Epigram 24.03.2014
Sport Jo Bloggs Sports Writer
Bristol football: the only way is up
News168.co.uk
Bristol has always lacked that one key ingredient as a city. A football team with a national presence playing in the top division. Bristol City’s Championship play-off defeat in 2008 provided a momentary glimmer of hope, but since then both Bristol sides have been on a downward curve. Now with the season entering the final stages, it’s a good time to evaluate how the sides have fared and if there is any cause for optimism that Bristol can finally have a football team to be proud of. Bristol City, with ten games remaining, find themselves 15th in League One, 5 points clear of the relegation zone. Winning their last three games has been crucial with survival now looking likely. To have suffered a consecutive relegation in to League 2 would have been catastrophic. As it is their recent form has been good, 17 points from their last 10 has led to renewed optimism that although this season has been inconsistent and wasted, promotion could be a serious target next year. City have been at their best this year when playing without fear, using attack as the best form of defence. Despite being in a relegation scrap all season, they are the 6th highest scorers in the league with Sam Baldock currently top goal scorer for the division. In Baldock City have a player who is proven at this level through his time at MK Dons. Bought from West Ham, he has clear ability even if not quite making the grade there. The pacey, skillful Jay Emmanuel Thomas completes one of the
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most formidable forward lines in the League with 38 goals between them. Their goals have proved crucial as Bristol City have struggled defensively, keeping only 2 clean sheets all season. Assuming they can hold on to their star strikers, reinforcing the defence is where manager Steve Cotterill will need to focus his attention this summer. On 41 points, with 10 games remaining City should have enough to avoid the drop, particularly if they can beat fellow strugglers Crewe and Notts County at home. A season in which many hoped for an immediate return to the Championship has teetered on the edge of disaster but City have an infrastructure and stature big enough to attract players so that if they stay up they should aim for a push for the play offs next season. Bristol Rovers have hardly
had a chance to gloat at their neighbour’s misfortunes as they have had a relegation fight of their own to focus on. Rovers sit 16th in League 2 and have a 5 point gap to the relegation zone. With 11 games remaining though it is hard to be as confident in their survival as with Bristol City. A factor in this is that their next 4 fixtures are all against sides in and around the play offs. Struggle in these games and Rovers could find themselves back in the thick of a dog fight. It may be their saving grace that only 2 sides get relegated from League One and bottom placed Torquay are already looking cut adrift. Rovers have relied too heavily on the goals of John Joe O’Toole, their only player to reach double figures this season and need to recapture their knack of discovering great strikers. What they would give
now to find another Jamie Cureton, Marcus Stewart, Jason Roberts or Rickie Lambert. If Rovers stay up this season then with an experienced manager in John Ward and a potential new stadium, they have to aim for a top half finish next season. At all costs though they cannot drop out of the Football League as it is no given they would find their way back. Both sides remain well supported and are in the top 5 for average attendance in their respective divisions. Rovers perhaps have the fuller ground, but City are still attracting an above average attendance for their position. The potential then is there for one of these sides to push on and give Bristol a side to be proud of and get behind. It is a long way back but here’s hoping for survival this season and something special next year.
The future of test match cricket Edward HendersonHowat Sports Writer Continued from page 56 The 2005 Ashes were pure white gold. Every ball, every run, every wicket sewed together a stunning tapestry of cricket. Each moment was an intriguing story in itself then stepping back from the individual stitches and the whole magnificent canvas is revealed. Skill and daring can be enjoyed in T20s and ODIs but there is no time to create the same sense of theatre. The one day arena serves up scores of predictable and formulaic contests but no two Test Matches are ever the same because each one tells its own tale as the days unfold. Pressure can build for hours before a sudden moment of brilliance can turn a match on its head. When England’s Gary Pratt ran out Ponting in 2005 it was not only the quality of fielding which won him national
adoration. His direct-hit was a pivotal turning point in the match and series. England were defeated by India in the Chennai Test Match of 2008 but so many sub-stories were woven into the contest. Strauss triumphed scoring hundreds in both innings, Swann shone on debut taking two wickets in his first over. England were seamlessly winning the match as the days went by before Tendulkar’s innings of genius in the 4th innings led India to their famous victory. Such gripping tales can unfold only in Test Matches. The contests and duels of other sports are highly anticipated but so often short lived. In Test Matches, personal rivalries can be drawn out across the decades. From McGrath and Atherton to Harris and Cook, individual contests constitute another fascinating aspect of Test cricket. Maidens, yorkers, googlies and bouncers may seem a foreign language but dare to delve into this world and it will
enthral you. No other sport or format of cricket can combine the apparent serenity of tea intervals, whites and blazers with the raw intensity of play. A fast bowler will sprint four miles in a day’s play; a fielder must stand ready for hours, waiting for that one match shaping catch to come their way; and a batsman plays in the knowledge that a single mistake will send them off the field. No physical contact is allowed yet bowlers fire balls of almost 100mph at batsmen’s heads. Players may be sledged to excess but their success will still be applauded by the opposition. It is the most sporting of sports demanding bravery to play, dedication to watch and commitment to follow. Learn its magic and you will be able to gaze upon the most breathtaking display. The alluring beauty of cricket is visible in every form of the game but only when its drama is stretched over 5 days can its ultimate form be reached. The IPL and other T20
competitions are an exciting part of the game but if we spend too long gorging upon a gluttony of sixes, sponsors and slogs the beauty of Test cricket will be de-valued. South Africa and Australia have offered hope in wishing to extend future Test series. But the recent disbandment of a Test Championship in favour of the Champions Trophy indicates that the ICC still do not prioritise Test Match Cricket. As Sachin Tendulkar said in 2009 “Twenty20 cricket is the dessert and you can’t survive on that. Who wants to eat only desserts? Test cricket is my main course, with all the meat and vegetables, and then it is nice to have Twenty20 as a dessert.” Put simply, if the cricketing community is only fed T20s and ODIs it will be sick. By all means enjoy the sweetness of the one day game but realise that the true culinary delight lies in Test Cricket. A balanced diet between the two is what will allow cricket to stay in fine fettle for many years to come.
