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June, 01st 2011 19:35 PM

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The rugby bit:

Published 2.6.11

 

You can have it if you really want it

 

Aviva Premiership final;

 

Leicester 18 – 22 Saracens

Like or loathe play-off’s they’re here to stay and although Leicester filed the No.1 spot in the table they lost out majestically to a marauding Saracens despite the Tiger’s late claw back.

 

Compiling their first ever Championship win; it was the north London Club’s first piece of silver ware since winning the Tetley Bitter Cup back in ’98 over Wasps 48-18 – those were the days when the likes of Michael Lynagh and Philippe Sella trotted out in the fez.

 

From the off Sarries piled on the pressure and dominated territory and possession, whilst running an expansive game; a trait not seen in their camp all season, as pragmatism has generally prevailed to secure solid ball thus allotting steady wins, boring as they may have come.

 

Neil de Kock won the toss over Richard Wigglesworth for who was to start at No.9 and his momentum from a ruck in the opening ten minutes prompted opposition scrum half Danny Care to concede a penalty and earn a yellow card in the proceedings.

 

The concluding penalty was popped over by the 19-year-old Owen Farrell who went on to collect six from six kicks that earned praise from Leicester and England fly half Toby Flood, who afterwards tipped his tit-fer to the young lad suggesting, ‘he’s a very cool customer’ adding ‘he played extremely well.’

 

Following the penalty deadlock, Man of the Match Schalk Brits broke away to set up James Short who cut inside and scored the game’s only try in the 29th minute - from there on in the Sarries never gave an inch.

 

Matt Stevens did enough to earn an England Saxon recall, with Martin Johnson stating a World Cup squad place, ‘is there if he wants it’ – implying he keeps his nose clean of course. Meanwhile, Leicester rushed on the big guns in Player’s Player of the Year, Thomas Waldrom for Jordan Crane and England’s Dan Cole for Martin Castrogiavanni, alas to no avail.

 

Saracens held on in this late surge and thanked their stars Flood missed two penalties, which in turn swayed all tributes to the young Farrell who has played 24 out of 25 games at fly half this season after making the switch from midfield and is now vehemently tipped to slot the 2015 World Cup spot.

 

‘I have still got a lot to learn and this is only the start for me, but I would love to get an England jersey on my back one day.’ He said.

 

With Charlie Hodgson coming into the Saracen’s camp next season he may well have to learn fast.

 

Magners final

 

Munster 19-9 Leinster

Not to take credit away from Munster, but Leinster’s legs weren’t strong enough for this game after their Heineken Cup triumph last week and Howlett and Earls’ tries along with a push over penalty try told the tale.

 

That’s six from 10 for Irish sides; four to the Welsh and the Scottish are yet to lift a Magners trophy.

 

Super 15’s: (round 15)

Lions caused the biggest upset of the weekend with a 22-19 win over Highlanders at Carisbrook. The Otago outfit looked slightly off beat all match and were out-gunned by a committed biltong munching pride who rallied two tries to one, with the winner coming on the 80th minute following a failed clearance kick from fly-half Lima Sopoaga, which resulted in a ruck from where Wikus van Heerdan bundled over/ Brumbies loss of 3-16 against the Stormers wasn’t as bad as it seemed. Both sides put up some rigid defence, with the Capetonians proving the most relentless on the day/ Up in Queensland the grins just keep getting wider, as they saw off Crusaders 17-16 with a last minute penalty. Richie McCaw was sure the ball had cleared the ruck, stating, rather democratically afterwards, ‘you throw your hands up in the air a bit,’, but a record 48, 301 crowd and the ref thought otherwise and Quade Cooper slotted the three. Will Genia and Ben Tapuai helped with tries as Brent Ward scored for Canterbury. The Reds now sit top of the ladder with a four point lead over Blues and Stormers, with the Big ‘C’s’ in fourth/ Sharks beat the Tah’s in Durban with two tries each – 26-21/ Bulls beat Cheetahs 32-21 in a 4-2 try count – Dannie Roussouw helped himself to two of those/ And ‘Canes beat the Mighty Force 34-28

  - am I still the Boks coach?

 

Top 14:

Dunno

 

Barbarians 38 – 32 England XV

With an average age of 23 you could suggest England’s pups did well against a collective 539 caps, but reality says they should have held on to win… but they didn’t!

 

Holding a 17 point lead through tries from Henry Trinder, Ugo Monye and James Simpson-Daniel the Baa Baa’s came back with assurance either side of the halves.

 

Early tries from Visser, George Smith and Joe van Kiekerk were backed up from Benoit Baby and Frederik Michelak, before Tom Johnson got one back for England then some magical work by Fijian Joe Tekori offloaded to Kiekerk who shipped it to the Edinburgh wing Visser for his second in the last minute of the game.

 

fool says:

Wales will post a more serious challenge against the Baa Baa’s this week and will win.

 

In another bout of crazy foolery fool will gun for a Rebels win over Stormers in Melbourne… place your bets

 

And Saxons will crush USA in the opening game of the Churchill Cup.

 

Some shorts:

*Steve Hansen is keen on Henry’s job after the World Cup, but insists, ‘The key priority is winning the World Cup.’

 

Steve, who has been ‘eyebrows’’ assistant since 2003 following his stint in Wales has never seen eye-to-eye with Graham, which is quite understanding considering those eyebrows, but when asked if wanted the job replied, ‘yes I do.’ Then bizarrely equated it to boxing saying, ‘That’s the reason we all put our backs in the ring.’

