England Rugby - And Then There Were 39...

In recent weeks, there has been a lot of chat from fans, pundits and former players as to the composition of the England Rugby World Cup Squad. Initially it was a squad of 50, which then got cut down to 46 (45 travelled to Denver for the training camp, with Nick Easter remaining behind to continue rehabilitation on his injury). On the 7^th August, the squad was cut from 46 to 39, and that is where we find ourselves now. Yesterday, what was essentially an England XV lined up against a France XV for a World Cup warm up match. There were very few names in the squad that I expect to see in the starting XV to face Ireland, but the game in essence was an audition for those players who are in the 39 looking to still be there when the squad is trimmed to 31.

It is very difficult as an outsider to comment with any substance on the cuts that were made to the England squad as we all have no idea (other than what we were told in the media) about how the players were doing in the training camp. Looking back on the first cuts from the squad, I remember being surprised Maro Itoje didn’t make the trip to Denver. He has had a very positive season at Saracens and captained England Saxons – two things which I suspected would give him enough credit in the bank to survive the first cut but apparently not. The other players cut at this stage were Myler, Daly and Slater. The fly-half battle for England has for a while been between Ford and Farrell. When Cipriani re-appeared on the international scene, the writing was almost on the wall for Myler. Now it has been confirmed that Cipriani won’t be charged for allegedly drink driving after the England/Barbarians until after the World Cup, removing Myler at this stage makes sense. It would have been bad if Myler was cut, and then had to be re-called up due to Cipriani facing legal action. As for Daly and Slater, I was surprised to see them both go but then, they have been on the England fringes for a long time now, and I guess after a brief look at them, Stuart Lancaster decided on the fringes is where they will remain for now.

Following the training camp in Denver, a further 7 players were cut. With this cut, Stuart Lancaster revealed his hand for who would fill the wing positions in the squad. Looking back at recent internationals, it wasn’t much of a surprise that the players picked were Anthony Watson, Jonny May and Jack Nowell. Speaking very much from a biased point of view, I was saddened to see Semesa Rokoduguni cut. I feel as though he hasn’t had a fair chance at an England run since being hurt in his debut against New Zealand. Since that injury, it did take him a long time to find the form which got him picked in the first place, which could be why he was initially left out of the England 50 man squad, only called up because David Strettle pulled out to focus on his move to Clermont. The other players cut were Kyle Eastmond, Matt Kvesic, Matt Mullan and Lee Dickson. Again, from a biased perspective, I think the cutting of Eastmond was a mistake. He and Jonathan Joseph make a fantastic centre partnership for Bath behind George Ford, and that could have worked well for England. As for the other 3 players cut there, I thought Kvesic might last longer but the other two cuts did not surprise me. Matt Mullan is a very good player, but hasn’t had much of a look in for England. The same can be said for Lee Dickson.

So, with a squad of 39 in place, England lined up to take on France at Twickenham last night. The match day squad was:

1.       Mako Vunipola

2.       Rob Webber

3.       Kieran Brookes

4.       George Kruis

5.       Geoff Parling

6.       Tom Wood (Captain)

7.       Calum Clark

8.       Ben Morgan

9.       Richard Wigglesworth

10.   Owen Farrell

11.   Jonny May

12.   Sam Burgess

13.   Henry Slade

14.   Anthony Watson

15.   Alex Goode

16.   Luke Cowan-Dickie

17.   Alex Corbisiero

18.   David Wilson

19.   Dave Attwood

20.   James Haskell

21.   Danny Care

22.   Danny Cipriani

23.   Billy Twelvetrees

I was at Twickenham for the game yesterday and am of the opinion that the game will give Stuart Lancaster a lot to think about for the next few days before announcing the match day squad for the return game in Paris next weekend. England were bettered at the scrum and the lineout throughout most of the game, which was disappointing to see and overall it was not a great performance. There were too many sloppy penalties given away, and both yellow cards were frustrating (incidentally, I read on twitter that Sam Burgess was the first England player to be carded on his debut. Calum Clark was the second England player to be carded during his debut). The man of the match was Anthony Watson, which was well deserved – he took his two tries well. The build-up for Jonny May’s try was also very good and it was taken well. I’d say the partnership of Burgess and Slade worked well in the centre as well. I was impressed with Goode as well. If you take all 6 players that made up the front row during the game, I would say the best 3 were Corbisiero, Webber and Wilson. The scrum really tightened up when they came on.  Cipriani and Twelvetrees didn’t get the chance to prove themselves and should be given another chance, and I suspect if there is one hooker still to be cut from the squad, then it will be Cowan-Dickie. The main thing though is while the performance certainly wasn’t a classic one, England still won 19-14 and sometimes, grinding out results is all that is needed. There is not much point in putting in a spectacular team performance if you then lose.

I expect the team picked to face France in Paris will be slightly different to the one picked for yesterday’s game. Personally, this would be my match day squad:

1.       Alex Corbisiero

2.       Jamie George

3.       David Wilson

4.       Joe Launchbury

5.       Dave Attwood

6.       Tom Wood

7.       James Haskell

8.       Ben Morgan

9.       Danny Care

10.   Danny Cipriani

11.   Jack Nowell

12.   Luther Burrell

13.   Henry Slade

14.   Anthony Watson

15.   Mike Brown

16.   Rob Webber

17.   Joe Marler

18.   Dan Cole

19.   Nick Easter

20.   Geoff Parling

21.   Richard Wigglesworth

22.   George Ford

23.   Sam Burgess

That line up I think brings a few more faces into the mix that probably are nailed on to make the 31, whilst still giving some players the chance to prove themselves. It also gives a couple of players (Launchbury and Brown) to get some game time before September 18^th). Haskell playing at 7, like he does for Wasps, could be a useful experiment for England. Not because Haskell needs to prove himself there, but as a back row option in case Chris Robshaw gets injured during the tournament. The main question though is who will make up the 31 man squad that represents England when the tournament kicks off in just over 4 weeks. It was tough putting together a match day 23 for the return game in Paris, but I think it will be a little easier to pick the 31 man squad. I will pick my 31 man squad, and then say why I would cut the players that I have.

LH – Marler, Corbisiero, Vunipola
HK – T. Youngs, George, Webber
TH – Cole, Wilson, Brookes
SR – Lawes, Parling, Attwood, Launchbury
BR – Robshaw, Haskell, Wood, Vunipola, Easter/Morgan
SH – B. Youngs, Care
FH – Ford, Farrell
C – Barritt, Joseph, Burrell, Slade
W – Watson, May, Nowell
FB – Brown, Goode

Of all the fringe players, I think the one that needs to be picked most is Henry Slade. He has proven this season he can play very well at 10, 12 and 13. I cannot decide between Easter and Morgan. I am leaning towards Morgan but Easter could also cover lock if needed (despite not being a massive fan of playing lock). Launchbury I would pick over Kruis only if he can prove he is fully fit and back to his best, after a year of playing no rugby. That could be too much to ask for. To be honest, I think the rest of the positions at the moment pick themselves. But this is why I have cut the players I have:

Sam Burgess – This is the big call to make in the eyes of many. But to be perfectly honest, I don’t think it is that big of a call. He played well against France yesterday and should certainly be given the chance again next weekend (although I would say off the bench as I imagine that is where he would feature from if he does make the 31). I just think the world cup has come round too soon. I don’t think him playing as a blindside flanker for Bath and then as a centre for England has helped matters. I can see why Lancaster doesn’t want to pick him as a flanker, but there are players far better suited for the centre than Burgess (one of whom, Eastmond, has already been cut from the squad!) World Cup 2019 if he sticks with union is a definite probability I think. 4 more seasons of playing as a blindside flanker will certainly give the then England coach (if Lancaster has moved on) food for thought.

