Chris P - benched

By Cherry Picker
January 31 2008

No game this weekend, but still plenty for Glaws fans to talk about as England name our Tongan-born New Zealand RL international on the bench, Scotland drop one of he world’s most reliable kickers, Wales decide to turn the Six Nations into a club tournament, France name only six members of last year’s World Cup squad.

The start of the international series has thrown up a lot of talking points before a ball has been passed, kicked, knocked-on, passed forward or put in wrong.
And many of them concern Gloucester players, keeping Kingsholm fans busy despite the fact that their favourite team isn’t in action this weekend.
Scotland’s decision to leave Chris Paterson on the bench is apparently based on the fact that he wants to convert to fly-half and the powers-that-be North of the Border believe he hasn’t had enough game time at Glaws to justify selection.
Yet Lesley Vainikolo (right) is on the bench for England with only a handful of RU games behind him since his switch last summer from Bradford Bulls to Glaws.
As Jimmy Greaves would say, if he knew as much about rugby as he does about footy, it’s a funny old game.
With 13 Ospreys lining up for Wales, they shouldn’t play like strangers against England, but with the old guard left out and four new caps in their side, France clearly believe they need to start rebuilding and they are doing so with only one player in their squad who does not play for a French club.
The Ireland v Italy game in Dublin is perhaps the one which is of least interest to those of the cherry and white persuasion, so just watch it be the best of the bunch over the weekend.
Paterson isn’t the only Glaws player who has been overlooked by the Scots, so they’ll probably be rewarded for that with a good stuffing from France.
And hopefully the same fate awaits Ospreys when they face England, who have at least done the decent thing and named four Glaws players in their 22.
And if Big Les gets on as an impact sub, we’ll be holding our collective breath in the hope that he can have as big an impact on the international game as he has on club rugby.
Fingers crossed …

No game, but plenty to talk about for Glaws fans

Discussion started by Shedloads (IP Logged), 31/01/2008 17:36

Shedloads
31/01/2008 17:36

No game, but plenty to talk about for Glaws fans

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Two Sheds
31/01/2008 17:42

Head in noose time, my predictions are:
England to beat Wales with 15 points to spare
France to pip Scotland, 3 points max difference
Ireland to give Italy a good towelling - at least 20-point margin.
But I won't be having a bet.

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cheerycherry
01/02/2008 00:35

England to win by 10-15, Scotland to win by 7-10 and Ireland to win by 20-25 points against Italy.

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