Beating off all his many rivals, Frank Hadden has been named as new Scotland coach.
The main question now will be whether or not he continues coaching Edinburgh as well.
Well Dai Young is set to be a future Wales coach, that is the opinion of Wales assistant coach Scott Johnson anyway.
‘Look, mate, Wales are going to have a great coach in Dai Young one day,’ said Johnson. ‘I have no doubt about that whatsoever, he has all the qualities.
‘And let me say this - Dai would walk into any job in the southern hemisphere, they think extremely highly of him in that part of the world.’
Young must be held in fairly high regard by those in high positions, or I suspect the reality of his 120k salary per year may make it a case of making the best out of a bad situation.
I guess it was never going to be pretty, the skill level was not there but at least the intensity is starting to get there. There were also a few nasty little incidents involving short arms, (Jason Spice was especially fortunate to stay on after his “tackle” on Luscombe). Also what did Leigh Davies do to be MOTM?
Both sides struggled with ball retention, Paul Turner has not had the impact quite yet that the Dragons’ would have been hoping for.
“I felt we possibly had a chance to win it but our problem was we could not hold on to the ball and build pressure,” Turner said.
“We started doing that late on but it did not quite work out. There was a lot of spirit but we gave two silly tries away and the penalty count was stacked heavily against us in the first half.”
The hosts’ also left a lot to be desired, and only really look a shadow of themselves, but after a heavy defeat in Munster I don’t think they’ll be too disapointed.
“We are frustrated that we are not producing the type of rugby we are accustomed to. (Ospreys backs coach seasn Holley)
“We are better than what we saw out there and I’m sure Welsh rugby is.”
You just get the feeling this season could very well get going soon.
A bit of midweek rugby tonight.
Jonathan Thomas is back playing at lock, whilst Ceri Sweeney could start at inside centre, which will be worth a look, in light of Gavin Hensons’ injury woe.
Talking of potential Wales options Luke Chateris gets a rare start, unfortunately we won’t get a chance to see faster as lightening winger Richard Fussell for the Dragons though. Fussell is one of my picks for the season, which I’ll post before the end of the week.
Italians Say No to Celtic League
Italian inclusion in the “Celtic” League looks highly unlikely next season, with little appetite from the clubs themselves
It really all seems about added exposure for the league, but in reality the Italians really do need a better domestic platform. Any move would have seen the Italians condense themselves into three or four super clubs, and the league itself being played on a home or away basis. I doubt it would really have been that beneficial for Welsh sides, possibly dilluting an already struggling tournament, where Borders only managed a crowd of 850 against the Scarlets on Saturday. Yet the Scot’s themselves are keen to add a fourth pro team, well at least the league would have an even number of sides.
There are some valuable lessons to be learnt from England (plus the Jones’s) Ashes victory. The significance of central contracting cannot be understated in how they have gone from the being the worst ranked test nation to the best.
Listening to former England captain Nasser Hussain on radio five, one of the key factors in Englands’ re-emergence is the use of central contracting. The most interesting point Hussain raised was that opposed to just being county players’ who were having the added bonus of representing their country, they actually felt like a team above anything else.
In Wales rugby we have started to see a Wales first attitude emerge, and thus the national team has improved significantly, though without completely centralising the team, but would central contracts enhance this further? All the obvious obstacles aside, would the domestic game struggle even more in a similar ilk to that of county cricket? Or is the parallel just not there.
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