[Adder]

Turns out Portgual made ot to the 2007 world cup. Who knew.

Anyway, huge result today as Georgia beat Wales in Cardiff to strengthen their claim to being included in the 6 nations. If they are going to take South Africa in, they really should bring Georgia as well.

Really dreadful display by Wales who didn't score a point in the last 55 minutes of the game. There will now be a lot of criticism aimed at Pivac and his coaching team as well as the usual calls for restructure of the governing bodies (which is an antiquated system).
In my eyes Wales have a habit of thinking they are good enough to control these 'lesser' sides. Georgia looked fired up but Wales didn't.

Good comeback by England. Yes it was a help with NZ being down a man for the last 10 minutes but that's the game. Just showed that England can play some good rugby when they put their mind to it. 

[Baggies]

Personally, I feel both England and Wales need new head coaches, but neither side does enough with the resources they have available.

[Baggies]

Thanks to it being buried in Amazon most will have missed England's final international of the year - a big loss to South Africa. It means England won only 1 of their 4 Autumn Internationals.

It's hard to think of a worse year in English Rugby Union history, an poor six nations where we finished joint third with Scotland and then a poor set of Autumn internationals, sandwiching in the loss of both West(ish) Midlands rugby union sides due to going into admin with Worcester's and Wasps's futures uncertain.

Considering the financial advantage the European nations now have, its hard to see why we are so poor.

[KYA]

Thanks to it being buried in Amazon most will have missed England's final international of the year - a big loss to South Africa. It means England won only 1 of their 4 Autumn Internationals.

It's hard to think of a worse year in English Rugby Union history, an poor six nations where we finished joint third with Scotland and then a poor set of Autumn internationals, sandwiching in the loss of both West(ish) Midlands rugby union sides due to going into admin with Worcester's and Wasps's futures uncertain.

Considering the financial advantage the European nations now have, its hard to see why we are so poor.

I only watch Sport through catch-up unless I go down to the pub I had planned to watch the rugby with England, T won't bother now 

[Adder]

Thanks to it being buried in Amazon most will have missed England's final international of the year - a big loss to South Africa. It means England won only 1 of their 4 Autumn Internationals.

It's hard to think of a worse year in English Rugby Union history, an poor six nations where we finished joint third with Scotland and then a poor set of Autumn internationals, sandwiching in the loss of both West(ish) Midlands rugby union sides due to going into admin with Worcester's and Wasps's futures uncertain.

Considering the financial advantage the European nations now have, its hard to see why we are so poor.

Following the Autumn internationals I'd say that there are 3 favourites for the World Cup - France, Ireland and South Africa. NZ are close behind and England next (due to their player resources).
England are the main under-achievers and Eddie Jones certainly has to be questioned given the time he's been in the job now.

Bizarre Wales v Aus game this weekend. Wales played very well for the first 55 minutes and looked like racking up 50 points against a much changed Australia. A Tipuric yellow card for an instinctive trip and another yellow card plus Australia clicking into free running rugby mode saw them storm back against shell shocked Wales. Felt sorry for Pivac on Saturday but there's a lot of talk now about Gatland coming back to take us into the world cup.

[liverbaggie]

I love my RU, but because its on sky etc its losing its appeal becsuse i dont subscribe to sky
How can some sports entice kids to play sports when you can only see them on dedicated sports channels that their parents can't or wonts pay for?

[Adder]

I love my RU, but because its on sky etc its losing its appeal becsuse i dont subscribe to sky
How can some sports entice kids to play sports when you can only see them on dedicated sports channels that their parents can't or wonts pay for?

Agreed, they should continue doing everything to keep the 6 nations and world cup on the main terrestrial channels. Rugby already has issues with parents justifiably asking if rugby is a safe enough sport to encourage their kids to play.

[Baggies]

2023 will be another huge year for sport and for our national teams, so I thought I'd do a little preview.

From 13th January, England Men's Field Hockey side kick things off with the Hockey World Cup. We should make the knockout stages but usually come unstuck vs the likes of Belgium, Netherlands, Germany or Australia. The tournament will be held in India for the second time in a row.

