which though being thumped by a Daniel Carter-inspired All Black side, was way, way better than their recent performance against the Springboks. Despite the improvement, they still lost by a huge margin – this mainly due to fantastic individual performances from Carter and Joe Rokocoko. The Welsh completely dominated the first half with excellent phase play and controlled tactical moves and it was only disciplined and resolute defence from the New Zealanders that prevented them from scoring.

Levels of competitiveness defines the health and commercial sustainability of a professional sport and it is one aspect that rugby hasn’t been able to get right since the code turned professional some 15 years ago. The past World Cups has been dominated by the three Southern Hemisphere giants with England being the exception in 2003. The globalisation of the sport as well as the increased mobility of top-class professional rugby players and coaches to emerging rugby nations has had a gradual impact on the quality of the game. Some of these players have become naturalised citizens of their new countries in order to play representative international rugby and nations like Japan, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Scotland and even France and England have benefitted from the increasing mobility of professional players and coaches.

While it is important for the IRB to ensure that levels of competitiveness improve all the time, the challenge is to find a sustainable solution that in my opinion must involve the establishment of sound grassroots systems and structures to build a culture of rugby within the respective emerging countries. The migration of professionals to and from countries provides a short-term stop gap solution at best and is not the answer for a long-term competitive competition structure.

Nick Mallett stressed this aspect about Italian rugby and underlined the importance of developing sustainable feeder systems as the lack of player depth is presently the one constraint that is preventing Italy from moving to the next level of competitiveness. I believe that this is the same challenge faced by emerging rugby playing nations like Russia, Romania, Canada, USA, Uruguay, Japan, etc.

While it is primarily the responsibility of countries themselves to ensure that the right systems and structures are developed to grow the game, it is the responsibility of the IRB to ensure that the level of competitiveness between rugby playing countries improves so that rugby can become a truly global sport, rivaling the beautiful game of football.

The future of the game depends on the effectiveness of the IRB strategies to take the game to a new level of competitiveness. We will know this is being realised when we begin to see countries other than South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, England and France challenge for the World Cup title. As it stands now, rugby still has a long way to go before it reaches the desired level of global competitiveness, like in football, where any one of the 32 World Cup finalists stand a good chance of winning any given match they play.Buy online Six Nations Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! We are covering in Six Nations 2011 Hospitality and Tickets.

David Ferguson: Hat-trick of back-to-back away wins earns victorious team a place in history books

THE sound of history books being excitedly flicked through marked the end of Scotland's 2009-10 season in Argentina, with the most historic record matched by Andy Robinson's squad one that had stood unrivalled for more than 118 years.

It was in 1891-92 that Scotland last recorded three Test victories away from home on the trot, then at Belfast, Richmond and Swansea. That "record" may be a touch invidious as the international schedule has rarely allowed for three Tests back-to-back on forign soil, although Ian McGeechan still rues the one that got away in 2002, when a Six Nations win in Cardiff should have been followed by triumphs against Canada and the USA.

Famously, the Canucks denied that hat-trick in Vancouver, a defeat made all the more galling as Scotland went on to beat the USA, Romania, South Africa and Fiji that year. Scotland had only twice before enjoyed a run of six consecutive wins, home or away, in 1925-26 and 1989-90.
It is 26 years since the nation completed three away wins in a row at all, the 1984 Grand Slam team the last to experience the feeling as they won at Twickenham, Cardiff Arms Park and Lansdowne Road, with Murrayfield triumphs over England and France, and a draw with the All Blacks included in that run.

However, as Robinson, his skipper Alastair Kellock and their troops savour becoming the first in Scottish rugby history to claim a Test series win anywhere, 50 years after the country embarked on its first full Test tour below the equator, they also awake this morning to the news that they have returned to a world ranking of seventh, the highest since the official IRB rankings began in 2003.

Had Australia beaten England, and convincingly, it would have been sixth, but returning inside the world's top eight is a good measure of improvement with which to conclude Robinson's first year as Scotland's head coach.

