IRISH EYES+
Bob Brewer closes this update reporting on a day of glory as English rugby held off the all conquering Irish in a classic Six Nations match. Could English National Hunt trainers do the same in the four day Cheltenham Festival? Well, on the Thursday, they could and did-five winners of seven-with multi millionaires, Ferguson and Redknapp, cast in the unlikely roles of underdog Davids against the Irish Goliath. The other three days proved less cheerful. By Friday evening ,the combined English total of nine winners was the same as one Irish trainer, Willie Mullins. It’s hard to dislike the soft spoken, endlessly affable and courteous Willie, even in one race where his horses filled the first five places and killed the betting market. One of Willie’s winners was in the Gold Cup where the 2023 winner, Galopin des Champs retained his crown. Though Galopin’s winning margin was halved, at three and a half lengths, it was MORE than the par two lengths and somehow seemed even more emphatic with the promise of greatness in the air. A third win is already odds on.
Neil Southwood reports on more gloom for English darts players though their Nemesis was not Irish.”There was a time just over a decade ago where you may have struggled to name more than three famous Belgians. Jean-Claude Van Damme, Eddy Merckx, Kim Clijsters and possibly one-hit wonder Plastic Bertrand might have been the extent of the average quizzer’s knowledge. Recently however, Belgium has established itself as a sporting powerhouse. Footballers Eden Hazard, Vincent Kompany and Romelu Lukaku have propelled the national team to become regular tournament contenders.
Now it’s the turn of Dimitri Van Den Bergh in the darting world. His first major title back in the summer of 2020 came in an empty arena as Covid restrictions continued. He has been a regular challenger in major tournaments without ever quite scaling the same heights. Defeats in quarter and semi-finals have become commonplace. He was in danger of becoming more well-known for dancing on stage than for tournament wins. This weekend could mark a crucial turning point for ‘The Dream Maker’ and his performance was certainly a delight for the tiny minority of quizzers who had backed an OVERSEAS winner.
The tournament, dubbed the FA Cup of Darts, produced its usual share of shocks and unexpected runs by relatively unknown players. Michael Van Gerwen was beaten on the first evening by Mensur Suljovic, whose glory days were 7-8 years ago. This seemed to open the tournament up for a collection of leading Brits to dominate. Much of the attention of course was on Luke Littler, the 17-year-old. His rapid rise has in the space of three months brought the sport from the back to the front pages and catapulted viewing figures into the millions. His progress here though was halted in the quarter-finals by an inspired Aussie Damon Heta. With both players averaging over 104, Heta held his nerve in the face of a late Littler recovery to claim a notable scalp on Sunday afternoon.
Previous major winners like Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright and Gary Anderson had already fallen but World Number One and current World Champion Luke Humphries now looked overwhelming favourite to claim another title. He breezed through to the final. In contrast, Van Den Bergh had edged past seasoned campaigners in a series of close games before finally ending Heta’s run 11-6 in the semi. The final saw Van Den Bergh up his game significantly. He held a commanding 7-2 lead before Humphries fought back as the finish line came into sight. The Belgian then squandered six match darts, enabling Humphries to draw level at 10-10, and looked to have completely blown his chance. There was one final twist however as Humphries this time missed two darts for the match in the deciding leg. Van Den Bergh kept his cool to finally pin the winning double and ensure yet another new name on this illustrious trophy. Could this triumph be the start of a prosperous summer for Belgian sport? This weekend also saw notable success for Alexander Doom in the World Indoor Athletics Championships. With the Euros, Olympics and the Tour de France to come, it might soon spell doom for the rest of us.
Let’s get the Quiz out of the way first so that those wholly uninterested in my ramblings can move on.
Q5) The FRENCHMAN Ramos top scored with 65pts followed by Fin Russell on 55.
Q6)IRELAND were worthy Champions, reports Bob Brewer.
To the rugby enthusiast it seemed strange to pick the probable Championship decider on Matchday 1 between Ireland and France. A sluggish French team were outplayed by a rampant Ireland in Marseilles. Scotland nearly committed hara-kiri by throwing away a 25 point advantage against an abysmal Welsh first half performance, to ultimately win by a point. England in Italy ??? Hopes were high but for me it was more like, “Same old, Same old.” True the newcomers looked good but England won by just four points. Italy had progressed but England for the title? I don’t think so.
Matchday 2 was memorable for yet another technocrat botch up. James Doleman, the NZ referee had a shocker in the England/Wales clash. Chessum had a yellow card for an innocuous tackle considering the battering both sets of forwards gave defence lines 5yds out, without penalty or perceived injury. Ford had a charge down at a conversion for stepping sideways and poor old O’Grady from Wales had a yellow card for a fingertip interception that was anything but, “deliberate.” England ran out worthy winners in terms of possession and territory but they don’t score many tries from all of that. Doleman had no feel for players or the game at all, just the rule book of which it seemed he’d only read part of!
Scotland dominated another sluggish French effort at Murrayfield and again, in the 81st minute, a five minute TMO check. Was it a try? Was the ball grounded? No, but hang on, Yes, but no, I’m only 95% sure it was a try. So, No it was and France won. It was a travesty for a supposed World Tournament. Another forensic test, failed by all, with fans paying £100+ for a ticket and enduring this farce. Referee Nic Berry caught a cold with this episode. It was such a sad end to a great Scottish effort. Sad also to see France play, “Not to lose” rugby in the second half and then do just that by a 95% sure TMO.
