RUGBY: Ruan’s getting roasted

Friday 1 June 2007

It’s becoming increasingly clear that the plan with Ruan Pienaar is non existent.

This after Springbok backline coach Allister Coetzee fumbled through keo.co.za’s question of whether they had given the prodigiously talented Sharks scrumhalf a criteria for what he needed to do to move past Ricky Januarie as the back-up to Fourie du Preez.

The fact that Pienaar has been overlooked with Du Preez missing the start of the Test season due to a shoulder injury is perplexing. Januarie played second fiddle to Jano Vermaak for the vast majority of the Lions Super 14 campaign, while Pienaar had a solid season for the Sharks. Januarie was dropped from the Bok Tri-Nations squad last year for poor form and even worse conditioning, yet was the premier scrumhalf on the year-end tour on the back of four mediocre Currie Cup displays.

In that time Pienaar never let the side down, coming off the bench thrice in the Tri-Nations, and twice on the year-end tour. And while it was seen as no more than an exhibition match, Pienaar’s sublime display against the World XV in Leicester was a timely reminder of what a gem the Boks have at their disposal, as was his cameo in Bloemfontein last week.

It has to be said that Pienaar has his flaws. He often takes poor options and has a penchant for isolating himself with ill advised solo bursts. He has however just turned 23, and he’ll mature with more experience.

The selectors would struggle to justify Januarie’s selection if asked to compare the players head-to-head, because Pienaar would triumph in every facet of scrumhalf play. What this website wanted to know was whether Pienaar stood a chance of overtaking Januarie in this World Cup year, or whether it had been decided that the diminutive No 9 would be the back up to Du Preez for the rest of the season. Coetzee offered this response.

“You obviously need to have scrumhalfs who can play different styles,” he said. “And we want to ensure that we have a scrumhalf that can play in the wet, and one who can play in dry weather and hard surfaces who can get the game going and run around.

“In Fourie and Ruan we have scrumhalfs with big boots on them, and Ricky is the one nuggety guy who can play close. So we’re sitting in a good position of having 9s who can play both styles.”

If Coetzee was trying to say that Januarie is better suited to a wet game he is delusional, given that in those conditions teams benefit from having a scrumhalf who has a good kicking game. Januarie’s is poor. What’s more is that Pienaar has proven over the course of his short career that he is versatile enough to adapt his game to the prevailing weather conditions. So he offers you both options.

What Coetzee’s offering does do is give us a clearer picture of just how far Pienaar is from cracking the matchday 22 when Du Preez returns in a fortnight. The Boks will have one of the most naturally talented backs in world rugby watching from the stands because there’s no way Jake White will include him as a utility back, because that would mean dropping one of his wings or forwards from the bench.

Asked whether Pienaar was now seen as a utility back rather than a specialist scrumhalf, White said: “I think Ruan Pienaar is a special rugby player period. Last week guys reported that I put him on the wing, but Jean de Villiers got cramp and I only had two backs on the bench, so I had to put him somewhere on the field and moving Frans Steyn to centre was my only option.

“As a scrumhalf, I think he’s quite talented, but as a rugby player I think he’s even more talented,” he added. “So I’m sitting in the very fortunate position that I have two 24-year-old scrumhalfs in Fourie and Ricky who are going to be around for South Africa for a very long time. The fact that Ruan doubles up as a flyhalf, centre, fullback and wing is obviously a huge bonus to us a group,” he explained.

White however added that Pienaar’s versatility didn’t give him an advantage when it came down to selection, saying that players like Wynand Olivier, Jaque Fourie, De Villiers and Steyn all possessed that quality. He stressed that the evolution of the modern game dictated that players no longer had set roles from broken play, intimating that Pienaar’s best position was a non issue.

“The Waratahs introduced the idea that the number on your back shouldn’t matter,” he said. “The one thing that Australia have done better than anyone else is they’ve managed to use their backline players in different positions. Joe Roff played in three positions, Lote Tuqiri’s played in three positions as has Matt Giteau.