There is also a different feel about Scotland's rise to seventh this time, because it has been earned. In June 2006 Scotland found themselves rising despite losing. While Frank Hadden's side were losing in South Africa in the summer, Argentina were beating Wales on successive Test weekends. The gulf between Scotland and the Springboks was such (eighth to second) that their Tests had no impact on Scottish ranking points, but the Pumas had been ranked well behind Wales and so the Welsh tumbled below Scotland.


Bizarrely, Scotland won their next game, against Romania in November, 2006, but fell down the rankings, again due to Argentina. Robinson will remember better than anyone why that was as his England side slumped to a 25-18 defeat to the Pumas at Twickenham, a result that hoisted Argentina from ninth place to sixth, and dropped England, Scotland and Wales back a place. It also sounded the end for Robinson's tenure as England coach.

That was when Argentina were moving into third gear in the world game, beating Italy and Ireland and losing by a solitary point to France en route to the World Cup, and an eventual third place in the tournament and third in the world rankings.

Why that is relevant now is that the IRB used the rankings from the following year to determine the seeds for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. It was an attempt to ensure teams were more accurately seeded, but was in fact nonsense. Scotland are among those who could reap the most benefit though.

The Pumas were plucked from the top seeds of 1-4 world rankings, England from the second group. England now sit precariously above the Scots in sixth with the Pumas below in eighth.

Martin Johnson's side have improved down under, but still have much work in the next year to create a team with serious World Cup aspirations while Argentina face a tough 14 months to halt a steady decline since the last tournament before heading for New Zealand in 2011.

Scotland are far from a world-class outfit, but they are improving and there were signs in the past fortnight that the sum of this squad could be greater than the products of the last few seasons. Still a relatively young squad, it is beginning to understand the demands of a new, more experienced coaching team (Robinson and Graham Steadman are further ahead in their careers than were Hadden, Alan Tait and George Graham); one that is developing a steely backbone and knowledge of how to grind out victories.

They require a more potent finish, but again signs of greater creativity and unpredictability are emerging.Buy online Six Nations Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! We are covering in Six Nations 2011 Hospitality and Tickets.

Ben Youngs and Chris Ashton lead new England to victory in Australia

It has taken far too long but the lost souls of English rugby are back on the radar. Genuine anticipation will now greet next month's 32-man Elite Player Squad announcement and knockout-stage supporter packages for the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand might even be worth the investment. If England's management absorb the lessons of a remarkable night in Sydney, a brave new world could yet open up for them.

No one, least of all Martin Johnson, is claiming England are all-conquering legends again after this victory at the scene of their greatest triumph, the 2003 World Cup final. As with the Six Nations, the Cook Cup trophy was gone by the time Johnson's team began to stir. But therein, surely, lies the key. When England abandon their blinkered obsession with pragmatism and play the game without fear, they are capable of troubling anyone.

If this boldness can be extended to selection, so much the better. Ben Youngs is only 20 but he has been the best scrum-half in the country for much of the season. Johnson should have blooded him sooner, not to mention Courtney Lawes, who marked his first Test start with a forceful effort in the second row. The management have wasted a year because of their conservatism and, hopefully, will be big enough to acknowledge it. If Johnson can find room in the elite squad for Alex Goode and Andy Saull, the outstanding young Saracens who helped England Saxons to win the Churchill Cup in New Jersey, it will be proof that a corner has been turned.

Should the coaches start to waver they need only watch again the tape of England's first Test win in the southern hemisphere for seven years. The tourists' positive attitude made the difference, their willingness to play in wider channels complemented by greater intensity around the fringes. Tom Croft, at last, was invited to play as he has done for Leicester and the Lions, and Youngs's slick pass and calm authority, and his jack-rabbit try, made an equal impression. Australia, perhaps lulled into slight complacency by their win in the first Test in Perth, were made to look ordinary, the dangerous Quade Cooper reduced to bit-part status.

The 1-1 series result will, naturally, galvanise the Wallabies. By the time England next bump into them, at Twickenham this autumn, their first-choice front-rowers will be back and Will Genia, sluggish here, will be fizzing again. There is little prospect of Matt Giteau missing another 20‑metre kick from bang in front of the posts. Giteau missed four shots in total, spoiling a performance in which he scored two fine tries and all his side's 20 points.

