Six Nations 2013: My Players to Watch

So, it’s that time of year again where the rugby world turns its attention to perhaps the most coveted Northern hemisphere tournament that is the Six Nations. Last year, the Welsh excelled once again and took home another Grand Slam to add to their impressive collection, their third within the space of seven years. 2012 also saw many new players emerge and become established at test level, from the likes of the ice-cool Owen Farrell to the powerful Wesley Fofana.

Now that the 2013 Six Nations tournament is just around the corner, players from Ireland, Scotland, Wales & England will also be looking to stake their claims for the upcoming British & Irish Lions tour to Australia this summer.

Here are my six players (one from each nation) to watch out for in this year’s tournament.

ENGLAND – Joe Launchbury

Arguably as England’s find of the autumn internationals in 2012, the Wasps lock excelled himself during England’s autumn test matches, thus earning himself England’s player of the series in the process.

Standing at 6ft 6, the 21-year old has endured numerous praises and has been compared in some quarters as the new Martin Johnson, which is quite a comparison for someone in a very fledgling test career. If his excellent form continues, don’t be surprised if a Lions call-up comes calling.

FRANCE – Maxime Machenaud

With the likes of Morgan Parra & Dimitri Yachvili, scrum half is one of departments where the French have real strength in depth. However, this 24-year old is poised to have a big tournament having made his debut during the autumn internationals in 2012, impressing in big wins over Australia & Argentina. His main asset is his game management at scrum half, though he does have some experience with goal-kicking and it wouldn't be a surprise if France utilise his place kicking at some point during the tournament. However, with the kicking form of flyhalf Frederic Michalak, this would probably be unlikely.

With Morgan Parra also in top form, expect a titanic battle for a starting place between these two, though at the moment with his excellent performances for Racing Metro, Machenaud edges him for a starting spot.

IRELAND – Craig Gilroy

Already being hailed as Ireland’s answer to Shane Williams, the 21-year old Ulster winger burst onto the scene in 2010 with two tries on his debut against the Cardiff Blues. With his darting runs and eye for the try line, Gilroy has been in excellent form so far this season and was rewarded with a debut against Argentina back in the autumn of 2012 and also scoring a memorable try in the process, most notably described by BBC commentator Andrew Cotter “He’s dancing, he’s shimmying, he’s scoring!”

With one of Ireland’s most experienced wingers Tommy Bowe injured for this tournament, this is going to be a monumental opportunity for Gilroy and he could be the key attacking threat in Ireland’s back three alongside Rob Kearney & Simon Zebo. A Lions call-up could suffice if he takes his good club form into the tournament, which would be quite an achievement for such a fledgling young talent.

ITALY – Tommaso Benvenuti

This 22-year old has already become a mainstay in the Italian backline ever since he burst onto the European rugby scene in 2010 scoring four tries in two Heineken cup matches against Perpignan & Leicester for his club Treviso.

His versatility proves an asset to a much mailigned & misfiring Italian back line, with the ability to play on the wing, centre and fullback. Expect him to see being utilised at his regular position of outside centre in this year’s tournament and continue Italy’s growth under Jacques Brunel.

SCOTLAND – Richie Gray

The towering 6ft 9in lock shot to prominence in the 2011 Six Nations, with his mesmering performance against the French in Paris being his standout game. Since then, he has brought his dynamic play and key lineout operation into the Aviva Premiership, albeit in a struggling Sale Sharks side. Though it has to be said, he has relatively nailed down a place in the Scotland side in the time since as one of their key go-to men in the lineout.

His name has been banded around as one of the starting locks for the British & Irish Lions this summer and you can bet your bottom dollar he will be one of the first names on the plane for the visit down under with the form that he has been in of late.

WALES – Justin Tipuric

One of the rising stars of the Welsh game, Justin has been in red hot form for the Ospreys over the past year but has failed to break into the Wales lineup due to the presence of captain Sam Warburton at his position of openside flanker. Some commentators think Wales are missing a trick in not playing him in the side as Warburton is not regarded as a 7 in some quarters.

With a lot of pace to boot and a lot of turnover prowess at the breakdown when he’s on the pitch, this player has become the envy of opposing sides. Expect to see him utilised in some shape or form during this year’s tournament.

