Though Lars Boom was leading in the polka-dot classification, he was wearing the yellow jersey, so the next placed man wears the polka-dot.

Alberto Contador, trapped at the back of the peloton, was involved in a crash in the final kilometres, but a team-mate quickly handed over his bicycle and Contador made a supreme effort to and finished the race only 17 seconds behind.

Greg Henderson made a superb sprint finish, taking the line by not much more than the width a wheel rim.

Lars Boom and Jens Voigt are both on 36 points (Voigt will wear the green jersey). Henderson is now on 25. The polkadot competition is unchanged with Lars Boom is in the lead, but Valverde will wear the jersey as Boom will wear the more prestigious yellow.

Lars Boom is also leading the white jersey youth competition – here Kreuziger will wear the Jersey.
(...)
Read the rest of Paris-Nice 2010 Stage 1 Results (1,250 words)

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Lars is the current holder of yellow, green, polkadot and white jerseys.

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Last weekend, Wasps had a humiliating defeat at Leeds Carnegie, who are propping up the bottom of the table. Indeed, Leeds’ win will have worried Newcastle, Sale and Worcester who are now threatened, though Sale have a game in hand (as do Wasps).

Already this weekend, Leicester have trounced Irish and Quins have squeezed out a win against Worcester. In addition to Wasps’ game, today Newcastle plays Bath, Sale plays Northampton and Leeds play Sarries (who Wasps beat two weeks ago).

Going into today’s fixtures, the premiership table looked like this:

I had intended to go to see Wasps vs. Gloucester today, but I’m a little under the weather – and so whilst I’m well enough to resent not going, I’m not well enough to actually go to the game. That doesn’t stop me wearing black and gold today, whilst wrapped up in a sleeping bag.

Beating Gloucester would send Wasps into fourth place, positioned for the playoffs. Wasps should have earned that position last week. We’d be equal on points with London Irish, but would be ahead in terms of games won.

Thus ends the part of this post I wrote prior to the game.

Fortunately, Wasps held on to the lead, having gone from 16-6 up to 16 all, thanks to a try from Lemi.

Elsewhere in the premiership, Leeds defeated Sarries – a good result for Wasps, as well as making the bottom of the table more uncertain. Northampton’s win against Sale put Sale to the relegation position, Worcester remain in 11th place (if Sale had won, they’ve be twelfth).

Sale have a game in hand, though, and Sale, Worcester, Leeds and Newcastle are separated by less than one game’s worth of points. At the top, Wasps are hot on the heels of sarries, but it’s 9 points before Northampton can be overtaken. There are six teams still in realistic contention for the top slots, that’s Leicester and Northampton, then Sarries, Wasps, Irish and possibly Bath.

Gloucester and Quins could, with a run of fortune for good or ill, go either way.

It’s a really tight finish to the season.

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Post tags: Gloucester, Guinness Premiership, Guinness Premiership 2010, London Wasps, Rugby Union

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Today is the prologue, a fast 8km starting and finishing at Montfort-l’Amaury, which is about 40-50km west of Paris’ centre, and about 20km from the outskirts. It’s a flattish 8km course, the mountain jersey is on offer though, as the Côte de Boursouffle carries a category 3 rating.

It’s a time trial today, which isn’t my favourite stage. I like the mountain stages, closely followed by the flats. The reason for the time trial is to sort out the initial classification in a ‘pure’ way, without other riders affecting the performance of an individual.

If you’ve never watched cycling before, you might like to give it a try (you may like the time trial). There are several competitions taking place at once. The first is the general classification, or the yellow jersey. This is worn by the rider who has the shortest cumulative time. Points are awarded for crossing the line first, second etc – and the points jersey is the second competition. It is possible to win the general classification without winning many stages, and vice versa. This is the green jersey. Note that the colours can differ in different races. The ‘King of the Mountains’ is the polka dot jersey. Points are awarded for being first up the steep hills. The white jersey is for the best young rider.

There’s a lot of tactics involved. Generally, it’s an easier ride in the peloton (the big group of riders) as there is less wind resistance, but there is a calculation to me made regarding a break. Should a rider break free from the peloton? Should the peloton let him go?

