Rugby Mad Blog

For some time, I’ve been meaning to give my rugby photography site a bit of a fresh coat of paint. Plus, the way the site was put together was a little archaic, so I’ve taken the opportunity to do it the right way, adhering to Web Standards, which should make it faster to load, easier to use and generally more accessible to a wider range of readers. It should also work nicely on your mobile phone, if you have internets on it!

So, out with the old:

[outdated look and feel]

And in with the new!

[nice shiny new clothes]

On other notes, I see Danny Grewcock has lost his appeal against the six week ban he received for punching during the ECC Final. This rules him out of all the England RWC warmup games, and the first few fixtures of the tournament. Brian Ashton has said he can’t name a banned player in his 30-man squad, so Grewcock really has let another moment of madness ruin his chances at a last World Cup place for him.

I’m also pleased with the new format for the Anglo-Welsh Cup. To be honest, I was getting a bit sick of Saracens always having to play Wasps and London Irish in their group, seeing as we meet them regularly in the Premiership. So it will make a great change to be able to see Leeds, Bristol and Llanelli Scarlets this time round.

Unfortunately, Watford was deluged with heavy rain on Sunday, so the game between Saracens and Glasgow Warriors was a very wet affair. I felt really sorry for all the guys having to run around in such atrocious conditions. Thankfully, my bit of the stand was undercover, so I never got a soaking.

Sarries were a bit crap during the first half, and went in at the break with fewer points than Glasgow.

The Gaffer must have had strong words with the boys while he was dishing out the oranges in the changing room, as Sarries came out in the second half and played with much more shape and determination. They scored two penalty tries during the match, which is quite unusual. And Kevin Yates went over the whitewash for the second week running, again under a huge pile of bodies from a drive (see below)

That game brings up the big 50 for rugbypix.com, the time has flown by since I went to my first game in February 2004!

Let’s hope next weekend’s trip to Narbonne isn’t as wet. Pity I won’t be going along too, but I should be back watching England vs the All Blacks on 5th November.

Andy Farrell finally made his first start in Premiership Rugby Union at the weekend, in Saracens game against London Irish in the EDF Energy Cup (formerly Powergen Cup). Unfortunately, he didn’t really set the park on fire – partly perhaps because of the heavy downpours which occurred during the game. Saracens lost 24-36, and never really looked like they were bossing the game. I wasn’t too worried to begin with, as we scored a couple of penatlies, and even at 12-12, I thought we were still in with a chance.

But then a couple of silly errors gifted Irish two tries (Richie Rees charged down a clearance kick by Glen Jackson (left) to put the ball down) and it all kind of slid away from them.

I must admit that Dave Seymour looked far more lively when he came on as a replacement for Farrell in the second half – and made an immediate impact with sniping at rucks and making a couple of huge tackles. Obviously, it’s early days for Andy, but I do hope he can get into his stride sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile, boss Alan Gaffney insists Farrell should stay at Six. And Jeff Probyn wonders if it’s too late to teach an old dog new tricks.

Here’s a picture of Farrell in Saracens’ away colours, talking to Scrum Half Mosese Rauluni during one of the first scrums of the game.

See more pictures from this game.

Sarries face Cardiff Blues next weekend in their next EDF Cup pool game. Scary, as the Blues stuffed Wasps this past weekend. We need to get the home crowd cheering the boys on!

Newly-promoted Bristol surprised everybody (and themselves!) by beating Wasps at the weekend, to go top of the Guinness Premiership.

And there they will remain for a couple of weeks while the clubs have a fortnight of Anglo-Welsh Cup hiatus during the next two weekends.

Saracens, meanwhile, are floating in 9th place, (a familiar position from last season), after their loss to the Sharks on Friday evening.

They are away to London Irish this coming weekend, then host Cardiff Blues at Vicarage Road on 8th October. I plan to be at both matches, so there should be some new images on rugbypix.com in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, here’s a photo from Saracens’ home game against Bristol from last season, a bit of a muddy affair from memory.

Andy Gomarsall has also been on the move again, signing with Quins until the end of the season, after being unceremoniously dropped by Worcester, one year into a 3-year contract.

Here’s a photo of him at the 2005 Scrum In The Park England training session, with Sevens coach Mike Friday.

And I forgot to add them earlier, but a small selection of my photos from the London Double Header are now on Flickr.

Andy Farrell finally played a game of Rugby Union on Monday, starting for Saracens A in their game against NEC Harlequins. After such an injury-strewn year, he must have been hugely relieved, and perhaps proved it’s been worth the wait, scoring a try on his maiden outing.

All fingers, toes and eyes crossed for his run of fitness to continue. Sarries are starting him at 6, although they think he might play at centre too.

And I notice today that Sarries have just signed another Scrum Half, Neil de Kock, from SA’s Western Province. After their slightly disappointing draw against Bristol last weekend, let’s hope they can get their first home win of the season this Sunday, against Newcastle.

