Your schoolboy metaphor just reinforces the fact that you are a bit of a bully. I don’t claim to be an expert, but I want to to join in. Your common response to anyone who doesn’t meet your mark really surprises me considering your role as an educator. I pity those kids.

Wrecker, this is the kind of response that is informative and interesting, cheers. Would you apply the same analysis to Ashton?

No I would prefer you pointed out what I was missing with out being a supercilious and nasty.

For example, you could have responded to my initial comment about north with something like:

” Ah well toys in games that you admit you have not seen he has done remarkably well, in fact he has scored x tries in y games, but you might imagine he has done well as he has not been fed great ball in the game you watched.”

to which I might have replied. “Oh I see”.

But instead you just behave like unless everyone who is english thinks like you then he is a scumbag..

is this nasty? Bless, I do apologise.

My personal opinion is that Ashton has a very good instinct, but it’s being coached out of him. He used to be so good at coming in off the wing and taking the ball at pace and running a good angle. We haven’t seen him do that recently. I also think he’s mentally fickle, by that I mean that he seems to struggle to focus and if his head isn’t right then he’s…well….shit! I honestly think he’d benefit from some sports psychology like Murray did.

Ashton is a good finisher, very good but he doesnt appear able to tackle. He has what looks like the league habit of going high and waiting for help. Its common in league as offload prevention is vital. It reminds me of Iestyn Harris playing for Wales, compare how he tackles with someone like 1/2p who goes very low. Shane used to do the same as Ashton but he had the advantage of good positioning which Ashton doesnt have which makes it worse.

Hmm I see. I noticed that Farrel puts in lot of higher tackles too, but I wonder if this is not due to something else.

Wrecker, I understand now. Like they have been working hard on unionising him that they might have killed the good parts that came from league.
Hmm I shall give him another chance. (although I have little hope for sat)

…I think you know my opinion of Farrell by now….

Farrel is a decent player. Biggar was an insufferable **** at that age too.

I respect AF engough to think that there’s no nepotism. As for the next 10, who knows? It’s not looking like Ford is going to be any good so it has to be Burns. I suspect that Burns could be a very good player, but he’s behind a poor pack at Glaws at the minute, so may struggle to win the shirt.

Despite me moaning about Farrel he does seem to stop people on way or another, I remember Burns missing a few tackles.

Thats a trap for me AA as I have no idea who Wales have picked, is it Biggar? I don’t like Priestland, so he must be good.

edit-wrong. They picked Priestland. Have they named the team for Argentina yet?

.

😀 True! But strangely it disappeared almost at once between seasons a year or two back. Someone must of sat him down and had a good word 🙂

Watching the NZ France game and comparing to the other matches going on at the same time it is quite obvious how well the NZ 1-15 can read a game and pick the best option on instinct. Quite a contrast to the Welsh insistent “earn the right to go wide” even when an overlap might be on and the English coaching out of playing on instinct as others have referred to with Ashton etc…

a_a arguing again, who’d have thunk it 🙂

10 situation is pretty depressing for England (and those Welshists too!) Farrell is probably the safest bet of an average bunch. Ford…no way. He is so inconsistent that it’s unreal. Burns…hard to say, he reminds me of Hook and Cips-just as likely to throw an opposition winger the ball in his own 22 as he is to do anything useful.

Bring back St Johnny I say. Otherwise stick Flood at 10 and Farrell at 12 and see how that works out. Afterall that is where Farrell starts for Sarries when little Charlie is fit.

As for Wales, who knows….maybe Henson is the answer 🙂

If you like we’ll swap you Matt Morgan for one of your locks. He’ll give you some attacking threat from outside half.

Well, when Flood goes to France next year (there no point hanging around playing second fiddle to Farrell, so he’ll be off to play for a fortune) and Leicester get Burns as per the rumours, then I think well see a pretty damn good player.
Until then, he’ll be a speed bump for teams with real forwards!

Matthew Morgan is tiny, when I saw him a few times last season he looks like a kid from school has scampered on. A bit like Arwel he is the wrong size at the wrong time, 30 years ago he would be touted as another Welsh wizzard at 10, these days he is just going to get smashed.

Gray’s “wee” brother is in with a chance of playing on Sat. 🙂

Ok a serious bit;
I started teaching in 2003 and being 34 I decided to step back from playing for a club that involved weight sessions/video analysis etc. My school club had folded so I ended up playing for a team in St Andrews. They were largely composed of farmers and as such struggled to get teams out in August. Never an issue as soon as the harvest was in,but the SRU docked points at the drop of a hat. The club pres had made me feel very welcome and the whole club had a family,friendly social vibe that was as good as anything I encountered in the 5 or six clubs I played for.
One August the weather was good so there were about six call off on Sat am for a bus trip to Langholm down in the borders. The 56yo Pres turns up with kit and the plan of playing for 10mins and then going down, thus avoiding any problems from the SRU. He played the whole game in the second row in a National 3 league match…Fast forward 2.5 years and I am sitting with him as he tries to pick up a straw,eventually telling me with a wry smile that is was too heavy. 😕 Motor Neurone Disease

I was thinking of him as I read of another player this morning who is fighting this hideous condition. From today’s Times.

He wants to tell you about his life. Actually, what he really wants is to tell you how he can help other lives. But motor neuron disease (MND) has afflicted him so badly that he struggles to enunciate. This is a 25-minute interview and at the end he is tired of having to overcome a heavy slur to produce words that are comprehensible.