Sometimes a rider will break free to force someone to chase him. This will wear them both out and allow the first rider’s team-mate who has remained with the peloton to arrive at the finish relatively fresh. Sometimes a group of riders will break free and work together to maintain the gap from the peloton.

Whether the peloton will chase will often depend on who is in that breakaway group – if the breakaway contains someone who is in contention for the yellow jersey and his team-mates, the holder of the yellow jersey may well break away from the peloton to join them. If this happens, the breakaway group could try and stay ahead (hoping to tire the chasing lone rider) – or if the lone rider catches, they may drop back into the peloton.

Different riders have different roles. A team will have sprinters, climbers or grimpeurs as well as domestiques. The job of domestiqueis unglamorous but vital. They will drop back to the following team car to pick up water and carry it to their team-mates, having to sprint repeatedly only to drop back again. They will burn themselves out allowing their team-mates to slip-stream behind them. For the domestiques it is all guts and no glory.

Alejandro Valverde is racing, though his case is in front of an arbitration court following a doping investigation in Italy.

Big names to watch for are Alberto Contador for Astana, who says he learned from last year’s failure, Franz Schleck for Team Saxo Bank, and Levi Leipheimer for Team Radioshack.

Stage 1 is shown on British Eurosport at 2:50pm.

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To be fair, the titles give fair warning. Let’s compare and contrast:

It seems today,
that all you see,
is violence in movies and sex on TV.
But where are those good ol’ fashioned values
on which we used to rely?

Lucky there’s a family guy,
Lucky there’s a man who’ll positively can do,
all the things that make us
laugh and cry!

He’s – a – fam – ily – guy

Nice and short, relates to the title without going too far into exposition.

Now ‘American Dad’:

Good Morning USA, I got a feeling that it’s gonna be a wonderful day,
The sun in the sky has a smile on his face and it’s shining a salute to the American race.
Oh boy, it’s swell to say: “Good Morning USA.”

A USA-typical patriotic score accompanies the lyrics, again, it sets the stall without going too far into exposition. American Dad isn’t as good as family guy, but it’s watchable.

Now, for the Cleveland show.

My name is Cleveland Brown and I am proud to be
right back in my hometown with my new family.
There’s old friends and new friends and even a bear,
through good times and bad times there’s true love we share.
So I found a place where everyone will know,
my happy moustached face,
This is the Cleveland show! (inane giggle)

(Originally the lyric was to be ‘happy black-guy face‘, but was changed).

This show jumps the shark right there. Right on the phrase ‘and even a bear’, it’s all downhill from there. Family guy didn’t feel the need to say in the titles ‘the baby talks, strangers can understand him and aren’t phased by this – the dog can understand him too, and oh yes, we’ve a talking dog’.

My name is Pete Griffin and I am proud to be
still here in Rhode Island with my old family.
There’s old friends and a baby and a talking dog,
through side notes and footnotes there’s a hint of a plot!
So I found a place where everyone will know,
my bloated fat-guy face,
This is the Griffin show! (inane giggle)

Even American Dad did not say ‘there’s even a camp alien called Roger and a talking goldfish’.

The first time, it’s not so bad – though the ‘old friends’ bit jars a little, as you’ve never seen those folks before – and later on, when the old friends are old, the new friends aren’t new – and once past episode one, the bear is known. Stop telling me about the bear. I KNOW ABOUT THE BEAR. Grr.

Aside: From the original trailer, the ‘old friends’ referred to were to be Joe, Quagmire and Peter, but in the title sequence the old friends are two chaps we’ve never seen before.

… and what’s this? The son? Okay, they put the boy in with a knowing self-referential bit of humour, but….

I could forgive the Cleveland Show for annoying me with the titles, if the show was funny – but it isn’t. It simply isn’t. It has a moment or two, but….

Cleveland Brown was a great character in ‘Family Guy’. He could be used when needed and off-screen at other times, thus when he appeared, he got some good moments. However, as a lead supporting his own show? I’m sorry, I wanted to like this, but….

