To the English, Twickenham is Rugby.
The stadium’s first rugby match took place on October 2, 1909 between original tenants Harlequins, and Richmond.
January 15, 1910 saw Twickenham’s first international, England vs Wales.
To celebrate a century of English rugby at Twickenham, this afternoon, England strode out onto the famous turf to face Wales in the RBS 6 Nations Championship.
It was a fabulous day, with England arriving onto the pitch dressed in a new kit that was very similar to that worn by their predecessors all those years ago. Made in state-of-the-art modern fabrics but bearing no advertising logo. And they all got to change their shirts at half time because they had got so muddy.
Events were marked at the start by a commemoration of the sad passing of Bill McLaren on 19 January, and everyone was encouraged to make as much noise as possible to celebrate
his memory.
As a commentator, he was known as ‘the Voice of Rugby’ and Bill defined everything that was good about Rugby Union, explaining the rules, identifying any bad behaviour or attempts at cheating and denouncing the ‘ill-mannered booing in the crowd’ whilst a penalty kick was being undertaken. He will be much missed.
His replacements, Brian Moore and Eddie Butler, are not always my cup of tea with their inane and highly partisan remarks, but they do their best and Brian Moore’s explanation in every game that the referees are not cracking down on one of the most basic rules of ‘binding’ in the front row means that even I know that the props are supposed to hold each other by the jersey, not entwine their arms which allows them to pull the scrum down far more easily. It does seem odd to me that this is continually overlooked, even when it is taking place right under the referee’s nose.
The first half was a rather dull affair, full of mistakes and, with only five minutes to go, it looked as if the teams would go in with England just three points to the good, after a penalty by Johnny Wilkinson. But then Alan Wynn Jones of Wales had a moment of madness and, from the ground, stuck out his foot to trip an English player who was about to start an exciting move. It was a very silly and pointless error, right in front of the referee. In his gentlemanly way, Bill would have had something to say about that, I am sure.
The referee decreed ten minutes in the Sin Bin – five minutes each side of half time. His absence took Wales down to 14 men, leaving their already-struggling line-out and scrum in disarray and, in that time, England ran riot and scored 17 points. As Colin Charvis remarked, ‘The Welsh team looked ‘battered’ as they went off at half-time’.
It looked to be all over but, upon their return to a full complement, Wales shifted up a gear. In an eventful and frenetic second half, they pulled the score back to 20-17 with only eight minutes left.
However, a fightback was not to be. England responded and eventually went back to the dressing rooms the clear winners by 30 points to 17.
As a Welsh supporter, it was very upsetting to see them lose the first game of their Six Nations campaign. There will now be no Grand Slam for Wales, but it was fitting that England should win on this very special day in their own stadium.
It was interesting afterwards to hear Warren Gatland denounce Wynn Jones’s actions and admit that his ‘binning’ had cost Wales the match. Being used to the obfuscation of most football managers in the face of such blatant cheating, it was refreshing to hear a sports team’s manager admit that words had been exchanged and the player was in no doubt about the consequences of his actions upon the rest of the team.
I very much doubt that Wynn Jones will need any further punishment or official reprisal as the knowledge that he let down both his team and his country will stay with him for some time… if the newspapers have anything to do with it.
I don’t see why tripping isn’t allowed in Rugby. If you can jump on the back of a fellow carrying the ball, you may as well be allowed to trip him up. How do they think cheetahs catch their prey?
Im not totally sure about this, but I think it might have been to do with the fact that he wasn’t on his feet as well.
Im pretty sure that you’re not allowed to interfere with the passage of play from the ground. I know that you’re not allowed to tackle a player who doesn’t have the ball (so one of England’s tries should have been disallowed because a player caught in the melee of players on the ground, reached out his hand and grabbed the ankle of the player who would otherwise have been in the correct position to put in a try-saving tackle); you are off-side if you are ahead of the ball; if you go to ground, you have to release the ball immediately; the props have to ‘bind’ by holding the opposition player’s jersey sleeve, not entangle his arm; you’re not allowed to knock the ball forward with your hand or arm, if it hits your chest, you’re ok.
However, the difference between a ruck and a maul eludes me.
If any more experienced players/watchers can enlighten me on this and MrB’s question about tripping, that would be great
UPDATE! Watching the Scotland vs France game, a try was saved by a tap tackle by the defender reaching out his hand to tap the attacker’s foot. So I guess, you are allowed to trip but only if it’s done with the hand upon a player who is running with the ball.
Toyotas? Range Rovers? Rugby? I know I’m meant to be of the trouser-wearing sex, but I would I’m not interested in either cars or rugby. Having said that, I love a girl that appreciates the things that men are interested in! Lx
L, Men and women cannot exist for very long on sex alone :P So, tell me what you are interested in and then we can see what we have in common :) PS, The Toyota vs Range Rover post is not really about cars…:P
AWJ – I thought Brian Moore summed it up beautifully when he called him an idiot. I said something to the same effect except with more F-words. I feel like I hexed Wales at the end. Hook had scored that brilliant try and I was feeling quite optimistic; I turned to my husband and exclaimed happily “Wales have really got their tails up now” just as Jones made that pass that got intercepted. I could have bitten my tongue off!
Hi Shelagh! To be fair, I thought Brian Moore was very good yesterday… although whether he would have been so succinct and honest had it been an England player…?
I know exactly what you mean about hexing. I thought the same and I think Eddie Butler even made a similar comment. But it was not to be. Still, it’s not impossible to win the Championship when you start with a loss. Let’s remain positive! They’ve achieved so much in the last couple of years with a side that so many people seem to write off when they make a mistake here and there.
I just hope it’s not going to get to the stage I’m at with Aston Villa. It’s ok if I watch it with Ruf on the tele, but if I watch on my own, invariably they lose. The recent League Cup semi-final being a case in point. I watched for 20 minutes and they went 2-0 down. I texted Ruf and told him I had switched the tv off and he instantly replied that Villa had just scored. They went on to win 6-4 without me seeing it :( Now I have to decide what to do about the Final on the 28th. To watch or not to watch, that is the question :)
Maybe you should be selling your hexing talents to the teams playing Aston Villa, or would Ruf never forgive you?
LOL, I think that would be a sackable offence! And, anyway, I love Martin O’Neill so I want him to win some silverware. Who wants Man U and Chelsea winning everything?!
ruck: man tackled, ball static on ground, team going forward can play the ball (unless they make a mistake and the ball is “turned over”)
maul: ball in hand, tackled player stays on feet and supporting players push from behind to drive man and ball forward against opposing players.
think that’s roughly right.
enjoyed France/Scotland today. Relatively low scoring game, close but inevitable French victory. Harinordoquy was brilliant Bastareaud knows how to finish.
Aha-K! :) Thanks for that :)
I enjoyed the other game too. I felt so sorry for the Scots, who dug in and tried so hard but I just love watching the French when they are on form. Their backs fill out those blue outfits so beautifully and they move so fluidly and effectively. Fabulous! :)
So what are England’s chances of winning the Six Nations? It was very fitting that they won at Twickenham to celebrate its centenary, although they did have that huge helping hand from the Welsh. Come on England!
Hello, Amy! Sometimes you just have a little bit of luck :) Being part-English, I still reserve the right to be excited if they do win the Six Nations – hey, the name of this blog is ‘having my cake and eating it too’ after all :P
On the performances over the weekend, I’d say that England were looking pretty good, but so were France. I suspect that it will all come down to that last game on Saturday 20th March – when I am on a course and so will be unable to watch :(