Yet still he wants to explain exactly what has happened to him.

“With MND, all the signals from your brain to your muscles break down,” he says. “That means you lose the function of your muscle. The way I speak is because my tongue is a muscle.”

As the motor neurones gradually break down, he explains further, you become increasingly disabled: “Every month you have to adapt. In my case, it started in the upper body so I can’t use my arms any more and I walk assisted. So it is very difficult.”

And all the time, his brain is operating perfectly and dealing with the frustration of his situation and the reality of his future.

When the illness was diagnosed in May 2011, Van der Westhuizen was 40. He was given the horrible truth: he had a 20 per cent chance of living another five years, but he may not make it to Christmas. “It is a death sentence,” he says. “Though there is no time to worry about death.”

This is a man transformed, and not just physically so. A decade ago, he wrapped up a playing career so great that he finished with more caps and more tries than any Springbok before him. He was part of the great Nelson Mandela team that won the World Cup in 1995; he is still asked about that day and how he, the scrum half, was the one who tackled Jonah Lomu. He was phenomenally strong and rumbustious for a No ?9. And handsome with it. MND has no respect for the mighty.

He was somewhat taciturn in those days, too, cool behind his Afrikaner reserve. Even after rugby, his life remained in the newspapers, first via a rock-star marriage, then a lurid adultery scandal and a marriage breakdown.

Yet sitting in his wheelchair, struggling to produce the words, he seems to have a veritable warmth. “I am humbled by the disease,” he says. “I know now what life is all about.”

His story with MND began really as far back as 2008. That was when he noticed weakness in his right arm. He believed it was an old rugby injury. His friend, a doctor, was the one who eventually noticed the weakness too and insisted he have it checked out.

No research has yet identified the exact causes of MND; there is no suggestion that it is related to contact sport. Van der Westhuizen, nevertheless, was stuck with it. When the news is delivered, he says, “it is very emotional”. He was offered counselling to deal with the situation but politely declined.

“It was my choice not to have it,” he says. “Every person is different. Because of my rugby background, I handled it myself. I am mentally strong and my life has always been choosing to be positive.”

The toughest part was his children. “That was very difficult,” he says. “Back then they were only 5 and 7, and to realise that you won’t be able to see them grow up or be there for them is tough.” Initially he told them nothing. As he says: “What does a kid of 5 know?”

Pretty much immediately, though, he resolved to define the remainder of his life by his fight against the disease.

So while Van der Westhuizen is here in the UK to see the Springboks’ autumn tour, his real mission is to strike in the midst of the international rugby season to raise money.

He flies today to Edinburgh, where a fundraiser has been organised by Scott Hastings. He was in Wales last week, where he was able to see South Africa win at the Millennium Stadium, but really so that he could attend another fundraising dinner. He says that Rob Howley, an old foe, had helped to organise the dinner, which he clearly relished.

“Everyone was there,” he says. “Rob Jones, Rob Howley. I saw Neil Jenkins and we had a good laugh — a laugh about all the fun we had, the on-field banter, everything.”

For all of his 89 caps and vast accomplishments as a player, he was still thrilled that his old hero from his own schooldays was also able to attend: Gareth Edwards.

He likes talking about friends and old adversaries. He likes talking also about his old Springbok team-mates with whom he is in close contact. “Especially the ’95 guys,” he says. “Whenever I ask them for help, they are always there.”

His real passion now, though, is the J9 Foundation. He explains: “The moment I experienced difficulty, I realised what other families must go through and that’s when I decided to set up the foundation. Seventy per cent of MND sufferers are male and they are often the bread-winners in the family too. I know what sufferers are going through and I know what they need. For me it is not about the money alone; it is about the time we give to help others.”

The dinners and the fundraisers, he says, are directed specifically at helping families dealing with MND: “We now have 34 families we are looking after, I want 40 by the end of the year and next year we will go to 50.”

Each family is helped financially and given bespoke assistance to meet their particular needs in terms of healthcare and counselling. Van der Westhuizen visits all of them. They all have a direct phone line through to him.

One of Van der Westhuizen’s goals is to open a research centre in South Africa. He has had early discussions with leading universities. “We are busy putting figures together to see what we need,” he says.

This is hard work; although the mind works as fast as ever, the body is tired and needs rests. Yet tackling his disease this way has clearly given him a purpose. “I travel a lot by choice,” he says. “It keeps me busy and happy and I need to find a cure.”

His domestic life has also found a peaceful settlement. He lives now almost next door to his wife and their children and, when home, is round for dinner most nights. They have prepared a bedroom for him in what used to be the study. At the start of the year, he gave his children a full explanation of his illness. “Now they ask questions and can understand it better,” he says.

How are they handling it? “Difficult to say. They hug me a lot. They phone a lot. They spend time with me more. They realise what is going on.” And how is he handling it? “Now I have made peace with it,” he says. “I am still alive.”

Read more about the J9 Foundation on http://www.joost.co.za. The Foundation has an SMS donation line; to donate £5, text JOOST to 60999.

Worth a fiver; Stuart

MY stepmum does a fair bit of work for the UK based MND charity.
http://www.mndassociation.org/get-involved/donations

The BBC interview with Joost van der Westhuizen.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/24890861

Patchel could be the next big thing at ten for wales.

J Gray,despite being 19 is 6″6″ and 18 stone 9lbs 😯 God save us from that food bill! The chat is that he is a better player as he has had to work harder,including a year in NZ.