If at first you don’t succeed, essai, essai, essai again

So what did we learn from the two Friday night experiments after France defeated Wales in the third round of Six Nations matches?
Firstly, once the anthems are played it doesn’t really matter whether it is Friday night at 8pm or Saturday afternoon at 3pm. If you are treated to an enthralling game of rugby – even one [...]

Friday night’s alright for…rugby/TV/fans*

(* delete as appropriate)
History will made in Paris on Friday night (8pm our time, 9pm locally) when Wales take on their French hosts in the Six Nations rugby championship.
It is the first 6N match to be played on a Friday night and needless to say it has not been universally welcomed, with some of the [...]

The brains in the marketing department

For the last few years Welsh rugby’s main shirt sponsors has been Brains, Cardiff-based brewers of some damn fine beer.
It continues to be a happy marriage, good business for both the Welsh Rugby Union and Brains.

After all, it taps into two of the great Welsh love affairs – rugby union and beer.
Admittedly, as with most [...]

Birmingham confuses, the old school tie, an end to long lunches and Kanye vs Kermit

A quick round-up during a break from the newsletter writing and researching:
Will the real Birmingham please stand up.
The city is apparently still struggling to get the right message to the right people and still failing to match Manchester’s positive PR and image.
The latest report on perceptions of our major cities and towns provides a few points to cheer [...]

Time to ditch Eurovision

We need to get out more, collectively as a nation and individually.
This latest blinding flash of bleeding obvious revelation came to me as the feelings of self-righteousness and mis-placed indignation began to rise with the voting in full swing on Eurovision 2008.
Why did I bother? Why didn’t I just switch off, or take my wife out [...]

The right result in the Six Nations

Italy 23 – Scotland 20
England 33 – Ireland 10
Wales 29 – France 12
A Welsh Grand Slam. A new English star is born. The Italians make their new coach shed a tear.
It was quite an end to the 2008 Six Nations and arguably three of the best rugby matches in this year’s tournament.
The Italians claimed a last-minute win [...]

Keeping control in the Six Nations

Ireland 12 – Wales 16 
Scotland 15 – England 9
France 25 – Italy 13
Forget about dedication, control is what you need if you’re going to be the best and beat the rest.
On the penultimate weekend of the 2008 Six Nations, Wales exerted the type of control against Ireland that brought about a deserved win, a Triple Crown and [...]

Feeling the love in the Six Nations

Wales 47 – Italy 8
Ireland 34 – Scotland 13
France 13 – England 24
It was a super Saturday for the third round of the 2008 Six Nations with all three matches sandwiched between 3pm and 8pm.
The prospects for a day of tries, tries and yet more tries looked good as Wales put a stuttering first half performance [...]

Trying times in the Six Nations

Wales 30 – Scotland 15
France 26 – Ireland 21
Italy 19 – England 23
“For God’s sake!”
The quote of the second week of the 2008 Six Nations had to come from an apoplectic Brian Moore, his face the colour of beetroot as he commented on England’s stumbling win against Italy.
I’m only guessing that his face had turned the shade [...]

Fear and loathing in the Six Nations

Ireland 16 – Italy 11
England 19 – Wales 26
Scotland 6 – France 27 
If the build up to the 2008 Six Nations was characterised by uncertainty – new coaches, old players, different styles – then the first week was afflicted by nerves and hesitancy.
From the dour opening match in Dublin – an unconvincing Ireland ground out [...]