Unreal stuff!
Again!
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Category Archives: Heineken Cup
Ones to Watch – Heineken Cup
Duncan Weir - Fan'dabi'dozi
Better late than never! The Mole’s trip to Montpellier got in the way of blog writing last week so, one week in, it’s time to shine a light on players who should sally forth onto the big stage during this year’s Heineken Cup. Continue reading
Glasgow – A Coach’s Dilemma
Probably a bit far-fetched
There’s no doubt that Sean Lineen, coach of the Glasgow Warriors, would have been delighted by the outcome of the first Heineken Cup Pool game last weekend. A home win is almost essential to further progress in the competition, but this is particularly true when your December back-to-back games are against a team who finished runners-up in the prestigious Top 14 competition in France less than 6 months ago. Continue reading
Another Round Of Heino, Please
Another Round Of Heineken, Please
Orange and Canal+ executives must have been appalled by the carnage among the Top 14 clubs in the first weekend of the H Cup 2011. French rugby should be on the crest of a wave following the RWC2011 renaissance but Clermont, Racing, Castres, Biarritz all bit the dust, with Toulouse the only French H Cup winners on the weekend. In truth new-boys Montpellier salvaged the pride of Les Tricouleurs rugby with a gutsy draw against European champions Leinster, which could even have been a victory. Continue reading
Munster 23 – 21 Northampton
Gamblor seals the deal!
Northampton must be wondering just what they have to do to beat Munster in Thomond Park. The Liginds took everything they had, and after a marathon 41-phase endgame crawled out of the coffin and grabbed the win with a monster Gamblor dropgoal. RADGE! Continue reading
Montpellier 16 – 16 Leinster
You'd take that result every day of the week.
Jonny Sexton nervelessly knocked over the last kick of the game amidst a racket of whistles and boos to grab a draw for Leinster against Montpellier, last season’s Top 14 runners-up. Continue reading
Harlequins 25 – 17 Connacht
Future England captain speaks out
While they ended up on the wrong side of an eight-point margin, and thus in practice got nothing from the game, Connacht’s performance against high-flying Harlequins was worth all the praise that comes its way. As the old saw goes, you only get one chance to make a first impression: in their debut in the Heineken Cup, the Westies showed that they belong in the competition. Continue reading
Go On Then, Gizza Job
Yozzer Sean Edward’s column in the Grauniad makes for rib-tickling reading. Continue reading
Heineken Cup Pool 4
IT’S THE GROUP OF DEATH! It’s scarcely credible that this phrase has taken hold in rugby and managed to survive in commentary. It doesn’t have any notable lineage [for example, it’s not old naval slang or public school code], it’s an enormous overstatement – nobody calls failure to qualify from another group a death, so why should this be a ‘group’ of death? – and it’s really quite crass.
It’s the sort of modern over-statement that doesn’t sit well with rugby, where the method of scoring is still called a ‘try’, and you still have positions like tighthead prop and second five-eighth. If rugby were to adopt the sort of language from which GROUP OF DEATH! has managed to cross over, we’d have Right Scrum Masters, Megaboot Generals and VICTORY TOUCHDOWNS! Continue reading
Montpellier Hérault Rugby
Revving up for Sean O'Brien
As draws go, the emergence of Bath, Glasgow and Montpellier to accompany Heineken Cup champions Leinster in Pool 3 seemed to the Mole, like the best of good fortune last summer. For sure, Leinster did not get an Italian minnow (the pleasure reserved for Biarritz it seems) but no Clermont, Racing or even Castres to send a shiver of nerves down the back, at the prospect of a tough away fixture in the frozen weeks before Christmas, seemed like the sort of Champions League start usually reserved for Man U and Barca. Continue reading
Digging Like a Demented Mole 