Ireland, the Wallabies' opponents this weekend, may cop the backlash and the Tri Nations will be fascinating. But as England dispersed yesterday – 28 players flew across the Tasman for the game against the New Zealand Maori in Napier on Wednesday, the rest limped away to their sun-loungers – it was impossible to ignore their renewed optimism.

"There was just a completely different feel," said the wing Chris Ashton, dedicating his sharp first-half try to his father, who passed away last month. "We just said we were going to run it if we could. You do get sick of hearing the same old things when you're losing but we knew it would click at some point."

The World Cup-winning hooker Steve Thompson, who is about to embark on an Easy Rider-style motorbike odyssey across the US, believes that a lasting revival has been started. "It's massive for us," he said. "We've had so many near misses and you can only go on for so long saying: 'We should have won that.' Certain people had totally written us off but we went out and showed we're not totally one-paced. When your back's against the wall you either come out fighting or you bend over. We came out fighting."

Quiet satisfaction was also written across Jonny Wilkinson's face, his 45‑metre penalty after 53 minutes having secured England their slender lead. Suddenly the 2003 final no longer seemed a lifetime ago, even to Ashton – "I think I flicked it over, I was still watching league then" – and his fellow young guns. While Wilkinson will never be Australia's favourite Pom, the boos when he appeared as a replacement betrayed a grudging respect. The fly-half is still hazy about the geography of the ANZ Stadium – "You take away memories of the game, not so much the metal and concrete" – but his place in Anglo-Australian sporting history is guaranteed.

So is Johnson's. There was no Webb Ellis Cup to lift but his satisfaction was clear. "There's a lot of stuff spoken about flair and imagination and all those romantic things you guys like to talk about but it's about pressure," he said.

Yes and no. If England stay positive, mix youth with experience and dare to continue expressing themselves, there could be more thunderous days down under in the not-too-distant future.
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O'Driscoll 'not done yet' as Irish century looms – Ireland V Wales Hospitality

Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll insisted he was "not done yet" although he admitted the "end line was in sight" as he approached winning his 100th cap for his country.

The talented 31-year-old centre is set to complete his century of Ireland Test appearances against Wales in Saturday's Six Nations international at Croke Park.

That match will also see O'Driscoll, who made his Ireland debut back in 1999, leading out his country for the 63rd occasion.

The pivotal member of Ireland's 'golden generation', it had seemed O'Driscoll's career might not get its due reward in terms of team success.

But last year he led Ireland, unbeaten in 2010, to their first Grand Slam since 1948 while the season also saw him star for Leinster in the Irish province's first European Cup-winning campaign.

O'Driscoll, whose defensive solidity has been as much a feature of his recent play as his attacking prowess, said last year's successes, which saw him inspire Ireland almost as much by sheer will as skill, had helped reinvigorate his career.

"I'm really enjoying my rugby," said O'Driscoll here on Tuesday after Ireland coach Declan Kidney named an unchanged starting side to play Wales following a 20-16 win over England where prop John Hayes became the first player to win 100 Ireland caps.

"Last year was fantastic - it makes things a lot easier when you win something that you've been trying to win for many years.

"I do know there is an end line in sight so now it's about trying to attain as much as possible in that time.

"When you win your first cap it's such a huge honour, especially at such a young age. At the start you want as many as possible.

"For the last few years, every match I've played in a green jersey, I've approached it as though it was my last.

O'Driscoll, who scored a try in last season's Six Nations clean-sweep clinching 17-15 win away to Wales, said: "I won't forget the second half of the game in Cardiff last year, when we won the Grand Slam, in a hurry."

But it was his hat-trick of tries against France in 2000, during a 27-25 victory that saw Ireland win in Paris for the first time in 28 years, that first propelled O'Driscoll to international prominence.

Ireland have not triumphed in the French capital since and O'Driscoll said: "That match against France in Paris 10 years ago also stands out because it's only in subsequent years that I've realised how big a triumph it was.

"Along the way I've been involved in some great occasions and experienced some great changing room atmospheres.

He added: "On the downside, in the early years we had a couple of bad defeats at Twickenham and I don't have great memories from the 2007 World Cup.

