More press hype?

Was the murdered Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer the primery target or was he used as a warning to others?

It is supposed hoodlums lost a lot of money when Parkistan was beaten unexpectedly by Ireland. Would that be sufficient reason to have the coach murdered? For what benefit - punishment or to prevent him disclosing information?

To fix a match isn’t easy. It takes a number of players, both bowlers and batsmen to participate in throwing a match. Why go to all that trouble? With spread and spot betting, match fixing is unnecessary. It’s much easier to fix small aspects of a game: the number of wides bowled in an over, the number of catches dropped. Easier to arrange, and less likely to be detected.

There is a lot of speculation over what Woolmer knew, and what he was going to disclose in his next book. Without casting dispersions on the dead, he had a history of being touched by the shadow of corruption. Woolmer was the coach of South Africa when the team was captained by the late and disgraced Hansie Cronje (he was banned for life in 2000, for his involvement in match fixing - he died in 2002 in a light aircraft plane crash).

Lets assume he was murdered to prevent him disclosing information in a book he was yet to write. The book wouldn’t be published the next day, or the next week or even the next month. Why murder him in the full glare of the ICC Cricket World Cup? It doesn’t make sense. He could have been disposed of after he returned home to South Africa and the hit made to look like a robbery that had gone wrong.

Lets assume he was murdered as punishment and a warning to others. If that was what was intended, the reverse has been achieved. “Match fixing” and all the other scams have been placed in the forefront of attention of the cricketing authorities, the police and the press. If two wides are bowled in an over, that bowler will immediately be under suspicion. The murder has probably frightened off players from participating in spread betting fixes.

The murder is likely not to be associated with match fixing or spread betting. One thing that can be said with confidence, no England player can be accused of corruption - they are so bad, there’s no need for them to throw a match.

France 2007 RBS Six Nations Rugby Champions

Five weekends and fifteen games later, it’s all over and France is the 2007 RBS Six Nations Rugby Champions.

But what a final Super Saturday, with three teams fighting for the title. First into the ring was Ireland vs. Italy in Rome; they had to win by a large margin to put the championship out of French reach. With 80 minutes up, instead of being contented with the margin they had Ireland went for another try, only to fail and see Italy score a try, making the final score Italy 24 - 51 Ireland. The gauntlet had been thrown down; France would have to beat Scotland by 24 clear points to win the championship.

France looked to be cruising easily towards to a well deserved Championship. Then in the last few minutes of the game Scotland scored a try to reduce the margin to 20 points and give Ireland the Championship. We then saw a sustained French effort - with 80 minutes up, they had to ensure the ball remained in play and score a try. Under the pile of bodies on the right, is the French hero Elvis Vermeulen scoring the try which gave France the Championship.





All eyes then turned to Cardiff for the Wales vs. England match. England could still win the championship if they beat Wales by 54 clear points. Not a realistic possibility, and even less so when Wales went 15 to nil up.



In Wednesday’s blog I unfortunately said, Shane Williams had the opportunity to make himself Prince of Wales - I must have put a jinx on him. He did his normal electric runs, but instead of passing the ball for what would have been certain tries he held on hoping to score himself. As a result, at half time instead of being well out of reach Wales were only 3 points ahead.


But another Prince of Wales was crowned. With a contribution of 22 points James Hook was magnificent as indeed were the Welsh pack.










At the end, but to the relief of the Welsh Nation and particularly the Welsh Coach Gareth Jenkins, Wales won 27 - 18, avoiding the Wooden Spoon.









The Welsh fans were overjoyed, you would have thought they had won the championship, not narrowly missed finishing up with the wooden spoon






At the end of the day, in an empty stadium the French team was presented with the trophy.











Now we look forward to September & October and the World Cup.

Six Nations Rugby Championship - 2nd Weekend

Today England is playing Italy, and Scotland playing Wales. Tomorrow Ireland is playing France.

The Italians like playing with the sun on their backs, so the cold winter weather of the last four days would not be to their liking. After last weeks game against Scotland, the English supporters were singing the praise of their team. But really the Scots were so weak; no concrete evidence of a recovery can be taken from the game. It will not be until 24th February when they play Ireland that the strength of the English team can be measured. Unless England beat Italy by a margin of over 30 points, it will be seen as a poor performance.