Ireland thrashed Italy by thirty plus points, with seven guys off the bench from the French match. Huge strength in depth? It looks that way. In Week 3 Ireland demolished Wales in Dublin. Wales were plucky but good spells of 7 or 8 minutes won’t win you games, especially against the impressive Irish. A comfortable 31-7 victory saw them stay top.That’s ten defeats for Wales in their last eleven matches.
In the Calcutta Cup game England had a poor day. The South African Scot, Jock Van De Merwe got the first ever hat-trick of tries in this fixture dating back to 1871. (Are the analysts sure about that?) It was a game decided by, “Who can catch the ball?” in a scrappy encounter. There were so many knock – ons, in not too difficult conditions. 24 handling errors and 20 turnovers by England tells its own sorry tale. England have changed coaches, support staff, players, captains and game plans, only to see other sides with far fewer players to choose from stretch ahead of them. England, yet again, head for mid-table mediocrity. We can cane the minnows but fall short against tougher foes. Will Borthwick gamble at home to the Irish and pick Cunningham South, Feyi-Waboso, Fin Smith, Ben Spencer and Tom Pearson? The Irish are almost Champions already and chasing not only a successive grand slam but also, for the first time ever, five match bonus point wins in a season. God how I wished I’d picked Ireland now.
That’s mainly because an ever plucky Italy came within a width of a goal post from snatching the most unlikely of victories over yet another sluggish Gallic performance with the last kick of the game and 13-13 on the scoreboard. Poor old Paolo Garbisi, had just six seconds on the stop clock before he aimed at goal and he must have agonised as it hung in the air, hoping that he’d made it count. It didn’t and a draw ensued. Who would have picked that?
Matchday Four loomed large for everyone and whilst Super Saturday is usually the marketing tag for the final Saturday, it was this day that had a magical and remarkable story to tell. It had passion, excitement, nail biting moments, gladiatorial combat at its very best, it had the lot. Italy were more than just plucky this week beating Scotland, who once again, capitulated somewhat after a good first half. 70,000 spectators in Rome willed a first home win since 2013 and they got it, 31-29. But more was to come. Ireland awaited a predicted 2nd Successive Grand Slam, the first since France in 1998, 1-5 at the bookies, odds on to win, but nobody told England. George Martin, Mitchell, Itoje and the MOM Ben Earl upped the tempo throughout and Ireland were well and truly rattled. The game had everything, end to end play, few penalties, and a clear belief that ball in hand might win the day. They needed to restore the faith of the English faithful and lift the nation and they did. It took an 81st minute dropped goal from Marcus Smith to win 23-22 and raise the Twickenham roar, but it was a mighty close encounter. This Borthwick sceptic ate his words. No Grand Slam for Ireland after all.
The following day was bound to be deflatary wasn’t it? Bottom placed Wales at home to France, whose pack was 70kg to the good. I wondered at half time what odds would you have got on the Friday for wins for England, Italy and Wales, with Wales trailing 20-23. Four minutes in and a great Welsh try. Wales were back in front and the bookies were weeping. No worries. France had power and a massive bench to use and scored 25 points in the second half to comfortably win in terms of the score 24-45. And we had also Max Boyce pre match. What a weekend it was.
The final Saturday saw three matches with the battle for the wooden spoon first. Italy’s Lorenzo Pani scored a superb try early on against a poor welsh performance. They had no deception, power or idea until O’Grady and Williams came on. With three minutes to go Wales were 7-24 down but miraculously scored twice to make it 24-14 to Italy. As a Chiefs supporter I was delighted to see our University Pizza Delivery boy Ross Vintcent have a great second half. Well done to Italy, two wins and a draw and Welsh fans must be worried.
Ireland managed a 17-13 win to claim the Championship in a tight, fast flowing game against a Scottish side who once more showed what they are made of. Just too many errors and a dip at times in their accuracy and concentration levels costs them so many times.
After watching the magnificent U20 game in Pau between England and France (45-31) early on Saturday morning I couldn’t ask her indoors to let me watch four matches in a row, so it was Sunday at Six that saw me glued to Lyon, where I’d watched Lyon v Racing 92 five years ago. Great ground, wonderful atmosphere and France out of the blocks to threaten the New England. Ellis Genge, out tight head prop was five stone lighter than Antonio, his French counterpart. England managed to stay with the Gallic Giants and with two minutes to go to half time were trailing 3-16. Three successive 5m Lineouts saw Ollie Lawrence dive under the posts to make it 10-16. I have no idea what was in the English drinks during the break but two converted tries in eight minutes saw the English go ahead 17-16. Then England changed their front row on 50 minutes when we had momentum. Back came the French. England gifted them a try, and then another, and France were suddenly cruising to victory, or so we thought. A great move saw Freeman dive over and a superb George Ford kick saw England suddenly two points up. 30-28. One minute left and Ben Earl, so good throughout, made a no arms tackle and up stepped Ramos on the half way line. He banged it over for France to gain Second Place in the table, 30-31. Great game and England had managed to perform very well for successive games.
2025 here we come …..
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