RUGBY: To rest or not to rest

Yahoo!Xtra / Marcus Forbes

OK, hold the phone, back the truck up and give me a minute to get something off my chest.

So the Springboks have decided they want to give their top players a bit of a rest before the World Cup.

Sounds fair to me, the rest of the world's power players have done the same at some stage this season and let's be honest some have been doing the same thing for years.

Now there is outrage and officials are seething, disappointed and surprised over the issue.

But seriously, what is the difference between what the Springboks are doing and the All Blacks rotating their squad or England and France sending C strength teams on the road?

There is none.

And anyone who says this is devaluing test rugby should take a look at the state of the game.

It's World Cup year and we have all had it jammed down our throats that the most important thing this season is bringing home the William Webb Ellis trophy.

Every team involved in the competition will do everything in their power to win.

And who can blame them?

This is the most valued prize in world rugby.

You can call yourself the Tri-Nations champion, the Bledisloe Cup holder or Six Nations champ but it doesn't mean a hell of a lot when it comes to the world cup.

This is the be all and end all.

And no one is really going to bat an eyelid come September when the world cup kicks off about who did or didn't field a full-strength team in the Tri-Nations.

What's good for the goose has got to be good for the gander.

So basically if you ask me, there's really not a lot the power brokers can do about this.

And is it just me or are the head honchos at the various rugby unions getting it all a bit wrong?

At the end of the day it's the fans that are suffering.

The ticket prices won't come down because the strength of the opposition has.

Your Sky subscription isn't going to get any cheaper because the teams are weaker.

And too be honest something needs to be done about this.

This isn't going to be an issue that disappears.

Yes, next season we'll see the Super 14 and Tri-Nations completely full of A grade sides.

But when the next World Cup comes around it will be the same issue.

Each team will find a way of resting their top players to make sure they are at full strength to be in the final and win it.

So, what are the people at the IRB doing to help out the fans?

Whatever they do they must act now.

This is a right now topic, once we get to the World Cup no one is going to care again.

So the message is pretty clear to all the rugby unions.

Do what you have to to win the big trophies but don't do it at the expense of the fans.

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

RUGBY: Jake’s white flag

Jake White’s refusal to test his best away from home is as good as hoisting the World Cup white flag, writes Keo in his Independent Newspapers weekly column.

Minutes after All Blacks captain Richie McCaw on Saturday night told the Springboks the current generation of All Black finally had an appreciation of the Springboks and All Blacks rivalry, it was confirmed a second-string Bok squad would play the All Blacks in New Zealand.

The biggest All Black compliment of the last decade was returned with an even bigger South African insult.

Just when the respect is back for the contest, the national selectors pick a team with disregard for the traditions of the rivalry. New Zealand versus South Africa is supposed to be best plays best.

Springbok coach Jake White was adamant the mass pull-out was logical and necessary if the Boks were to win the World Cup. White said it was ludicrous to risk his first choice players in New Zealand. Why?

What was the risk? Is he talking the psychological blow of further defeat or is he masking behind potential injury risk?

If his available best can’t win in Durban, has he privately conceded they have no price in Christchurch? White needs the players and the public to believe a World Cup win against the All Blacks is possible. And he now has the escape of saying who knows how the first-choice team would have gone in New Zealand.

Where defeat in Christchurch would crush the Boks’ spirits, the coach will argue his second-string option is an all-win situation. Any decent performance will be a moral victory. Some would say there is brilliance in the thinking.

It is one way of looking at it; the other is White is simply delaying the inevitable by not fronting the All Blacks in New Zealand with his best.

That game would have given him the most honest assessment of their ability to beat the All Blacks on neutral ground.

White, in refusing to back his best to win in New Zealand in three weeks’ time, will have his conviction questioned. Does he really believe this team can do it in Paris? Or does he hope they can?

We won’t know the answer until the World Cup is over. But if fatigue is the currency for escaping selection accountability then why did exhausted Bulls and Sharks players get selected to play a third-choice England seven days after a titanic Super 14 final? Why did these same players again play England a week later?

The rest White now promotes should have come during the first three home Tests against meaningless opposition. The World Cup dress rehearsal should have been this Tri-Nations. White, playing his best against New Zealand and Australia’s best, would have known the World Cup state of play.

Saru has used science to defend the mass withdrawal. Where is the science in resting the likes of Ashwin Willemse, Os du Randt and CJ van der Linde, who hardly played in the Super 14? Jaque Fourie missed a month of rugby and only started as recently as the Wallabies Test. Fourie du Preez has not played for six weeks.

