The end of a momentous year for London Welsh

The year has ended with a loss for this blog’s favourite team (aside from Team GB and ParalympicsGB), as London Welsh were beaten by Wasps 15-34 at the Kassam Stadium, Oxford.

The Exiles end the year on 20 points after 12 of their 22 games, thanks to four wins. Since the introduction of bonus points, no team has ever been relegated from the Premiership with more points than Harlequins accrued in 2004-05 (38), which came from their record of six wins, a draw and 15 losses.

Widely expected to make an instant return to the Championship, Welsh have battled superbly to earn 10th place, ahead of London Irish (12 points) and Sale (11). And it could have been even better, with the hosts leading Wasps 12-6 at the interval this afternoon in front of a record home crowd of more than 10,000.

Thanks to all who made this afternoon’s crowd a record London Welsh attendance of 10,045! You are part of history. #comeonthewelsh

— London Welsh RFC (@LondonWelshRFC) December 29, 2012

Lyn Jones’s side has not exactly set the league on fire with its attacking flair, averaging fewer than 17 points a game.

But their defence has been mean, and they have showed real strength of character to bounce back from heavy defeats at the beginning of the season.

And with Sale, despite their win yesterday, seemingly going into meltdown, there should still be plenty of optimism at Old Deer Park despite today’s defeat.

BBC Sports Personality of the Year: vote David Weir

The importance, or otherwise, of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, is up for debate, particularly in a year of almost unprecedented British sporting success.

But I might as well make my pick. I think Alastair Cook is unlucky to miss out on a place in the shortlist of 12, although his big achievement was after the shortlist was announced. Having said that, though, I would have to choose an Olympian or Paralympian, which rules out Rory McIlroy.

Mo Farah and Jess Ennis have rightly been lauded for their remarkable success in August, but I am more inclined to someone who hasn’t been in the media spotlight all year anyway. For that somewhat illogical reason, two of the favourites, Bradley Wiggins and Andy Murray, are also ruled out of getting my vote.

I would hate to belittle the incredible success of Sir Chris Hoy, Ellie Simmonds and Ben Ainslie, but they have already had so much success their golds this time almost feel like par for the course. Nicola Adams is a real personality, true, but I don’t reckon she deserves the nod above the rest of the competition.

So my top three would be:

• 3rd: Katherine Grainger – a stalwart of British rowing for years, and one who had got so close before but never quite managed Olympic gold. This year she finally changed that.
• 2nd: Sarah Storey – a five-time Paralympic swimming gold medallist, she added four more cycling golds to her two from Beijing in London. She cantered to victory in all of her races over the various distances, making all of her events look almost embarrassingly easy
• 1st: David Weir – not just because he was the only one of the 12 I saw win over the summer, for two of his four gold medals in four events, in distances ranging from 800m to the marathon. He won the marathon despite confessing to feeling exhausted early on and visibly fading during the first lap or two. And most of all, perhaps Weir was the single athlete who allowed the British public to get as engaged with the Paralympics as much as they did with the Olympics (people were talking about him on the Tube in the same way they were Farah and Ennis).

World Athletics Championships 2013 – eight months to go

It is eight months until Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium hosts its first major international athletics meeting since the 1980 Olympic Games

The 2013 IAAF World Athletics Championships begin on Saturday, August 10, and conclude eight days later.

It will be the first opportunity to see many of the 2012 Olympic stars competing against each other again since they went head-to-head in London.

Russia won seven gold medals in athletics at the 2012 Olympics (five women and two men) and they will be hoping to repeat that success in front of a boisterous home crowd.

Rugby World Cup needs to embrace its roots

Not having blogged for a couple of months, I’m a bit late to this story. But the last week has really solidified my opposition to the shortlist of stadiums drawn up by Rugby World Cup 2015 organisers.

Only three rugby-first stadiums are on the list for the first RWC to be hosted by England since 1991: Twickenham, Kingsholm (Gloucester) and the Millennium Stadium.

This rugby ground will not be hosting the Rugby World Cup

In the last seven days I have been fortunate enough to go to Heineken Cup matches at Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton, and Welford Road, Leicester. Both, and particularly the latter, were pretty miffed at having not made the shortlist of 17 (from which 12 will be chosen in the new year).

This football ground (Stadium MK) could host the Rugby World Cup

This rugby ground (Franklin’s Gardens) will not be hosting the Rugby World Cup