Martin Crowson's five things: A shame if London Welsh go down like that
Martin Crowson looks back at five key points from the weekend's rugby action.
1 I am sure that fans of Sale and London Irish (and Newcastle, for that matter) would disagree with me, but it would be a shame if London Welsh got docked points at today's disciplinary hearing for playing the apparently ineligible Kiwi scrum-half Tyson Keats in nine games. Losing points would make them huge favourites for relegation and, for such a brave campaign fought against the odds, to fail as a result of an administrative cock-up would be a bitter blow for coach Lyn Jones and his players.
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There is talk of Tigers' centre Manu Tuilagi's possible switch to the England wing
2 I am sure I am not the only one to have been surprised at the ease that Leicester Tigers tore bottom club Sale to pieces on Saturday. Tigers were clinical for the final hour and played some nice rugby, but a Sale side desperate for points left play-maker Danny Cipriani on the bench and had little ideas in attack.
3 Another day, another Premiership club official accuses 'certain' rival clubs of breaking the salary cap. Saints chairman Leon Barwell has claimed "at least two clubs" were cheating the salary cap "big-time" this season with squad sizes of 51 and 54. Barwell refused to name names but the attacks on the £4.2million salary cap continue – and there is usually no smoke without fire. The Premiership needs to be careful before the negative publicity hurts them.
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4 Tigers flanker Tom Croft told reporters on Saturday that talk of him making this summer's British & Irish Lions tour to Australia was a case of people "getting ahead of themselves". But I think he will make it. Nobody has Croft's unique ability of being so good in the loose, the line-out and over the ball. He will be fresh and eager after missing most of the season and, on Australia's hard pitches, he can run like the wind. Over to you, Warren.
5 I find talk of Tigers' centre Manu Tuilagi's possible switch to the England wing all a bit daft. Yes, Chris Ashton is out of form but the Premiership is littered with a host of in-form wingers, so Stuart Lancaster is not short of options. Worse than that though, Tuilagi is one of the top three outside-centres in world rugby at the age of 21. Why on earth would anyone want to move a player of that ability in a certain position to somewhere he will almost certainly have less influence on a game? It just doesn't make sense.
Comments
by crombieman
Wednesday, March 06 2013, 9:07PM
“2 things Martin......
1.yes, it would be a shame if Welsh were relegated due to an admin error, they certainly put up more fight than Sale who looked like a side who thought they were safe - do they know something we can only guess at? But how would Tigers fans feel if we missed out on Europe even tho' the side above us had played an ineligible player??
2. i thought i read it was Lancaster who mentioned the possibility of playing Tuilagi on the wing?”