Danny Cipriani – A tough call to drop him. However, his main role is as a fly half, where he would be behind Ford and Farrell. Alternatively he could be a back-up full back, where he would be behind Brown and Goode in the pecking order I feel.

Calum Clark – Definitely shown some promise and was a worthy call up to the England squad in the first place, but I don’t see him displacing any of Haskell, Robshaw or Wood.

Luke Cowan-Dickie – I suspect he will be one of two battling out for first choice hooker come RWC 2019 with Jamie George. Right now though, I would say he is the most likely to be cut from the 39.

George Kruis – He has definitely shown he fits into the international set up (as in, he doesn’t get phased by the occasion of playing for England). I think, much like Clark, he isn’t likely to displace the other players in his position. Another definite pick for 2019, perhaps playing alongside club mate Itoje.

Billy Twelvetrees – This is where not knowing what has happened in the training squad doesn’t help me out. I would have cut him before we got to this stage and kept Eastmond in the squad. While he does provide another kicking option for England, I think with Ford, Farrell, Slade and Goode – England have enough kicking options.

Richard Wigglesworth – For me it is between him and Danny Care. There isn’t much in it at all. However, you cannot take both without sacrificing someone else in another position. If the squad could be 32, he would make it. Tough decision.

That for me is my England squad. The final big question to be answered is, can this team win the Rugby World Cup? The answer to that question is yes. There is some sturdy opposition coming up over the next few months. If England make it out of their pool (which is no certainty), they have to win it to stand a chance of making the final. If they finish runners up, they will then likely have to face South Africa (a team that a Stuart Lancaster-led England have yet to beat), and then New Zealand. If they win their pool however, I suspect they would face either Samoa or Scotland in the quarter final, followed by France, Ireland or Argentina in the semi-final. Not in any way to disparage those nations, but that seems a much nicer path to the final than South Africa and New Zealand. In just over 4 weeks, England 2015 kicks off, and it should be good one. 

Review - Download Festival 2015

The 2015 installment of the Download Festival has finished and been consigned to the history books. After declaring I would do no festivals in 2015, I was certain I wouldn’t be there. But, much like Download 2014, there eventually was enough there to get me there for the whole weekend. Once again, I stayed in a hotel for the weekend which I have to say, based on the weather over the weekend, I was very happy about. The organisers of Download handled the arena the best they possibly could after the rain. It wasn’t as bad as it was in 2012 that is for sure. The problem is that there is nothing they can really do – they can try to manage the arena after the rain has happened but if there is even a little bit of rain, it will cause an issue somewhere in the arena due to the sheer number of people there. It just so happened there was quite a lot of rain and that meant that certain parts of the arena were quite challenging to walk through, even wearing wellies. Still, like I said, there is nothing really the organisers can do once the rain has started and I think they did all they could. Another talking point for this festival was the fact that it was entirely cashless (which did make me wonder why there was someone trying to flog programs in the queue to get in the arena for Weekend Arena Only ticket holders – none of us had access to our money yet!). I read there were some initial teething problems which sucks for the people it affected, but from a personal stand point, it was great. The first thing I did after getting my wristband was go and test to see if it was working by buying a bottle of water, and it worked fine. The only time there was even the slightest bit of an issue with it was when I didn’t press the tag against the reader properly – when that is the biggest issue I faced with the cashless system over the weekend, I consider it a success. Right then, I’m going to start my review of the weekend, appropriately, with Friday. Scores are out of 10, which is a sensible way to do it I think.

FRIDAY

I arrived to the arena a fair bit after doors after reading online reports that there were massive queues for Weekend Arena Only ticket holders. I figured there was no point rushing down as the first band I really wanted to see weren’t on until half 2. However, I arrived to Download after At The Gates started and then missed them as there was still a queue when I arrived at 14.45. That was a bit annoying but not the end of the world as I saw them on their headline tour last year (and they were a late addition to the bill). The first band I saw were Lacuna Coil (7) who were a really good way to kick off the festival. What the set reminded me, more than anything, is that I’ve only listened to their latest album once and I really ought to revisit it. Following them on the main stage was Clutch (10), who aside from Slipknot were the band I was looking forward to the most on the Friday, and they just smashed it. They looked totally comfortable on that big stage which was great to see, and this set pretty much had everything I wanted from it. They played one new song from their upcoming album, which was very good and gives me high hopes about the rest of the new album. They are on tour towards the end of the year and I am very tempted to go and see them in London on the basis of how good they were here. After Clutch finished, I headed off the second stage to watch Corrosion of Conformity (7), a band I don’t know an awful lot about other than the fact they played at the same time as Five Finger Death Punch, which made them all the more appealing. It just so happened that they were really very good. I only know two songs of theirs really, and they played them both, so I was happy. I stuck around the second stage to catch a bit of Thunder (6) and by a bit, I mean 2 songs. Hey, they started well!

I left Thunder early because I didn’t want to miss any of Judas Priest (10), and based on how good they were, that was a good decision. I’ve seen them live a few times now and they have just been excellent every time. It was nice to hear Rob Halford actually sing ‘Breaking The Law’ as well (the last couple of times I’ve seen them, he has let the crowd sing the whole lot). After they finished, I ducked back round to the second stage to watch that stages headliner, Black Stone Cherry (8). They had some technical difficulties and it was really raining at this point (they opened with Rain Wizard, which was appropriate) but they were still great. I didn’t watch the whole set as I wanted to watch all of the main stage headliner, but I enjoyed what I did see. The new song, Roadrunner, sounded very good. I’m not sure if it was from an upcoming album or whether it was one cut from their album released last year, but either way, I liked it. At Download 2013, I watched Black Stone Cherry over Slipknot. This time around, I watched all of Slipknot (10) and after their set, I was very glad I did. I would say they were better earlier in the year at Wembley Arena, but that is hardly a criticism as they were just stunning that night. I’m not a big fan of Killpop from their latest album, which they played, but I really like AOV and was pleased to hear that getting a live airing. They were an ace way to end the first day at Donington.

SATURDAY

Same story as the day before, I had planned to be in at 11 but got there for about half past. First band of the day for me as Funeral For A Friend (6). Hey, remember when they sub-headlined the festival in 2006? What happened there? (I’m not being insulting, I really don’t know). Anyway, they were good. I headed to the second stage after them for Malefice (6), a band I hadn’t seen in a good few years. I liked their set. I think I would have enjoyed them more if they had longer than the 25 minute set they had, but no matter. I stuck around for Apocalyptica (4). I’ve somewhat soured on them since Wacken last year, through no fault of theirs. However, I only saw two songs which is why the score is so low. However, the score is also that low because during the first song, a singer came out which lead me to ask “when did they get a singer?!” – always up to date me. I had no idea what the song was and thought it was okay. The second song was ‘I’m Not Jesus’, a song I love…when Corey Taylor is singing. Hey, nothing against the singer they have, but Corey Taylor he is not. They announced their next one would be another one I didn’t know and I moved back to main stage.