Editor’s Column
Sports Editor Jacob Webster takes the opportunity to revel in the delight of the RBS 6 Nations I guess one of the perks of being a Sports Editor with my own column is that, every now and then, I get a blank canvas upon which I may write about anything that takes my fancy. Thinking about this week’s column, there was only one thing that I could even consider writing about – the RBS 6 Nations, a magnificent combination of the general atmosphere, the ambience of friendly rivalry mixed in with something slightly more threatening, the cocktail of alcohol, mud and patriotism, the smorgasbord of attacking flair, incredible collisions and gut-wrenching tension. Passion is a word over-used in the context of sport. It is used to signify any players showing an inclination to sing the national anthem before an international football game, or an inebriated rendition of Jerusalem halfway through the afternoon session of Day 3 of the Lord’s Test Match. Well, if you want to see passion, take a look at Alun Wyn Jones, a 6ft 5 grizzled forward, descending into floods of tears midway through Land of My Fathers under the roof in Cardiff; take a look at Chris Robshaw, at Joe Launchbury, at Tom Wood, dragging themselves off the floor to fly up in the face of another oncoming attack and put in another colossal hit, all to prevent a single metre of ground being gained; take a look at 50,000 Irishmen, from both north and south of the border, standing and applaud ingthe majestic Brian O’Driscoll as he made his way off the Dublin turf for final time, and look at BOD himself struggling to hold back the tears during his final postmatch interview. As a proud England rugby supporter, of course I have been left somewhat deflated by the final look of the 6 Nations table. Do I feel like England are the second-best team in the northern hemisphere? I do not, as were it not for 15 minutes at the start of their opening game in France, I have no doubt whatsoever that Stuart Lancaster’s men would have gone on to comfortably take the Grand Slam. England had, without doubt, the player of the tournament in Mike Brown, a player so far above his contemporaries in the backs division that I would go so far as to say that he is the form player in world rugby at this moment in time. The forward pack must now be considered as one of the most feared globally, with Launchbury and Courtney Lawes surely the best second-row partnership currently gracing a rugby pitch. And there is so much potential still to come back into the fold – Alex Corbisiero, Tom Croft, Marland Yarde, Manu Tuilagi and Christian Wade. The future is bright for English rugby, and I for one cannot wait for next year, when I feel England have as good a chance as any of lifting the William Webb Ellis Trophy again on home turf. What of the other sides in the tournament? I wish to make it abundantly clear that I am not being a sore loser here – I truly believe that Ireland deserved to come out on top, and under Joe Schmidt they must be the most tactically adept and efficient side in the world. The Ireland-England game at Twickenham was, without a shadow of a doubt, the greatest, and most absorbing test match that I have ever seen, and anyone that begrudges BOD, dare I say the world’s best ever player, having his final, aweinducing and magnificent send-off, is not a true rugby fan. He has been a stalwart in the truest possible sense of the word, and Irish rugby will never be the same. Wales were a side perhaps still suffering a Lions-induced hangover, a shadow of the frightening machine that steamed to consecutive Grand Slams over the last two years. The destruction of a, quite frankly, awful Scotland team apart, they struggled against teams that were more physical and inventive, teams that had worked the single bloody-mindedness of the ‘Warrenball’ tactic. France were just so French, brilliant one minute, appallingly bad the next. From the sublime in the shape of Gael Fickou’s last minute, length of the field try against England, to the sheer awfulness of their slow, plodding performace against the lifeless Scots on the Murrayfield bog. Scotland were as bad as they have been for a long time, a mirror image of their shockingly bad pitch – lifeless, brittle, none too pretty on the eye. This was down, in no small part, to their coach, Scott Johnson, a man intent on stamping his authority on the team by dropping, then reinstating, and then dropping again the captain, Kelly Brown. The sad thing is that Scotland have such talent – Richie Gray and Stuart Hogg, for example – and the sooner that Johnson vacates his desk to be replaced by Vern Cotter, the better. Finally, Italy – without doubt the pluckiest team in Europe, monumental in defence - time and again making tackle after tackle. But the fact is that it simply is not enough to be the brave loser, and the Italian fans can only regard the Wooden Spoon year as a failure, a step back from the vast gains made in recent years. The last couple of months have been a rollercoaster for all rugby fans, the weeks blending in to create a long wait for the next gameday, the games themselves riotous displays of rugby brilliance. Now it’s a case of settling down and counting down the days until next February, when we can do it all over again. We love it!