There was sound basis for tinkering with the squad for the demands of overseas travel. The All Blacks will see the mass withdrawal as a Bok white flag and confirmation of how much damage they did to the Boks’ World Cup psyche by winning in Durban.

Mark Keohane - keo.co.za

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

RUGBY: Class counters crassness

Monday 25 June 2007

Classy substitutes proved decisive for the All Blacks in Durban, writes Keo in the Independent Group Newspapers.

The All Blacks emphasised the importance of a world-class reserves bench to condemn the Springboks to a painful defeat.

Keven Mealamu, Piri Weepu, Luke McAlister and Leon Macdonald all made an immediate difference to a test match that was crass viewing, but for the connoisseur this crassness would have been a picture of beauty.

After the run-on XV’s had brutally battered each other for an hour, New Zealand won the match in the last quarter because they had the classier impact players.

The Boks led 21-12 with 15 minutes to play, but nine points was an inflated buffer courtesy of Butch James’s intercept try. At that stage the Boks were probably a three-point better side, but New Zealand coach Graham Henry knew he could introduce players capable of scoring 15-20 points in as many minutes.

Jake White couldn’t.

The Boks, on this particular Saturday, did not have the man-power to counter New Zealand’s impact players. Injury had depleted the Boks in the build-up to this test and perhaps a Pierre Spies, Bryan Habana and Fourie du Preez would have made a difference because it would have allowed Ruan Pienaar and Danie Rossouw to strike with fresh legs in the last quarter.

Who knows?

What we do know is that the All Blacks can win away from home when Dan Carter does not play well. Carter, the best flyhalf produced in the professional era, has battled for form this season and it did not get any better for him in Durban.

His decision-making was poor and he took great exception to James’s defence, some of it legal, some of it not. The physical attention upset Carter and his game suffered because of it. Fortunately for New Zealand they have two world class inside centres in Aaron Mauger and McAlister. When Carter doesn’t go well, one of Mauger or McAlister invariably takes up the challenge.

The All Blacks, in the last three years, have matured. All Black teams have played better in South Africa and lost. This one can play a game of decidedly better quality than we saw on Saturday, but they will struggle to show greater ticker in defence, composure in scrambling back and physical intensity.

Jerry Collins and Richie McCaw were colossal for the All Blacks, while Schalk Burger was massive for the Boks.

It was billed as a dress rehearsal of the World Cup final in France. Some won’t be so sure as the Boks’ attacking limitations were again exposed, despite an abundance of possession in the first hour.

To beat the All Blacks, in Durban, in Christchurch and in Paris, it is accepted that the Boks have to maintain physical intensity in defence for 80 minutes. They know it and so do the All Blacks.

In Durban this intensity never went past 65 minutes. The last 15 minutes belonged to the All Blacks, who would have won more comfortably had Carter not missed three kicks that would have swung the momentum earlier.

Injured Bok captain John Smit’s presence at hooker and as leader was missed. That was one positive to take from the game because it showed up the folly of the constant criticism Smit has had to endure.

Sadly, though, Os du Randt is on one leg. White has invested so much faith in Du Randt being the cornerstone of his pack at the World Cup. But as they say in the bible, faith without works is dead, and the work in Du Randt’s legs are no longer there.

The All Blacks deserved a win that meant a lot to them. You only had to witness their elation at the final whistle. They struck the big psychological blow in Durban because what we got out of the game was the strength of the All Blacks and the weakness of the Boks.

The New Zealanders have balance to their attack and defence. The Boks don’t. And that is the brutal concession White will have to make if he has any chance of fixing it before Paris.

Mark Keohane - keo.co.za

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

RUGBY: Henry builds up Durban clash

Friday 22nd June 2007

It's been a week for clichés in Durban ahead of Saturday's Tri-Nations match between South Africa and New Zealand, and some 30 hours before kick-off, All Black coach Graham Henry used his opening press conference address to neatly summarise them all.

"What a beautiful day!" he exclaimed.

"Middle of winter and 26 degrees. City and country in huge anticipation of a great rugby game, two top teams in the world playing each other in the most demanding competition in world rugby. we are all looking forward to it."

Captain Richie McCaw was a little more pragmatic about the situations he will face on Saturday, with the Eastern Cape winter about as far removed from the Christchurch winter as it can get.

" It's different to what we usually get," he said.