I saw Hollywood Undead (8) for a short while in 2011 when I came to Download for the day. I liked what I saw then but in all honesty have just not kept up with them. I decided to see them again and they didn’t let me down. There was one moment I thought a band member was miming during ‘Undead’ (the vocal level just sounded so perfect with the backing tape every time), but that aside, they had a great set. After they finished, I popped over to the 3^rd stage to watch Upon A Burning Body (7). I’ll be honest, I went to see them hoping Ice T would come out with them for ‘Turn Down For What’. They did the song with Ice T’s parts on a tape – shame. The rest of their set was decent though. I took the long walk back to second for thrash metal legends Testament (9). They only had 30 mins so blasted through 6 of their songs, including a back to back old school offering of ‘Practice What You Preach’ and ‘Into The Pit’. They are another band that would be much better with a longer set but they made the very best of what they had and then some. Carcass (7) were up next and although I didn’t see their whole set, I really liked what I did see. I missed the end of their set as the remainder of the day on the main stage was one of the main reasons I bought a weekend ticket as opposed to just a Sunday ticket.

I think I missed the first song of Rise Against (8), but saw the rest of the set and they were great. I think they look completely comfortable on that big festival stage. I was hoping, like at Reading 2011, they might cover The Clash’s ‘White Riot’ as they do a blinding job of that, but not to be. After them followed my non-headliner set of the weekend – A Day To Remember (10). Hell, it was just nice to see them without someone throwing themselves off a balcony this time (I had my eye on the cider house occasionally, just in case) (Should probably point out, I was at the Portsmouth gig that got cut short because someone jumped off the balcony). They were just fantastic. They have the songs, they have the stage presence and are putting together a bit of a stage show as well. As they announced their last song, there were quite a lot of people down the front chanting “10 more songs” – if they continue their trajectory (which is only heading up), they could well headline Download one day. I’d like to see that happen. A very close joint second in terms of non-headliner sets of the weekend were the next band on after ADTR and that is Faith No More (10). Look, if you read my BST review you will see I wrote off their poor sound that day to it being an open air gig. This was an open air gig, and the sound was top notch – so basically I am now retracting that. I enjoyed the shit out of this set, and loved the stuff from the new album. Mike Patton is just brilliant when you give him a microphone and let him talk. If they had been the headliner of the Saturday, I would have been fine with that. However, they weren’t. The headliner was Muse (10), headlining at Donington for the first time, and what a first time it was! My band of the weekend was Muse, and that was because they just smashed it. When discussing the set afterwards, the phrase I said more than once was “fucking hell….that was good!”. I’m not sure Muse are capable of having a bad show in all honesty. The new album songs sounded brilliant live and the classics were…well, classic! I had hoped to hear Feeling Good in the set list but I can completely understand why they dropped it (Download may not be a metal festival, but there are a lot of people that think it is). I was blown away by how good they were anyway when they went off for the encore. I had seen the encore for a previous gig was Uprising, Starlight and Knights of Cydonia – which is a damn fine encore. However, for Download, they dropped Starlight and replaced it with Plug In Baby – I was ecstatic with that as it is one of my favourite Muse songs. I could sit here and gush more about how good Muse were…and it is a little bit tempting. But I will leave it there. Muse fucking rocked!

SUNDAY

I made it to the arena on time! I wanted to be there on time to catch Sirens In The Delta (8) who were on first on the 4^th stage and they had a great set. I can highly recommend them. After them, I headed over to the second stage to watch H.E.A.T (7) who I thought had a decent set. They reminded me a bit of Edguy at times, which is never a bad thing. Following them I caught the first 3 songs of the Von-Hertzen Brothers (7) who I really like live. Helpfully, in those 3 songs, they played two of my favourites which made me happy. I would have stuck around for the whole set but I wanted to watch Evil Scarecrow (9) on the third stage. Leaving early to go and see them was a great call as their set was excellent. Synchronised robot dancing, throwing grass/hay/mud etc in the air to make up for a lack of pyro and several thousand crab hands in the air for Crabulon were the best parts of their set. They were just a lot of fun.

I headed off to the main stage where I spent pretty much the rest of the day. Kicking off that run was Tremonti (6). They had a good set. I had meant to check them out before the festival, but I didn’t (don’t remember why now). As a result, I only knew the last song they played but no matter. They were good regardless of me not knowing what was going on. Blackberry Smoke (6) were up next and they also had a good set. I think I would have enjoyed them more and got into their set more had the sun been out, but it wasn’t and I didn’t. They were good, and their score not being higher than 6 is purely because I couldn’t get into it more. Up next after them was Billy Idol (8) who had a really good set. It stopped raining for his set which was nice (apparently when he last played, just as he came out on stage, it absolutely battered it down). It was great to hear some of his bigger hits live as I’d not seen him before. There were quite a few good sing-alongs in his set, and it was good to hear a couple of nods to his Generation X days. After Idol, it was Slash (9). Slash and his band had an excellent set. It was just over half original material and the rest covers of some of Slash’s previous work. I like hearing GNR material live, and it is cool to see Slash playing on them, but Axl Rose has a distinct voice, and no-one I have seen cover their stuff comes close to seeing Axl sing them (seeing GNR in 2012 was just amazing because Axl was just on near perfect form that night). Anyway, I don’t want to take away from what Myles Kennedy did, as he did an excellent job, and it was cool to see him in the undisputed front man role, as opposed to with Alter Bridge when he is limited by what he can do because he has a guitar with him.

After Slash, I popped over to the second stage for the last time to watch a bit of In Flames (7). I wasn’t there for the whole set as I wanted to get back to the main stage again, but what I saw was really good and I reckon I would have given them a higher score had I watched the whole thing. On reflection, I wish I had. After them I headed back to the main stage for Motley Crue (5). I had my doubts going into this set after being disappointed at Sonisphere 2010. Now, I feel like I should explain that score. The stage show was ace, a lot of pyro, explosions, fireworks etc. Motley Crue know how to do a stage show right. The instrumentals were really good. I would have given them a much higher score had it not been for Vince Neil. Much like at Sonisphere 2010, his voice was not great. Motley Crue are splitting up at the end of the year and I can’t help but wonder if it is because he has been past his best for some time. I am pleased I got to see Motley Crue in 2007 when they had a phenomenal set at Download, but this was not close to that. I couldn’t get past how bad he sounded on some of those songs. It was a real shame as I had hoped I could come away from the set saying how much I enjoyed it, but not to be. The main event of the day was up next, and I have to say that KISS (10) did not disappoint. I would say Paul Stanley’s voice is starting to lose some of its power and that was obvious on a few of the songs, but it wasn’t awful and didn’t take away too much from the set for me. The show was really cool I thought and overall, I would say it was just brilliant. Paul Stanley getting on a harness and flying out over the crowd was ace. The end of their set was met with a massive fireworks show which signed off Download for another year. It really was a great festival.

Bands of the festival in alphabetical order – A Day To Remember, Clutch, Faith No More, Judas Priest, Muse, Slipknot.

Until next time Donington! When that will be, I don’t know. Last year I said no festivals in 2015 and that didn’t pan out, obviously. So for now, it is a wait and see. 

European Rugby - The Last 4

In my last blog, I discussed what had happened in European rugby so far this season, and made predictions for how I saw the rest of the tournaments going. The quarter finals happened in both the European Rugby Champions Cup and Challenge Cup this weekend, so I thought I would write a quick review of what happened and how the semi-finals will look.

European Rugby Champions Cup:

Leinster 18 Bath 15 – I had predicted a Bath win, and in score line it was certainly a close game.

Clermont 37 Northampton 5 – One of the Northampton players tweeted after the game that it was nice of them to be invited to the Clermont training session. Seems as though Clermont pretty much took them apart.

Racing Metro 11 Saracens 12 – Late win for Saracens ensures there is a Premiership team in the last 4. Very tight game by the looks.

Toulon 32 Wasps 18 – Seemed to be a good contest until Toulon put it out of reach of Wasps. Brave effort by all accounts to go away to the current European champions and put in one hell of a shift.

