Wednesday 30 January 2013

Six Nations 2013: Preview

RBS Six Nations 2013 kicks off in style with Wales vs Ireland this Saturday at the Millennium Stadium and starts the annual 7 weeks of high quality and high intensity rugby union. The elite of European rugby will be on show. With the Rugby World Cup edging ever closer, it is the chance for both players and teams to show they are more than a match for their counterparts. It is an opportunity for the hierarchy of Northern Hemisphere rugby to show their Southern Hemisphere rivals they are more than a match. All 6 nations in the tournament will feel they have realistic goals to achieve throughout and this will assess all the squads and their ambitions.

England:
Captain: Chris Robshaw.
2012 final position: 2nd.
Key player: Owen Farrell
Prediction: 2nd

England are, for many reasons, the most interesting team to assess entering the tournament. At the last World Cup in New Zealand they were a shambles. They entered that competition as arguably the best Northern Hemisphere team and were found wanting when it really mattered. They scraped through a rather easy looking group, albeit winning all 4 matches. Despite the unbeaten record, England won 2 of these matches by less than 5 points and in the other matches against Georgia and Romania they were tested and did not win convincingly enough to satisfy the watching public. Then in the Quarter Finals they met a below bar French team that were there for the taking and weakly crumbled under the pressure. They returned home failures.

In the years since the team has been rebuilt and is now based around players that are maybe not as talented as the squad of 2003 that won the World Cup, but they are warriors and fighters. The shining lights for England are without doubt Owen Farrell and the battering ram that is Manu Tuilagi. The latter has been ruled out for the opener against Scotland so it falls to Farrell to be the catalyst in the England back line. Farrell has had his critics but the fact he was nominated for IRB Player of the Year last season is a clear indication of the talent he possesses. Surely all good England produce must go through him. All this is good on paper but matches are not won on paper and I don't see England being able being able to overcome France in a match that will ultimately decide the tournament.

France:
Captain: Pascal Pape
2012: 4th
Key Player: Vincent Clerc
Prediction: 1st

France also pose an interesting dilemma. Everything points to them being weaker this year than last, which is difficult, but something about them just says a comeback is in the pipeline. They are always a team that everyone else hates facing because they are full of flair players and ball handling forwards that other teams, excluding the mighty New Zealand, just cannot match. Players such as Dusautoir and Mas are forwards who are more than happy to run on the shoulder of a back or break the game line and that just could be difference.

Vincent Clerc is a dynamic player who can play anywhere in the backline. He is amongst the best band carriers in World Rugby. He is certainly in the top 3 European backliners. He is going to be pivotal to any success France may have. Along with Parra and Trinh-Duc he must boss the midfield for France against the stronger nations in the tournament. If everything clicks for the enigmatic French, they will be unstoppable.

Ireland:
Captain: Jamie Heaslip
2012: 3rd
Key Player: Brian O' Driscoll
Prediction: 3rd

Ireland are a team firmly in transition. There was huge pressure on Declan Kidney to keep his job last year throughout the Autumn Internationals. He took a risk. It is still not known if this paid off. Kidney bled youngsters such as Simon Zebo and Iain Henderson and they were a revelation. There was call for these players to be the 'New Ireland' and older heads such as O' Driscoll and O' Callaghan should be eased out of the team before the Six Nations. It is all well and good saying this but even the most successful team needs old heads to keep the youngsters feet on the ground.

O' Driscoll has comeback from his long term injury lay-off and is firing on all cylinders. He is roaring. He will not start every game by any means but what a player to be able to bring on. He will send shivers down the spines of oppositions when he enters after an hour when legs are fading and so are the tackles. He is a leader and an inspirational and charismatic one at that. Ireland's greatest player. If he, and the rest of the squad, play the best of their ability they may just have an outside chance.

Wales:
Captain: Sam Warburton
2012: 1st (Grand Slam)
Key Player: Toby Faletau
Prediction: 4th

Wales' fall from grace in the last year has been well documented. They have fallen from 3rd in the IRB rankings to a current rating of 9th! In one year. They have lost 7 matches in a row since winning the Grand Slam in last year's Six Nations and there appears to be no stopping the rot. They must come firing out the blocks against an improving Ireland at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday afternoon to get the crowd behind them. Wales need to summon the same spirit they had throughout the World Cup to get back to winning ways. If they do, who knows?