The Women's T20 World Cup starts 9th Feb and will for some reason run alongside the Men's ODI cricket World Cup, of which we are defending champions. Australia and India will be favourites in both tournaments, but we will have strong claims.

The 8th March sees the start of the World Baseball Classic - the sport's defacto World cup. Against the odds, the United Kingdom have some how qualified for the main tournament, news that has gone under the radar here. We will be in a group with the USA, Mexico, Colombia and Canada - 4 bona fida baseball nations. Europe's traditional heavyweights Netherlands and Italy are also there, alongside Czecia.

July 10th is the start of the Women's Football World Cup, of which we will be one of the favourites having won both the Euro's and having beaten the USA (albeit both on home soil). It's down under so most games will be in the very early hours of the morning with only 1 game a day being at a reasonable time for UK viewers. Ireland have also qualified.

July 28th is the Netball World Cup, England won't get past the Aussies or the Kiwis but can beat the rest, including the hosts South Africa. Malawi, Jamaica, Trinidad and Uganda are the other "big" Netball nations.

August 19th will be the Start of the World Athletics Championships, the biggest meet outside the Olympics and often the best 100m men's race going. Earlier in the year you also have the European games in June - a fairly new tournament similar to the commonwealth games.

September 8th is probably my biggest of the year - the Men's Rugby World Cup. 4 sides go in as favourites, France, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa. England have some work to do this year to catch up with the big 4.
It should be an interesting tournament with some less common names qualifying this time around such as Chile, Spain and Portgual.

September rounds the big events off, with the Solheim and Ryder cups taking place back to back. Europe will be without a score of their old stalwarts following the LIV taking players out of contention, but i'm still hopeful we can bring both trophies home for Europe.

For those looking for sports that don't have any home involvement, you still have:

Handball (Men's) World Cup in Jan and Women's in November
Ice Hockey World Cup in May
AFC Asian Cup in June (their Euro's), controversially awarded to Qatar over South Korea.
World Aquatics Championships and Water Polo worlds in July
Men's Basketball World cup in August (one of the World's flagship sporting events with huge interest outside the UK)
World Rowing champs in September
Rugby league 9's supposedly happening in October

Yet another full on year

[MarkW]

A great write-up, Baggies, thank you! Always enjoy reading your summaries on other sports.

[Baggies]

Thanks Mark, not much else to do when you have a 2 year asleep on your shoulder 🤣

[gazberg]

Crafty attempt at saving a certain goal from the Cardiff player there punhcing it off goal line while trying to make it look like a header 


He's sent off and Leeds miss the pen

[gazberg]

GAreth Bale announces his retirement at 33. Some say he retired well before today.

[royhan]

Bale has been one of Britain’s greatest ever home grown players. Injuries blighted his latest years but he always produced when Wales needed him - apart, of course, in the World Cup when he was clearly not match fit. He was a five times Champions League winner, some feat.

[Albionic]

Bale has been one of Britain’s greatest ever home grown players. Injuries blighted his latest years but he always produced when Wales needed him - apart, of course, in the World Cup when he was clearly not match fit. He was a five times Champions League winner, some feat.

Have to say that I disagree strongly with this, very fortunate to have many of his “titles” on his cv, in my opinion
Ian Rush was a far better player

[baggies_24]

I think Bale could have been the greatest British player of all time but injuries robbed him to be considered the greatest in the last 5-6 years. Out of his 5 champions league wins he started the final twice, came off the bench twice (o.k scored probably the greatest final goal ever) & didn’t get on the pitch at all for the entering of the competition last year so it’s not like he was a key player in those 5 champions league wins.

[Adder]

I tend to judge players by how good they were at their very best. For a couple of years before he went to Spain he was ridiculously good. I remember one Spurs game against us, the sides looked evenly matched until Bale got the ball and he just looked like he was the kid in the playground who was older, quicker and far better than anybody else. He was pretty sensational in the premier league that year.
Injuries definitely derailed his peak years. I don't think he's helped himself sometimes and to an extent the last few years of his career have consisted of great moments rather than sustained quality. I still rate him as the best Welsh player I've seen and definitely one of Britain's greatest.

