Low Blow

Andy Robinson picked a huge squad of 36 men for the start of the Scottish 6 Nations campaign.  Most of the reaction has been dominated by the inclusion of Stephen Shingler in the set-up which has sparked debate between the SRU and WRU over his eligibility.  The IRB have now got involved to look at the situation, which I can't imagine will be resolved quickly.

With 36, you would safely assume that all positions would be adequately covered.  Indeed, the inclusion of 4 scrum halves and 4 fly halves is perhaps over the top.  But there is one area that looks particularly deficient, and that's in the front row, specifically a tight head prop.

Today saw the news that Glasgow prop Moray Low will be out for the next 8 weeks, meaning he'll miss at least the first 2 games of the tournament, and probably the third even if his recovery goes well.  He may not be the first pick for Robinson, but in such a specialist position, I would have wagered that he would be the number 2 to Euan Murray.

Moray Low - Set to miss most of the RBS 6 Nations

Murray doesn't play rugby on Sunday's for religious reasons, which rules him out of the second and third games of the tournament in Cardiff and at home to France; two games that may be seen as realistic chances of getting points.  So where does that leave Scotland at tight head?

It's not as easy as saying that loose head props can simply transfer across the front row to fill in, though there are some occasions when it's been foced to happen, not least Al Dickinson who has reluctantly filled the gap a few times.

Scotland's options are thin on the ground, and Robinson will be struggling to find a quality replacement for Low and Murray in the first few weeks of the tournament.  The scrum is something that Scotland will be looking to edge over the English on February 4th at Murrayfield, but it looks like Euan Murray might have to play 80 minutes in order to do so.

Robinson has a couple of weeks to look over his options before the first training camp at the end of the month.  I don't envy the decision he has to make.

Avoiding The Real Issues

So, Thierry Henry scores the winner against Leeds in the FA Cup on his comeback to Arsenal and English Football and everyone goes mad. "You couldn't have scripted it". "It was written in the stars".

Nonsense. When will sports commentators get it into their heads that these sorts of stories happen all of the time and my 2 year old cousin could write these 'scripts'?

No doubt, Henry's calm and clinical accuracy with his finish certainly took us and the delirious Gunners fans back to the heyday of the early noughties and the 'Invincibles'. A fine goal from a fine servant to the game. But why on earth was he playing!?

I'm not talking about why he was brought on for the miserable Marouin Chamakh, but the deeper issue of why Arsene Wenger feels it necessary to bring back Henry in the first place? It stinks of desperation from what can now be called a perennially underachieving team.

And they're not the only ones. Manchester Utd can hardly be put in the same 'underachieving' column, but they share many similarities with their London rivals in that they are desperately deficient in certain areas of the pitch, forcing them to recall former players into their ranks.

Henry celebrating after scoring against Leeds

Wenger said after last nights game "It looks like the best transfer market is to get your old players back".  Slight tongue-in-cheek aside, it's easy to think that Wenger actually believes what he's saying given the success he had with the likes of Henry and how little he's had since.
With Henry last night and the surprise appearance of Paul Scholes on the Man Utd bench on Sunday, both teams have displayed their weaknesses, just in case it wasn't already apparent.

Granted, both teams won narrowly, but they both can't have aspirations of chasing silverware this year with their current squads. Both have to invest this month to be contenders.

Having lost the previous 2 games, I would have defied anyone who suggested that the third straight loss for United was a given, even if it was across town at their new fiercest title rivals. Their first half performance showed true class and resolve, but the second half demonstrated their lack of strength in midfield, with Ferguson having to resort to using Scholes who came on and shored things up a bit. Meanwhile, Henry's short term arrival offers little more than allowing one man goal machine Robin van Persie a break from keeping his team competitive at all.

Sir Alex Ferguson has said he is no hurry to buy this transfer window, but I can't imagine for one minute he won't try and get some reinforcements in. However, a player of the level of Paul Scholes will be nigh on impossible to replace so quickly.

I like Man Utd, but as long as Man City have the strength and depth that they do right now, they have to remain favourites to win the Premier League.

Home Field Advantage Proves Crucial In Playoffs

What a wild weekdend.  Wildcard weekend that is.
All four NFL wildcard playoff games produced some thrilling football and even the odd upset.  Ultimately, however, it was the home team that triumphed on each occasion.