Semi Finals

Toulon v Leinster – Absolute belter of a clash between the two teams that have won the last 4 Heineken Cups between them. I think Toulon will get the win.

Clermont v Saracens – These two teams have already played twice this season in the pool stages, both winning their home fixture. It is hard to look past Clermont as they are at home, but Saracens proved by going away to Racing and getting the win late on they will not be a pushover.

Predicted Champions Cup Final – Toulon v Clermont

European Rugby Challenge Cup

Gloucester 14 Connacht 7 – I predicted Connacht to win. It seemed to be a close game but fair play to Gloucester for getting the win.

Exeter 48 Newcastle 13 – This match seems to fairly reflect where both teams are in the Premiership. Pretty solid win for Exeter overall.

Newport Gwent Dragons 25 Cardiff Blues 21 – I had predicted a NGD win for no real reason other than they were at home. I learned after making that prediction that during their Christmas double header, both teams lost their home game to each other. So they had one each. It wasn’t relevant for this match though as the home team get the win.

London Irish 18 Edinburgh 23 – I figured home advantage would give Irish the win. Not to be as Edinburgh got the win.

Semi Finals

Edinburgh v NG Dragons – They’ve only met once this season, with Edinburgh picking up the win in that match. I can see them getting the win in Edinburgh again.

Gloucester v Exeter – Gloucester at home will be a tough challenge for Exeter, but I think Exeter will have too much for Gloucester.

Predicted Challenge Cup Final – Edinburgh v Exeter

I am anticipating another superb weekend of European rugby on the cards coming soon! 

European Rugby - Onto the Knockouts!

Last time I wrote about rugby on this blog, we were at the halfway point of the group stage of the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup. A lot has happened in that time. I have yet to write about the European Rugby Challenge Cup. The main reason for that is because I have limited interest in that competition this year as the team I follow, Bath, are in the Champions Cup this season. I will say though I am surprised that there are no French teams in the quarter finals of the competition. Stade Francais, Bordeaux and Grenoble are all doing really quite well in this season’s Top 14 and yet they failed to make the last 8 of the Challenge Cup, which is all made up of teams from the Aviva Premiership and the Pro 12. I’m going to both European finals so I will likely pay a bit more attention to how the Challenge Cup knockout stages go.

In the Champions Cup, we have seen some top quality rugby, which I guess should come as no surprise to anyone. The Champions Cup went down to the wire in 4 of the 5 pools as to who would qualify, which has been pretty exciting this weekend to see how the games have played out. After 3 games I made some predictions and I would like to revisit those predictions now and see how I did.

POOL 1 PREDICTION – Clermont Auvergne to win the pool, Saracens to finish 2^nd and maybe qualify. 

This happened. The final week of games from this pool featured a dead rubber match between Munster and Sale and a straight shootout for first place between Clermont and Saracens. Munster were pushed all the way by Sale but managed to get the win right at the death in the first game at the AJ Bell Stadium. This week however, Munster just ripped Sale apart, winning 65-10. That’ll be a tough one for Sale to swallow. Clermont looked the better team against Saracens today and they got the win 18-6, confirming the home quarter final. If Saracens had lost by 35 or more points, they would have been eliminated from the competition. This didn’t happen. They qualified as one of the best placed runners up on 17 points.

POOL 2 PREDICTION – Leinster to win the pool, Harlequins to finish 2^nd and qualify. 

I got the Pool winner correct! Leinster pipped Harlequins in the second game of the double header, battered Castres 50-8 and drew with Wasps 20-20 to win the pool. Wasps battered Castres (you might see a theme developing here) 44-17, went to the Stoop and beat Harlequins 3-23 and as I said above, drew with Leinster 20-20. The Wasps/Leinster game became a straight shootout for the top spot, and with the game ending in a draw, both teams stayed in the same spots they occupied before the game. The draw was enough for Wasps to qualify as one of the best placed runners up on 18 points. Harlequins also finished on 18 points but Wasps had a better points difference so Quins finished 3rd. The two defeats on the bounce pretty much finished off Quins but they tried their hardest to qualify by getting a bonus point win over Castres, battering them 19-47. Castres have been really quite bad; I don’t think anyone would have predicted that. Harlequins fans might feel hard done by as they finished 3^rd on 18 points, more points than Saracens got in their pool, but Saracens finished second and have qualified for the quarter finals, whereas Quins, who finished 3^rd, haven’t.

POOL 3 PREDICTION – Toulon to win the pool, Leicester Tigers to finish 2^nd and qualify.

Toulon did win the pool and Leicester did finish second but they did not qualify. They had the lowest points totals of any of the runners up with 13. Leicester lost to Toulon and their only getting one bonus point by the time round 5 concluded proved to be their downfall (well, that and losing to Scarlets away in round 2). They lost away to Ulster in round 6 and finished the pool with 3 wins and 13 points. Toulon lost only the one game away to Leicester, and crushed Ulster at home.

POOL 4 PREDICTION – Toulouse to win the pool, Glasgow Warriors to finish 2^nd but not qualify. 

Well, I got this one completely wrong! Bath qualified as pool winners and Toulouse finished second but didn’t qualify. You could argue I should have backed my team but after 3 rounds, Bath had lost their opening two games and failed to get a bonus point in their win in Montpellier, with an away trip to Toulouse looming! Bath beat Montpellier at The Rec and got the attacking bonus point. Fans such as me allowed themselves to dream of qualification following one of the great European rugby performances by an English team in France as Bath went to Toulouse and won 18-35, getting another attacking bonus point. This meant going into the final round, Bath were second with a home tie against Glasgow. Glasgow, much like in the opener, were the better side in my opinion but wins matter in this competition and Bath got the win. With Toulouse getting beat in Montpellier, Bath qualified top of their pool. Pool 4 was by far the closest of all the pools, and it ended in spectacular fashion. Toulouse not making the last 8 is a big shock. I’m sure they will be smarting about that one.

POOL 5 PREDICTION – Northampton Saints to win the pool, Racing Metro to finish second and maybe qualify. 

I got that the wrong way round. Racing Metro won the pool and Northampton finished second, with both teams qualifying for the second round. As the pool came to a conclusion, there was a straight shootout to win the pool and a dead rubber match between Trevisio and Ospreys, with nothing on the line but pride. Treviso claimed their first win of the tournament, beating Ospreys 23-20. Northampton lost at home to Racing Metro 8-32. I would have thought Saints would have won on their own patch, but not to be. Northampton qualified as one of the best placed runners up.

I didn’t do too badly with my predictions there! Following the conclusion of the pools, all the talk moved to the knock out stages of both competitions. The quarter final and semi final draws are as follows:

European Champions Cup

Quarter Final

Racing Metro v Saracens
Toulon v Wasps
Clermont v Northampton
Leinster v Bath

Semi Final

Toulon/Wasps v Leinster/Bath
Clermont/Northampton v Racing Metro/Saracens

European Challenge Cup

Quarter Final

Gloucester v Connacht
Exeter Chiefs v Newcastle Falcons
Newport Gwent Dragons v Cardiff Blues
London Irish v Edinburgh

Semi Final

Gloucester/Connacht v Exeter Chiefs/Newcastle Falcons
London Irish/Edinburgh v Newport Gwent Dragons/Cardiff Blues

There are some tasty contests there. These matches take place over 2 weekends in April and while anything could happen in the next 9 or so weeks leading up to the games, just like with the pools I’m going to have a stab at predicting what will happen leading up to the finals.

European Champions Cup

Quarter Final - Racing Metro to beat Saracens. Toulon to beat Wasps. Clermont to beat Northampton. Bath to beat Leinster.