"I guess I got used to playing under lights, and I think back on the South island it's snowing, so it will be different. But it will be fun."

Jokes, clichés, and weather chat aside, the All Blacks are enjoying the smoothest of build-ups to the game, while the Boks have been cruelly shorn of four senior members of their pack.

Bob Skinstad's replacement of Pierre Spies at number eight has been a particular talking point, and Henry was quick to hint that it would change the pattern of the Boks' play.

"Skinstad and Spies are different players physically aren't they," he said.

"Skinstad is more of a ball-runner than a carrier, so I think that might change things for them a bit.

"But I haven't really given the changes a great deal of thought to be frank. Loose forward is an area of huge strength in SA rugby, I watched Super 14 and was very impressed with the quality of loose forwards.

"They can play all sorts of different combinations and not lose potency.

"We expect them to take us on up front. More of the same. They always look to get physical domination and they will do so tomorrow, and that starts up front."

McCaw also expects a crunching battle up front, and is well aware of Danie Roussouw's potential to cause problems at the line-out.

"They take you hard - perhaps not directly on the ball, but at the breakdown.

"It was important in the last three weeks to get us all back together as a unit, but there is a sense of it being here and now where it really starts.

"It doesn't get too much bigger than tomorrow, and everything has gone up a level this week. Hopefully we can do that with the performance tomorrow as well.

"I guess Danie Roussouw is a big man, and they were pretty smart as it is, so we have to make sure we try and pour some pressure on them, and make sure it doesn't change what we try to achieve on our own ball," he said.

"There's no extra training - well... there's always big line-out training! But that's always been the case, it won't be any different to what we have already experienced."

South Africa are totting up a number of niggly injuries, while New Zealand's casualty list is of a more once-off nature - broken jaws, knee ligaments, paternity leave - and it is fair to say, given the comparative energies visible within the teams, that the re-conditioning programme instituted by Henry at the start of the year is reaping rewards, despite Henry's attempts to play it down.

Disturbingly for other countries, Henry also hinted that although he found the Tri-Nations the most demanding tournament in world rugby, he was not aiming to peak just yet - an ominous statement of intent indeed if the All Blacks do win tomorrow.

"The benefits of reconditioning are for later in the year - we are hoping to peak later in the year," he said.

"We have injuries as well with Ali Williams and Keith Robinson's calf muscle.

"Injuries are just part and parcel of the international game. Depth in the squad is important, it is something we have tried to develop over the last three or four years and it is something the Springboks have developed as well.

"When it comes to World Cup time, the side with that depth is going to come through, because you are going to get injuries, it is the nature of the game.

"The Boks have played a lot of football on end - remember they played the semi-finals and final of the Super 14 as well, and then three Test matches. There will be wear and tear. It is how you handle it at the time that is important."

By Danny Stephens in Durban - Planet Rugby

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

RUGBY: 3N Preview: South Africa v New Zealand

Thursday 21st June 2007

Pienaar: Could he be South Africa's missing link?

This is it! Both coaches have played it down this week, but there is little doubt in most minds that this is dress rehearsal, part one, for October's Rugby World Cup final.

Both are behaving like it already is the World Cup final. There have been police guards at training, and there has been aloofness from both teams in their dealings with the media this week, with sessions heavily-policed by the gatekeepers of information and restricted to the barest minimum of time.

It seems, from the late changes to the Bok team, that they at least have good reason to throw up the cloaks of secrecy. If politics has bedevilled Jake White's previous attempts to field his first-choice team up to now, in the week that matters it is injury sneaking up to apply the rubber to the pencilled names on the team-sheet. The losses of John Smit and Juan Smith were anticipated blows, but the sudden additional loss of Pierre Spies will leave a hole that cannot be filled.

Politics may still be wrapping up White's mission in red tape behind the scenes - it is rumoured that Ashwin Willemse's place in the side would have been Frans Steyn's but for a command from a higher being - but publicly at least, there appears to be a blessedly united front about the Boks' preparations for Saturday's clash.

New Zealand have never been anything but united since Graham Henry took over, and the team has been quietly bubbling up all week, with energetic training sessions, clean bills of health, and confident arrogance pervading every movement.

Henry's cotton-wool policy of resting his players at the start of the season has paid a rich dividend. While the injuries creeping into the Bok squad - muscular tears and deep bruises - are those that you would normally associate with tiring players nearing the business end of an abrasive season, Henry's troop is enjoying the effervescence of battle-hardened health that a team has after stepping its way through the minefield of early-season niggles.