"I've had my low days but over the course of my career, the highs have outweighed the lows," said O'Driscoll, three-times a series loser with the British and Irish Lions, notably in New Zealand in 2005 when, as captain, his tour was ended minutes into the first Test by a controversial tackle involving All Black skipper Tana Umaga.

O'Driscoll, who regards Australia great Tim Horan as his most dangerous opponent, first captained Ireland in November 2002 when they defeated the Wallabies 18-9 at Lansdowne Road.

In the process, O'Driscoll led Ireland to their first victory over Australia since 1979.

"It was a shock to get the captaincy - I was 23 years old and didn't see it coming," he recalled. "You don't now overlook an honour like that."

Ireland V Wales Hospitality

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Andy Powell accepts Wales Six Nations squad expulsion

RUGBY star Andy Powell says he accepts the decision to drop him from the Wales squad following his golf buggy drink-drive charge.

Powell was sent home from the squad after a meeting with the team management yesterday.

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) described his actions as “behaviour contrary to the squad’s code of conduct” when it announced he was to be thrown out of the 35-man squad.

In a statement after the decision, Powell’s agent Mike Burton said: “Andy Powell has accepted the disciplinary decision handed down by the WRU today.

“Andy remains a committed professional and will now work towards re-establishing himself in the Welsh squad at a time when the WRU team management think fit.”

He is due to appear before Cardiff Magistrates on March 2 to face a charge of driving a mechanically propelled vehicle whilst unfit through drink.

Powell was arrested with a friend at a service station off Junction 33 of the M4 on Sunday morning, close to the spa hotel in the Vale of Glamorgan where the Wales team were staying.

Robert Norster, chief executive of Powell’s club Cardiff Blues, said: “Following on from the surreal finish to the weekend’s encounter with Scotland, the news of what appears to be a bizarre but serious lack of judgement by one of our players whilst on national duty is of real concern.

“Consequently, we fully accept and respect the WRU’s understandable and prompt action to address the issue. Naturally, as this is an ongoing police matter, we will also not be commenting further at this time.”

In a statement, Wales team manager Alan Phillips said: “Andy knows he has misbehaved and is apologetic, but he also knows that he must take responsibility for his own actions and accept the repercussions.

“This kind of behaviour cannot be tolerated in a professional, elite sporting environment and we have acted quickly and incisively in order to leave no ambiguity over the dim view we take of this situation.”

The WRU’s decision was also backed by road safety campaigners who said it sends out a clear message.

Ellen Booth, campaigns officer for road safety charity Brake, said: “Brake applauds the Wales management team for removing Powell from the team and sending a clear message to supporters of Welsh rugby, many of whom will have seen Powell as a role model.”

Mike Burton had earlier said the player was “very sorry and embarrassed about what happened”.

He confirmed that Powell failed the breath test, adding: “He does not excuse or condone drink-driving in any form and it was a misjudgement. He is sorry and he will face up to it.”

The second man who was arrested has been released by police and will not face any further charges.

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Six Nations Hospitality

Scotland wing Thom Evans opts to have second operation on injured neck

The Scotland wing Thom Evans will this week have a second operation on his neck before returning home from Cardiff. The 24-year-old Evans, injured in a collision during Scotland's Six Nations defeat against Wales, has opted for the second procedure which the team's doctor, James Robson, said would speed up the recovery process. Evans will not play again this season.

"Thom has been heartened by the many messages of support he has received from around the world," said Robson. "He and his mother have spoken to the surgeons and Thom has opted to undergo a ­further procedure later this week, which will enhance the surgery that has already taken place and provide further stabilisation to his neck.

"This procedure is optional and Thom could have decided to have it done at a later point, or not at all. He's decided to go ahead now and that should help with the whole recovery process. The same surgeons who performed the initial operation will undertake this procedure. Once he has settled from this procedure the expectation is that he will be allowed to return home."

Robson will travel to Cardiff tomorrow to see Evans and the Scotland full-back Chris Paterson, who is due to be released from hospital after suffering bruising to his kidney.

Evans's coach at Glasgow, Sean Lineen, said Robson's quick diagnosis when he treated the wing was crucial. "The surgeons in Cardiff did a great job but I would like to pay special tribute to Lisa Casey [the Scotland physiotherapist] and James Robson who attended to him on the pitch. They say the minutes immediately after such an accident are crucial and the work they did cannot be under-estimated and probably gave the surgeons a good chance to perform a successful operation on Thom, who is in good spirits. It could have been a lot more serious than it actually was."