“The way forward is that from broken play it doesn’t really matter where you stand as long as you have the understanding of what your trying to achieve.”

An interesting concept, but the first step would be to get Pienaar onto the pitch. We have the opportunity now to give him regular game time at Test level before the World Cup, why are we spurning that chance?

By Ryan Vrede, in Johannesburg - keo.co.za

*Disclaimer - Views expressed within this story are not necessarily the views of this Blog

RUGBY: Richie's sin-bins: blame me not refs

01/06/2007

Duncan Johnstone - yahooxtra.net.nz

Richie McCaw blames himself not the referees for his Super 14 yellow cards and doesn't feel he's under extra scrutiny by the whistlemen as the World Cup draws closer.

McCaw's dominating abilities at the breakdowns have been a constant source of intrigue by opposition and he has regularly been accused of cheating by international coaches.

The All Blacks captain has always taken that in his stride, seeing it more as a compliment than a criticism.

But one yellow card for the All Blacks in last year's final test against Wales and two sin-binnings in his limited appearances for the Crusaders this year have raised the question: is McCaw under the microscope more in this biggest of years?

"I don't think too much more than in the past," said McCaw.

"I guess I ended up getting a couple of yellow cards but I think that was more through my own mistakes rather than refs looking at me more than usual.

"So from my point of view I was a bit disappointed that I made those mistakes but hopefully I can get that right."

McCaw and Daniel Carter loom as the two most influential All Blacks heading towards the World Cup. McCaw, in particular, has come in for special attention at times at all levels of rugby with some opposition reverting to a rough-house approach to counter his skills.

The French have a history of turning up the heat and producing questionable tactics at times but All Blacks coach Graham Henry is confident that Australian referee Stu Dickinson will be on top of things in this first test of the Iveco Series.

"The game's a physical game and I think the vast majority of games are refereed well. I'm sure Stu Dickinson tomorrow will be up to his usual high standard - he's one of the best referees in the world and we are pretty comfortable with him," said Henry.

"We don't expect anything other than the game to be played in the right spirit."

Henry has been on the record as suggesting that home crowds can influence referees. Could that happen at Eden Park?

"You have seen results over the years where home advantage is a positive and I think that may have some influence, maybe sub-consciously. You'd like to think it's a 50-50 deal every time a decision is made and that sub-conscious doesn't come into it.

"I guess that's one of the challenges of refereeing and officiating the game to the very highest standard and I guess that's a work-on for everybody. But some handle it better than others."

McCaw felt there was an extra edge to his side in camp this week that would hopefully offset the usual sort of problems associated with the first test of the season.

"The excitement levels have been pretty good this week and that's for a number of reasons. I think the guys are pretty happy to be back in this environment and looking forward to what is a pretty big year," he said.

"We want to start it off well. It's important that we get things right before we get to the Tri Nations. Hopefully we can put a performance out there that we are happy with tomorrow."

*Disclaimer - Views expressed within this story are not necessarily the views of this Blog

RUGBY: Jake: Opportunity missed?

31/05/2007 11:38 - (SA)
JJ Harmse

A friend of mine recently joked about one of the latest money making schemes at our traffic lights.

A blind person (or so it seems) begs for change and has a guide to help him in doing so.

"Only in South Africa," my friend joked, "could you find someone trying to sell you a blind person at a traffic light."

Yesterday, on my way to attend a Bok training session in Randburg, I passed at least three of those blind beggars.

Remembering the joke, I wondered how that 'blind' person picked his guide, if at all.

Is the blind leading or is he being led? I asked myself.

Did the blind man wake up one morning and decided he was going to beg at intersections? If so, how did he know about it?

What made him decide whom to ask to help him stand in the sun all day?

Opportunistic

What type of person would stand next to a blind beggar all day and help him across busy roads for some food?