It is this that will give them the edge in Saturday's encounter. The slow speed of the Boks' recovery from the hammering dished out by Australia last weekend has left them precious little time to get the matchday structures right, and although you can argue that New Zealand have had just as little time because of the jet-lag involved in the long journey, the brief glances afforded of their training have revealed a team anything but weary. Monday's training session was marked by a caterwaul of whoops and battle-cries as things went right.

The injuries have hit the Boks where it really hurts. Smit's absence will be filled by Gary Botha in the loose, and Botha's runs may tempt the Boks into a more open style of play, but Anton Oliver was right when he hinted that the Bok scrum will now be easier to split down the middle. Botha is good, but he is not the scrummager Smit is.

In the back row, Smith's absence removes some of the speedy dynamic from the Boks' hard-hitting game, and Spies' absence merely exacerbates that. With Bob Skinstad, the Boks have a ball player, but not the battering ram hitherto favoured by White.

The Boks have lost key elements of their preferred weapons of choice - scrum and back-row charge, and in other aspects, the All Blacks are streets ahead. Out wide there is no comparison between the two teams whether Jaque Fourie is injured or fit, and although White waxed lyrical about the Boks' ball retention skills on Wednesday, New Zealand won't really need all that much ball to get the necessary points. Up front, the Boks' slight edge has been lost, and if they are forced into an open game, they may end up signing their own death warrant.

Neither coach believes, publicly, that it would be a setback to World Cup preparations if defeated, but the Boks, at home and on a roll, have far more to lose and far more pressure on them to win. Losing away from home in the Tri-Nations opener would not be a huge setback for Graham Henry, but a home defeat for the Boks would be a huge psychological blow. After Saturday, it may well be interesting to see how they cope with it.

Ones to watch:

For South Africa: So much has been made of Pierre Spies as the new great thing of SA rugby, but quietly slipping into the team as a regular, and making a massive difference to South Africa's play last week, is scrum-half Ruan Pienaar. His distribution from the base of the scrum was just the snappy, zippy ball that ought to set a back-line firing, and a more adventurous fly-half than Butch James - Andre Pretorius for example - would use it to set the back-line alight. He is also a useful weapon with an ounce of space with his elegant acceleration and eye for a move. Spies may be a rising star but Pienaar is poised to be a truly great scrum-half if given the chance.

For New Zealand: The latest bright thing shining bright in New Zealand's stellar backs is Isaia Toeava. He struggled initially to lose his greenness when thrust into the team, but a terrific Super 14 full of tries, tackle-busts and steps shows he is now up to the level, and Graham Henry could finally have found an outside centre to rely on for the next four years, never mind this one.

Head to head: Carl Hayman v Os du Randt. Hayman is, relative to position, the best player in the world right now, but he comes up against a fearless old campaigner with every trick in the book within his repertoire in South Africa's 'big Os' on Saturday.

Prediction: New Zealand are fresh, South Africa are not. The Boks will put up a fight to be sure, but they may find themselves run ragged by the end of Saturday. New Zealand by 15 points.

Recent results:

2000: New Zealand won 25-12 in Christchurch
2000: South Africa won 46-40 in Johannesburg
2001: New Zealand won 12-3 in Cape Town
2001: New Zealand won 26-15 in Auckland
2002: New Zealand won 41-20 in Wellington
2002: New Zealand won 30-23 in Durban
2003: New Zealand won 52-16 in Pretoria
2003: New Zealand won 19-11 in Dunedin
2003: New Zealand won 29-9 in Melbourne
2004: New Zealand won 23-21 in Christchurch
2004: South Africa won 40-26 in Johannesburg
2005: South Africa won 22-16 in Cape Town
2005: New Zealand won 31-27 in Dunedin
2006: New Zealand won 35-17 in Wellington
2006: New Zealand won 45-26 in Pretoria
2006: South Africa won 21-20 in Rustenburg

The teams:

South Africa:15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Ashwin Willemse, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Butch James, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Bob Skinstad, 7 Danie Rossouw, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Gary Botha, 1 Os du Randt.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Johann Muller, 19 Pedrie Wannenburg, 20 Michael Claassens, 21 Wynand Olivier, 22 Frans Steyn.