Wales should beat Scotland, but they are still weakened by injuries. After last weeks defeat Scotland will be playing for their pride. Whoever loses today their season will be over, and it will also dent their confidence leading up to the World Cup, to be played later this year.

Tomorrows game is really juice, both Ireland and France have the potential to not only win the Championship but achieve the Grand Slam (winning all their games).They are also the two Northern Hemisphere teams who have the capabilities to challenge, if not New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. Ireland have suffered a big blow losing their captain Brian O’Driscoll due to injury. The French like the Italians play their best rugby when they have the sun on their backs. Its finely balanced, hopefully its going to be an open running game.

It's going to be a tense afternoon watching Wales, but first the England vs Italy game.

Did you hear that thump; it was England falling to ground after spending last week in dreamland.

It was as if there was an invisible wall at the Italian 10 metre line through which England could not pass. They had to wait 35 minutes before they got into the Italian 22. Up to that point Wilkinson had kicked penalties at the 3rd, 14th and 24th minute. On the 37th minute Italian forward Marco Portola was sin binned for 10 minutes. In the 39th minute Jason Robinson went over in the corner for a try, which Wilkinson failed to convert, making the half time score England 14 - 0 Italy.

Fifteen minutes into the second half Wilkinson put over another penalty. Virtually all the play in the second half took place in the English half. The Italian pack had full control of the game, and England looked devoid of ideas. Italy got their reward in the 65 minutes with a try under the posts. In the 73rd minute Wilkinson put over his fifth penalty, to make the final score England 20 - 7 Italy.

Two statistics say it all, in the second half Italy had 75% of the possession and territory. Though they won, this was a reality call for England, last week’s performance was a false dawn, in reality they have made little progress since their Autumn Internationals dismal performances.

In the other game of the afternoon Scotland started strong with Wales conceding penalties at the 5th & 18th minute. Wales got a penalty back at the 24th minute to make the score Scotland 6 - 3 Wales. Scotland got a further penalty in the 36th minute, with Stephen Jones putting over a penalty just before half time to make the score Scotland 9 - 6 Wales.

In the second half Wales lost control of their own lineout and Scotland dominated possession. However even when Wales were reduced to fourteen men in the 57th minute with the sin binning of Rhys Thomas Scotland failed to score a try. In the second half Scotland scored 4 penalties to Wales’s one, making the final score Scotland 21 - 9 Wales.

The win will give Scotland confidence for their match against Italy in two weeks, while Wales are left to lick their wounds and pray for inspiration for their visit to Paris.

Wales vs. Ireland

Wales own Barbie Doll Katherine Jenkins set the scene with her rendition of the Welsh National Anthem. But within 45 seconds of the start of the game Welsh feet were brought back to ground with an Irish try. Given such a start in previous seasons the Welsh spirit might have dropped. But not with this team. The forwards in particular put on a demonstration of fast movement and ball handling which was rewarded by three penalties. Even though Wales dominated the play the Irish backs always looked that they had the potential to break through the Welsh defence. This came in the 32nd minute with a try in the corner by O’Driscoll, converted by O’Gara. The score remained at Wales 9 - 12 Ireland at half time.

Within two minutes of the start of the second half Czekaj following a grubber kick was tackled without the ball. Surely a penalty try or at least a penalty, but the referee inexplicably gave a scrum in Ireland’s favour. There then followed an exhibition of rugby which was a showcase for the sport. Wales did everything but score. But as in the first half, the threat of an Irish breakthrough was always present, and true to form in the 71st minute O’Gara scored a try in the corner which he converted. Despite all Welsh efforts the score remained Wales 9 - 19 Ireland.

As Welsh supporter I can honestly say I am not disappointed by the Welsh effort. The pack played their hearts out, Peel once again demonstrated he is the No1 Inside Half in the World. The only question mark is against Stephen Jones the Welsh Captain - can he retain the Outside Half slot, is he capable of making the breaks necessary to unleash the Welsh backs? The fact he is the Captain might be the only reason he retains his place.

If Ireland keep their heads they can go on to win the Triple Crown and possibly the Grand Slam.

Next weekend its:

England vs. Italy
Scotland vs. Wales
Ireland vs. France