Semi Final – Toulon to beat Bath. Clermont to beat Racing Metro.

Final – Toulon v Clermont

European Challenge Cup

Quarter Final – Connacht to beat Gloucester. Exeter to beat Newcastle. Newport to beat Cardiff. London Irish to beat Edinburgh.

Semi Final – Exeter to beat Connacht. London Irish to beat Newport.

Final – Exeter Chiefs v London Irish

There are so many possibilities as to how these knock out stages will go, and these predictions have just been plucked out of nowhere. I obviously hope more than one English team makes the semi finals of the Champions Cup but I do feel as though based on how good the French teams are at home (generally), they will fare better at home. I’m not saying that Leinster will be a pushover for Bath, but I think of all the English teams left in the cup, they stand the best chance of making the last 4. For the Challenge Cup, that was a complete guess. I’ve no idea if Irish will beat Edinburgh then beat Newport or Cardiff, but them having home advantage for both games might help them (although they haven’t fared too well at home in the Premiership this season). What I am sure of is that we are approaching the business end of European Rugby for 2014/15, and so far, the Champions Cup has just been excellent. I expect that to continue until the final takes place at Twickenham in May 2015. 

2014 - A Year In Live Music

Much like I have done for the last few years, I am going to post what will likely be my last blog of the year talking about live music and the gigs and festivals that I have been to over the last twelve months. For anyone that has read one of these blogs before, I tend to split up festival sets and gigs for the simple reason that it makes my life easier. It does make me smile that I have a list of best festival sets after being so adamant that I wouldn’t be going to a festival in 2014, and then ending up at 3 one day festivals and 3 weekend ones (although only for 2 days of one of them). Clearly will power when it came to booking festivals was nonexistent (especially considering the first one for 2014 was booked in the summer of 2013!) Anyway, normally what I would do is copy and paste what I wrote from the various reviews I have done on this page but I have decided against that for this blog – I will just write fresh words.

For last year’s blog, I had 15 festival sets to try and turn into a top 10. I decided instead of plucking 5 out as “honourable mentions” I would just do a top 15. This time things are a little bit easier as I have a definitive top 10, but a lot of great sets that are worth talking about.

Honourable Mentions (in chronological order):

Camden Rocks – The Hype Theory, Ginger Wildheart, The Subways. Camden Rocks was an ace day. The chance to see Ginger and The Subways sold me a ticket but everything else I saw that day made it a great day. The Hype Theory were a band I checked out before going to the festival briefly and decided I wanted to see, and they were excellent. It is something I will definitely consider going to most years now (although annoyingly, it does seem to clash with the Premiership Rugby Final – so if I go in 2015, I’ll be making the decision about going nearer the time).

Download – Skindred, Flogging Molly, Bad Religion, Ginger Wildheart, Linkin Park. Download 2014 was the fourth year in a row I had been at Download in some form or another and it was a great one. Skindred were their usual ace selves, Flogging Molly were ace, Bad Religion were so much better than I thought they would be (not that I thought they’d be bad mind!), Ginger’s acoustic set after The Wildhearts played was a great sing along. Finally, Linkin Park make this list and not the top 10 purely because I only stayed to watch them play Hybrid Theory. I’m not a fan of their albums following Meteora (aside from the latest one, Hunting Party) and decided to leave knowing what I had seen was immense.

British Summer Time – Faith No More, Gallows. This was my first visit to Hyde Park and actually going inside the arena (as opposed to sitting outside and listening for free) since 2008. When this line up was announced, I knew I had to buy a ticket. There were a lot of great bands that day, but Faith No More on the main stage smashed it (despite some sound issues) and over on one of the seemingly many little stages, Gallows were immense. The organisers had replicated a small club venue at their festival and to see Gallows in that environment was superb. However, a light bulb or two inside might have made it a bit better!

Sonisphere – Calling All Cars, Eureka Machines, Iron Maiden, Sweet Savage. I only went to the Saturday and Sunday of Sonisphere (due to the BST line up on the Friday). Calling All Cars were the alternative to Babymetal and I thought they were great. What probably made them better was the fact they had a small crowd and they still smashed their set. Eureka Machines are great live, always (you will see their name pop up a few times in this post) and it was cool to see them at one of the countries “major” festivals. Iron Maiden were great as ever and the Maiden England setlist for 2014 was great. They are an honourable mention as I wasn’t feeling too grand during their set and couldn’t enjoy it as much as I normally would have done. The only honourable mention from the Sunday is Sweet Savage. I saw them at Wacken in 2008 and I’m not sure what happened between 2008 and 2014 but they were far better in 2014. I suspect it could be the fact I was seeing them in a small tent as opposed to seeing them on a massive main stage (when I expected them to be Exodus). Whatever the reason, they were really good and deserve their place on this list.

Wacken – John Diva & The Rockets Of Love, The Vintage Caravan, Hell, Megadeth, Amon Amarth. John Diva and his band played famous songs that John Diva had a hand in writing, or just songs he liked. It was a cracking covers set. The Vintage Caravan and Hell were back to back in the Bullhead City Circus tent and I am really pleased that I enjoyed them enough to include them here as I missed Slayer and Carcass to watch them (along with others). Megadeth were the best I’ve ever seen them on this day and Amon Amarth were just great as well.

Top 10:

10. Eureka Machines – Camden Rocks. This was the second time for me seeing Eureka Machines in 2014 (the first you’ll read more about later) and it was excellent – they were the best band of Camden Rocks for me. One thing which I thought was cool was that they played the Electric Ballroom, the festivals biggest stage and had a decent size crowd. This was cool because when they normally play London, they tend to play in rooms 1/6^th of the size of the Ballroom. As I said for their Sonisphere performance, they just seem incapable of having a bad set from what I can tell. This day was no exception to that.

9. Against Me! – Download. My first introduction to Against Me! was on the WWE DVD about CM Punk. I really enjoyed the song (which if memory serves was I Was A Teenage Anarchist) but didn’t bother to check them out properly. A shame really as I did when they were announced for Download and discovered a great band that had just released a belter of a new album. Their set though was something else; they had 30 minutes in the tent and just smashed through song after song only pausing towards the end to thank the crowd and express their hope they will be back soon. It was one of the best sets from the weekend and that is no exaggeration.

8. The Wildhearts – Download. Last time The Wildhearts played Download, they had their power cut after encouraging the crowd to bombard the stage with anything they could find. One memorable moment from this set was Ginger catching an egg that was thrown. This year’s set was slightly calmer in that hardly anything was thrown. That was the only thing calm about this affair though. I found myself front and almost centre right by the barrier and for 40 minutes, everyone was dancing, jumping, singing and having a great time. The set was packed with as many hits as they could play which made for an even more fun atmosphere.

7. The Offspring – Download. I have made no secret of the fact that the only time I had seen them live previously, I thought they were disappointing. This time, around, they were doing an anniversary tour for their album Smash (which would take up most of the set) and follow it up with a short “best of the rest” set. I’m not sure if it was because they headlined the stage this time (as opposed to being a part of the undercard when I saw them last) but they were excellent.  It was really cool to hear them play Smash in full with the slightest of changes to the running order in moving Self-Esteem to the end of the play-through. A smart choice as it got everyone dancing just before they launched into their second set. The Offspring were a great end to the first day at Download for me.