If the Cleveland show was following his secret life in Quahog, he could still appear in Family Guy – and Family Guy characters could guest in his show – but if they do make an appearance (as seems to be the intention) it’ll be a bit of a stretch to do more than very occasionally.

The funniest, and most telling, thing about the show was in the first episode. As Cleveland leaves, Stewie exclaims ‘What the Hell? He’s getting his own show?’

From the mouths of babes… (or in this case, the mouth of Seth Mac

In short, ‘Family Guy’ is great (but even there the constant use of “It’s like that time when….” gets annoying). “American Dad” is okay, if there is nothing else on…. and “The Cleveland Show” is a step too far.

Other reviews:

• Cleveland Doesn’t Rock
• Fox commissioned Season 2 before Season 1 aired
• TV Show Reviews
• Why Seth MacFarlane did it

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Post tags: Family, Seth MacFarlane, Television, Theatre

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As I posted back in Jan 2009, Matt Smith will have to put in a long stint if he is to regenerate older than the other doctors even at their youngest – even if he plays the part for as long as Tom Baker, he’ll still retire as one of the youngest doctors.

The new series starts at Easter – so, what do I want in our new time lord?

1. I really don’t want him to be shouting ‘geronimo’ all the time.
2. I would like him to appear young, but be old. I don’t think I’m getting that judging from the trailers.
3. I’d like more involved storylines, without the deux ex-machine endings. I might get that with Stephen Moffat as show-runner. My favourite episode of the Tennant era being ‘Blink’ (the one with Sally Sparrow)
4. I could quite happily do without the “will they/won’t they” love-in between doctor and assistant. The answer is: No, no they won’t. He’s an alien.
5. Can we get Sally Sparrow back?
6. Did I mention the ‘geronimo’ thing?
7. I’d really like a story arc – more than a narrative laid impossibly on top of the villain of the week. I know there is no way we’ll see an extended storyline as in the past – but something lasting three weeks would be nice
8. Please, please: don’t tie the series to modern day earth. You’ve got all of time and space, use it!
9. Mostly, I would things to be not immediately obvious – but work-outable, and with less use of the sonic screwdriver as a magic wand.

I wonder if we’ll get any of that? I wonder too what others are hoping for (or fearing) in the new doctor?

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Both teams had something to prove. England, though they have two wins from two, the match against Italy last week was far from convincing. Ireland had a humiliating defeat against France.

Going into the match, though I wanted an England win, I feared than Ireland would had a greater hunger, after all, England did win two weeks ago.

In the first few minutes, Bowe for Ireland scored a quite spectacular try following passes to the wing and a footrace following a kick. The Irishman grounded the ball but this was not converted. 5-0 to Ireland.

In the 10th minute, Johnny Wilkinson saw that the referee was playing advantage to England and tried for a drop goal. It was not successful, but Wilkinson had a penalty in hand. Here the ball bounced off the posts into Irish hands.

Ireland weren’t able to capitalise and England piled on the pressure. Wilkinson chipped the ball over, but nobody got up in time to put the ball down.

In the 16th minute, England got on the scoreboard with a penalty kick from Wilkinson. 3-5.

In the 23rd minute, Ireland was awarded a penalty as an English front row player popped up when going forward. The Irish kick in the torrential rain was short.

In the 30th minute Ireland kicked a successful penalty. This was from what (to me) looked to be a questionable decision about the tackler not releasing.

Soon after, Ireland had another break, the ball went loose, and thankfully Danny Care could get back to touch down and hold the score to 3-8.

In the 37th minute, Wilkinson kicked a penalty to bring the score to 6-8.

A decent lineout for England with a short throw went nowhere. The play went to the ground, and the ball turned over.

Ireland attacked in the last minute of the half, but England stopped the attack and kicked to touch. 6-8 at half time.

The second half began with a penalty kick for each side, first Ireland, then England a few minutes later. Neither was successful.

In the 50th minute England came.under pressure. Ireland did not get quick ball, and England was awarded a penalty, which they used to remove the danger.

In the 54th minute there was a controversial decision, an Irish player infringed for the second time (the first was not addressed by the ref), England players, including Haskell and others reacted and the penalty was reversed. Immediately afterwards, Ireland scored a try, and the score went to 6-13.

