All change please

Much excitement from John Birch over at the Letchworth Girls Rugby Blog at the news that Deborah Griffin, chairwoman at the RFUW, has joined the RFU Council.

Deborah is the first woman ever to sit at the top table of English rugby and, with the Women’s Rugby World Cup in England imminent, the timing couldn’t be better.

“Getting a seat on the RFU Council is an important step in our transition to a fully integrated men and women’s game in England,” said Deborah, putting down her cigar and glass of port so that she could be measured up for her blazer.

In our own small way, Chesham Rugby Club has also struck a blow for integration with the recruitment of England Women’s prop Rochelle Clark as our Head Coach this season. “Rocky” (currently with the England squad preparing for the World Cup where she should win her 50th cap) will be responsible for coaching both the men’s and women’s teams as well as overseeing the transition of junior players into senior rugby.

I missed the first pre-season session last night with a severe bout of laziness so can’t comment on how she is settling in but it will be fascinating to see how this innovative appointment works out. The good news from Rocky's point of view is that the club is well stocked with plenty of young players who are eager to learn, as opposed to old, cynical, hairy-arsed know-it-alls like yours truly :)

Silly season

The latest bit of nonsense doing the tabloid rounds is that Hollywood actor Mickey Rourke wants to play the part of rugby player Gareth Thomas in a film biopic about Thomas’s “coming out”.

That’s the 57-year-old Irish-American Mickey Rourke playing the part of a 35 year old Welsh rugby player. Good grief.

According to reports, Rourke contacted Thomas personally and the next step is to agree terms and sort out a script.

I won’t hold my breath.

For those of a nervous disposition...

...look away now.

I've been contacted by someone on behalf of that highbrow broadsheet the News of the World who, in this Sunday's 'Fabulous' supplement will be running a "bare all interview" with the former Mr Gavin Church in which he "reveals how his torrid love life has affected his game and his plans for the future."

I therefore look forward to reading about how he plans to return to professional rugby whilst simultaneously studying for his medical degree, doing voluntary work in the community, leading an aid expedition to the sub-continent, inventing a cure for cancer and bringing peace to the Middle East.

Or perhaps it'll just be an appearance on Strictly Come Dancing.

A touch frustrated

Frustration, huge frustration, was my overriding emotion on Tuesday evening as Touch Rugby wound up for another year.

After a regular “season” in which the Odd Bods had remained unbeaten and finished top of the pile, we had to endure a dreaded ‘play off’ against the absurdly youthful Angry Leprechauns who had finished a distant 4 points behind.

After a 14-all draw 2 weeks ago we knew it would be tough and so it proved. We didn’t play that badly, but conceded soft tries at important times and, for once, failed to finish strongly enough. A 12-10 defeat saw us end up as the bridesmaids of the competition – the Touch Rugby equivalents of Gloucester.

Despite the overall sense that we really coulda, shoulda won this match I must say that this summer’s Touch Rugby has, as a whole, been an absolute joy – some superb games and a great bunch of team mates.

Final thoughts are for one of our team members, Mike, who went down as if being shot in the first minute of Tuesday’s game with a suspected ruptured achilles, and for his wife Mary who went on to play an absolute blinder.

In absentia

They seek him here, they seek him there
Those Ospreys seek him everywhere
He hasn’t shown up for pre-season
He’s absent without leave or reason
He should be getting back in form
To take the rugby world by storm
Perhaps he spends all day in bed
Or down the pub or perhaps, instead
He’s working on his perma-tan
That damned elusive tango-man
They seek him here, they seek him there
Those Ospreys seek him everywhere.

Lost

After a difficult year, I see Andy Powell has been released by Cardiff Blues after “losing his way.”

Powell, evidence in support of the theory that evolution can indeed go backwards, has in recent weeks been linked with moves to the T14 in France and Rugby League in Wrexham. It appears, however, that he and his golf buggy will soon be rolling along the M40 towards High Wycombe and a place at the Buckinghamshire Home for Rugby Waifs and Strays.

I suspect Cardiff’s loss may be Wasps’ gain.

New balls please

Following the rip-roaring success of the adidas Jabulani football at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, sources inside the IRB have indicated that the German manufacturer has been approached to design a rugby version of the ball for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

The new ball will be manufactured using a new design consisting of 16 thermally bonded 3-dimensional panels molded from ethylene-vinyl acetate and thermo-plastic polyurethanes.

The IRB have been particularly encouraged by the unpredictable flight of the Jabulani football, and believe that adopting a ball with similar properties in rugby will discourage kicking to touch and long-range penalty attempts.

The RFU is said to be vehemently opposed to the plan which it sees as a blatant ploy to scupper the England team’s efforts to reach its third consecutive World Cup final.