Where now for England Rugby?

No doubt the papers will be full of analysis of England's failure to qualify for the knock-out phase of the Rugby World Cup. There have already been some lengthy interviews with much hand wringing and talk of new lows in the aftermath of losing to Australia on Saturday evening. But let's get a bit of perspective here.

Firstly, it is only a game. Yes it's disappointing, but it's not a disaster. Australia were a far better team, more clinical in attack and dominating at the breakdown and set piece. It's hard to argue with their victory. Secondly, Wales did a fantastic job of staying in the game the previous week, pushing England into errors and eventually getting ahead and holding on to the lead. The way they defended the rolling maul in the last minute was a lesson in getting yourself organised when you know what's coming!

As for all the questions about the decision not to kick the penalty, I actually think it was a courageous choice that didn't work out rather than simply the wrong choice. I think England should be praised for putting it all on the line and Wales should get credit for defending the play in the way they did.

We all knew going into this tournament that the group stage was going to end in disappointment for one the top five teams in the competition. It happens to be England. It's tough, but there it is. Other big teams have suffered in the past. Wales themselves know only too well how it feels to go out in the group stages ('91, '95 and '07). Nothing is guaranteed. Just because we happen to be the host nation is rather less important.

I hope that any review is not a search for someone to blame and if Stuart Lancaster is to be replaced, then I hope this is done with dignity, a proper appreciation for what he's achieved, and without a sense of panic.

Why I prefer rugby

There are lots of things that commend rugby over "football" in my world, but I accept that some have yet to see the light! On the other hand this clip makes two things really clear. First , the respect the players have for the referee, and second the authority of the referee. Listen carefully and you will hear Nigel Owens tell the No.9 that he will get penalised if he carries on with his behaviour.

Notice too that neither player nor captain say a word!

This most definitely is not soccer!!

There go my Saturdays!

So, yesterday I had a meeting with a local rugby club about working with them in my capacity as a sports & remedial massage therapist and I'm starting next week! It will be quite a challenge, but I'm looking forward to it, albeit a little apprehensively.

My role is to look after the players and help with injury rehab etc. I'll also be doing pitch-side stuff. I've booked myself onto a one-day taping workshop and I've already done pitch-side first aid and a kinesio-taping course. What I hope to do is to apply my particular skill set to the role rather than try to be something I am not. I'm not a physio', and I've made that clear, but I do have skills and knowledge that I think will be really useful to the club.

The next step is to figure out what needs to go in the first aid bag and how much tape to buy! The club doesn't have a lot of money, show me an amateur sports club that does, so we will need to be careful and buy wisely.

I haven't seen a fixture list, but the first game is set for a couple of weeks time and the season runs through into April. It's strange to think that after 20 years of my weekends being shaped by the needs of the church that I've now swapped that for the needs of a rugby club! I guess that makes the last two years or so a bit of a sabbatical from weekend busyness!

I'm hoping that by taking on this role it will open opportunities to run more clinics and expand my private practice. We shall have to wait and see. What's exciting is the possibility and the thought that things are beginning to take a bit of shape. I wonder if I will feel the same way when we reach to dark cold night of mid-winter training!!

New books (and a day out at Twickenham)

I ordered a couple of books from dear old Amazon earlier this week. Tuesday I think, and they duly arrived today. One was a recommendation from the ministers' fraternal and the other has been on my wish list for a while.

Finding a sacred oasis in grief by Jeffers and Smith was recommended during the fraternal by the chaplain at the local hospice. I haven't looked through it, but I will do so in the next few days. The second book, from my wish list, was Reimagining Evangelism: Inviting friends on a spiritual journey by Rick Richardson. I listened to his talk from the Conversational Evangelism Conference and thought the book sounded interesting. A quick flick through the contents and the opening bit of one of the chapters tells me I think I'm going to enjoy this book.

And as if new books was not exciting enough we journeyed west to Twickenham for the England Argentina match. Too much aimless kicking and not a lot of invention behind very slow ball made for a mediocre England performance at best. Perhaps there isn't the strength in depth in English rugby that some would want us to think exists. The most telling moment was when the big screen showed a shot of Martin Johnson with his head in his hands.

Still with England changing their away strip to purple it meant I picked a bargain red shirt for half price!!

Another disappointing day!

As some of you know, I'm a rather passionate follower of Rugby Union especially English Rugby Union. Being an England follower since playing the game at school in the 1970's, there have been times of great excitement and awful disappointment. The high point was of course the 2003 World Cup, but there have been good times outside of that competition. 

At the moment it would be hard to describe English rugby as anything but floundering. Whilst the optimist would say that there are signs of hope, they often hide themselves behind a failure to take opportunities and incredible naivety when it comes to staying focused and doing the right thing at the right time. 

I sit amazed that highly professional players make the kind of mistakes we were not allowed to make at schoolboy level. Simple things like like not playing the man without the ball. Today, as I watched England lose another game they could have won, I was amazed to see people diving over rucks and slapping the ball out of the scrum-half's hands; seasoned professionals going into rucks and mauls from so far off-side you'd have thought they were playing for the opposition, just wearing the wrong shirt.

One day, I sincerely hope, England will again dominate the rugby world, but at the moment I just have to sigh and grin and bear it. At least it was Ireland this week, and for some reason I don't mind that quite as much as I might. As it is, 2009 is going to be another year of damage limitation. with only two matches left, it's a sad reality that they could lose both of them, and that would be a poor season by any measure.

Off to Twickenham

Well tomorrow is a big day as I get to go to Twickenham for England's opening fixture in this year's RBS Six Nations. Long gone is any expectation of England actually winning the competition, and I'm even somewhat nervous about their ability to win tomorrow, but they should be okay.

It's an odd thing, sport. I guess had I not gone to a Grammar School in the 70's I would probably be less interested in rugby that I would be in football. But rugby is the winter game I played and so rugby is the game I enjoy most. 

Anyway, I'll be one amongst eighty thousand watching to see if there are signs that last year's appointment of Martin Johnson is going to make the difference. The autumn internationals suggest that little changed in the early days of his ascension to the throne. 

I worry that those who make such appointments have fallen into the search for a messiah for English rugby rather than taking a long hard look at what has gone wrong since 2003. I wonder, has anyone looked at the successful years and compared the structure, the management, the training etc. of that era to this? I certainly don't envy Johnson his task and I certainly wish him well and let's hope they can compete. We will have something of an idea at 4:00pm tomorrow!