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As to predictions for winning the tournament, my predictions for the final table are as follows:

1) England

2) Ireland

3) France

4) Wales

5) Scotland

6) Italy

Roll on Saturday 1.30pm for the first match, Wales v Ireland! Enjoy the tournament folks!

First Great Western... and their overcrowding issues!

Okay, so here goes. As a Bath boy living in Trowbridge, I recently got myself a new job working in Bath for BANES council and of course that involves endless commuting by my preferred method that is the train. Now unfortunately these days, it comes with the added stresses and strains of one massive bugbear  of most commuters up and down the country and that is overcrowding.

Fortunately for me, I have managed to cope successfully well in dealing with this problematic bugbear and on most occasions so far I have managed to get a seat successfully on the services I've been on when commuting to Bath.

Today (Friday 25th Jan) though, proved to be not quite the final straw (I'm not packing the train in that's for sure, I much prefer it to driving into Bath) but just a sense frustration, which just seemed to exist for one day it seems. 

The blame it seems has to lie with the operator, First Great Western. Now they have done a few good things, such as the mass refurbishment of their High Speed Trains and providing extra capacity on London suburban services, but unfortunately the commuter in these neck of the woods seems to have been left behind. In November 2011, they brought out a statement saying they have secured 48 extra carriages to increase capacity. The Bath area commuters were mentioned as follows:

"The additional vehicles - announced by the Department for Transport earlier today - will deliver another 924 seats into and out of Bristol across morning and evening peaks, including 336 through Bath."

Unfortunately, I have not noticed the difference, particularly during the evening peaks and it wouldn't surprise me if other commuters echo my sentiment. My morning commutes have all gone smoothly so far, hardly ever getting a full and standing service. The evening service however, has been nothing short of disgraceful. I have stood countless times at Bath Spa stations and each train I have boarded for my journey home has resulted in a mass scrum of commuters in a gargantuan proportion.

So today (Friday 25th Jan), I decided to get in touch with First Great Western via their Twitter page complaining about overcrowding. The exchange can be seen here:

What I said probably echoes a lot of fellow commuters sentiments up and down the country. It has gone on for too long, whereby fare increases year on year unfortunately has not equalled a better service for commuters, who pay endless amounts of money and still are unable to get a seat during their commuter . And to what First Great Western said, frankly that doesn't wash with me. I know that there are still plenty of carriages spare at the sites that I listed in one of my replies. Long Marston is the most infamous location as it was featured on a Channel 4 documentary exploring the lack of rolling stock available to provide for the commuters. Crewe is also well known, as a lot of railway passengers will see the carriages sitting in the sidings as they come into the station from the Birmingham direction!!

It begs the question, why can't First just get hold of this stock so desperately needed to relieve overcrowding? For me, I think it's down to a combination of two things, money and government beaureaucracy!! The first instance is that this company makes a huge profit, but where does the money go? Yes, you probably guessed, their big fat-cat shareholders, who probably wine and dine every week at the fare-payers expense! And secondly, the government. First's excuse is that the (lame-duck) Department of Transport pull the purse strings and won't release the carriages that are stand around. Why you may ask? Well as I understand it, the rolling stock is leased off leasing companies who more than likely ask for endless amounts of cash to get these carriages off the storage rails, not to mention having to get them up to scratch for passenger use? And of course, these carriages need locomotives to haul them, of which there also plenty going spare at various operators.

Surely all it takes is some head-banging between First, the government, leasing companies and the locomotive operators to provide some sort of a service? It's been done before by First Great Western in the past, so why can't they do it all again? Then the average commuter will be a much happier bunny in the long run. This is probably echoed by commuters elsewhere in the country where overcrowding is an issue with other train operating companies.

Unfortunately, the method I suggested is probably a lot easier said than is actually done. It's probably no more than a narrow pipe dream, but who knows... As the old saying goes, something's gotta give!!

Skanks of 2012

Okay, that's the hotties of 2012. Now here is my skanks XV of 2012, the ladies who in my opinion are a waste of space and are mostly unattractive to boot!


Skanks XV


1) Rihanna

This woman deserves the top skank rating for purely making herself more of a mess this year. To put it another way, that vile and revolting tattoo she got under her breasts proved way over the top. She might as well cover the other parts of her body to look mega skank!