6. Twisted Sister – Download. Whoever decided that Twisted Sister and Fall Out Boy would clash directly at Download is a cruel person. However, I was not missing Twisted Sister again (having opted in 2011 to see Avenged Sevenfold and stay towards the front of the stage for SOAD). Not missing Twisted Sister was an excellent move as they were just fantastic. Performance wise they were just spot on. The main thing I remember from this set, which still makes me smile, was during the song “Burn In Hell”, a plane came into landing at the nearby DHL airstrip. Not expecting this, Dee Snider, the Twisted Sister front man stopped the song as seeing a plane that close shocked him and suggested bands should be warned about that sort of thing and then said “I just had 9/11 flashbacks” and then said “how can I carry on singing a song called Burn In Hell now?!” which made everyone around laugh. Closing on a cover of Motorhead – Born To Raise Hell, I left that stage chuffed to say I had seen Twisted Sister live, and they were every bit as good as I hoped they be, and then some.   

5. Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls – Sonisphere. After seeing Frank Turner for the first time in 2011 at Reading, and realising just how good he is, I was interested to know why it only seemed to be Reading/Leeds of the major festivals that would give him a significant spot on the main stage (Download had booked him to headline the 3^rd stage against Linkin Park in 2011). So, when Sonisphere did this year, it didn’t matter who was playing at the same time, I was going to be there watching. It was a good decision as predictably, Frank Turner was ace. The setlist was a condensed version of the arena tour setlist from earlier in the year but that was hardly an issue as that setlist was damn near perfect (I reckon my opinion of that tour might be mentioned later...maybe).

In the various drafting of the lists that appear in this blog, all 4 of the next bands have all been number 1 at some point. What is being posted is my current opinion of how I’d rank them, knowing full well that if I thought about this again, it could well change.

4. Black Sabbath – British Summer Time. In the past, just before seeing Ozzy live either solo, or with Sabbath, I have expressed my hope that his voice holds out. I’ve seen a number of live reports where it didn’t and at Wacken 2011, he was off stage for quite a while in the middle of the set. I am pleased to report that his voice held up and Black Sabbath were once again excellent. A shorter version of their Download 2012 set with some new material thrown in as well was the setlist for the day and this was no bad thing. This show ended their tour and ended with a bang. At one point, it seemed as though this might be their last gig. If it transpires that it was, it was one hell of a way to go out.

3. Avantasia – Wacken. I said after seeing them at Wacken 2011 that I would definitely consider flying to mainland Europe to see them again as they don’t play the UK. Sadly, when they did play the UK in 2013, I didn’t discover until afterwards just how do-able it was, so when they were announced for Wacken 2014, I wanted to go. I don’t know if it was as good as their set in 2011, but what I do know is that it was epic. Given that they were the main draw for me going, they made going worthwhile, which is all I can ask for really. Admittedly, the next day when I was getting harassed by a cleaner at Hamburg Airport (who spoke German and Spanish but not English) while taking a shower, I did wonder if it was all worth it, but that is another story for another day.

2. Metallica – Sonisphere. There have been four Sonisphere festivals at Knebworth, and Metallica have headlined 3 of them. Now, if any other festival with any other band did this, I would likely be critical. However, it is Metallica and I am more than prepared to be accused of having an inconsistent train of thought by being fine with this. This time around, they were doing Metallica: By Request which meant the fans could vote for the set. I had hoped for a set full of rarities but it was not to be (who would have guessed that the songs people like the most would be voted for?). I did get to hear them play their cover of Whiskey In the Jar though, which made me exceedingly happy. This was the 11^th time I’ve seen Metallica and I’ve never walked away disappointed. They’ve been announced for Reading and Leeds. There is a chance one of those shows might be number 12. Maybe

1. Aerosmith – Download/Calling Festival. Am I cheating by including both of their sets here? Probably. After they headlined Download in 2010, I didn’t know if I’d get the chance to see them live, let alone twice. Aerosmith are one of those bands that have a very distinctive sound, and a major part of that sound comes from Steven Tyler’s vocals. I would go so far as to say he would be irreplaceable if he left Aerosmith. I knew for me there were a couple of songs which would judge how good his voice still is. One of those was I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing – and he completely nailed it. For both sets, the band were just phenomenal. One final thing to mention about the sets is that in both of them, they covered The Beatles song Come Together. That was not something I expected (the first time at least) but something I loved. I walked away from their set at Download saying they could well be the best headliner I’ve seen play at Donington. They would be up against some stiff competition for sure, but they would definitely be in the top 5, if not top 3.

Even when writing that list, I added more honourable mentions to it. The top 10 was pretty much sorted straight away (in terms of what was in it, the order changed significantly as I was writing it up). There were a lot of bands I could have mentioned though. I saw a lot of good festival sets this year. I also went to a lot of good gigs. Much like the last list, I will do honourable mentions first with some words and then count down a top 10. The honourable mentions I will list in chronological order.

Honourable Mentions (in chronological order):

Less Than Jake/Reel Big Fish/Zebrahead – Guildhall, Portsmouth. Originally scheduled for the Pyramids but moved after the Pyramids got damaged during a storm which battered the south coast. This gig was ace. I think the only downside to it for me was that Reel Big Fish didn’t end the night as I preferred them to Less Than Jake, who were still great mind.

Black Stone Cherry – KOKO, London. The Southern Hospitality tour was a special short run in the UK in smaller rooms before they came back and hit arenas. It made me smile that the 1,400 capacity KOKO was now considered a smaller room, as when I first saw them, they were playing the Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth (400 capacity). It was a great gig although the Q&A portion of the gig certainly seemed odd.

Amaranthe – o2 Academy Islington, London. After discovering Amaranthe at Wacken 2012, I really wanted to see them live again. I seem to recall them playing pretty much everything I wanted to hear them play, which was great. One thing I do remember is the gig ending and stepping outside the venue to see it was 9.30pm. I knew there was an early curfew but not that early!

The Wildhearts – Electric Ballroom, London. The Wildhearts, The Von Hertzen Brothers and Hey! Hello! – what’s not to like?! This was the last date of the tour and the second night of the tour I went to. I wish I had been able to go to one of the first few nights as they had some songs in that set I’d have loved to hear live (Nexus Icon being the main one). That aside, I loved this set. One of the highlights for me was the first time I had heard something from the album Endless Nameless performed live, which was ace.

Edguy – o2 Academy Islington, London. The previous times that I had seen Edguy, they had been superb. This was no exception. They released an album this year called Space Police which was great and their set contained the best off of that album + some other material. I was chuffed that they played their cover of Falco – Rock Me Amadeus alongside the bonus track England. Makes sense after all, it was in England (and we do have Steve Harris).

Black Stone Cherry – Wembley Arena, London. I mentioned earlier about the first time I saw BSC was in a small club in Portsmouth that held 400 people. There was something very cool about seeing them in a room with 8000+ people, all there to see them. They proved through their performance that they deserved to be headlining Wembley Arena.

Skindred – Talking Heads, Southampton. Skindred played in a pub in Southampton. Do I need to say much more? This band is far too big to be playing pubs and yet, here they were. It was immense seeing them in this environment. They also introduced me to a band called MakingMonsters, who are a good band.

Eureka Machines – Barfly, London. I made a snap call at about 6am the morning of this gig to jump on a train after work and head to London for this gig. I made the right decision as it were excellent. They played a couple of songs off of their new album which is due for release next year (which after this gig I am even more excited about hearing). They also played a cover from their newly released 80s covers EP “Remain in Eighties”. Very happy I decided to go. Eureka Machines just don’t do bad gigs.

A Day To Remember – Guildhall, Portsmouth. This would have been in the top 5 had the band played their full set. Just over half way through, someone jumped off the balcony. That balcony is probably 20 foot high. It didn’t well for the guy who jumped who apparently ended up with a fractured skull. The gig was ended early which (now the information is all out) was a damn shame as A Day To Remember were sounding fantastic.

