I started this blog on 9th May 2007 - exactly fifteen years ago. Back then I was taking tentative steps to re-start my rugby journey by coming out of retirement aged 42, a comeback which may only have lasted a few short seasons but which rekindled my enthusiasm for the game and which stimulated my creative juices in the form of this blog, a vessel in which I have been posting mostly rubbish ever since. It has all been great fun but, over 2,600 posts later, I have to say that I am finding increasingly that I have very little original left to say and, over the past few months, have considered ..read more

England Women's 24-12 win over France at the weekend, which secured a Grand Slam, their 23rd victory in a row and a fourth successive Women's Six Nations title, means that they are red hot favourites for the World Cup later this year. The Red Roses do look in great shape, but there is no room whatsoever for complacency. The pack does look pretty awesome, dominant at scrum time and with a scarily efficient driving line out. But behind the scrum the backs have sometimes lacked a little fluency - especially against France - and, like their male counterparts, c ..read more

Many congrats to Heaton Moor RUFC's Mike Ireland, who played his final game for the club this weekend at the age of 56, captaining the club's 3rd XV alongside his SEVEN sons in the Heaton Moor pack. To play in the same team as one son is impressive enough (not something I've managed, unless you count Touch) but seven? Amazing. Perhaps even more impressive is that there are also eight daughters - that's a complete mixed XV! Mike, who only started playing aged 41, held retirement at bay until his youngest son, Joel, turned 18 so that the boys could all play in the same team. And a 6 ..read more

Huge congrats to Leicester's Chris Ashton who yesterday became the Premiership's all-time top try-scorer. Ashton's 20-minute first-half hat-trick against Bristol at Welford Road took his Premiership try tally to 95, finally eclipsing Tom Varndell's 92-try total which has stood since 2017. Say what you like about Ashton (and he certainly divides opinion), no one can deny his almost supernatural ability to cross the whitewash.  It may have taken playing for seven different clubs in order for him to achieve the record, but it is nevertheless a remarkable achie ..read more

It would appear that Spain, for the second Rugby World Cup running, have been kicked out of the competition, having been found guilty of breaching player eligibility laws by selecting South African prop Gavin van den Berg in two Rugby Europe Championship matches against the Netherlands.    Consequently the 10 points earned from Spain’s victories over the Netherlands have been removed from the Rugby Europe Championship table and Romania will now take Spain’s place at Rugby World Cup 2023. It turns out that van den Berg was not eligible to play for Spain, having not completed the req ..read more

Huge kudos to Leicester and former England and Lions hooker Tom Youngs, who this week announced that he was hanging up his boots with immediate effect at the age of 35. Youngs has been on indefinite leave from Leicester Tigers since October 2021 so that he could care for his wife who suffers from Hodgkin Lymphoma. As a player Youngs achieved a huge amount, having switched positions from centre to hooker in 2009, going on to play for Leicester Tigers 215 times (98 as captain) and win 28 England caps and 3 Lions caps. As a family man, however he has arguably achieved more. Some ..read more

England's women may well be on the brink of another Six Nations Grand Slam as they head to France this weekend. Their record so far - four wins from four games, having scored 42 tries and conceded only twice - is pretty damned spectacular. Yes, people rightly point to the fact that they have had the advantage of being a fully professional outfit and that the playing field is hardly level, but England can only beat what is put in front of them and the disparity in resources is really an issue for the wider women's game rather than something the England team should be losing sleep over. Despi ..read more

More gloomy news I'm afraid, as I discovered recently that former Barnes Rugby Club stalwart, Patrick Crabtree, had died on Easter Monday, after a year long battle with cancer.  I can't pretend to have been bosom buddies with Patrick and it's a long time since I last spoke to him, but I do remember him as the nicest of men - and so very welcoming when I turned up at Barnes at the tail end of the 1989-90 season for my first game for the club in the 2nd XV of which he was captain.  It was nice to learn that he managed a pint at the club watching the Barnes 1st XV on the Saturday be ..read more

Sadly I still can't claim to have ever played for a Premiership club following the news last week that Ealing Trailfinders have chosen not to pursue their appeal against the decision to deny them entry to the Premiership next season owing to a failure to meet minimum ground requirements. My own personal disappointment aside (!), it must also be a blow to Ealing's players, members and supporters who must, at the beginning of the season, have had expectations of promotion to the Premiership if they won the Championship. The club may well have decided that, on reflection, they were not ready fo ..read more

Interesting minor spat between Leicester and England prop Ellis Genge and former England hooker Brian Moore. Moore had commented on the fact that, during Leicester Tigers loss to Harlequins at the weekend (great game, btw), Genge and fellow Tigers prop Dan Cole - both replacements at the time - appeared to have been trying to make points about the scrum to the assistant referee. Moore's point was that such actions were not appropriate as it looked as if they were trying to undermine the officials to which Genge, in typically amusing fashion, responded: Funny as that is, Moo ..read more