Or did a opportunistic family member or even a friend of the family suggest that those fortunate enough to drive a car would be more inclined to give to the blind than to the poor and offered to accompany the said blind family member.

Or even worse, are certain families renting out their blind brothers or sisters?

How is this related to rugby, you may ask.

Well, in many ways.

I am feeling as uneasy about the appalling English performances as I am when being approached by yet another odd couple at an intersection.

Jake White has put a lot of emphasis on beating England in the two-Test series currently being played. He wants to grind them into the ground and gain the mental edge ahead of the Rugby World Cup in France.

Nothing wrong with that and to be honest, to see the distraught faces of the 20-odd English rugby writers on the trip, it does feel good.

Sulky faces

After all, we had the boot on the other foot for so long and they had to suffer (or enjoy) our sulky faces!

However, I just wonder whether we are not being led into an ally here.

In 2003, we had to beat England to avoid the All Blacks in the quarter-finals.

This time around, we'll play either Wales or Australia.

It is not the same as four years ago. If we lose against England in September, we are nowhere near in as much trouble as we were in 2003.

We know we can beat Wales nine times out of 10 and we know how to beat the Wallabies. And whether one plays France or New Zealand the following weekend, you will have to beat one of them to win the World Cup anyway.

We are putting our cards on the table - the English are not.

They clearly are experiencing a tour from hell, especially with several of their players falling prey to a stomach virus on top of their mounting injury toll.

I know Jake White has a plan, but maybe he should've tinkered with his plan for the coming weekend.

Rest

This weekend is not that important, rested legs are.

No need for Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield and no need for John Smit or Bryan Habana to play Test rugby this weekend.

I believe they need the rest more than beating England again.

They know this is a weak English team and that there is no mental edge to be gained.

Even in the reduced squad of around 38, there are still far more questions than answers.

Why not rejuvenate Gary Botha with a start at Loftus?

Why not play Johann Muller and Albert van den Berg and give the Bulls pair a break? Van den Berg is in need of game time, as is Bob Skinstad.

Why does Ashwin not get another 80 minutes and Bryan a rest?

And when will Ruan Pienaar start at No 9?

They are still 10 000 shy of a full house at Loftus. Looking to fill stadium? Play Derick Hougaard at flyhalf. Full house, guaranteed.

Whack Samoa

In addition, get the Luke saga over and done with. Pick him against England, see how he goes and plan from there.

It is much more important for us to whack Samoa next weekend.

They are arriving with their best team, are playing in the Pacific Cup at the moment and are one team capable of upsetting anyone at a World Cup.

If ever there were a psychological battle to be won, it would be next weekend, not this one.

I know it is easy to stand on the outside and make statements.

Fact is, I have spare change in my pocket, but do I give it to the blind man or do I give it to his guide? Who is leading who?

Read JJ every Sunday in Rapport.

*Disclaimer - Views expressed within this story are not necessarily the views of this Blog

RUGBY: Bad to worse for England

Thursday 31 May 2007

The challenge for England this Saturday will be fielding a full squad rather than combating the physical game of the Springboks.

Only eight backs are fit at present, with three of those being scrumhalves. Mike Brown, James Simpson-Daniel and Andy Farrell are reportedly too sick to play or even fly back to England. Andy Hazell has failed to recover from the knee injury incurred in Bloemfontein and has also been ruled out of the Test.

Skipper Jason Robinson has also been unable to train due to fluid on the knee and has been working feverishly in the swimming pool and on other exercises in an attempt to be fit for Saturday’s clash.

David Strettle (stomach virus) and Iain Balshaw (shin) were sent home earlier this week, while prop Nick Woods was ruled out of the tour ahead of last week’s game due to a pectoral tear.

The Poms were expected to come away from South Africa with a 2-0 series defeat, as the club competitions in Europe saw their top players omitted from the touring party. The English press hoped this would not be a repeat of the England tours to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand 1998, forever remembered as the ‘Tour of Hell’, but the truth is England may be in for even more humiliation at the weekend.

