The News Review:
- Lewis to officiate at Heineken Cup final
- Guinness Premiership
- What now for Saints?
- Ulster go from bad to worse
- Stumbling Sarries still have belief insists Hill
Lewis to officiate at Heineken Cup final
RTE.ie – Apr 30, 2007
The 42-year-old will be refereeing his third European final – the other two being Challenge Cup finals in 2002 and 2005 – when he takes charge of the 20 May showpiece between English sides Wasps and Leicester at Twickenham. ‘It is an absolute privilege to be entrusted with the European Cup final’ said Lewis who is also among the 12 referees due to officiate at the World Cup beginning in September. ‘The final promises to be a very special occasion between two English teams for whom I have the greatest respect being played at their national ground. ‘I have refereed both clubs twice this year – Leicester in the European Cup quarter-finals and at Twickenham in the final of the EDF Energy Cup and Wasps in two European Cup matches’ added Lewis who has refereed a record 44 European matches.
Guinness Premiership
Guardian Unlimited – Apr 30, 2007
Wasps chose to rest two of their big-name forwards Raphaël Ibanez and Lawrence Dallaglio. Dallaglio’s replacement James Haskell was outstanding again in the back row scoring a first-half try and bringing off a tremendous tackle that stopped Seru Rabeni scoring at the other end minutes later. Whether he plays Haskell or Dallaglio in the Heineken Cup final next month will be a conundrum for McGeechan. As for Leicester they have an apparently unstoppable momentum at the moment although their head coach Pat Howard was also quick to play down any relevance to next month’s meeting with Wasps. Kay is in the form that made him an England regular in the last World Cup and should take him to France this autumn. Julian White helped make life uncomfortable for his England team-mate Phil Vickery who is shoring up the loose-head side in the absence of the injured Tim Payne. White was given the man-of-the-match award for his unrelenting work in the scrum always a cause for extra celebrations in this part of the world.
What now for Saints?
BBC News – Apr 30, 2007
How did it come to this?How can one of the best-supported clubs in the land with a spanking new stadium and a sprinkling of international stars be slumming it next season with the Moseleys Newburys and Sedgley Parks?If it can happen to Saints one of the relative success stories of the professional age in England and Heineken Cup winners seven years ago surely it can happen to anyone?With Quins the sneers concerned a club that attracted big-name players but rarely raised a gallop in the league their success restricted to the one-off nature of Cup competitions. Northampton after returning to the top flight under Ian McGeechan in 1996 were contenders in all the main competitions for several years culminating in their Heineken Cup victory the year after the Scot’s departure in 2000. Under Wayne Smith they were a top-four team reaching the Premiership play-offs in 2003 and 2004 before the Kiwi returned home to take up a position with the All Blacks. But the warning signs were already there two years ago after Alan Solomons’ disastrous spell in charge. Two Saints old boys Paul Grayson and Budge Pountney took charge mid-season but they were only spared the drop on the final day of the season by Jeremy Staunton’s missed penalty for Quins against Sale.
virgin media telephone number
Ulster go from bad to worse
Belfast Telegraph – Apr 30, 2007
Three years on and are Ulster any better off? Of course they are. Ulster supporters should not forget that McCall led his side to the Celtic League triumph only 12 months ago and the province have produced the highest representation in the Ireland squad for many years. And on a sun-kissed October afternoon earlier this season McCall’s Ulster finally looked to have cast off their European shackles and suddenly looked like serious contenders – not only to get out of their pool but also for the Heineken Cup itself. A blazing first half saw Ulster establish a 30-3 lead against three-times champions Toulouse. Yet in the second half Ulster failed to score a point failed to get the four-try bonus point and unbeknown the seeds had been sown. They had hit a sensational peak but had failed to finish the job properly and such heights wouldn’t be reached again. The good work was undone by a defeat at Llanelli seven days later in a hesitant display and after a win over the Borders and a draw with Leinster in the Magners League the Heineken Cup dream was quashed with the 29-13 defeat at London Irish when the visitors lost the tactical battle at the Madejski.
Stumbling Sarries still have belief insists Hill
dailymail.co.uk – Apr 30, 2007
Ian McGeechan the Wasps director of rugby will today startwork on setting up a friendly to give his players much-needed matchpractice. A midweek game is the favoured option with Edinburgh apossibility as the clubs share the same sponsor. Harlequins will play Heineken Cup rugby next season – ifEngland’s top clubs abandon their planned boycott and Bath do notwin the European Challenge Cup on 19 May. A Bath win against Clermont would take up the available placethat Quins put themselves into contention for with a 49-0 win overSale.