The Ireland hooker Jerry Flannery will appear before a disciplinary panel in Dublin tomorrow after being cited for allegedly kicking the France wing Alexis Palisson during the Six Nations defeat in Paris. He faces a ban of between four and 12 weeks if found guilty.

The Stade Français prop David Attoub will have his appeal against a 70‑week suspension imposed last month for eye-gouging the Ulster flanker Stephen Ferris heard in London on 2 March.

Ireland V Scotland Hospitality

Six Nations Hospitality

England slip to eighth in world rankings

When the International Rugby Board started its world rankings England were the best team in the world. Six years on, they stand in eighth position, their lowest ever, proof of their inexorable decline since their now team manager, Martin Johnson, lifted the Webb Ellis Trophy in 2003.

Successive away defeats to Wales and Ireland have dragged England down from sixth at the start of the Six Nations to eighth in the latest rankings table, which was released today. Johnson has come under fire, with England winning only two of his seven matches in charge, against the Pacific Islanders and Italy, but the decay set in long before his arrival.

It could get worse. England will drop to ninth if they fail to win their last two Six Nations matches, against France and Scotland at Twickenham, but they are also only a couple of big victories away from fourth-placed Argentina. While the top three teams – New Zealand, South Africa and Australia – are comfortably ahead of the chasing pack, little separates the Pumas from the English.

 Wales have slipped from fourth to fifth after losing to France last Friday night while Les Bleus have leapfrogged England. Ireland remain in fifth, but a first grand slam since 1948 would take them above Wales.

 England have won only 50% of their Six Nations matches since winning the World Cup six years ago. Only three of their last 12 away matches in the championship have ended in victory, two of them in Rome, while their record against the major southern hemisphere nations since 2003 is dire.

 England have won none of their seven Tests against the All Blacks in the past six years, two out of eight against South Africa and two in seven against Australia, a total of four wins in 22 Tests with only one coming since the beginning of 2007.

 In contrast, England won 12 consecutive matches against the three southern hemisphere heavyweights between 2000 and 2003, culminating in the victory over Australia in the World Cup final in Sydney, a success that followed a Six Nations grand slam. In a period of nine months that year, they defeated every one of the other nations in the top 10 of the world rankings, but their fall since then leaves them unsure of when their next victory will be.

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Six Nations Hospitality

Struggling Italy need help to add back-line grace to front-five grunt

Before Italy joined the Six Nations they had a formidable team that would have held their end up in the championship throughout the 1990s. Italian rugby was rudely professional before it dawned on, say, the Celtic nations that the game was about to go open.

David Campese would spend the Australian off-season in Milan and earn himself a decent crust in a competitive Italian championship. Italy in the 90s, just as Romania had been in the 1980s, were ready for inclusion long before the Five Nations was ready for expansion.

Romania never received an invitation, and the sport that prospered under the regime of Nicolae Ceausescu fell apart after the revolution of 1989. Italy were favoured with inclusion, but it was their bad luck that when the moment came their golden generation was over the hill. They beat Scotland on the day that they entered the Six Nations in 2000, but it has largely been a struggle ever since.

Countries outside the top annual tournaments of Europe tend to choose a rugby education of brute strength up front and illiteracy behind. Georgia are superb purveyors of props, Romania of soaring second rows, but there has not been a centre three-quarter between them.

Italy, too, are muscular up front and pretty ordinary behind. They are better than muscular in truth, for Mauro Bergamasco will run and tackle all day and all night, his massive heart pounding away. They will devotedly push and heave at the scrum, and pick and drive at the breakdown. But when the ball goes down the line, their bravery gives way to indecision and imprecision. International rugby is no place to pass in hope.

There are solid players in the back line, from Andrea Masi on the wing to Gonzalo Canale in the centre, and a little bit of a dash in the brother of Mauro, Mirco Bergamasco, on the wing.

