The News Review:
- Reddan hopes to wipe out World Cup hopes
- Mallett faces his toughest task of reinventing Italy
- Easterby ready to justify Irish place over Heaslip
- David versus Goliath? – Rugby News, Results, Fixtures and Features…
- Martyn Williams glad to perform Wales u-turn
- Scot’s bench Paterson for France opener
Reddan hopes to wipe out World Cup hopes
Ireland Online – Jan 31, 2008
?Ireland?s rugby team are the biggest side in the country, so everyone wants to talk about us and find out what?s going on,? he said. ?In the Guinness Premiership there are 12 teams so the attention we get at Wasps is narrowed down a bit. ?We lost to Munster in the Heineken Cup recently and 10 minutes after the final whistle the coaches were telling us to get our heads up. ?We knew we had to win the following week because there are three competitions for us ? the Heineken Cup, the EDF Energy Cup and the Premiership. ?It?s an interesting take on things because it means it?s not all doom gloom when you lose, unlike the World Cup for Ireland because once we were out that was it. ?But you can?t hurt yourself over what happened. We?re mentally strong and are good at picking ourselves up, so I?m expecting us to play well against Italy.
Mallett faces his toughest task of reinventing Italy
Guardian Unlimited – Jan 31, 2008
“I had one-and-a-half days in November with the squad and I’ve just had another one-and-a-half days. You can’t reinvent the wheel in one week. This post-World Cup period will be a steep learning curve but I can work with players individually and most of our top players have been playing Heineken Cup rugby during the winter, at a far higher standard of rugby than a few years ago. “Italy has got some outstanding talent at the top but we’ve got 40,000 players, not 400,000 and it is important to nurture those players at the top and it’s a hell of a step up from playing rugby in the lower divisions to playing internationals. Yes, it’s as tough a challenge as I’ve ever had and it doesn’t help that I’ve lost a scrum-half like [Alessandro] Troncon through retirement or [Marco] Bortolami. The challenge will be making the team competitive in a tough environment. “It is difficult coaching a team whose players are dispersed over the continent but no, I’m not frustrated by that and I won’t be getting involved in any of the politics as I did in South Africa.
Easterby ready to justify Irish place over Heaslip
Guardian Unlimited – Jan 31, 2008
Heaslip has been championed as a Test star in waiting and could slot in at No8, with Denis Leamy moving across to take Easterby’s place on the blind side. The Ireland hooker Jerry Flannery has appealed against the suspension which has ruled him out of the entire Six Nations. Flannery was last week given an eight-week ban for stamping on Julien Bonnaire during Munster’s Heineken Cup defeat by Clermont Auvergne on January 13. An independent committee will be convened as soon as possible to hear the appeal.
David versus Goliath? – Rugby News, Results, Fixtures and Features…
Planet Rugby – Jan 31, 2008
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As one of 13 Ospreys in the Wales XV, Williams should have already come up against Vainikolo and his Gloucester team-mates in the Heineken Cup. However, Williams missed the game at Kingsholm through injury – something that caused much amusement among his colleagues. “When we played Gloucester away in the Heineken Cup, I missed the game through injury,” he said. “The lads seemed to think I pulled out of that one, but, believe me, that wasn’t the case!”.
Martyn Williams glad to perform Wales u-turn
Telegraph.co.uk – Jan 31, 2008
” The seeds of doubt had been sown and Warren Gatland, appointed as the Wales supremo the previous month, had clocked his excellent form, not just for the Barbarians but for Cardiff Blues as well. In public, Williams insisted that his decision stood – a proud and honest man, he did not want to test everybody’s patience by instantly reversing his retirement and finding himself being accused of opportunism – but in the small hours of the morning he started to dream the dream again. Gatland realised that it was he who had to make the move and the day after Cardiff’s Heineken Cup win over Harlequins he picked up the phone. “Come fly with me” was the message and Williams did not take too much persuasion. “If somebody of the stature of Warren Gatland insists that you can still contribute and that you still have a lot to offer it tips the balance,” Williams says. “It was time to take a little ribbing from the boys and return. My ‘retirement’ lasted exactly one game – the friendly against South Africa – which I had gone along to watch and felt very strange sitting in the stands.
Scot’s bench Paterson for France opener
stuff.co.nz – Jan 31, 2008
"A lot is made of the starting 15. I look at the group as a 22 and how we will deploy them," he told reporters on Wednesday. De Luca, 24 on Friday, has had an outstanding season for Edinburgh, confirming his talent with exciting performances against Toulouse and Leicester in the Heineken Cup. "Nick has very good feet, he's confident and he's competitive" said Hadden. Glasgow flanker Barclay won his previous cap in the World Cup against New Zealand at Murrayfield in a promising debut performance that suggested he would make further progress. Scotland have not played a genuine No 7 in recent seasons but Hadden wants a more dynamic performance from his back row after a disappointing World Cup from his established trio. "We haven't used a specialist opensider for a long time," he said.