What needs to be understood about the NFL is that there is very little support for the away team in any game.  There is no such thing as an 'away end' as there is in football here, and so travelling to another ground across the country can be intimidating and often be the difference between winning and losing. 

Take the Atlanta Falcons.  They had a perfect 8-0 record at the Georgia Dome this season, but couldn't produce the goods away from home, winning only 2 on the road.  It was enough to secure them a trip to the Metlife stadium yesterday to face the NFC #4 seeds the New York Giants.  But after a sluggish start, Eli Manning and the Giants produced a solid display that saw them run out 24-2 winners, the scoreline merely reflecting the Falcons season away from the Dome.  The Giants now go on to meet the Superbowl favourites Green Bay at Lambeau Field.

In Houston, the Texans were looking to use their home field advantage to win their first ever game in the playoffs.  With the number 2 defence in the NFL, the Texans defence dominated over a struggling Cincinnati Bengals team who couldn't produce the goods beyond the first quarter, ultimately losing out to Houston 31-10.  A special mention has to go to  defenseman JJ Watt, who produced a massive performance including an intercept and run in for a touchdown.  The Texans will now take their unbeaten playoff record to Baltimore to face the AFC #2 seeded Ravens.

The two best games of the weekend happened in New Orleans where the Saints took on the Detroit Lions and in Denver where the Broncos hosted the fancied Pittsburgh Steelers.

The encounter at the Superdome in New Orleans was billed as the 'shootout'.  Never before had two 5,000+ yard QB's faced each other in a playoff game.  Drew Brees of the Saints smashed Dan Marino's all time passing yard record for a season, while Matt Stafford came up only 46 yards short of achieving the same feat.

From the first drive, it looked ominous that this would be a high scoring game, with Stafford leading his Lions up the field in 8 downs for 80 yards to open the scoring.  Straight from the kick off, Brees and the Saints looked to to prove that anything Stafford can do, Brees can do better.  It certainly looked that way until a fumble in each of their opening two drives handed possession of the football back to the Lions. 

It looked like it might not be Brees' day in the Superdome with the Lions up 14-0 in the first quarter.  But it wasn't long before the record breaking Brees started to show why he is the top QB in the NFL at the moment, throwing for 466 yards completing 33 of 43 passes.  The Saints ran out eventual comfortable winners 45-28, earning themselves a trip to Candlestick Park to meet the San Francisco 49ers.  A special mention also to Pierre Thomas who was phenomenal running the ball for 66 yards, making plays he had no right in making.  The Saints' running game, something they sorely lacked last season, is firing on all cylinders at the moment.

The story of the weekend though has to come from the Mile High Stadium where Tim Tebow was inspired to earn the Broncos an overtime win over the fancied Pittsburgh Steelers.  It would be fair to say that the Steelers, even with Ben Roethlisberger not at 100% and no Mendenhall to run the ball were favourites coming into a game where the Denver Broncos were looking to reverse their fortunes after 3 straight losses at the end of the regular season.

Tim Tebow - defying the odds

But it was the Broncos that got off to the better start against the number 1 seeded defence in the league, taking a 20-6 lead into halftime.  Roethlisberger then inspired the Steelers after the break, to tie the game at the end of the fourth quarter 23-23.  A good game so far, but not worth the column inches compared to what happened next.

The two teams played the first non-sudden death playoff game in history.  This basically means that after the rule changes, both teams need to get the ball in the extra period providing there wasn't a touchdown by either the offense or defense.

So, up steps Tim Tebow.

The Broncos elected to receive the kick and in doing so started from their own 20 yard line.  What would the first play be?  Play it safe, get the ball down the field and look for a red zone touchdown? Nope.  Tebow hurls the ball long to Demaryius Thomas who runs it in for an 80 yard touchdown.  1 down, 1 pass, 11 seconds, making it the shortest period of overtime in NFL history.  That's how you finish a game.

Through the adversity of losing the previous 3 games and the one way traffic in the second half in this one, Tebow produced the goods when it mattered.

Can he take this on when the Broncos go to New England to meet the Patriots and Tom Brady next week?  The Pats will be fancied by the majority, but as with all of the highest scoring teams this year, they leak points.  After yesterday's efforts, anything can happen.

Brees and the Saints will be most likely to upset a home crowd.