Well, in the Guinness Premiership Final, Leicester Tigers beat the London Irish 10-9 in front of an 82,000 strong crowd at Twickenham. While this was the expected result in many quarters, the Irish didn’t simply roll over as some commentators had thought they would. They gave Leicester a tough time of it but in the end, their relative inexperience at this level showed as a couple of bad decisions cost them their chance to win. Leicester pushed through the possession play of the Irish and managed to come away with a hard-earned, if not exactly emphatic, victory. Five appearances in a row for the Tigers with 2 wins to show for it - not a terrible record by any stretch!

Next, the Tigers had to take the game to a rapidly maturing Leinster team in the Heineken Cup Final at Murrayfield. It seems that their somewhat weakened performance against London Irish just a week earlier had affected them as they struggled to overcome a resiliant Leinster team, determined to take the title home for the first time. Control of the match constantly shifted between the teams, but by all accounts the Leicester Tigers just didn’t have enough to put the game beyond doubt, which would become their downfall as Leinster crept back in front and then managed to defend superbly until the final whistle. Ultimately, it was the Irish team who took home their first Heineken Cup title, and Leicester who missed out on the opportunity to enhance their already formidable reputation.

Finally, we had a little light relief after the tension of the big club events (I wouldn’t like to think of those who gave up smoking for the summer ahead - I bet sales of ecigarettes went through the roof!) The IRB Sevens World Series rolled into old London town with its host of quick-fire games, and even if Twickenham looked half empty at times from what I saw on the TV, it looked like a great atmosphere. Some interesting games in the group stages, including Australia vs South Africa, caught the eye especially. In the end, it is always the finals which attract most attention and it seems the home crowd may well have helped, as England went on to win the cup for the London leg, beating New Zealand 31-26. This leaves them in 2nd place in the overall standings with 96 points, behind South Africa with 116 points. With the final leg to play this weekend in Scotland, we’re definitely in for more good rugby to tide us over until the season starts again!

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Matters are being made worse with Cardiff Blues winger Leigh Halfpenny missing 2 games at the beginning of the campaign due to injury, leaving Ian McGeechan with a tough decision regarding who to choose to fill his place in the squad during his absence. It is thought the team may miss his goal-kicking, with few other established kickers in the team as it stands.

The team has already been grabbing headlines by the omission of Danny Cipriani from the squad and previous performances by the Lions on tours such as this one, so it remains to be seen how well the team will do when it plays its first game of the tour on May 30th against the Highveld XV in Rustenburg.

It isn’t all downcast though, with some commentators saying this could be a series to remember, with a few surprises along the way. Regardless, lets hope the team doesn’t treat it like they’re on glorified safari holidays and puts in a string of good performances. Only time will tell!

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With Leicester having a good history over past years in reaching the final, winning it in 2001 and 2007 while winning the league from 1999-2002 and again in 2005, they are odds-on favourites to take the title again. People shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss London Irish though. As head coach Toby Booth said: “We need to make sure we’re still in the game, because we know we finish strongly. It’s a tough order, but we have a lot of self-belief here.” Maybe this shows that the strong form of Leicester, coupled with their ambition to win, could be overfacing the London side.

Indeed, Leicester are by no means a dead cert to win themselves. “… they have match-winners across the field. They are a good side and if we are not right we could get a nasty shock.” was the response of Richard Cockerill when asked about his team’s chances, putting the emphasis on the fact that even as favourites, talk is coming from some corners that the team may stumble at the final hurdle after a tiring season. Martin Castrogiovanni is out for Leicester, replace by vet Julian White, but other than that the side is looking to be strong as ever.

It is shaping up to be an interesting game on Saturday, with the perennial league-toppers of Leicester against the definite underdog of the London Irish, and who is to say who will walk away with the all-important win. One thing is for sure though, both teams will be playing to win and will be doing their damnedest to do it in style. Who knows - London Irish could well walk away as champions, quite possibly beginning their collection of trophies.

The game takes place this Saturday, 16th May at Twickenham, starts at 17:30.

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An international at the end of year however offers the option of cheap tickets. The game is to be played at Twickenham, and is between the New Zealand All Blacks and the Barbarians. The match takes place in December, on the 5th, this year.

The game represents the fifth time that the Barbarians have played the All Blacks at the home of English rugby, with the All Blacks winning their last encounter.