But skills and angles and variations in pace need to be tested in fierce internal competitions, and the Italian club championship is less professional than it used to be in the amateur days, if you see what I mean. The Heineken Cup tends to leave the Italian clubs flattened, although Treviso did cause one of the upsets of the season with their defeat of the French champions Perpignan.

It was a performance based on bravery and breakaway, however. Of accepting a gift or two and hanging on. Just like Italy did in another defeat of Scotland, this time at Murrayfield, or their win over Wales in Rome.

Can Italy develop a back-line strategy? Nobody is bending over to help them, with the entry of two regional teams into the Magners League blocked by Celtic demands for a cash down payment. Italy need to be encouraged, not fined.

So, until they are allowed to rehearse routines in testing conditions it seems Italy's role will be to knock everybody about and lose. They have a place in the Six Nations but only as suppliers of a fantastic weekend in Rome and lots of bruises.

Italy V Scotland Hospitality

Six Nations Hospitality

Can anyone stop France's charge towards a Grand Slam?

Be afraid, be very afraid. French rugby is stirring and a giant awakes.

It was all very well for France's reinvigorated rugby team to hammer and humiliate the reigning Grand Slam champions Ireland, in Paris on Saturday. But to receive laudatory comments from that notoriously dissatisfied body of opinion known as the French media was another thing altogether.

Thus, we can imagine that French coach Marc Lièvremont (below) probably needed to sit down in a darkened room once he had digested the words of France's great newspapers following his team's 33-10 victory at Stade de France.

"Combat Kings" L'Equipe hailed them. The magisterial Le Monde opined that: "France replied in masterly fashion to the question of what level they are at."

And the rugby bible, Midi Olympique, added: "It was their aggression and breakdown work which were the most impressive aspects of the French performance."

As the Irish captain, Brian O'Driscoll, rightly pointed out: "It was an impressive display, not just from their forwards but an all-round performance."

Since 2004, when they last won a Grand Slam, France's national team has atrophied, stymied by the kind of straitjacket tactics that are currently bedevilling the England team. This has suited the national psyche and characteristics of the French about as well as a glove on a three-fingered man. They have looked ill at ease, out of sync.

But at Stade de France, we saw a different France. For a start, there was a cohesion and balance which had not been apparent before. Forward power is a mighty weapon if it is accompanied by pace, a requisite of the modern game, and a willingness by the pack to set up the backs. Crucially, France appear to have discovered for the first time in years a half-back combination of considerable potential.

Morgan Parra and François Trinh-Duc have brought a quality that has had an ageless appeal to French teams, namely, invention. They can vary their games, which is another crucial facet in modern rugby. This is another of the root causes of England's failings. More propitiously, Parra's goal-kicking was so effective against Ireland, even from long range.

Outside them, Mathieu Bastareaud, a centre who weighs an extraordinary 114kg, could be one of the biggest stars of the next World Cup.

But to counterbalance that, France have beaten the All Blacks and world champions South Africa in the course of the last eight months. Clearly, something is stirring in French rugby and the timing could hardly be better with a World Cup looming next year.

Nor has this transformation been achieved in a nonsensical, cavalier fashion. As the Australian Ewen McKenzie, a former coach of Paris-based club Stade Français and now in charge of the Queensland Reds, says: "Lièvremont has brought a lot of younger players to the fore but he had the skeleton there all the time. He has still got some hard heads – Nallet, Harinordoquy, Pape, Servat, Mas, Jauzion and Poitrenaud – through the key positions of the team.

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Six Nations Hospitality

Six Nations 2010: France's Mathieu Bastareaud goes up against Brian O'Driscoll

At Murrayfield he confronted his demons and scored two tries, and now in Paris Mathieu Bastareaud will face the world's best centre – Brian O'Driscoll.

It will be a pivotal clash in probably the key game of the 2010 Six Nations. Bastareaud is beginning to make the headlines for the right reasons again, for which he and France are grateful.

That brace of tries against Scotland has got the French rugby public back onside – there were many who felt his recall was premature after the disgrace he brought on Les Bleus by his false accusations of an assault by a street gang in New Zealand. A command performance against the Irish would surely see all sins forgiven.

It should be a personal clash to savour at the Stade de France, the ground where 10 years ago a young O'Driscoll – 21, as Bastareaud is now – announced himself to the rugby world at large with a match-winning hat-trick of tries against for Ireland against the French.