Epica – The Forum, London. After much contemplation I decided to grab a ticket for this gig. This was a good call as Epica were really good. It was technically a co-headliner with Dragonforce (a decision which still baffles me) who were better than I thought they would be, but that wasn’t hard as I wasn’t overly looking forward to seeing them. So in the end, it all worked out nicely.

Machine Head – Guildhall, Portsmouth. I entered the venue as Machine Head were playing their first song which was decent timing. It was the first time I’d seen them play a full set on their own headline tour and it has to be said, they were excellent. I’ve never seen them be subpar, but when they are headlining and on stage for 2+ hours, even better.

Kreator – The Forum, London. This was the same venue I saw them in last year. Normally I wouldn’t have bothered with this gig but the support was Arch Enemy, who I missed at Wacken in favour of seeing Prong so I wanted to see them. Both bands were excellent and I’d say this gig was the best Kreator show I’d been to.

That was a lot of honourable mentions! However, for me, the next ten gigs were just that little bit special (or in some cases, a lot special).

Top Ten:

10. Nine Inch Nails – LG Arena, Birmingham. This tour falling at the same time as the Heineken Cup final was a ball ache! I was in Cardiff the night they played London so I headed to Birmingham the weekend before to make sure I caught a night on this tour. I wasn’t disappointed as NIN delivered in a big way. The one thing which surprised me was how empty the arena was. That didn’t detract from how good the gig was mind. I really liked Hesitation Marks and we got a lot of it played on this night, which was ace.

9. The Ginger Wildheart “Oh F**K I’m 50” Birthday Bash – The Forum, London. Ginger said something to the effect early on in this gig after belting out two songs from G.A.S.S that this wasn’t really a gig, it was more of a party. He wasn’t wrong. Each section of the gig had a standing band with special guests coming on at different times. Some of the highlights from this show include having the guys from Exit_International join in on bass for Body Parts (that song with 3 bassists is cool), a Mutation song, Rats, being played with Ginger on drums followed by a cover of Howling Willie Cunt’s Country Boy, a number of Wildhearts songs with two drummers, and for Suckerpunch, two drummer and two bassists (as predicted by Ginger, it did sound seismic). Some of the guest vocalists for Wildhearts stuff was pretty special as well – the stand out one for my money was Yolanda Quartey on vocal duties – immense! The gig concluded with 29x the Pain and with everyone coming back out on stage for I Wanna Go Where The People Go. One hell of a party indeed.

8. Against Me! – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth. This tour was announced a few weeks after Download if memory serves and with their set fresh in my mind, I bought a ticket as soon as I could. I was also really pleased to hear that the support was Billy the Kid, who I had wanted to see live for a while. She was great. I had wondered though if Against Me! could better their Download Festival set where they crammed in 10 songs in 30mins. They were on stage for about 75 minutes and aside for when they went off stage for a brief period before coming back out for their encore, they smashed through their set. It was better than the Download set and then some.

7. Eureka Machines – The Borderline, London. I had a golden ticket for this gig, which meant that I was among a small crowd of 50 who got an acoustic set, a signed poster and a cup of tea. The acoustic set was ace, in which they played a song I really wanted them to play live called Scream Eureka. I’m not sure how many times I can get away with typing the same sentence but I’ll do it again. I don’t think it is possible for Eureka Machines to play a bad set. A personal highlight for me was hearing them play Do or Die, a song I liked but didn’t listen to very often at all. Following this gig, this song has become one of my favourites. I’m hoping that following the release of their new album (tentatively titled Brainwaves), there will be another tour. If so, count me in!

6. Volbeat – Pyramids, Portsmouth. Volbeat are one of my favourite live bands. I was gutted when they cancelled their planned show at the Wedgewood Rooms in 2010. They said when that tour was cancelled that they would make up for it, and so with this tour, it came to Portsmouth but in a bigger room. That was the only thing wrong with this tour is that it was in the Pyramids as opposed to the wedge but you can’t win them all. The support for this show was Hatebreed which was different but excellent at the same time. Since I’ve started seeing Volbeat live, they tend to play more from their later albums live and very little from the early albums apart from a few staples, which is fine by me (although I do cast an envious eye at the one and only Euro show in 2015 in Denmark which will have a setlist based around the first album). The big surprise of the night was Barney from Napalm Death coming out to do Evelyn with Volbeat. That, like the previous times I’ve seen it happen, was just immense.

5. Mongol Horde – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth. Frank Turner, Matt Nasir (from the Sleeping Souls) and Ben Dawson (from Million Dead) make up Mongol Horde and their album is very different to any Frank Turner release since he was in Million Dead, The album is superb. Live however? It was something else. They played their whole album with a few covers as well (including Weenie Beenie by Foo Fighters and Refuse/Resist by Sepultura). I now can’t listen to their album without thinking about just how good that gig was, which is why they are on this list.

4. Pearl Jam – National Bowl, Milton Keynes. I fell to sleep during the main support act, which probably says all I need to say about them. Pearl Jam though were magnificent. They were on stage for nearly 3 hours. I had given thought to trying to get near the front but decided instead to sit on the hill instead and watch from a distance. I’m glad I did that as it was an ace experience. The only downside to this gig was of my own doing which was choosing the worst time to go to the toilet. As I entered the urinals, I could hear Pearl Jam start playing Even Flow. Poor call on my part, but then the whole thing was just immense so it was alright in the end.

3. Foo Fighters – Islington Assembly Hall, London. The Foo Fighters playing a venue that holds 800 people, what is not to love! Billed as The Holy Shits, they played 3 UK shows in the week they were in the country for the Invictus Games closing ceremony. I was lucky enough to be able to snag a ticket to the last one. There was the odd rarity thrown in but this was a set of Foo Fighters playing their more well known songs to a very appreciative crowd. I still can’t quite believe I saw Foo Fighters in that size room and also that I forgot just how good they are live. Anyone going to see them in 2015 is in for a treat.

2. Reel Big Fish – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth. I think this gig certainly takes the title of most fun I’ve had a gig in a long time (that is a shit title though, that is under referral). This gig was immense. As soon as they came on stage, the room started dancing and the venue got hot. The centre of the room just turned into a really happy mosh pit – one where people were occasionally bumping into each other but were generally just happy to be there. There is very little more I can say about this gig without stressing again just how fun it was, so there, it was fun!

1. Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls – Guildhall, Portsmouth. Before talking about how good Frank Turner was, I want to just give a quick tip of the cap in the direction of Flogging Molly, who were the main support for the evening. Had they headlined, I’d have left more than happy and that gig probably would have made this list (perhaps not number 1 but still). They were outstanding and set the bar really quite high. I guess the thing about having supports that set the bar quite high is that it means you really have to do something to be better, and Frank Turner managed it with ease. Picking a setlist covering all of his albums, while still leaning heavily on his latest release Tape Deck Heart, he pretty much played the perfect setlist as far as I’m concerned. For some of these entries, I’ve picked highlights but really, this was all just superb. So good in fact I was actually a little bit gutted when I couldn’t make the September tour which took in towns he doesn’t normally play (at one point, I was pricing up a hotel in Bristol for 2 nights so I could go to the gig in Bath on the Friday then go to see Bath Rugby play Leicester Tigers the next day – Bath won that game 45-0!) When I think back over all these gigs, this one was definitely my favourite.