The Falcons will be without Jonny again, who’s done himself another mischief, this time in the right knee department. He did the same thing to his left knee last year and it was 9 weeks on the sidelines, so I doubt he’ll be in the running for the Autumn Internationals. If you thought Farrell’s catalogue of injuries was bad, Jonny just takes the biscuit! A speedy recovery to him!

Meanwhile, here’s one of the few pictures I have of him running about! Taken in December 2004 when the Falcons visited Vicarage Road for a Zurich Premiership match.

The season kicked off in style on Saturday at Twickenham, with the London Double Header and 51,000+ fans shouting for their team. That’s one thing I love about Rugby – get the fans of say, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and West Ham packed together all over a stadium, and there would be chaos. But the four Premiership London rugby clubs can enjoy a day out at HQ with friendly rivalry, banter, singing and some silly mascot challenges on the pitch, without a hint of aggro.

Anyway, on to the games. They were both close. Quins were unlucky to go down by one point to London Irish, 20-19. There seemed to be a lot of kicking going on in that game. The weather had threatened a downpour, but it didn’t actually rain much at all. Just very windy – maybe their game plan had been biased for the wet and they were surprised when it stayed dry!

That’s a taster for the game, you can see more from the Irish v Quins match on my dedicated rugby photography site.

As for Saracens vs Wasps, Sarries went down by 2 points in the end, after having lead by a point at the break. Another kicking-heavy game, but there were a few tries scored – sadly for me, too many by Wasps!

Saracens played some of our new boys, notably Argentinian Winger Tomas de Vedia and Italian Hooker Fabio Ongaro. Here’s a photo of our new-look Fabio Front Row:

There’s more from the Sarries vs Wasps match, plus loads of others, at rugbypix.com.

As for the other matches over the weekend, Bristol gave Worcester a walloping. Sarries are away at Bristol next weekend – eek! Newcastle went down to Northampton, and Bath lost to Gloucester. The positive out of that match was Danny Grewcock scoring two tries! He’s obviously raring to go this season, which is great news for Bath and England.

Mr Farrell’s training is coming along nicely, apparently. He’s been in full contact sessions with his team mates as well as hitting the tackle bags. But the boss Alan Gaffney says he won’t be ready until the Brisol game on 10th September. Pity, I was looking forward to seeing him run out at Twickenham in a week’s time. Oh well. Hilly’s also making great progress, and might be back on the park by the end of October.

Also, the coaching changes at HQ may possibly tempt Jason Billy Whizz Robinson out of international retirement. He’s certainly been flying for Sale at the end of last season. And if he stays in-form this year, who knows?

Here’s a picture of Jason the day after he announced his international retirement last autumn, playing for Sale against Sarries.

Newcastle supremo Rob Andrew has landed the job of RFU Elite Director of Rugby, announced today. And good on him. He beat off Sir Clive for the post, and I think he has the universal respect amongst the Premiership Clubs’ head honchos, and at HQ. Hopefully, he will be able to build some bridges which have been pretty battered of late, and sort out the whole club vs country battleground, once and for all.

I don’t have any pictures of Mr Andrew himself, but here’s one of his team Newcastle, when they visited Saracens in December 2004 for a Powergen Cup match. Jonny Wilkinson emerges from underneath a heap of bodies, including the sizeable figure of Saracens’ Hooker Matt Cairns.

The season is almost upon us again, and that means two things – the Middlesex Sevens tournament at Twickenham and Streakers!! Yep, apart from a great day of sevens rugby, we got two streakers on the pitch.

So good value for money! Of course, modesty prevented me from taking pictures when the gents were running the other way… but what I want to know is, how come the security folk left it to the most petit WOMAN on duty to go and round them up?? LOL. But you had to admire their determination, it was pretty cold and windy and not really the sort of day you wanted to be cavorting around in the buff.

You can see more serious pictures of the rugby at Rugbypix.com, and there are some extras in my Flickr account.

Now then, a fortnight’s countdown until I’m back at Twickenham for the London Double Header – Wasps v Saracens and Quins v Irish. Good stuff.

Andy Robinson has named his Elite Player Squad for the 2006/07 season, and Sarries’ Andy Farrell is once again on the list. Let’s hope he’s fit enough this year to actually get a run out on the park! Farrell apparently has an aura about him, akin to Martin Johnson. Perhaps a bit early in his Union career to be making such statements, but I would dearly love him to make a difference to the England team this year. God knows we need a boost somehow.

Similarly, Jonny Wilkinson returns to the White Jersey Brigade after his injury battles. I have seen him play for Newcastle and The Lions, but never managed to catch him playing for England. Fingers crossed.

Also, the usual close-season merry-go-round has finally stopped and we can now see who’s sitting where (and who’s got no chair when the music stops).

Here’s a picture of Jonny lining up a penalty for the Lions vs Argentina game last year in Cardiff.