O'Driscoll has reigned supreme for a decade since then, but you fancy Bastareaud is a worthy opponent and an individual capable of being the benchmark midfield player in the Six Nations well into this next decade. A changing of the guard possibly? O'Driscoll will resist, like all great

"Mark is a very young man and his actions in New Zealand were those of an immature young man not used to the responsibilities of representing his country abroad," France coach Marc Lièvremont said. "It was a difficult personal time for him and he paid a high price but now he has been reintegrated into the squad. He has been rehabilitated and we start again.

"Mathieu is a wiser man. He has apologised to everybody who needed apologising to many times over. He cannot apologise any more, the incident is over. He can only play good rugby and conduct himself in the appropriate fashion. His abilities have always been evident and now he is a hungry man with points to prove, which is always good in a player."

A cousin of the France and Arsenal centre-back, William Gallas, Bastareaud burst on to the scene at the 2007 Under-19 World Cup in Belfast and was always going to be fast-tracked into the senior team. A product of Créteil rugby club and humble SU Massy of the French third division, Bastareaud was eventually signed by Stade Français.

Built like a dump truck and weighing 17st 7lb with power to add, Bastareaud can claim to be the heaviest centre playing Test rugby. He has, however, surprising pace, which sometimes catches out opponents steeling themselves to tackle a straightforward battering ram, and he also possesses a better than average pair of hands, which gives him other options.

"We are going to polish up our report to Paddy O'Brien [head of the International Rugby Board's referee commission]. Refereeing is a factor of the game we can't control but we'll still try to solve the problem."

Wales V France Hospitality

Six Nations Hospitality

Six Nations 2010: Ireland recall victory over Scotland that set the ball rolling

Heaven knows what the so-called Celtic Tiger era was all about, but nothing seemed to epitomise those frantic, party-hearty, naughty, boom years more than Ireland's amazing 27-25 win at the Stade de France 10 years ago.
On a bright Sunday afternoon in March Ireland, without a victory in Paris in 28 years, conjured rugby from the gods. Brian O'Driscoll scored three tries in 80 minutes, which equalled Ireland's total in Paris for the previous 20 years, and David Humphreys, who had missed a kick to win the corresponding game at Lansdowne Road the previous year, nervelessly smacked over the winning penalty three minutes from time.

For Ireland – the sporting nation and the country itself – it was a high point after years in the doldrums and as the new millennium dawned, all dreams now seemed permissible. Much of that has dissolved before our eyes and the economy is in tatters again, but for Irish rugby it really was the beginning of something good, one of the few enduring legacies of the Celtic Tiger.

Admittedly it has not always been the smoothest of paths. Rather typically, at the time, Ireland slipped to a disappointing home defeat against Wales just two weeks after that glorious day in Paris, showing an inconsistency they have had to battle against, and further down the line the 2007 World Cup debacle remains as inexplicable as ever. But that win in Paris undoubtedly provided the emotional juice and inspiration for just about everything good that followed.

"I was just a young kid that day wearing a jersey about four sizes too big for me. I looked faintly ridiculous," recalls O'Driscoll. "I was pretty naive in many ways but that was a really good thing because I had no preset idea as to how big the occasion would be and how big the win was. That came home when you saw all the emotion on the faces of our older players.

"It was another important rugby match at a big venue but there was no baggage or fear as far as I was concerned. It changed my life though. The day we got back I went to a schools cup final in Dublin and got absolutely mobbed for an hour or so by kids wanting autographs, which was entirely new to me. Something very big had clearly happened. It was a huge boost for Irish rugby."

O'Driscoll, Ronan O'Gara and John Hayes remain in the Ireland team from that day, 90+ cap veterans who have fulfilled most of their rugby dreams, although they have yet to win in Paris again, something which is high on their personal agendas on Saturday.

Others, such as Peter Clohessy and Mick Galwey, were experiencing something very special after long years at the coalface while Keith Wood, who had just started his second term as Ireland captain that season, was inspired enough to defy serious groin and shoulder injuries for another three years until the 2003 World Cup.

Ireland V Scotland Hospitality

Six Nations Hospitality