[KYA]

I think Bale could have been the greatest British player of all time but injuries robbed him to be considered the greatest in the last 5-6 years. Out of his 5 champions league wins he started the final twice, came off the bench twice (o.k scored probably the greatest final goal ever) & didn’t get on the pitch at all for the entering of the competition last year so it’s not like he was a key player in those 5 champions league wins.

Bale was a good player but he's a million miles from the best-ever British player it's arguable that he's not even the best Welsh player ever I would give that to John Charles and Ryan Giggs probably second.

[Adder]

Bale was a good player but he's a million miles from the best-ever British player it's arguable that he's not even the best Welsh player ever I would give that to John Charles and Ryan Giggs probably second.

I'm in my 60's but didn't see John Charles play. I know a few slightly older folk who swear that Charles was the best. A lot of that is based on the fact he played centre forward and centre back. It's one of those you could argue about all day but there's not much point as they are from completely and utterly different eras.

Giggs was a tremendous player but I'd say that Bale had more strengths to his game such as long range shooting, free kicks and power in the air. Bale also produced and achieved more for Wales.

[KYA]

I'm in my 60's but didn't see John Charles play. I know a few slightly older folk who swear that Charles was the best. A lot of that is based on the fact he played centre forward and centre back. It's one of those you could argue about all day but there's not much point as they are from completely and utterly different eras.

Giggs was a tremendous player but I'd say that Bale had more strengths to his game such as long range shooting, free kicks and power in the air. Bale also produced and achieved more for Wales.

John Charles was before my time but he was supreme in two positions and is a legend at Juventus in a time when no British player had made a name abroad and that includes Greaves and Law.
I say Giggs because he was in the team of probably the best in the country for what 12yrs that is some consistency.
 If I had to name a top ten of players I have seen never mind those I haven't such as Duncan Edwards I don't think Bale would be in my ten.

[baggies_24]

Bale was a good player but he's a million miles from the best-ever British player it's arguable that he's not even the best Welsh player ever I would give that to John Charles and Ryan Giggs probably second.

I’m too young to have watched Charles play but for me Bale as a player at his peak was better than Giggs was. Giggs certainly had the longevity on Bale & won more trophies domestically but never hit the goal scoring heights that Bale reached between 2010 - 2014. That tie against Inter Milan in the Champions league both legs in 2010 might be the best individual performance in the competition’s history. The hatrick in the San Siro of 3 identical strikes to then put Maicon into retirement in the 2nd leg was something else, I’m genuinely not sure anyone would have stopped him far too quick & strong for anyone at his peak.

[lewisant]

I tend to judge players by how good they were at their very best. For a couple of years before he went to Spain he was ridiculously good. I remember one Spurs game against us, the sides looked evenly matched until Bale got the ball and he just looked like he was the kid in the playground who was older, quicker and far better than anybody else. He was pretty sensational in the premier league that year.
Injuries definitely derailed his peak years. I don't think he's helped himself sometimes and to an extent the last few years of his career have consisted of great moments rather than sustained quality. I still rate him as the best Welsh player I've seen and definitely one of Britain's greatest.

Purple away kit worn that game? I remember seeing WBA v Spurs and for some reason we sat in the Halfords Lane in the front row and that row at the time was slightly dropped lower than the pitch level and I remember how it made me appreciate the speed of the game but in particular the speed and control of Bale. He was everything you stated in the quoted post.

[tommcneill]

Bale is one of the best players produced in Britain, but not the best. I dont rate him higher than Giggs, Rooney etc, but lets not forget that he was a fantastic footballer.

Lost his way the last 4 years of his career, and he should still be playing at his peak at 33.

A great career though, and that match against Inter Milan will go down in football folklore.

He can go enjoy retirement now

[gerry m]

No doubt won of the best players Britain ever produced. Got a lot of stick from fickle Madrid fans who conveniently forgot what he did with the club.

[mulliganstired]

George Best is the best British player ever.  No contest.

[SmethDan]

George Best is the best British player ever.  No contest.

I can forgive your exaggerative oversight as you clearly never saw me playing football in the back garden, down the park or anywhere else for that matter  .