My highlights of 2013

Judging by my 2013 ticket collection (below), I possibly wasted a bit too much time watching sport this year. Anyway, I thought I might as well pick out a couple of highlights and try to relive the glory… In chronological order:

January 20: Leicester 9-5 Toulouse, Heineken Cup

Because who doesn’t love watching sport in the snow?

Tigers officials clear snow from the Welford Road pitch

February 9: France 6-16 Wales, Six Nations

A terrible game, but it got Wales’s victorious Six Nations campaign off and running.

France 6-16 Wales, Stade de France

March 16: Wales 30-3 England, Six Nations

Goes without saying. What a performance!

Wales lift the Six Nations trophy after successfully defending their title

June 22: Royal Ascot

My first time at the races, and all three of us who went finished up. Nice.

Royal Ascot 2013

August 16: Mo Farah wins the 5,000m, World Athletics Championships, Moscow

A stunning “double double” for Mo. Made all the sweeter by the disappointment of a Frenchman sitting behind us who had spent the whole race telling us how badly Farah had misjudged the race.

Mo Farah wins his second gold of the 2013 World Athletics Championships in Moscow

September 29: Pittsburgh Steelers 27-34 Minnesota Vikings, NFL, Wembley

One of the best NFL International Series matches there’s been.

Wembley for Steelers @ Vikings

October 5: Cardiff City 1-2 Newcastle United, Premier League

Exciting game – my first football match for ages – and great seats. Thanks Chris!

Newcastle win at Cardiff City Stadium

December 28: Ebbw Vale 45-0 RGC 1404, Championship

Sport-wise, where it all started for me. Good to finish the year watching the Steelmen dominate yet again.

Ebbw Vale v RGC 1404

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Some others:

London Welsh v Sale

Harlequins v Munster

Euroleague basketball, O2 Arena

Leicester Tigers v Harlequins

Northampton v Leicester

Cardiff Blues v Edinburgh

Northampton v Ospreys

 

…and here are those tickets. I love sport.

My collection of tickets from 2013 sports events

Let’s hope for more quality European rugby weekends

I went to a couple of Heineken Cup games last weekend – Saracens v Toulouse at Wembley and Northampton v Ospreys at Franklin’s Gardens.

The Wembley game, which Saracens somehow conspired to lose in front of 61,000 fans, was exciting – even if the rugby wasn’t always of the highest quality. Saints’ 27-16 win was more one-sided than the scoreline suggested.

Northampton Saints v Ospreys at Franklin’s Gardens

It was a decent weekend for the other Welsh sides: the Scarlets followed last weekend’s epic victory at Harlequins with a 26-26 draw against Racing Metro.

And the Blues got the result of the weekend, turning over defending champions Toulon 19-15 at Cardiff Arms Park thanks to a last-gasp try.

This week, European Rugby Cup talks aimed at ensuring such excitement continues in future seasons took place in Dublin.

Franklin’s Gardens

There isn’t a whole lot of optimism that they will be successful. French and English clubs were this week joined by the Welsh regions in supporting a breakaway league which they have demanded is set up to try to end what they see as the skew in favour of Celtic and Italian clubs.

Saracens v Tolouse at Wembley Stadium

The English and French say – with some justification, admittedly – it is unfair only half their top-flight clubs can earn a Heineken Cup berth, while both Italian and Scottish clubs are guaranteed a place each season, along with seven of the eight Irish and Welsh provinces/regions. There are also disputes over the divvying up of Heineken Cup television revenue.

The problem lies in that the Pro12 as a league is over-represented compared to the Premiership and Top 14, while the individual Celtic nations – obviously much smaller countries in any case – would be swamped if they weren’t given a leg up into the competition. Scottish rugby pundits fear a tournament in which they didn’t have two representatives would have dire consequences for club rugby north of the border.

That said, the ERC talks this week appear to have resolved, broadly, to accepting the proposed English and French model. Whether that is enough to end the game of brkinkmanship, or whether it will lead to the demand for further concessions, remains to be seen.

For the club rugby fan, there is nothing quite like a Heineken Cup weekend. A solution needs to be found, and quickly.

P.S. I was very impressed with Dan Biggar…

Jonny Wilkinson for the Lions number 10 jersey

The Heineken Cup rolled back into town last weekend, bringing all the thrills and spills of the Six Nations with it.

I’m being cynical, but after a Six Nations marked by a dearth of tries, Sunday’s Heineken Cup quarter finals comprised a whopping 21 penalty goals, one drop goal and no tries.

The Stoop before kick off

I was at Harlequins’ 18-12 defeat to Munster at the Stoop, and although all the points came from the boots of Nick Evans and Ronan O’Gara, it was an entertaining, nervous game. The Irish province deserved their win after blitzing the hosts at the start of the second half, and Quins were far too predictable and one-dimensional ever to threaten the Munster tryline.

Sitting among the massed ranks of boisterous, delirious, flag-waving Munster fans was annoying for an adopted Quins supporter, although I did at least manage to have some fun winding them up when O’Gara missed a couple of straightforward goal kicks in the first half.

I can’t claim ever to have been O’Gara’s biggest fan, and not just because of his antics in the deciding Lions test in South Africa four years ago. After an impressive Irish career, his time is all but up, his abysmal decision-making in the Six Nations against Scotland proof enough of that.

The same cannot be said for Jonny Wilkinson, who demonstrated in the final quarter-final of the weekend his class – in all definitions of the word – remains very much integral to his play on the field and personality off it. He kicked all of Toulon’s points in their 21-15 win over the Leicester Tigers, including a late, wrong-footed drop goal, and his all-round play was equally good.

In typically modest style, he then said youngsters like Owen Farrell should be selected to tour Australia by Warren Gatland.

But why? Wilkinson simply has to be on the trip Down Under, and – though Jonny Sexton partisans may argue – Wilkinson deserves the chance to repeat his 2003 success.

Leicester Tigers 9-5 Toulouse

Now the risk of hypothermia has passed, I can fully appreciate what an epic of a match it was. Not a try-fest, not filled with thrills, spills and skills, but an intriguing, old-fashioned encounter.

Tigers officials clear snow from the Welford Road pitch before Leicester’s 9-5 Heineken Cup pool 2 win over Toulouse on Sunday, January 20, 2013

You couldn’t ask for any more: a clash between two of club rugby’s biggest names – the two sides have won the Heineken Cup six times between them (out of 18) – with a place in the quarter-finals at stake. A game which was in the balance until the very last play. A sell-out crowd at Welford Road.

And more than a dusting of snow, which meant the game was littered with mistakes.

In all honesty, Toulouse, who scored the game’s only try through Yoann Huget, should have won. They would have done so easily if Lionel Beauxis and Luke McAllister hadn’t conspired to miss all five of their side’s efforts at goal. By contrast, Toby Flood converted three of his four place kicks.

But Leicester’s defensive effort meant there could be no complaints at the home win, which was met with delirium at the final whistle – although that might have been mainly because it meant the crowd could, at last, find shelter from the snow.