The England squad of 22 will only be announced on Friday afternoon. Coach Brian Ashton has confirmed he has no intention of issuing a request to the IRB that the Test be called off.

Posted by JC - keo.co.za

*Disclaimer - Views expressed within this story are not necessarily the views of this Blog

RUGBY: Double standards taint debate

31/05/2007

Duncan Johnstone - yahooxtra.net.nz

Speaking from the comfort of the winner's corner Graham Henry has every right to hit out at the weak touring sides the northern hemisphere have sent south.

France, Wales, England and Ireland are all guilty of fielding second and third-string sides in their current internationals against New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina respectively.

Henry says the future of test rugby is shaky if the International Rugby Board and the game's stakeholders can't sort out a better calendar to suit everyone's needs.

He's right on that one but I'm not quite so sure about his claims that New Zealand is lily-white in this shady business.

The rotation policy and the reconditioning programme are two controversial Henry inventions that must surely place an air of contradiction over his attacks on the men from the north.

Henry hasn't been guilty of leaving many, if any, stars at home on his European tours over the past three years.

But he has been guilty of loading the plane with two teams on the Grand Slam tour and playing separate teams each week. Which team was his best team was a moot point.

They both won to complete that Grand Slam and Henry hasn't lost a test up north for the past three years. So try and sort out the All Blacks A and B sides from that.

But the rotation policy continued at home last year with many of the best players rested against Ireland. Did the Irish spit the dummy? No.

Still, double teams seem to represent double standards.

It's an All Blacks tactic that has drawn criticism from some of the former greats in New Zealand, the guys that used to fight tooth and nail to hold on to their jerseys and aren't comfortable with them being handed out in increasing numbers these days.

But, as the saying goes, winners are grinners. Henry is certainly a winner and he's also smiling at the depth of his current stocks that this rotation policy has unearthed.

Of course there weren't any New Zealand winners from this year's Super 14. And there weren't many grinners in the Kiwi camps either.

OK, it's not test rugby but it's the next best thing. And in the apparent interests of test rugby Henry ruined the New Zealand Super 14 effort by taking out 22 stars and making them work on a World Cup fitness programme.

The logic seems to be that you ruin one competition to fix another.

We are yet to see the real benefits of that and only a World Cup victory will satisfy the critics. We all hope that eventuates because it was quite a sacrifice.

Almost the same sort of sacrifice the French have made now. Except they have done it the other way around. In a World Cup year, they are content to let their stars play for their clubs over the next two weekends rather than come to New Zealand and give away too many secrets against the All Blacks.

Commone sense or confused logic? Either way there's a lot of double-talk in an argument that is occupying increasing importance and has only heightened as the World Cup has dominated the international rugby landscape.

The last All Blacks coach John Mitchell was guilty of leaving stars at home from a northern tour in the leadup to the last World Cup. He did that in the interests of "development" and a few months later his side was bundled out in the semifinals of the cup.

The current coach has taken a different approach to try to solve an old problem.

Henry is right - something has to be done about the declining standards of test rugby and the IRB does need to urgently take control. But he's wrong to suggest New Zealand is totally innocent.

*Disclaimer - Views expressed within this story are not necessarily the views of this Blog

Basketball: Best Spurs ever? We'll see

By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
Updated: May 31, 2007, 3:13 AM ET

SAN ANTONIO -- Four more wins and you'll hear it plenty, whether you want to or not: This is the best Spurs team they've ever had down here.

PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

EAST FINALS Detroit 2, Cleveland 2 Game 1: Pistons 79, Cavs 76 Game 2: Pistons 79, Cavs 76 Game 3: Cavs 88, Pistons 82 Game 4: Cavs 91, Pistons 87 Game 5: Thurs., 8 ET at Detroit Game 6: Sat., 8:30 ET at Cle. *Game 7: June 4, 8 ET at Detroit WEST FINALS San Antonio 4, Utah 1 Game 1: Spurs 108, Jazz 100 Game 2: Spurs 105. Jazz 96 Game 3: Jazz 109, Spurs 83 Game 4: Spurs 91, Jazz 79 Game 5: Spurs 109, Jazz 84 NBA FINALS: Game 1: Thu, June 7, at SA Game 2: Sun, June 10, at SA Game 3: Tue, June 12 Game 4: Thu, June 14 *Game 5: Sun, June 17 *Game 6: Tue, June 19, at SA *Game 7: Thu, June 21, at SA *if necessary (All NBA Finals games air at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and ESPN Radio) • The full playoff schedule

You'll naturally also hear about how boring they are and how, uh, grabby they can be, but give San Antonio this:

The Spurs are the first to say that this might be the luckiest team they've ever had down here, too.

"Tonight we caught a break," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich quickly conceded Wednesday, "and we realize that."

It wasn't their first of the postseason, either, as you might have heard. The team from Dallas that Spurs coaches believe was "built to beat us" couldn't get out of the first round. There was a controversial suspension or two, as well as a famously bloody nose, that nudged them along in the second round. Then Wednesday, with Utah's best player forced to pull his sprained right foot out of a protective boot to play this Game 5, San Antonio surged to an effortless 19-point lead in the first quarter and closed the Jazz and a hobbling Deron Williams out with a 109-84 rout.

"They destroyed our will to want to play," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said.

Lucky and really good.

It's a lethal combination.

You don't win championships without fortune, no matter what. That's probably why Popovich, just as in 2005 when the Spurs clinched their last trip to the NBA Finals, commemorated this victory with almost the same speech he made in Phoenix two years ago about the lottery blessing his franchise.

Asked to explain how the Spurs have positioned themselves to play for a third championship in five years and fourth in nine years, Pop said: "That's an easy equation. It is David Robinson followed by Tim Duncan."

It is a lot more than that, actually, but you know the Spurs. They're so annoying modest, which is yet another reason -- along with the alleged flops, chops and other Uglyball tactics that they use when necessary -- that this team gets tagged with all the boring stuff.

Take a closer look, though, and you'll note that the Spurs cracked 100 points on this night for the sixth time in the last two series, reinforcing their growing Play At Any Pace reputation. They have Duncan looking reborn at 31 -- dominating anew largely because he's as healthy as he's been in years -- and flanked by a seasoned Tony Parker (25) and an increasingly spry Manu Ginobili, who's healthier himself at 29 than he seemed just weeks ago.

Mix in the role players who snap together so nicely -- Bruce Bowen, Michael Finley, Robert Horry and Ginobili's increasingly effective countryman Fabricio Oberto -- and there's little mystery why San Antonio will be comfortably favored to take down whoever wins the East.

"I can't see anybody beating them," Williams said. "I'm not going to say they can't be beat, but they play so well together."

Said Sloan: "They have got guys that know what they can accomplish as soon as they step on the floor. They got a lot of great pieces to a great team."

Best Spurs Ever?

"That's a tough question," said Jazz guard Derek Fisher, who's a pretty qualified judge after numerous duels with San Antonio in his Laker years. "In terms of versatility and the ability to play different styles, I can see why people would say that.

"This team is different [than previous Spurs teams], I can admit that."

With one exception.

It has to feel a bit like 2005 all over again for the Spurs . . . and not just because of the potential Detroit rematch looming.

The Lakers, as they did in '05 with the re-hiring of Phil Jackson, are smothering the playoffs with their latest off-court dramas. As my old Dallas Morning News colleague David Moore joked, San Antonio bouncing a Utah team that took the Mavs' spot in the West finals -- a team that was never supposed to get this far -- ranks as maybe the fifth-biggest story in the league right now . . . behind all of Kobe Bryant's various Trade Me/Scratch That pronouncements.

