Weekend Roundup and Team of the Week

My team of the week this week is the Warrington Wolves. They recorded a stunning 46-24 win over Hull which was totally unpredictable. Lee Briers led the way with an individual total of 18 points. This combined with a Henry Fa'afili hattrick led the Wolves to their first win of the season. This must come as huge relief to Paul Cullen who has seen his side lose the last two weeks to sides that can only be described as inferior. Behind at the half they rallied to storm to victory with the senior players finally standing up to be counted. They really needed this win and they have to continue this from into Friday nights fixture with the unbeaten St. Helens. They currently lie 7th in the table and with everyone bar St. Helens having been defeated then if they can win next week they will be back on course for top four. The secret now is to learn how to beat the lesser sides as well as the good ones.

Moving onto Rugby Union congratulations to the Wellington Hurricanes who moved to top of the Super 14 table with maximum points from three games. I said all I needed to say about them here. Keep up the good work

Elsewhere it has been a disastrous weekend in rugby Union. Northampton Saints suffer their first defeat of 2006 when they were beaten 30-3 by London Irish (Match Report found here ) This allows us all to put into perspective the fact that try as they might the Saints are not capable of challenging for a top five position this season. If they can finish strongly and then consolidate over the summer then next year they will have a better chance. To finish top five these are games you need to win, and not only were they beaten the only points they had to show for it were from a solitary Carlos Spencer penalty. There is no doubt that they were hurt by the loss of Reihana and all their six nation internationals. But just like any other league, you must have strength in depth. There is still a relative amount of inexperience in the Saints team so I will look to them to bounce back strongly from this defeat next weekend

Moving onto England. I was very arrogant on Friday about this and now I have to eat humble pie. I cannot believe that England could contrive to play so badly that they would lose to Scotland. So only Ireland now have the chance of winning the triple crown and England blew the best chance they have had for a long time to win the Grand slam. Quite simply we were outfought, Scotland simply wanted it more than we did. There were a lot of below par performances and some strange managerial ones. Waiting to long to bring on Lawrence Dallaglio and why oh why did he let Harry Ellis back on the field after the blood bin substitution. When Dawson came on we were getting quick ball to the back and really stretching Scotland. When Ellis came back it was slow ball again giving the Scots plenty of time to set up their defense. Now I could sit here and blame some of the poor refereeing decisions that were made in the last 10 minutes, but the fact is if England are going to have half a chance of defending the World Cup next year they have to be able to put teams like the Scots away before the 70 minute mark. Credit where credit is due the Scots were that much better than us. I imagine there are a lot of kiwis with big smiles on their faces after this result.

From one disaster to another, Golden State almost certainly bowed out of the play off picture with 2 defeats over the weekend. Whilst losing to San Antonio by 17 points was to be expected, the loss to Houston by 3 points Friday night was a harsh one to take. They had the chance to win but unfortunately Jason Richardson missed a three point attempt. There can be no blame laid at his door though as he scored a season high 39 points on the night. The simple fact is that although Golden Sate seemed to have improved this season they have not improved enough to make the play offs. Lets hope that they can continue with this form to have a respectable end of season finish and then score the right people in the close season to mount a credible challenge next season. I will be looking for a much stronger year next year