England replied with and attack on Ireland, and earned a scrum at five metres. The scrum took several attempts, and eventually a penalty was awarded for a collapsed scrum – not a penalty try, though. England applied pressure and scored a try directly under the posts, after a tricky TMO decision. The try was duly converted and it became all square at 13-13, with a little under 20 minutes to play.

Brian O’Driscoll received a big knock to his head from the knee of a team-mate, he looked a bit dazed and as a precaution he was stretchered off.

In the 66th minute, Ireland gave away a penalty for offside. Wilkinson kicked and missed. The score remained at 13-13.

In the 70th minute, Care made a run, the ball found Wilkinson who put in a drop goal. England went ahead for the first time, 16-13.

So far, the standard is better than it was against Italy, but it doesn’t currently look enough to counter France.

In the 74th minute, Ireland’s Tommy Bowe nipped through the England line, having received the ball from a line-out. It was a great try, and the conversion took the score to 16-20. England would need a try or two penalties.

England applied the pressure, and metres from Ireland’s line the attack collapsed and Ireland won the scrum. As is usual in the modern game, the ball was not straight, and Ireland got the ball. The ball found touch and England had a line-out.

There was a series of messy plays and the ball was turned over, 16-20 to Ireland.

So, the millennium trophy to Ireland, and only France can still win the Grand Slam. Ireland is still in contention for the triple crown.

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Post tags: England, Ireland, Millennium Trophy, rugby, Rugby Union, Six nations, Six Nations 2010

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The game was slow to start, but in the 7th minute, Italy got the first real advantage from Scotland failing to release after a tackle. A good kick gave them a line-out within the Scottish 22, and this soon became a scrum – which in turn earned Italy a penalty. Bergamasco had a relatively easy kick for the first three points of the game, and he brought the score to 3-0 at ten minutes.

Soon after, Bergamasco made a cheeky little chip to threaten a try – but in the footrace that followed, Scotland’s Southwell was able to put the ball into touch.

Almost immediately after the restart, a marginal case of hands in the ruck gave Bergamasco another easy kick to bring the score to 6-0.

As the 20th minute approached, John Barkley for Scotland broke for the line, and with the advantage, the play broke down for a penalty to Scotland. This was taken from a similar position to Bergamasco’s first three points. Dan Parks had no problems, despite the Italian crowd starting to try and put him off, and the score became 6-3 in the 21st minute.

Another penalty for Scotland equalised the score at 6-6.

Scotland had a good sequence of play with a good overlap. Dan Parks made and early pass, yielding some of the advantage. Metres from the line an Italian player killed the ball, somehow avoiding the yellow card in the process. Dan Parks messed up the subsequent penalty kick, and what should have been seven points for Scotland came to nothing.

At half time it was 6-6.

Early in the second half, Scotland conceded another penalty. Bergamasco had no difficulty in bringing the score to 9-6.

Scotland replied with a bout of sustained pressure, the ball crossed the line in a bundle of bodies and the TMO had a near impossible decision. As the ball was not visible it was a 5 yard scrum to Scotland.

Scotland looked much better at this point, the half term respite being good for them. With the Italian team under pressure the Italian crowd got behind their team with a rousing anthem. Despite the pressure, Italy prevented the try and Dan Parks eventually settled for a drop goal, equalising at 9-9.

In the 55th minute we learned that a Scottish player (Max Evans?) wore floral underwear. I didn’t need to know that, I’m sure you didn’t either.

With 20 minutes to go, Italy threatened to score. Bergamasco ran down the line and gave a little kick. He was not able to chase, though, so Scotland gathered and cleared.

A Scottish attack broke down, but Italy conceded a penalty with their number ten going off his feet. Scotland took the score to 9-12.

Italy had the perfect reply, Canale took a pass from the number ten, and broke away on a run. As he was tackled he managed to offload to Canavosio, who scored between the posts. The score was now 16-12 in favour of Italy.

It looked like Scotland came back with a try, but it went to the TMO and the replay clearly showed that it was both held up and short of the line.

Scotland lost the scrum, Italy showed great composure and ultimately kicked to touch in the Scottish half.

