Lineen Aiming Glasgow For The Top In Final Season

by Dugald Skene

It’s been a good week for Glasgow Warriors.  After a comfortable margin of victory over Aironi last Friday, albeit without clinching a bonus point, the Warriors remain in contention of grabbing a top 4 play-off spot.  Currently on 51 points after 18 games, they are only a point ahead of Ulster and the Scarlets, but just a bonus point win away from 2^nd placed Munster, who Glasgow have yet to play before the end of the season.

Following Friday’s victory over the Italian outfit, Lineen declared his intentions for his team were always to target a top 2 place in order to get home advantage for the semi-final play-off spot.  Whatever happens over the next few weeks and final four games, it would be a tragedy for Glasgow not to be one of the four teams involved in the end of season showdown having held on to a top 4 place for the vast majority of the season.

With matches against Munster (2^nd), Treviso (9^th), Connacht (10^th) and Cardiff (7^th) this weekend, Glasgow are in a great position to fulfil their pre-season target.  Lineen, in his final season as Warriors coach, said “Ideally, we want four out of four wins… Our goal this season was top two, not top four - so we want a home semi-final”.  A tough ask, but not impossible.  The way the league has played out this year, any team is capable of beating another and so Glasgow's final position in the league may not lie in their own hands.  4 wins would certainly secure them a top 4 finish, bonus points in all would guarantee it, but whether they can achieve a top 2 finish is very unsure.

After all the bad press following the news of Lineen’s departure at the end of the season and the announcement that Gregor Townsend will be filling his seat, Glasgow have announced a series of new signings and re-signings that will help assure the fans about the future of the team.  Most significant is the contract extension of John Barclay, a player who has spent his whole pro career at the club and who has captained the team on several occasions.

John Barclay has signed a new deal

at Glasgow Warriors

Following the announcement, Barclay said "I'm delighted to be re-signing for the Warriors at a time when the club is really going places...The atmosphere and ambition around the club is the best I've experienced.

"It's always a big call to decide where your future lies, particularly when you've been with one club for a significant period.

"I've taken some time to think through the decision, and I'm convinced that it's the right one.  Glasgow Warriors are going places and I want to contribute to that process."

Encouraging words indeed, particularly from such a stalwart at the club and it's important that the fans heed his words.

It's players like Barclay that will halp Galsgow secure that play-off berth and take them further.  As with all the players so faithful to Lineen, he will be anxious to do it for his coach in his final season.

Lancaster Appointed As England Coach

by Dugald Skene

The RFU confirmed today that they have chosen Stuart Lancaster for the permanent position as head coach of England.  Given the 4 wins from 5 during the recent 6 Nations, it is perhaps little surprise, but I can’t help but feel that this is a little bit of a short-sighted decision.

First and foremost, I think Lancaster is a good coach.  He clearly understands the game, his players and knows how to get the best out of them.  Perhaps this was exaggerated by the fact that many of his players were new to the international scene and therefore naturally keen to step up and impress.  However, the biggest doubt coming into the 6 Nations was about how Lancaster would deal with high level strategy and tactics.  With those 4 wins, including victory in Paris, it would seem that any doubts within the RFU have been allayed. 

There is a big ‘but’ here though, and it comes in the shape of Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.  As well as England did in the 6 Nations, many (if not all) of the opponents they beat underperformed.  They were perhaps lucky to come away from Edinburgh and Rome with wins and victories over France and Ireland seemed a little bit hollow (at least to the neutral viewer) because of the inconsistent form of the two teams.  The one team they played that were performing well, Wales, came out on top at Twickenham.  The southern hemisphere teams will provide a far more realistic yardstick if the English have sights on the world cup.

The bigger test will be coming over the next 8 months as England take on the very best in the world, and England push for a top 4 IRB world ranking for the RWC pool selections at the end of the year.  In my opinion, there are 3 teams playing for 3^rd and 4^th, England, Wales and South Africa.  The way these teams play against each other will be key to how the world cup groups will look.

