England Rugby - January 2006 and what a busy month we had, we swung from the terraces and went on a campaign down under and England Rugby Supporters Club came up trumps with some extra tickets for their members, for the England vs Wales RBS Six Nations opener.  Can't be bad read on........

 Unofficial England's Rugby columnist Ed Budge kicked off the month with a look at who is on the Bench, the fringes and out there on the Radar for the England Team. I hope  to see England take the starting blocks they provided themselves in 2005, fly out of them in 2006, and not stop until RWC2007. That, after all, is the Holy Grail, the be all and end all of International Rugby for the ‘big five’ and especially for its holders who, believe it or not, play in white shirts with red roses on their chests......Ed Budge's take on 2006

Then we had the East Terrace serving us up a NEW Rugby Fitness Diet - Warning!  We will not be held responsible if you follow this diet as it seems to be full of alcohol. 

Our resident reporter Barney Burnham, was at Twickenham this month and took the opportunity to speak to the head of Health and Safety, who told him that they're 'very confident' that 5,000 seats in the South Stand will be in place and operational for the Wales game and possibly more for the Ireland match.  Apparently, clubs have already been alerted about the possibility of more tickets coming on stream, at £48 a time.  ( update this actually happened and seats were sold via Ticketmaster to England Rugby Supporters Club members)  Twickenham Stand Update    Barney also gave us a report on Twickenham's Museum of Rugby's 10th Birthday.. England Rugby Museum

Next up was our latest Free Competition.  We invited everyone to enter our  RBS Six Nations Prediction League Competition. Asking could you predict the final outcome of the RBS Six Nations Championship if so you could win our ERSC History of Rugby DVD  Free England Rugby Comp.,

Please note you can still enter this competition as there are many more games yet to be played and no doubt surprises in store!

Twickenham is not the only place you can watch England in action against Six Nations rivals. From February the nation's rising stars will be in action across the country as England's representative teams kick off their respective Six Nations campaigns.   England Stars of the future!

Claire and I put out a plea for site writers and photographers - we invite fans and posters to be involved in our site, a chance to join in and contribute to the Unofficial England Rugby site.   And as we knew, we had a great response and England's Man in Rome Paolo photographer  rallied to our call  together with, David Coldrey   Thank you to all!  Six Nations Match Writers    England Photos Wanted 

Photo copyright of David Coldrey

Photo copyright of Paolo Borgognone England's Man in Rome

and then we had a plea from Mark Busby exiled in the Land Down Under?    It would seem that Foxtel will not televise the RBS Six Nations Championship. This is what Mark has to say:-England Exiles Campaign   -  News just in today 14/2/06 it would seem Foxtel did bid but Santana kept outbidding them - so Fox have no games or highlights at all!

Unofficial England's Australian reporter Andrew Simpson, gives a glimpse as to how they do it down under! " The 5,684 crowd on hand are dressed for the beach covered in sun cream and dressed in shorts, tee shirts and thongs." Somehow, I can't see the Twickenham crowd going for this attire can you?      Rugby Passion Roundup 

The latest good news was that England Rugby Supporters did get an allocation of extra tickets for the England vs Wales RBS Six Nations match on Saturday 4th February 2006, this is due to the South Stand progressing really well on the rebuild. England vs Wales Tickets  These tickets went on sale via Ticketmaster to ERSC members and we understand that they may have some tickets for the England vs Ireland Match also.

And Ben one of our new writers took a look at England's front five.  Whilst all the talk has been about the back line, questions remain about the front five, especially with Phil Vickery injured. Whilst the latest squad announcement leaves Julian White in pole position to start in the number three shirt, with Matt Stevens paying the price for his ability on both sides of the scrum, the lack of depth could be a problem later in the tournament if injuries strike. Here is a rundown of the key players in the front five from both England squads:   England's Front Five

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