We'll have to wait a whopping seven days before Game 1 of the Finals -- which can only help San Antonio, in Parker's estimation, because "we've got a lot of old guys" -- to see if these better-than-ever Spurs can win another odd-year championship and move up a spot or two.

"If we don't finish in the next round," Ginobili said, "no one will remember what we did against Denver, Phoenix and Utah."

Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com.

*Disclaimer - Views expressed within this story are not necessarily the views of this Blog

RUGBY: Payback time for selfish ABs

29/05/2007

Duncan Johnstone

Forget fretting over the French, the All Blacks have plenty of problems of their own to sort out in the next two weekends as they start this most important year of Graham Henry's stunningly successful tenure.

With the French making more than a dozen last-minute alterations to an already severely depleted touring side, Bernard Laporte's outfit has quickly gone from C-grade to D-grade for these tests in Auckland and Wellington.

But these matches and the one-off test against Canada that follows are all about the All Blacks finding their A-grade game again.

Let's face it, the All Blacks have a bad habit of starting their new seasons with a rusty look to their play. It's a problem that has plagued them down the years.

That was particularly so last year when Henry was operating a 45-man squad through the first phase of the season, meaning little cohesion in selection or performance.

There will be no room for similar excuses this year. He has his preferred 31 players on his books for the kick-off to the 2007 test season and there will be plenty of pressure on these All Blacks to display the sort of commanding style they exhibited on their triumphant march through Europe last November.

The severely depleted French will only add to the pressure for the All Blacks to perform.

They must win and they must win well. They need to do that for their paying public who are certainly getting short-changed on the French side of the equation.

But the All Blacks must win well for their own peace of mind.

After a disappointing Super 14 campaign there is ground to be made up, especially against the buoyant South Africans who loom just around the corner in the reduced Tri Nations in late June and July.

The reconditioning programme appears to have left many of the All Blacks stuck in second gear at the moment and it will be under the microscope as the alarming injury toll mounts.

View larger image

Chris Masoe and Rodney Sop'oialo get competitive at training©Getty Images

A rash of hamstring problems raises questions over the training regime. Coincidence, bad luck or bad planning?

So Henry needs to get things going quickly to ease the public's concerns.

There is still plenty to sort out ahead of the World Cup and just seven tests to get the squad's final shape finalised before the tournament starts in September.

Paramount will be the dreaded No 13 jersey that has been a problem ever since Tana Umaga retired more than a year ago.

The All Blacks hopes of pushing on in their search for the solution to this crucial midfield equation has been hampered by ankle injuries to Isaia Toeava and Ma'a Nonu and hamstring problems to Conrad Smith and Mils Muliaina.

And there will be the need to get the fourth prop sorted out too with new boy John Schwalger the 10th prop employed by Henry and his forwards coach Steve Hansen.

Whether a French side as poor as this or a Canadian team who conceded a half century of points against New Zealand Maori are able to provide the searching examination required in either the midfield or the front row appearts very doubtful.

So it's going to be about the Alll Blacks and their ability to quickly re-establish their own high standards.

The All Blacks took a selfish attitude during the Super 14. We all lived with that because iof the bigger picture. But now it's time for some payback.

yahooxtra.nz.co

*Disclaimer - Views expressed within this story are not necessarily the views of this Blog

RUGBY: Henry: Boks don't fear Kiwis

29/05/2007 09:53 - (SA)

Jim Kaye

Wellington - All Blacks coach Graham Henry believes referees succumb to home crowd pressure and pointed to New Zealand's recent Test record against South Africa as proof.

The All Blacks have won all three of their Tri-Nations Tests against the Springboks under Henry in New Zealand, and lost three of the four they have played in South Africa.

Henry told a coaches' conference in Wellington that the All Blacks rated South Africa as the toughest side in the world.