To add to that, anyone who wants to get back with their ex that infamously beat her up a couple of years ago is quite frankly naive and dam foolish! Find a nice bloke Rihanna!


2) Helen Flanagan

With her outrageous party antics, garish fashion sense and her customary pout, this lass has been all over the UK press this year and her most infamous so-called "15 minutes" were on that drivel that is "I'm A Celebrity", where her breasts earned a lot of airtime, which no doubt pleased the male viewers big style!

Unfortunately, she also seems to be way out of touch with the outside world and this was proved when she posted a picture on her Twitter page of herself in nothing more than her smalls holding a gun to her head, just after the massacre at Sandy Hook school in the USA. She said her excuse was a "hangover" and the picture was "taken out of context", but it just goes to show that she just wanted some extra publicity. Quite frankly, she needs a hell of a lot less!

3) Amy Childs

Here's a reality star that all she does best is pout! Besides that, it's also flaunting her surgically-enhanced breasts all over lads mags and photoshoots. I'm thinking she is like Kelly Brook, but without all the naturalness and classiness. Just pure vile and one lady that is more than likely very high maintenance. Not sure how her current beau is coping with all the attention she's getting, must be getting him down!

4) Tulisa Contostavlos

Let's be honest, I'm slighty surprised to see this lady on the skank list. I mean she's got good looks and a great figure, but unfortunately its her misfortunes and life choices that place her on this list. After all, she's never been squeaky clean.

It all started in March 2012 when the now infamous sex tape of her performing oral sex (quite badly, I've seen it!) on her ex boyfriend Justin Edwards was leaked onto the Internet. She then obtained an injuction banning the video and sued him, declaring "he messed with the wrong woman". Seriously, that's just naive and she should have known what she was letting herself in for as a lot of sex tapes do end up on the Internet these days.

She's had her fair share of boyfriends this year and in November started dating Newcastle football player Danny Simpson, which then spilt into a row with Danny's pregnant ex, claiming that Tulisa was a "homewrecker". Quite frankly, Tulisa, you need to make some better life choices. For starters, don't date a football player!!!

5) Cheryl Cole

A lot of guys would probably be surprised by this entry on this list with the fact that a lot of people think she's a very attractive woman. Well yes (to a certain extant), but it's those vile looking tattoos that stand out when she's exposing the flesh, it makes her look just a tad skanky.

The most notable story she was involved in in 2012 was the infamous minor car crash she had as a passenger with will.i.am. He blamed his excessive chatter!

I also cannot understand why so many teenage girls idolise her, she's nothing special. There's plenty of better role models for girls out there!

Add to the fact that her music is as weak as a pint of Fosters and you know what you're letting yourself in for with this woman. Can't sing, has awful tattoos, oh and did I forgot to mention she only likes black guys? There you have it, her in a nutshell.


6) Fearne Cotton

I used to be a fan of this woman, listening to her natter on her Radio 1 morning show. Now I get really annoyed seeing her on TV and listening to her on radio, she just seems too full of herself and her presenting skills are as useless as a white crayon, which was perfectly illustrated this year when she helped to present the dire coverage of the Queen's Golden Jubilee pageant.

Not to mention that she is a self-confessed tattoo addict, which is complete skank. Now of course she is up the duff by her boyfriend, and will no doubt get countless amounts of publicity with endless range of maternity wear. The most notable thing is that she is off the Radio 1 airwaves for the time being. Long may that continue!

7) Nicki Minaj

This woman has probably been one of the most irritating singers of 2012. A lot of the time when browsing music channels and radio stations, she has been cropping up quite a vast amount, with her animating yet annoying rapping style to go with her voluptuously curvaceous figure and outlandish fashion sense, not to mention her boobs which seem to poke out at every given opportunity.

The New York Times said that she is "the most influential female rapper of all time". How can they be so wrong! Her music is as dull as watching a tin of paint dry. Don't waste your coinage on her!

8) Miley Cyrus

Another singer who has fastly become irritating. The press this year have seized on her ever slimming figure that the story has become as dull as a pint of Special Brew. Not to mention the fact her ongoing relationship with actor Liam Hemsworth, now that she's waiting to get hitched. Hurry up Miley, get hitched and disappear, your as interesting as a cow's backside!

