Tally Ho!

The rugby six nations competition came to a dramatic end on Saturday, as a forward pass in Paris denied England the Championship, and handed it to an Ireland side who England beat a few weeks ago. C'est la vie.

England needed to beat Italy in Rome by a massive score, to put pressure on Irelands superior 'goal difference'. They scored seven tries but unfortunately gave a soft one away and consequently fell ten points short. A series of second half  substitutions disrupted the flow of the England game, as had been the case in Paris on the opening day, and coach Lancaster really needs to look long and hard at himself and decide whether they really do add value.

Everybody knows what Tuilagi can add to the side, but his introduction for Burrell served no purpose other than to irritate Burrell and disrupt the England mid-field. Far better to try him on the wing in place of Johnny May who has still to show he has the game for international rugby.

I can't help feeling that if New Zealand had needed to beat Argentina by 50 points to win the Southern Hemisphere equivalent tournament, that they would have done it and kept most of their starting XV on the pitch for the majority of the game. England still have a few steps to climb to be at their level.

I watched the Saturday games unfold with a few mates in the Lake District. The day began with a visit to the local hunt, where we watch the pack of hounds follow a pre-laid scent trail up down and over the fells. It was all conducted on foot, and it found out my lack of fitness very quickly.

There was a hunt within the hunt too, as the locals kept an eye on the hunt saboteurs as they tried to disrupt proceedings. The police seemed disinterested and certainly sided with the local farmers, who were out to ensure minimum damage to their flock during the lambing season. Hunting is a country ritual which the city dwellers would do well to leave well alone.

We saw one fox, but the hounds were high up near the snow line and failed to pick up its trail, so it lived to fight another day.

All in all a fascinating insight into fellsmanship and life in a farming community.

Swiss gnome takes charge

The Football Association yesterday announced Roy Hodgson as the new England football manager. The appointment of Roy surprised a large number of  people who had expected Harry Rednapp to be given the job.

There is, however, huge and previous baggage with Harry which remains from his days at West Ham. It concerns his relationship with the players and staff when he was there at the same time as Trevor Brooking. Allegedly Brooking was of the view that Harry would be the England manager while he remained at the FA 'over his dead body'. This view may well have prevailed. Trevor taking a moment to ease off the fence  is a monumental event for English football.

The RFU hase recently announced a new head coach in Stuart Lancaster. Many people were surprised by his appointment as well. That stemmed, though,  from his limited international experience compared with a number of other candidates.

The RFU were aware of this limitation so they gave Stuart Lancaster control of the 2012 Six Nations championship to see what he was made of. He and his team were a whisker away from winning the title and associated grand slam, and this performance was enough to nudge him over the line, and he was duly appointed.

The FA have appointed somebody with International experience, and success at the World Cup instead of a very successful club manager. The main candidates have contrasting personalities which reflect in the way their teams play football, and the FA could have appointed one or other only for the duration of the up coming European Championships. They have, however, ignored that option and given Roy a four year contract.

Time will tell whether the FA or RFU approach was the right one. Hopefully they will both be successful, and can carry the England name  to the top of the World rankings again.