"They are very hard to play against. They are the most difficult side to construct our attack against. They have the same traditions in rugby as the All Blacks and they don't fear the All Blacks as some other teams do. We wish they did, but they don't."

Henry said that meant there was a level psychological playing field when the great rivals met, but the venue played a significant role in determining the winner.

"Home advantage is critical, our results show that. I think the referees get under pressure from the home crowds and that affects their decision-making, and that's a concern."

The All Blacks play two Tests against South Africa this year.

Ireland's Alain Rolland will control the first, in Durban on June 23, and Australian Stuart Dickinson the second, in Christchurch on July 14.

Businessday

*Disclaimer - Views expressed within this story are not necessarily the views of this Blog

Soccer: American dream too little, too soon for revitalised Beckham

Real are realising what they will miss as David Beckham leads their title push.

Sid Lowe

May 28, 2007 12:18 AM

Man of the match as Real Madrid took a step closer to the title this weekend, David Beckham is only two games away from his final bow, two wins from leading Madrid to a first trophy since he arrived by private jet and police cavalcade back in the sweltering summer of 2003. He is, as one screaming Spanish headline put it yesterday, 180 minutes from heaven. At last.

And yet, as he continued his crusade to end the club's longest trophy drought in half a century, as fans applauded him from the field, so the realisation dawned: very soon it will be all over. Not just for another season but for good. Beckham is about to depart Real Madrid and, with it, top-flight football. Major League Soccer has always appeared a kind of semi-retirement.

That would be fine if Beckham were a spent force. Instead he appears reborn. Madrid will miss him; perhaps this is the final fling of a man who knows time is running out, but the goodbye looks premature. His team-mate Ruud van Nistelrooy last night said as much. "It is too early for David to be going to America," the Dutchman insisted and, deep down, Beckham may feel the same way.

Beckham may have insisted that he can carry on playing for England even after leaving for Los Angeles, noting that the US season is shorter, but his new employers will have other ideas about such a huge investment jetting back to Europe mid-season, and maintaining England form may prove impossible. It would only be natural for him to feel a twinge of regret at departing Europe aged 32, the key player at a club poised to win the league title.

But, then, things have changed. Beckham claimed to have turned down Milan to join LA Galaxy. That may well be true but he also chose the MLS at a time when his options had begun closing down.

After losing his place in the wake of Madrid's 2-0 humiliation at the hands of Lyon back in September, Beckham barely played, Capello relegating him to fourth choice on the right. By Christmas he had started only five times in the league and twice in the Champions League. And when he did start, Madrid's record was appalling: those five league starts accounted for three of their four defeats, with only one victory, while in Europe they had a solitary, irrelevant draw. He started Madrid's first game back after Christmas and they lost to Deportivo La Coruña.

Capello's mind appeared to be made up and, as Beckham stalled on a new contract, Madrid's position hardened. Meanwhile, another man whose mind was made up was Steve McClaren. Much as he claimed the door was still open, in truth it appeared double-bolted. Beckham certainly thought so. There was little left to lose by going to the US.

In fact, he nearly lost the one thing he did have left to lose: a final shot at a trophy with Madrid. When he announced his departure for LA on January 11, Capello followed club orders and insisted that he would never play for Madrid again. Real's president, Ramón Calderón, reacted even more petulantly, describing him as "half an actor, off to Hollywood" and claiming "no one wanted him anyway". How foolish Calderón looks now, insisting he would love Beckham to continue in Spain.

A month's ostracism followed but, with Madrid collapsing, Beckham was recalled and immediately saved the coach's skin with a goal against Real Sociedad. A seven-week injury followed but he has proven hugely important since he returned for a second time, providing assists against Recreativo, Valencia and Athletic.

The England recall followed and he celebrated by again performing superbly against Deportivo on Saturday night, providing two assists and countless wonderful passes and hitting the post with a free-kick. "He was unbelievable," whispered Deportivo's beaten players in hushed tones. "He's playing better than he has in two years," insisted Capello.