9) Imogen Thomas

This Welsh glamour model has had a change of fortune this year after the infamous affair with Ryan Giggs in 2011. The small matter is now, this lady is up the duff and has been parading her every increasing bump all over the place at various shindigs, as well as on her beloved Twitter page. 

Seriously, it's just aimless and pointless publicity that is filling the tabloids no end. By the time this blog post is published, she would have hopefully faded away and had her sprog. Then we can breathe a sigh of relief!

10) Tamara Ecclestone

You would have thought this infamous socialite would be classed as one of the hotties of 2012. But for me, she has been nothing short of irritating, I mean she is famous just for having a famous dad. Does this woman even do anything outside of the celebrity world (apart from spending her father's cash)?

Fortunately, Tamara did the clever thing of ditching her boyfriend back in July 2012, after a sleazy sex tape of him with other women was released! No doubt she will have a few male takers waiting in the wings, although the lucky one will have a huge task on his hands, as this woman is strictly high-maintenance, with a high urge to blow cash on clothes and countless bottles of champers. Not for me thanks!

11) Kim Kardashian

Here's another socialite that has more publicity this year than the previous 11 skanks on this list. I for one is also irritated by this lady as she's basically famous for well, being famous so to speak, what with her famous curves and all!

Apart from launching another line of her own fragrances this year, Kim has been sorting out her relationship part of her life after her infamous 72-day marriage in 2011 by dating one of the worst rappers ever in the form of Kanye "I'm A Big Gangstar But I'm Not" West and on New Year's Eve 2012, Kim announced that her and Kanye are expecting a little nipper sometime in 2013. Good, now she can fade into obscurity and her very hot looking half sister Kendall Jenner can get some more tabloid exposure! That would be just the job!

12) Katie Price

This lady probably deserves the title of Britain's worst every glamour model, notably for the fact that she had the worst pair of fake boobs (now reduced of course) I've ever seen and being photographed wearing extremely slutty outfits with countless amounts of slap, not to mention the awful guys she has dated in the past.

In 2012, Katie was numerously photographed spending time with her toyboy Leandro Penna. Fortunately he found sense and ditched her in October. Really cannot understand what he saw in her. This woman should been consigned to the tabloid scrapheap a long time ago! It's long overdue!

13) Chantelle Houghton

Another pointless celebrity that deserves being on this list. She was infamously plucked from obscurity to appear on the drivel that was Celebrity Big Brother in 2006 and has been famous ever since. 

Unfortunately for Chantelle this year, she was knocked up by the prat by the name of Alex "Cross dresser" Reid, and then broke up with him after he caused criminal damage at their home. Frankly both of them are a waste of publicity space and no doubt both will crawl onto the footnotes of gossip pages for the forseeable future.

14) Jodie Marsh

This woman unanimously deserves the title of Britain's most ludicrous boobs, so much so that it pretty much demotes Katie Price's to 2nd place! Jodie has now developed into one of the most recognisable skanks in the UK with her now infamously recognisable fake boobs and now endless range of tattoos that it sickens the sight every time she (and her tatoos) gets the slightest amount of publicity.

Add to the fact that Jodie is now a bodybuilder, which has increased her skankness rating almost 10-fold and there you have it, one of Britain's ultimate skank ladies! Now that she's settled down with a TOWIE lad, it perfectly illustrates the point of a slab counter in a meat market.

15) Kerry Katona

This one-time cokehead of a popstar has continued to hog the publicity limelight this year, although she does seem to be getting her life back on track after numerous misfortunes and downfalls, most notably the infamous interview on This Morning in 2008 when she was practically wasted beyond all recognition. And of course there were the stories of her taking coke....

With regards to hogging the publicity limelight in 2012, it has mostly centered around Kerry's now well publicised yo-yo dieting and her atrocious fashion sense. Think its time to put away the cakes love and hire a decent stylist. There, that's your New Year's resolution for you! Oh, and not to mention finding a decent guy which as I write this, she seems to have found. Only time will tell...

There we have, the top skanky ladies in 2012. What do you think folks?