Toby Faletau has been the most consistent number 8 in the Northern Hemisphere over the last 2 years. Only really Keiran Reid of New Zealand and Sergio Parisse of Italy would compete with him in World rugby. He, along with Sam Warburton, will be the linchpins of the Wales forward line. Both are more than capable of grabbing hold of a game and changing it in the favour of Wales. They have not done this enough over the past year and this really is the time to turn it on. Even if they do I fear it may not be enough and they will fall to the big boys. If their superstars in the mood they may shock a few but hope is all they have to begin with.

Italy:
Captain: Sergio Parisse
2012: 5th
Key Player: Sergio Parisse
Prediction: 5th

Italy are in the position of being a team with little overall talent, with one of the best rugby players in the world as their captain. Sergio Parisse would grace and team. He is a Number Eight who is one of the most skillful ball handlers on the planet. Despite his heroics, he is seldom supported with such commitment and ability from his teammates. I don't want to make it appear Italy are a poor team. They are just not as talented as the other teams in the tournament. It's that simple. They are currently ranked 10 in the world, just one place behind Wales, but this doesn't give a true representation of the gulf in class between the two nations. As they say, Class is permanent, Form is temporary.

As is always the case with Italy, much will be rested on the shoulders of Parisse. He is usually a catalyst for anything good that Italy do. If he is on one of his good days, he can win the battle up front almost single-handed. Their clash with Scotland will be vital as it is every year. Indeed for ever year since 2007 the two have finished 5th and 6th in the final standings. The match is usually a battle for the wooden spoon. This year, the evidence would suggest it will be no different unless one of the big boys have an off day. With an off-colour Wales likely to be open to upsets, maybe this gives Scotland and Italy maybe a hint of an opportunity of not finishing as bottom 2, but it is still unlikely at best.

Scotland:
Captain: Kelly Brown
2012: 6th
Key Player: Richie Gray
Prediction: 6th

Scotland's past year can only be described as dismal. They lost all 5 matches at the 2012 Six Nations and lost all but one of the Autumn Internationals. Albeit their one win was against Australia on their own turf. Despite the win in Australia, they humiliatingly lost to Tonga at home. This led to Tonga moving ahead of Scotland in the IRB rankings. This is not good enough for a proud rugby nation. You would like to think their shocking run in the 6 nations would end at some point but it is looking less and less likely to be this year. They simply do not have the firepower of the other nations and this can only end badly.

Richie Gray is a giant of a second row forward. Not the most skilled rugby player in the world but certainly one of the most powerful and difficult to stop. At 6 feet 8 inches and 18 stone is one of the heaviest and without doubt the tallest player in the tournament. This does not make a forward instantly good however, his reading of the game and bullish ball carrying makes his deadly. Any enterprising play or fortune Scotland have in the competition will surely be because of Gray. With rumours he is carrying a slight injury, hence his absence from Sale's Anglo-Welsh Cup match at the weekend, he must be wrapped in cotton wool. Even this may not be enough for Scotland to impact on the tournament.

This is an interesting year for the Six Nations with none of the countries standing out beforehand. The three Southern Hemisphere nations have dominated World Rugby in the last 12 months. England will maybe claim the upper hand in the build up as they have beaten the mighty All Blacks at Twickenham, and convincingly too. It is anybody's guess who may win the tournament but it must be out of England, France and Ireland. Wales are in a slump that seems to be showing no sign of stopping and Scotland and Italy will be playing for the Wooden Spoon. France are just showing enough to overcome England at present in my opinion but it will be one hell of a tournament.

MJ.




Sunday 27 January 2013

Robin van Persie: The Man With No Mercy!

It's 17th May 2004. Arsenal sign a 21 year old striker from Dutch club FC Feyenoord for a fee of £2.5 million. Nothing remarkable you would think? Well this young forward went on to become one of the deadliest finishers in the history of Arsenal Football Club and compared to the legendary, almost Godlike, Marco van Basten. This man was Robin van Persie. Despite injury problems that plagued his first 3 seasons at the club he went on to become a club legend and captain the team after the departure of Cesc Fabregas.

All seems rosy for both van Persie and Arsenal in this scenario. Except for one aspect. At the beginning of the 2011/12 season they were entering their seventh season without any silverware in the cabinet at the Emirates. For a player that is seen as one of the most lethal strikers in the world this is not good enough. Also at the beginning of this season van Persie had only 2 years of his current deal to run. This inevitably led to speculation about his future. Although nothing came of these rumours in the summer, January proved to be vital. Van Persie was the run away leader in the race for the Golden Boot in the Premier League and Arsenal were performing solidly in the UEFA Champions League, largely thanks to van Persie's goals. The opinion amongst the media was that it surely had to when, not if, he left North London to enhance his chance of winning the medals his career deserved.