 

*Do Ireland have a chance in this year’s World Cup? – Great team, good squad, no chance.

 

For the latest news ‘see’ crazy fool’s Radio Show – click on red icon, top left of home page.

 

Some competitions now: If you’d like to take part in fool’s rugby comps check out the comps & results page –win a prize! – I should probably check it myself, as I can’t remember what comps are up for grabs.

 

Send your team(s) to cf.crazyfool@gmail.com – argh yes, teams, that was it - teams.

 

end rugby here!

 

 

 

Tapas & Bodega: bodega, oh baby when you dance like that… Sangria, mojito’s, plenty, plenty, plenty of wine and beer; Plus, The best Spanish cuisine in Saigon this side of Spain - Which is just to the right of Vietnam, and perhaps a little off centre of Phuket. Cracking live music too.

 

A willow the wisp of cricket now:

 


 

And now ladies and gentlemen a thribble on the light side:

 


Cynical? No

Buffered by the subsidiary form of hits n giggles, Test cricket made a rather dull comeback in Cardiff with rain, a lack of supporters and some tepid bowling.

 

All was not lost though, as Trott and Cook made run-making a habitual habit.

 

Day 1 didn’t kick off till 3.30p.m. in front of a mere six thousand. Swann and Jimmy eventually dismissed Dilshan and Sangakkarra for 133-2 before Day 2 saw the flat track prove mind numbingly frustrating for Broad as he was hit all over the shop before claiming a wicket following being dropped on several occasions amidst some firing miss-hits down the wicket.

 

The Srills ended on 400 all gone with Mahela Jayawardene settling on 112 and Broad finally snagging his wickets to become England’s second youngest to reach 100 behind Beefy.

 

Day three had Cook and Trott to the fore following Levi’s dismissal on 47 and Jimmy’s watch overnight was wiped out first thing in the morning.

 

Cook went on for bolshy 133, whilst Trott marched on for 203 and Bell 98 not out on stumps come Day 4.

 

The bowling may not have been world class in the absence of murali; nevertheless Trott’s average in Tests at 66.77 is now second to none bar the Don!

 

England remain 491-5 – 91 ahead and Day 5 looks like more rain.

 

The rain did indeed come, but thanks to Cardiff’s new irrigational system the pitch soaked up the wet and it seems the Srill’s belief.

 

Remarkably England won this game by an innings and 14 runs. Swann snagged 4-16, as the Srill’s skittled on 82 in just 24.4 overs. Tremlett and Broad took the other scalps before Levi painstakingly waited for Bell to reach his ton before declaring on 496-5 – 95 ahead.

 

Levi claimed, ‘That will go down as one of the most extraordinary matches any of us have ever played in. And I thought it was one of the drabbest at the start of play.’

 

Srill’s captain Dilshan conceded, ‘I can’t believe we did that. It’s such a good batting line-up, but we lost because we batted badly.’

 

That rakes up 4 out of England’s last wins by an innings. Bookies had 1-500 draw and England on a 100-1 win

 

As, bloke from English Cricket Club of Saigon said, ‘All Sri Lankan bookmakers report to the ICC headquarters please!’

 

*In the IPL Chennai Super Kings  claimed a 58 run win over Bangalore Royal Challengers, who it must be said didn’t really post the hyped challenge we were expecting, although it was good to see Mirali Vijay and Mike Hussey’s stand of 205, if not Chris Gayle’s duck.

 

*Pakistan demolished Ireland in Belfast in their first ODI.

 

Ireland skuppered 91 all gone in a rain reduced 31 over bout, which the ‘Stanis mopped up with ease in 27.3 overs.

 

Pakistan wrapped up the series 2-0 in Stormont on Monday with a 5 wicket win despite more resilience from the Irish and most notably skipper Paul Stirling’s 109 off 107.

 

The Pakistani’s wobbled on 148-4 but in the end cruised past Ireland’s 238-8 with help from Umar Akmel’s 60 not out and Younis Khan’s 64.

 

*Sri Lankan Upal Tharanga has been tested positive for doping at the World Cup and awaits execution.

 

*Trott won England’s Player of the Year award for a bit of the bat, but Swann thought Jimmy should’ve for a bit of the bowl, but was glad he himself didn’t because he reckons he hasn’t got any room on the mantelpiece, and perhaps should’ve won it for a bit of the bull.

 

*Whilst Warney will be immortalised in bronze outside the MCG. He fits in with 10 other ‘athletes’, along side cricketers the Don and Dennis Lilee.

 

It’s early now and… - I’m done

 

The team that likes roll mops and partying and belts and rum and temptations and feathers and Steve Finn and proverbs and coordinates and pigeons and tiddly winks and Jessie’s! And spin and the Beatles and Buddy Holly and side-show Bob and Ant and Dec and capes and japes and basketball and indoor cricket and psyche and a good rib-dig and loose ends and first balls and a good roasting, and triple tons and whoa-ha-ha’s and cooking and cradles and Yorkshire puddings…and 2010/11 Ashes, and the Gods

 

Till next week…

 

 

GTM: Probably the best set of garden and leisure furniture in the world. See the *classified section under business opportunities for more details.

 

 

Other Sports:

 

In boxing:

 

In F1

 

From here on in is not updated since fool ran out of time, however, you can knock yourselves out with a read from the archives if you’re really desperate.


 

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