New Zealand:New Zealand: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Isaia Toeava, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Jerry Collins, 5 Greg Rawlinson, 4 Troy Flavell, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Anton Oliver, 1 Tony Woodcock
Replacements: 16 Kevin Mealamu, 17 Neemia Tialata, 18 Ross Filipo, 19 Chris Masoe, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Luke McAlister, 22 Leon McDonald.

Date: Saturday, 23 June
Venue: ABSA Stadium, Durban
Kick-off: 15.00 (13.00 GMT)
Weather: Sunny skies, 25°C, low humidity, little wind. A perfect day, cooling later to 10°C
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges: Wayne Barnes (England), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Television match official: Hugh Watkins (Wales)

By Danny Stephens - Planet Rugby

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

RUGBY: 'The All Blacks are ordinary!'

By Mark Keohane - iol.co.za

Don't make the mistake of putting the All Blacks on a pedestal. They are not that good that you need to strain your neck in taking a peak at their match 22.

The Springboks aren't that good either, which means we should have a decent contest on Saturday, much as we did in Cape Town against Australia.

The negativity in assessing the Boks' come-from-behind win at Newlands against the best defensive team in the game has been bizarre. It was a positive result that should be appreciated.

Equally perplexing has been the instant elevation in status of the All Blacks. This is the same team who have won just once against the Boks in this country in the last four years. On what basis do they start as favourites in Durban?

The All Blacks have been ordinary in three Tests this season. Dan Carter and Richie McCaw are the game's best in their positions, but on form both are not the best in New Zealand.

The top four locks in New Zealand aren't in Durban and the All Black selectors still don't know if centre Isaia Toeava has the Test match temperament to match his talent.

This is not an All Blacks side riding the crest of a wave, but one that looks like it has been hit by a wave in 2007.

The Boks will beat the All Blacks if they confront the form of the guys wearing black jerseys and are not influenced by the legend of the jersey.

And if the Boks get their psyche right and win, does that make them World Cup favourites? No. The relevance of this Tri-Nations is how teams perform away from home.

Australia's World Cup standing improved after the thriller at Newlands and New Zealand will face a similar evaluation in Durban and Melbourne a week later.

The Boks will be judged when they play overseas, which is why Jake White should shelve any notion of sending a second team Down Under.

The Boks, by winning at home, can build momentum and confidence, but wins in Australia and New Zealand will give the players a conviction far more powerful.

There are those who have said the Boks could upset the All Blacks in Durban. Why would it be a surprise?

Individually, the two teams are well matched. If you picked a combined team, it would be 8-7 to one or the other.

An upset would be if the All Blacks provided 13 players to the Boks' two and then lost. South Africa should win on Saturday, but no victory in Durban will be an indicator of better days at the World Cup.

Winning at home is the norm for the All Blacks and Springboks.

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

Soccer: The Real deal

Madrid are neither brilliant champions nor the greatest football side in the world, but at least, at last, they are a team.

Sid Lowe - Guardian Unlimited

June 19, 2007 12:01 AM

Lights dimmed, fireworks exploded, and We Are The Champions replaced Star Wars, Old Spice and the Final Countdown, leaving one commentator ranting: "God, I hate Queen!" Over in the corner, a trapeze artist hung upside down inside a giant ball and rolled through the tickertape towards the middle of the pitch like a hamster. Thirty white flags, one for each of Madrid's league titles, replaced thousands of white hankies, fans took revenge for 2004, chanting: "Eto'o, cabrón, saluda al campeón!" (Eto'o, you arsehole, salute the champion!), and Fabio Capello actually managed to smile as he was given the bumps.

All the while, sofa-leaping simpleton Tom Cruise looked on frustrated, unable to see a thing from behind those bloody ridiculous shades. Which was a shame, because he was missing the biggest party Madrid has witnessed in four years, marking the end of the club's longest drought in over half a century, with Gonzalo Higuaín hanging from the crossbar, Mahamadou Diarra wearing an inflatable trophy-shaped turban, Fabio Cannavaro unfortunately unfurling a fascist flag and the rest of the Madrid squad neatly fulfilling national stereotypes, only to be let down by David Beckham: Raúl performed bullfighting passes and Robinho danced a Samba, but Goldenballs inexplicably passed on a pint and a fight.

Instead, while there was no sign of Míchel Salgado's kids, Raúl's nippers or Ruud van Nistelrooy's foals, Beckham led his children onto the pitch. There, a winner at last, he joined the rest of his team-mates worshipping Roberto Carlos - the true star departing Madrid last night - before boarding an open-topped bus to the fountain of Cibeles, where Raúl was lifted up in one of those boxes-on-a-stick used to rescue cats from trees and, with the help of two council workers miraculously not on their fag break, draped a flag over the goddess's shoulders. Down below, fans went bonkers, bored police pulled out big sticks and cars raced round beep-beeping, while clever blokes in white coats tried to work out how the hell it had all happened.