After the lineout,Scotland conceded a penalty just inside their half. Craig Gower tried to take Otaly seven points ahead, but he didn’t have the distance. The score remained 16-12, with minutes to go.

With two minutes on the clock, Italy had phase after phase of attack. they were on their 14th phase with 45 seconds left and 15th with 30 seconds left.

Italy conceded a penalty, with 8.5 seconds left they did not have time for a line out. Scotland kept the ball in hand, but Italy got a turnover only for Scotland to reclaim with another turnover. In the 83rd minute, Italy won a penalty and kicked to touch.

16-12 Italy.

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The TMA comes in two sections. The first is a piece of textual analysis, the second looks at a painting and asks what we can learn from it as a historical source. Each section requires 500 words. I’ve written that for the painting, but I’ll need to redraft somewhat as the balance of those words is wrong – I’m not giving enough emphasis to part of the question. When I’ve done that, I’ll look at the textual part.

I’m enjoying the course, though I’m eating into the head start I build up at an alarming rate. I’m finding the Wars of the Roses quite involving, it’s like a soap opera – lots of familial rivalry, with complex relationships to get my head around! The Wars of the Roses topic was due to start this weekend – today, in fact, so if I can finish the TMA and start reading the next topic, I shall be two weeks ahead (they’ve scheduled a week for the TMA – which is lovely).

This course has a lot going for it in terms of scheduling. OU courses can be relentless, with no time set aside for catchup. This can be dispiriting if time has slipped due to other commitments. Each TMA in this course has a week set aside – and this provides a little flexibility which I wish were present in other courses.

After the TMA, I move beyond France, England and Burgundy – The next major topic along is the European Reformation, then the wars of the three kingdoms.

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For the national anthems, France wore red, and Wales blue – but it was soon off with the jackets and the teams were in their customary colours.

The first score of the match came from an interception, a shockingly telegraphed pass was intercepted by Alexis Palisson who ran and had a clear try. Parra kicked to bring the score to 0-7.

After 20 minutes, a penalty made the score 0-10, and another about 5 minutes later took the score to 0-13.

Wales didn’t put a lot of pressure on, but there was a nice piece of work from Shane Williams (if I recall) – from a lineout, he snuck through with the ball and the French only just managed to stop him.

And then, at the end of the first half, another interception. Trinh-duc took the ball and scored for France. 0-18, then 0-20. Going into half time, the Welsh were not looking in good shape.

After half time, France conceded a penalty, and Wales opted to take the points. Stephen Jones kicked for three points. Three minutes later and another penalty. Another three points. It was 6-20 in favour of France. Wales appeared revitalised at this point, and France began to look threatened. Wales had half an hour left at this point to capitalise.

For a while it looked as if Wales had lost momentum again, but in the 62nd minute there was an excellent sequence of play, resulting in Shane Williams passing to Halfpenny (following an offence from Parra for which he got a yellow card and the referee played advantage). The Welsh came to within a converted try of equalising, with a score of 13-20.

In the 68th minute there was a superb Welsh break, which the French did well to stamp out. It seemed like this was now a different Welsh team facing the French. With just over ten minutes to go, the game could go either way, and Wales had the momentum.

In the 70th minute, Michalak kicked a penalty, apparently putting France clear and dry on a score of 13-23 and the penalty kick from Parra taking things to 13-26 seemed (and proved) to be the nail in the coffin of Wales.

However, there was some last-minute footwork from Shane Williams – skipping over a French player and dodging in to score a try. The conversion took the score to 20-26. It looked like Wales could make a last moment save, if they could restart the game, and if they held on to the ball.

With these circumstances, the conversion was very slow, and though France had to restart, they were able to kick straight to touch. They did the sensible thing, and the final score was 20-26. France is still on course for the Grand Slam.

Tomorrow, we will have Italy vs. Scotland and England vs. Ireland.

Link - (Come and Comment - I like comments!) | Original : Six Nations 2010 – Match 7 – Wales vs. France | © Murky, 2010. | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: France, rugby, Rugby Union, Six nations, Six Nations 2010, Wales

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