Richie McCaw is the New Zealand captain, and represented the Barbarians himself last year when the played the Aussies. He said of the match:

I had a great time playing for the Barbarians last year and to now get the opportunity to play against them is going to be pretty special. Matches like this are rare and as there is such a long tradition of matches between the All Blacks and the Barbarians, it’s going to be huge for the team.

Paul Vaughan of the RFU said of how discount vouchers are being offered to those who buy tickets for the game.

We’re adding further value to the ticket and hopefully helping the fans with their Christmas shopping by giving each person who buys a match ticket before September 1st a free £20 voucher to spend at the Twickenham Stadium Rugby Store.

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With Martin Johnson appointed the new coach for England, de Villiers is still relatively wary of the English though not as much as the dragon particularly with it being the first opponent of the thjree sides.

Many of the players will be playing with the Lions next year and it will be interesting to have an early look at the team particularly with such an outstanding coach as Warren Gatland.

In 22 matches, Wales have only beaten the Springboks once however realise that they cannot rely on the history books particularly after the last 6 nations.

Finally, the top teams standards are within a similar margin and competition will be even more fierce.

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Whilst coaching the demoted first devision side Leeds, is celebrating his role in the highly sought after, prestigious position for the national side.

Borthwick however, has been keeping an eye on his England team mates, particularly at Leicester keeping a close eye especially with Martin Johnson indentifying the key leaders in the squad.

It will be interesting to see who will be picked for the starting fifteen particularly when England play the ferocious Pacific Islanders next month.

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23 of the points came from Gordon Ross from six penalties, a drop goal and a conversion whilst Myler, his opposite number scored 3 penalties.

Tries were scored on both sides with Rauluni and England left wing Cato scoring for the Saracens and Foden and Wilson for the Saints.

In the 20th minute, Cato was sin binned where Myler scored two penalties for Northampton and after the second, took out Matt Lord to receive the yellow card.

The lead was increased to 15-6 when the ball was snatched by Rauluni running between the posts leaving an easy conversion for Ross.
But they were denied a losing bonus point when Ross kicked two more penalties in the 61st and 68th minutes.

Dylan Hartley, England’s favourite Hooler was released from the bench  to salvage the game alongside Spencer and Gray though narrowly escaped a high tackle on Rauluni.

The final stages were near and the Saracens held back the oppositions attacks thoguh with one more penalty, the game was over.

The scorers:

For Saracens:
Tries: Cato, Rauluni
Con: Ross
Pens: Ross 6
Drop: Ross

For Northampton Saints:
Tries: Foden, Lewitt
Pens: Myler 3

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After scoring 4 tries and receiving a bonus point, Edwards now has more faith after taking a beating from Leinster in recent weeks.

Unfortunately for England though, Noon was stretchered off in the first half ruling him out for the next few matches.

Missing 2 easy kicks early on in the first half, Cipriani had to make amends and did so setting up Voyce for a try in the second half.

Just 2 minutes into the game Clegg was offered a penalty after a messy scrum and only minutes later, a long delay came with Noons injury and having to be replaced by Dillon.

With 8 minutes left, Clegg put Newcastle back in the running with a converted try taking the scores to 19-13 though Simpson charged through with a bonus point try which Cipriani converted just 2 minutes before full time.

The scorers:

For Newcastle:
Tries: Vickers
Con: Clegg
Pen: Clegg 2

For Wasps:
Tries: Sackey, Rees, Voyce, Simpson
Con: Cipriani 3

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With a determined solo try for Henson, the Wales coach watched closely as the favourites moved closer to the finals. After a 2 match ban for skipping training, he carved through the defence close to the half way mark to prove his importance.

Tries for the Osprey’s also came from Wingers Williams and Walker and centre Bowe.

Hook scored 17 points though, ironically his opposite number, Matthew Jones scored 5 penalties converting Tuitupou’s try.

The next game will be against London Irish and the Ospreys to secure a semi final slot and with much of the Welsh Test squad were in the starting lie up for the Ospreys including both Biggar and Jones, a victory is in the clear.

With Hook scoring a 4th penalty there was no chance the Warriors would be letting go early though with Bowe scoring in the last few seconds, no chance of victory.

The scorers:

For the Ospreys:
Tries: Walker, Henson, S Williams, Bowe
Cons: Hook
Pens: Hook 5

For Worcester Warriors:
Tries: Tuitupou
Cons: M Jones
Pens: M Jones

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