The season finished and van Persie was by far and away the winner of all personal awards the Premier League had to offer. He won the PFA Writers Player of the Year and Players Player of the Year and was named in the PFA Team of the Year on top of the Golden Boot, and of course with now only one year of his deal left to run, the media storm about his next destination hotted up. It was confirmed on 4th July 2012 that van Persie would not sign a new contract with the Gunners and, if needed, would see out the remainder of his deal and go on a Bosman transfer. This was obviously Catch 22 for Arsenal. Would the cash in on their talisman or wait it out and get another season out of him and risk losing him for nothing? They elected for the former. With dire consequences.

It was a huge blow to the Arsenal supporters to lose their captain but what was to come next would wound the fans in a way none of them knew possible. The club that had reportedly submitted a bid for van Persie was none other than Manchester United. The same Manchester United that had been Arsenal's main title rivals for the last two decades and who they had build up a huge rivalry with bad blood from both sides. The only thing worse than selling their talisman to United would be selling him to Tottenham Hotspur. Unthinkable though it may have been, the speculation was very much real and it was confirmed on 15th August 2012 that Robin van Persie had signed a 4 year contract with the Red Devils worth £190,000 per week, more than triple what his contract at Arsenal was worth, with a transfer fee of £24 million. This compared to other football transfer fees at the time was an absolute bargain. When it is considered that Andy Carroll had signed for Liverpool from Newcastle 8 months earlier with only 14 Premier League goals to his name for £11 million more than this, it is almost laughable.

Van Persie would make his debut in a 1-0 defeat away at Everton the following week and score his first goal for the club in a home match with Fulham, with his first shot for the club. This was to be the start of something special. A hat-trick in a 3-2 win at Southampton two weeks later saved United from the abyss. They were 2-1 down with 12 minutes left to play and van Persie would have the last word with a stoppage time winner. In total his Premier League goals alone have earned United 8 points in the race for the title. This is an astonishing return from a truly world class player. Whether or not the signing of van Persie will be the difference in the title race between United and their arch rivals Manchester City only time will tell but in the short term it appears that Sir Alex Ferguson had pulled off a masterstroke. Arsenal's loss is certainly United's gain.

MJ.

Thursday 24 January 2013

Newcastle's French Revolution

When Newcastle complete the estimated £3 million deal for Moussa Sissoko from Toulouse it will take the French contingent at the North East club to ELEVEN. That is by far the most players from an overseas nation in the Premier League. It must be analysed why the club are so active in the French market. Is it because they feel they will get a better deal than they would for an English player of similar talent? It could also be considered that the quality of Ligue 1 is of a greater standard than ever and these players are more than good enough for the demands of the greatest league on Earth.

It is certainly the case that Newcastle have had great success from poaching the best talent from the top French division with players such as Yohan Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa being snapped up for a total of only £12 million collectively. This, in modern football terms, is peanuts. These players, along with other bargain signings Demba Ba and Pappis Cisse, were the catalyst for Newcastle finishing in the Europa League places and, for a long period of the season, in contention for a Champions League spot. So with so much success coming in from the Continental market, who is the person responsible for scouting such players. That man is Head Scout Graham Carr.

Carr was bought in under the tutorship of Dennis Wise and has been a revelation for the club since that moment. Almost every key player of the European qualification team of last season was scouted by Carr. When Carr was appointed in early 2010 the club were new to the Premier League, albeit they had only been relegated for one season, and needed sufficient caliber of player to survive. Step forwards Yohan Cabaye and Demba Ba. The latter had failed a medical at Stoke just a week earlier who stated they were not willing to meet the player's wage demands with such a poor history of injuries. This proved to be Stoke's loss and Newcastle's gain.

Newcastle will certainly be hoping that the latest crop of foreign imports will be firing on all cylinders as The Toon are certainly deep in the relegation mire. With all the 'Va Va Voom' of the French stars in the Newcastle squad, surely they will have enough to survive. Right?

MJ.
Hi, I'm Matthew Jones a History Undergraduate and Sports Journalist for an online sports magazine. I am using this blog to enhance my portfolio and also to give my opinions on all of the sporting headlines from around the world. My specialist sports are football and rugby and I like to both play and watch these sports. I also play badminton non-competitively.

Despite the degree I do at university, Journalism has become my real passion since I started at university. Having a paid job in this industry was a huge step for me as I saw it as a step on the ladder that is so notoriously difficult to get on.

I am a huge Derby County fan and despite not being able to attend matches due to university I watch every game in full. Although my huge passion is Derby I try not be biased towards them in articles as neutrality is a vital aspect of journalism.

I hope you enjoy the blog and any feedback, positive or negative, is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Matthew.