Stuart Lancaster has impressed sufficiently to get the

job on a permanent basis

And what of the world cup? Well, it’s in England.  It’s probably easy to underestimate the increased pressure to perform for the host nation during a world cup, whatever the sport, but when it’s England playing rugby, there will likely be as much expectation as the All Blacks faced in 2011.  The pressure to deliver will be massive, and it’s here that the RFU have taken their biggest risk.  By appointing Lancaster on the basis of 5 games, over the likes of Nick Mallett with proven RWC experience, the RFU have basically said that they see him as being the man to win them the world cup under the toughest of circumstances. 

It’s way too early to start saying that it’s impossible for someone with relatively little experience to succeed, there are still 3 RBS 6 Nations tournaments to play, 3 autumn international series to play and 3 summer tours to go on before a world cup ball is kicked.  It’s a risk, of course, but only time will tell whether it will pay off and the first real indicator will be in November.

Lancaster will need the support around him.  I’ve mentioned before in this blog that Andy Robinson, as good a hand-on coach as he clearly is, often struggles with the strategic element of games as well as the media side.  As number 2 to Clive Woodward in 2003, he was able to get on with what he was good at in coaching the players.  I think that Lancaster is of a similar mould and would benefit from having someone to take the pressure away from him where possible without impinging on the way he wants to run his team.  It would have to be someone he feels comfortable working with rather than a random RFU appointment, and it would have to be made sufficiently far enough ahead of the world cup to allow integration and familiarity.

These are interesting times for England and their supporters.  Both the coaches and the squad demonstrated a desire to progress and the ability to succeed.  The key for Lancaster is to find a way to sustain that success.

Messi & Ronaldo Scoring For Fun (And Records)

by Dugald Skene

It is March, right?

Not only is the British sunshine fooling us into believing it’s May, but so are footballers Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.  Both players have set new records in the past week for club and league.   

Messi's hatrick against Granada last Tuesday (20^th) made the Argentinian maestro the highest scoring player in Barcelona’s history, taking him to 234.  Considering the striking talent that has existed at the club, certainly in the last 20 years, it is an astounding feat.  Add to that the fact he is still only 24 years old and it simply boggles the brain.

Messi has become Barcelona's highest ever goal scorer

Over at Real Madrid, the equally prolific Ronaldo scored his 34^th and 35^th league goals of the campaign against Real Sociedad at the weekend, making him the fastest player to score 100 goals in La Liga, ever.  What puts this particular accomplishment into focus is the number of games it has taken him - 92.  101 goals in 92 games!  It puts into shade the achievements of next best (and all-round legend) Ferenc Puskas who clearly took his time scoring his tonne in 105 games.

Ronaldo - 101 goals in 92 games

Both players would not be described as out-and-out strikers, Messi roams a little more behind his striking colleagues and Ronaldo is a winger, but both their respective teams have been set up around them to allow them both to play their games.

Pep Guardiola has a team full of world beaters playing a brand of football unmatched by most, a team that would beat pretty much everyone without Messi but who are unquestionably favourites in any game with him in their line-up.  He is Mr Barcelona, a player than epitomises the team, the ethic, the footballing philosophy at the club.  If Barcelona are ‘more than a club’, then Messi is definitely more than a player.

At Madrid, manager Jose Mourinho has in Ronaldo a match winner every bit as equal to Messi.  Very different in stature, size and resultant approach to the game, he has proved he can score a hatful of goals in every league he has played in.  In that 2008 season, it was easy to lose count on the number of games Manchester United won because, and only because of Ronaldo.  Perhaps more inconsistent than Messi, and certainly more dramatic, he provides an altogether different prospect for the fans and media. Compared to the relatively reclusive and private Messi, Ronaldo is the glamour boy of world football, and thrives on it.

So yes, it is still March, but both these players are set to break more records if they continue as they are this season.  You sense that the World Player of the Year award will go to the one who does better out of the Champions League this season, something that will play more on Ronaldo’s mind than Messi’s, and both will have thoughts on the European Golden Boot.  Whatever happens, it’s already been an epic season for both players.