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I spent most of the last couple of months in Europe watching a mix of football and rugby. In one incredible eight day span I was at Croke Park to watch Wales upset Ireland and put the last but one nail in Eddie O'Sullivan's coffin, then to Stamford Bridge to watch Chelsea put six up Derby County before Luke McAllister and Charlie Hodgson took Gloucester apart for the Sales Sharks at Edgeley Park. The next day I was at the City of Manchester Stadium watching my beloved City beat Spurs. What made the week even more memorable for a sports nut like me was the way that we were treated. At Croke Park we were the guests of the Irish Rugby Football Union and I had brilliant seats on the half way line. Add that to the craich of a test match weekend in Dublin and it was pretty good all around. In fact on Friday night we ended up at 2:30am in the VIP room of Lillie's Bordello (it used to be one!, now it's a nightclub frequented by Brian O'Driscoll and Dublin's 'in crowd') with Miss World and a bunch of her mates. Edgeley Park saw us sitting again at the half way line courtesy of complementary tickets from Magnus Lund the Sale and England flanker who is an old boy of Lancaster Grammar School. But this paled in comparison with the football. At Chelsea Mike Forde, the Performance Director, got us invited into billionaire Roman Abramovich's owner's box. Eldest son Ben and I went straight after work for an 8:00pm kick-off and hadn't eaten expecting a good feed. Unfortunately, Chelsea is very trendy nowadays and we were served a lot of miscellaneous body parts from a very upmarket Japanese outside caterer. We couldn't wait to get home after the game to a steak and kidney pie. But sitting there with the Russians was an incredible experience. Particularly when we went outside to watch the game in our plush Chelsea blue leather padded seats. There was an interesting looking button on the side which Ben encouraged me to press. A seat warmer! It was like driving a Lexus. Eden Park please note. On the Saturday, Manchester City CEO Alistair McKenzie invited us to a private lunch with Chairman, ex Thai Prime Minister, Dr. Thaksin Shinawatra. John Wardle, the prior Chairman, also joined us. It was amazing to see the combination of political Thais and old school Manchester businessmen sitting together after the lunch in the Director's Box. No heated seats but good old Lancashire hot pot and a carvery for lunch along with a great win versus a pretty good Spurs side. Not a bad week for a sport nut. And the crossover between rugby and football was highlighted even more by the news that Sunderland Manager, and ex Manchester United hero, Roy Keane, is coming down to New Zealand as part of his coaching badge assignment to study with the All Blacks. This was arranged by one of our unsung coaching heroes, Ricki Herbert, a guy I got to know when I was on the Board of New Zealand Soccer a couple of years back. Ricky is an inspirational leader and an innovative thinker. I'm glad the All Blacks have accepted Keane because there is no doubt that he has an inspirational belief and commitment rarely seen in modern day football. If he had been born in New Zealand he would have been a center in the Tana Umanga or Frank Bunce mold. He said that "I don't know if I'll be allowed into any team talks, I'll keep my head down and just watch them, try to plug into what they are all about." The idea of Keane with his head down keeping quiet is a novel one to say the least. I hope it's an inspirational beneficial partnership for both sides. |
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Last weekend I saw a lot of European rugby. The Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cups have become tremendous competitions largely due to the infusion of top class international players into the game. Kiwis are making huge impressions. Luke McAllister played 10 for Sale against Brive in Charlie Hodgson's absence and absolutely masterminded a terrific win. He was attacking from the get-go and the rest of the club are now beginning to read him and play up to his skill level. He's really maturing as a guy, and when I caught up with him after the Gloucester game he told me he is really enjoying living in the Northwest and playing in the Premiership. Mighty Munster crushed the English Premier League Leader's Gloucester led by a resurgent Paul O'Connell upfront, but more importantly by fantastic leadership from Doug Howlett and Rua Tipoki. Their work rate, defence and quick thinking finishing were streets ahead of anything ever seen before in Munster and I think could well lead them to Heineken Club Cup glory. Saracens took on the much fancied Ospreys (the Welsh National side) reinforced by Justin Marshall, Filo Tiatia, Paul Tito, and Marty Holah. Waikato standoff Glenn Jackson absolutely dominated the game from start to finish and took Saracens past the much fancied Ospreys. In the remaining Qtr Final Toulose slaughtered the Cardiff Blues with Byron Kelleher calling the shots for the full 80 minutes. We're certainly going to miss these guys this year, particularly at 12 where McAllister is maturing into world class. I'm hoping we give Conrad Smith a run there because his vision, handling skills and mazy running could really give the side a new dimension close in. We will need to be good here because England for once are coming over with a set of fast running, free flowing backs. If they bring Cipriani, Flood, Hodgson, Simpson-Daniel, Allen, Strettle and Sackey, they will be more dangerous behind the scrum then we've ever seen them. And while all this has been going on, Nigel Melville and his team at USA Rugby have been making terrific progress. We've signed Scott Johnson as our National Coach, fresh from his successes in Wales and the Wallabies. Scotty is a larger than life personality who will go down well with players and spectators in the US. He's really bought into the adventure and challenge of inspiring all Americans to fall in love with rugby and to take the Eagles onto the world stage. We've given him a 4-year contract so that he can use the next 4 years to maximum advantage and prepare for a Qtr Final run in New Zealand in 2011. We've got the Churchill Cup against England A, Argentina A, Ireland A, Canada in June followed by two tough games against Clermont Auvergne and Munster. Then we tour Japan to meet Mr. Kirwan's Cherry Blossoms in November. We'll be setting off after a very good World 7's tournament where Al Caravelli's team finished 12th in the world standings having beaten Scotland, England, Samoa, Argentina, France, Canada and Kenya during the tour. And the USA Women's team won the Hong Kong 7's for the first time. The US Eagles are taking flight.
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