That is something of an exaggeration but suddenly Madrid have realised what they will be missing. Although Beckham's snipe that "the same people who want me to stay now thought I was not good enough six months ago" pointed the finger at Calderón, he will be grateful to those who wish he could stay, to those who believe that the MLS is too little, too soon.

"He could easily have carried on in a higher level than the MLS," said Guti, and Van Nistelrooy felt a pang of regret when his team-mate's name was included in McClaren's squad - proof that Beckham was hasty in turning to the US.

"We'd been talking about it every day leading up to the squad announcement, saying 'Hey, Becks, two more days' then 'One more day'," Van Nistelrooy said. "David was so happy to be called up for his country. Lots of players would have just given in, but not Becks. Only the greats have an attitude like that. That's why he deserves to be back in the England side and back at the highest level."

Highest level hardly describes the MLS, though, and Van Nistelrooy added: "With the form he's showing he could continue for years, but I'm not sure he can change [the decision to go to LA] now. I feel it's too early for David to be going to America."

Guardian Unlimited

American dream too little, too soon for revitalised Beckham

RUGBY: Bok scrum needs tune-up

Monday 28 May 2007

Front row veteran Ollie le Roux suggests the Springbok scrummaging display could be better in the second Test at Loftus Versfeld.

This area was a nightmare in Bloemfontein, and Steve Walsh had to blow his whistle to reset the set-piece on countless occasions. In the aftermath, Springbok captain John Smit had a dig at the English for illegal tactics geared towards disrupting the hosts’ dominance at scrum time.

Le Roux saw the situation differently, believing the match to be a good contest in this department where the visitors selected a strategy that worked in combating the overwhelming favourites in the South African pack.

“If you live in a glass house, don’t throw stones,” he told Keo.co.za. “I don’t know if he [Smit] can complain too much, as the Sharks often employ illegal tactics whenever we [the Cheetahs] play them.

“It’s all about what you can get away with at scrumtime. If you can scrum illegally without being penalised, fair enough, but don’t go complaining about illegal tactics when the opposition decides to use it against you.”

Critics have already picked apart the Boks’ 58-10 hammering of the Poms, and although South Africa were brilliant in patches, it must be stressed just how poor England were on the day. Le Roux for one is not getting caught up in too much post-match analysis, and having witnessed a few defeats to England first-hand he was thrilled with Saturday’s result.

“The first Test of the season is never a pretty sight, and it’s more about getting your structures right and building confidence. I thought it was a good battle in the tight phases and South Africa didn’t fully dominate at the set piece, although when they did get the drive going they looked very hard to stop.

“It was nice to see the massacre over the weekend. Forget about the excuses of injuries and viruses. Any group of players who represents the country is the best group of available players.

“To see England go down like that was great. We owed them a beating like that.”

South Africa’s most capped first-class player wasn’t worried about the Boks’ below-par performance, as he views the first match as a mere stepping stone to greater things.

“This is the first game of the year and everyone needs to realise that it will only get better from here. If this is the standard of rugby we can expect up until the World Cup, then Springboks would be in trouble.

“But we will improve. Areas like the scrum and line-out just need a few games to settle. The scrum is a good example. The Sharks front row and Bulls lock pairing, as well as the mixed back row need to be pushing in sync. That will come with time and practice.”

Jake White confirmed the first phase was the major problem at Vodacom Park and stated he would be addressing this in training this week. The Boks still managed a massive win; a victory produced through some enterprising displays but mainly due to a few pieces of fine opportunism.

“What was really great about that win was the instances of individual brilliance,” said Le Roux. “Guys like Bryan Habana and Jean de Villiers showed their worth in this respect. Rugby is a team game and you need a side to gel to win, but you also need the gamebreakers to win those big matches. We definitely have those players.”

By Jon Cardinelli - keo.co.za

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