Just in

News

The Saturday RWC quarter finals.

The two semi-final victories by Argentina and New Zealand prove that at the highest competitive levels it’s less about tactics and more about laying your body on the line for your country I remember the two football World Cup finals of 1974 and 1978, when Argentina beat Holland, the former had [...]

October 15, 2023 // 0 Comments

England 18 Samoa 17 (Rugby World Cup)

As befits my standing as a sports editor I am inherently interested in most games and sports and regard the “thrill” of watching them in their various elite forms as one of the greatest joys that human beings can experience, not least because of the special atmosphere that great stadia filled [...]

October 8, 2023 // 0 Comments

Team Europe 16 1/2 – USA 11 1/2

I am sure I was not alone on Sunday afternoon in fearing USA would overhaul Team Europe as simply whilst there was litttle to choose between the best on either side. The Americans had greater depth. If a European rookie like Ludwig Aberg was paired against a serial major winner like Brooks Koepka [...]

October 2, 2023 // 0 Comments

Ryder Cup / Day One

Team Europe established a commanding lead (6 and a 1/2 v. 1 and a 1/2) but you cannot yet call this winning as there is a scenario whereby the USA could come back today winning say 5-3 and are back in the game. I do not think this will happen as 1) Luke Donald is a better captain than Zack Johnson, [...]

September 30, 2023 // 0 Comments

Ryder Cup Review

The bookies have both sides almost identical which seems right. The Americans have the world number one – Scottie Scheffler – who is experiencing putting problems and has never played a Ryder Cup foursomes – and number five Patrick Cantlay, meanwhile the Europeans have numbers [...]

September 28, 2023 // 0 Comments

Answered prayers/Duncan Hamilton

Duncan Hamilton is rightly acclaimed as one of our best – if not the best – sports biographer. It’s not a literary field crammed with talent. Most ghosted sports biographies are dull with some revelation for the serialisation in a newspaper. Duncan Hamilton writes on major but [...]

September 19, 2023 // 0 Comments

The Tanner Report: Fulham 1 Luton O

When in the season you play a team is key. Luton are just promoted, lost their first three games and – angered that Garth Crooks in midweek predicted their relegation by Xmas – brought many and raucous supporters. Fulham are regarded as soft, the sort of game from which you might come [...]

September 17, 2023 // 0 Comments

England win O.D.I.

England won by 100 runs over New Zealand at Lords but it was a sterile, dull match. Various reasons were discussed but the accepted one was the 12-30 start. This meant the match went onto until 7-30 pm and began at lunchtime. My neighbour in the Upper Mound stand and his wider were my guests for a [...]

September 16, 2023 // 0 Comments

Wales 32 Fiji 26

Wales’s victory over Fiji was the best World Cup game so far. I had watched South Africa beat Scotland but I find the Boks to be a boring bunch of behemoths. Scotland play attractively but are over-reliant on the mercurial Finn Russell and frankly it was a pea-shooter against a Panzer tank. [...]

September 11, 2023 // 0 Comments

Rugby World Cup Preview

The first observation to make about the Rugby World Cup is that the four best Rugby nations (France, New Zealand, Ireland and South Africa) are all in the lower section. Whilst France v New Zealand is a tasty opener I’m looking forward more to the Pool B encounter between world number one Ireland [...]

September 8, 2023 // 0 Comments

1 2 3 4 5 6 82