How could a team that suffered a historic hanky-wave end up as champions? How could the same fans that chanted for Capello to resign end up singing his praises? How could the team that was humiliated by Levante and Recreativo have finished top? How could a President who got it all so wrong end up getting it right?

The cliché says the best team wins the league, that over 38 matches luck evens itself out and consistency gets rewarded. Not this time, not when the top two finished level on points and the title was settled on head-to-head goal difference, when in almost any other league Barcelona would be champions. "It's been illogical," muttered El Mundo. "Madrid have ignored the most elementary of footballing principles. In every game for the last 10 months, their opponents have been the better side."

That's pushing it but Madrid have been let off the hook. Barça, racked by divisions, knackered by poor planning and stunted by a coach who thinks tactics are those little green and orange things, have conspired to keep Madrid in it, while Sevilla, forced to play 12 games more than Madrid, and Valencia, crippled from the start, have just not been able to keep the pace. It's helped that Madrid have had virtually no key injuries, while Samuel Eto'o and Leo Messi missed almost half the season, Valencia lost 15 players, and Sevilla have been running on empty with Frederick Kanouté struggling to the finish line a broken man (it is Sevilla's six 0-0 draws away from home that have really cost them the title).

It has also helped that Madrid have shown an incredible ability to secure victories without really doing anything to secure them. Even during their fantastic dash to the finish line, they have been balanced on a knife-edge and somehow managed not to slice their feet to bits. As one first teamer put it privately when asked what had changed: "Nothing. We've not exactly been out of this world; what we've been is very lucky."

Against Valencia it was 1-1 with the visitors' dominating when their best player, Joaquín, had to depart injured before a free-kick that never was led to Sergio Ramos's winner. Against Sevilla, Dani Alves somehow missed from two yards at 1-1 before Madrid scored twice in the final 12 minutes, winning 3-2. Against Espanyol, a last-minute goal from Higuaín secured an incredible comeback to make it 4-3 having been 3-1 down - just as Barça conceded a ridiculous last-minute equaliser to send Madrid top for the first time. Against Recreativo the following week, Roberto Carlos scored a last-minute winner, against Depor they came back from 1-1 to win 3-1, and against Zaragoza a late Van Nistelrooy equaliser incredibly coincided with Barça conceding to send Madrid back to the top.

So it was appropriate that Madrid should win the league as they did this weekend - by coming back from a goal down, having escaped when Varela wasted a glorious chance to make it two. And by doing so thanks to an own goal that went in off Angelos Basinas's backside, via the header of a man (Diarra) who didn't even want to play.

Yet it would be unfair to dismiss Madrid's title as entirely lucky. They have built a squad with depth which, for all his faults (and they are many), Capello has managed cleverly in key moments. They are physically strong, have shown a unity and togetherness conspicuous by its absence in recent years, and have demonstrated incredible faith in victory; last year's Madrid would have given up ages ago. Against Zaragoza, Madrid got a goal they deserved, against Recre, four men were involved in the 80-yard run that won the match in the last minute, and against Espanyol, Higuaín launched a desperate tackle to set up the winner. That is not solely chance. Madrid might not be the most brilliant of champions and they certainly are not the greatest football team in the world, but at least they are a football team. At last.

Results: Athletic 2 - 0 Levante [San Mamés saves Athletic], Celta 2 - 1 Getafe [But Stoichkov doesn't save Celta], Racing 0 - 2 Betis [Betis safe with two in the last ten minutes], Valencia 3 - 3 Real Sociedad, Espanyol 1 - 3 Deportivo, Recreativo 1 - 1 Zaragoza, Osasuna 1 - 2 Atletico [No Europe for Atlético. Again], Nastic 1 - 5 Barcelona, Real Madrid 3 - 1 Mallorca.

Champions: Real Madrid.

Champions League: Barcelona, Sevilla, Valencia.

Uefa Cup: Villarreal, Zaragoza.

Relegated: Nastic, la Real, Celta.

Pichichi (top scorer): Ruud Van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid)- 25

Zamora (goalkeeper with the lowest goals conceded-to-games played ratio): Roberto Abbondanzieri (Getafe).

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