And that is my top 10 gigs for 2014. That was a tough old list to compile which is by no means a bad thing. I said for 2014 that I wouldn’t be doing a weekend festival and I did. As it stands, I won’t be doing a weekend in 2015 and actually sticking to my promise, no matter how much I eye up Download at the moment! As far as live music goes, I’ve got some great gigs already booked already. First up is the rearranged Royal Blood gig at the Pyramids. After that it is Queen and Adam Lambert in London, Slipknot in London, Amon Amarth in Southampton, Fozzy in Southampton, System of a Down in London, Cancer Bats and While Sleeps in London and the mighty AC/DC in London. There are others on my radar as well, so 2015 could be another great one as far as live music is concerned. Aside from what I’ve got booked, I’m hoping that Rancid announce a UK tour following the release of their album, and I’ve heard rumblings that there will be a Wildhearts tour as the anniversary of P.H.U.Q is next year. They would both be great I am sure.

See you in 2015!

Premiership Rugby Salary Cap - Should It Stay Or Should It Go?

Following the news that Dan Carter, the New Zealand fly half, will sign for Racing Metro following the Rugby World Cup (and at the same time, become the world’s best paid rugby player), there has been some discussion regarding the policy in the English Premiership about the salary cap. Saracens CEO Edward Griffiths lead the call this weekend that the cap should be scrapped and claimed he had the backing of six other clubs. I’m not sure how accurate that is considering all I have seen since that declaration is most clubs distancing themselves from Griffiths’ comments and supporting the cap. I intend to discuss the pros and cons of scrapping the cap but before I do, I just wanted to briefly mention what level the cap currently is. For the 2014/15 season, the cap is £4.76m with £240k extra available for academy credits (available for players who joined their club before their 18^th birthday, is under 24 at the start of the season and earns more than £30k per season), and each club is allowed 2 excluded player whose salary is not included in the cap. The cap is being increased for the 2015/16 season to £5.1m with £400k extra available for academy credits. Each club will also now be allowed to nominate two excluded players. How I am going to approach this debate is start with the statement “Premiership Rugby should scrap the salary cap” and list the pros and cons that I can think of for this before concluding at the end.

Premiership Rugby should scrap the salary cap.

Pros:

• One thing that I just learned that came as a surprise to me is that there is a salary cap on clubs who play in the Top 14 in France. I assumed due to their free spending ways that there wasn’t (one came in for the 2010-11 season). However, it is a much more generous cap than is available for other clubs in Europe, particularly Premiership Rugby clubs. In 2013-14, the cap for French clubs was increased from €9.5m to €10m with young players being excluded from the cap unless they earn more than €50k a season. Additionally to that, each club is allowed to exceed the cap by €100k per member of the France squad they have in their team. With everything factored in, that is essentially double the spending power available to Premiership Rugby clubs (and more than double for Pro-Direct 12 clubs) which naturally gives them a bit of an advantage when it comes to Europe. The last 5 Heineken Cups were won by Toulon twice and Toulouse once (and Leinster twice, from Ireland). By the looks of this year’s European Champions Cup, the French teams are going to have a good showing in the quarter finals, potentially filling 4 of the 8 places available. If Premiership Rugby were to scrap the cap, then English clubs could potentially strengthen their squads to make them more competitive in Europe and make things more level with the French clubs. 

• In less than 2 weeks time, it will be 2015 and that means we are in a Rugby World Cup year. For all fans of rugby this is a big deal but for English fans in particular, this is even more of a big deal because the tournament is being held in England. This means that all the best rugby players will be coming to Europe for just over a month to compete for the biggest international prize in rugby. I anticipate that this will lead to TV viewing figures to increase as people who may not usually be interested in rugby might tune in to watch some of the world’s best play each other. If Premiership Rugby scrapped the salary cap, a lot more of these players could be signed to Premiership clubs and watching the world’s best players every week could be a reality.

Cons:

• The current salary cap is due to increase next season to £5.1m (plus all the extras). Every time the salary cap increases, it widens the gap between the richer and poorer clubs (the haves and the have nots) and makes the Premiership much less competitive. While it could be argued that the league isn’t that competitive anyway (for the last 3 seasons, the top 4 has consisted of the same  four teams), removing the salary cap would completely do away with the competitiveness of the league as clubs who have a lot of spending power at their disposal would just dominate over teams who don’t. Even increasing the salary cap further (as has recently been suggested by the Exeter Chiefs chairman) would increase the gap further and is something to be wary enough. I am sure teams like London Welsh would argue the gap is wide enough as is! Which leads me on to the next point. 

• This point is quite similar to the last one when it comes to widening the gap between clubs. One thing that needs to be considered though is what happens when a team is promoted to the Premiership. I don’t think it is unfair to suggest that London Welsh are going to get relegated this season. It is quite likely that one of Bristol or Worcester will replace them (I’m not sure how many teams in the Championship are actually eligible for promotion, but that is another issue for another day). London Welsh came up, and with limited funds at their disposal, they built a squad they hoped would be able to compete. That clearly hasn’t worked out well. I seem to recall in the build up to the Championship final, barely a day would go by without Bristol announcing they had made a signing pending on their promotion to the Premiership. Now, they didn’t win promotion and some of those players didn’t end up joining them. Would scrapping the cap mean promoted clubs being at a disadvantage from the off? There are already question marks over the fairness of the funding the clubs receive from Premiership Rugby, scrapping the cap would mean that newly promoted clubs (unless it was Worcester or Bristol) would receive less money than everyone else and then have to try and spend a really significant amount of money just to maintain their Premiership status. 

• There has been some discussion this season regarding a rule that came into place in 2011 (I think it was) regarding England and their selection policy. It is fairly straightforward – if you are qualified to play for England but play your rugby outside of England, you will not be picked for the England national team barring “exceptional circumstances”. What this means is the best English players are in the Premiership and get regular game time to improve their game against competitive opposition. Would this still be the case of the salary cap was scrapped? I’m not so sure it would be and the best example I can give of this is looking towards another England national team – the football team. There is no real control of spending in football and clubs in England have signed a large number of players from abroad (and on the flip side, very few of England’s top players play abroad). One of the knock on effects of this has been that the national team just doesn’t have enough good players to compete. The English players are not getting enough opportunity at the top level to become world class and as a result, the England football team just cannot compete on the world stage against the best teams (or as was shown in this year’s football World Cup, even against teams that aren’t the best). If spending controls were removed from Premiership Rugby clubs, there would be nothing stopping them from filling their squads full of the best players from Europe and the southern hemisphere and all of a sudden, there are fewer opportunities for the best players from England to play at the top level.

In conclusion, I would say that I am in favour of keeping the salary cap and keeping it at the level it is currently at. While I agree that it is necessary that English clubs are competitive in Europe, I feel as though our domestic game is more important and having a stronger national set up is essential. There is very little that can be done now to close the gap between the richer and poorer clubs, but opening it even more would create a two-tier top level of English rugby which wouldn’t be good for anyone in the lower tier and would mean the only games worth watching would be when the two richest teams played each other. That might seem like quite a dramatic picture I am painting there but it is certainly a possibility. For the future of domestic rugby in England and a strong national team, Premiership Rugby needs to keep the salary cap. As a final note, it was interesting that the day after the Saracens CEO said the cap needs to be scrapped that it came out investigations are taking place about salary cap breaches for both Saracens and Bath – the two richest clubs in the Premiership (I believe). I’ve long heard rumour about Saracens and questioning how they are under the cap, but it was the first time I’d heard anything about Bath. From what I read, it was a disgruntled former agent that has revealed that Saracens operate in breach of the salary cap regulations, whereas Bath are being investigated for the number of high salary offers they appear to be making to players. As a Bath fan, I hope it is not true, but if both clubs are found to be in breach of the cap rules, they both need to be punished to send a message that breaching the salary cap regulations is not acceptable.