Rugby: Gatland issues world cup warning

Head coach Warren Gatland has warned Wales players plying their trade in England they face missing out on a World Cup spot due to Premier Rugby's "ridiculous" decision not to release them until August 4, the latest date allowed, next year.

"The major concern is we have had a letter from Premier Rugby saying players in England will not be released until August 4," said Gatland.

"That is completely ridiculous to say the players will finish in May but not be available for national squads until August, two days before we play England in our first warm-up game.

"It's going to limit players playing in England being available in terms of preparation or being available for the squad.

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"Picking this squad we have looked at this campaign and the Six Nations, and if a player playing across the bridge is unavailable until August 4 it is highly unlikely they will be considered for the World Cup squad."

Ryan Jones, who was Gatland's choice as captain when he took over in 2007, has only started one game so far this season after recovering from a leg injury he sustained during the second Test of the summer tour to New Zealand, and there have been question marks about his form over the course of the last two seasons.

"I think our concern about Ryan Jones has been the amount of matches he has had," Gatland said. "I watched him for the Ospreys on Friday night and he was outstanding, but he needs a couple more games and when we announce the squad for Australia we'll announce the captain.

"I don't see any reason why we need to move away from someone like Ryan as he has done a good job. But he needs another game and to keep working hard in that first couple of weeks.

"If we didn't pick him for the first game because he may be a bit underdone there are plenty of guys that can step up and do a job if, for example, Ryan was on the bench.

"We have been happy with Ryan, he looks sharp and lean. We would like to see him playing in the back row a little bit more than he has but we will make that call before we face Australia."

"It was a tough decision because of my family, I have teenage kids in New Zealand so that was the big pulling factor about going back to New Zealand. But having spoken to them and having looked at the potential of this squad, and how I have been accepted by the people of Wales has been fantastic.

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Two-week ban for Martyn Williams is relief for Cardiff Blues and Wales

Wales coach Warren Gatland last night breathed a sigh of relief after Martyn Williams only copped a two-week ban for foul play.

It means the star flanker will be available for the big kick-off of Wales’ autumn campaign, against Tri-Nations runners-up Australia at the Millennium Stadium on November 6.

He accepted his wrongdoing but claimed his rash action had not warranted a red card – Paterson had been sin-binned for not releasing the ball.

But officials appointed by European Rugby Cup, the organisers of the Heineken Cup, took into account his good disciplinary record after deciding the offence was at the low entry point in its severity.

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They decided on the recommended three-week suspension but knocked a week off because of his previous good record. He was ordered to pay the costs of the hearing.

The 35-year-old has only been sent off once during a long and glittering career, which has seen him pocket two Six Nations Grand Slam titles with Wales and an Amlin Challenge Cup winners’ medal with the Blues.

Last season the Pontypridd product was presented with a fair play award by ERC after being selected as the fairest and most sportsmanlike player in the 15 years of European Cup rugby.

He is free to play from October 27, making him available for the Millennium Stadium opener against the Wallabies. The ban rules him out of Blues’ Heineken Cup Pool One encounter with Castres in the south-west of France tomorrow night and next week’s Magners League derby with the Scarlets.

Scarlets’ utility forward Jonny Fa’amatuainu also appeared in front of disciplinary chiefs in Dublin, receiving a three-game ban for a dangerous tackle during their 43-34 home victory over Perpignan.

Former Scarlet lock Jamie Cudmore received 10 weeks for stamping during French champions’ Clermont Auvergne’s Heineken triumph over English club Saracens.

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France is one of the strongest rugby nations in Europe and is currently the highest ranked. Rugby was introduced to France in 1872 by the British, and on New Year's Day 1906 the national side played its first Test match against New Zealand in Paris.

France played sporadically against the Home Nations until they joined them to form a Five Nations tournament in 1910. France also competed in the rugby competitions at early Summer Olympics, winning the gold medal in 1900 and two silver medals in the 1920s. France came of age during the 1950s and 1960s, and won their first Five Nations title outright in 1959. They won their first Grand Slam in 1968.

Wales national rugby union team represents Wales in international rugby union tournaments.Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with 25 wins. Wales most recent championship win came in 2008. The International Rugby Board (IRB) regards Wales as a Tier One rugby nation, and ranks them eighth in the world as of 1 February 2010.

Wales play in red jerseys embroidered with the Prince of Wales's feathers. Their current home ground is the Millennium Stadium, completed in 1999 to replace the National Stadium at Cardiff Arms Park. Ten former Welsh players have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, and two of the ten have been inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame.

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Rugby: Gatland waiting to be offered new Wales coaching contract

Warren Gatland last night said he has received no new contract offer to continue as Wales coach while revealing he is wanted by two other teams.

Gatland acknowledged he had been in talks with WRU group chief executive Roger Lewis but insisted he hadn’t received any concrete proposals.

“I have had criticism about my contract but it’s hard to make a decision when I have not got anything concrete in front of me. I can’t make a decision if I haven’t a contract in front of me. People have been telling me to make up my mind and asking me why I am stalling, but no-one has spoken about it before.”

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It is understood Super Rugby franchise Chiefs Gatland is from Hamilton where they play most of their home fixtures want him to succeed Ian Foster as their coach for the 2012 tournament. The Kiwi also has another offer on the table.

If Gatland wants to become coach of New Zealand he has to join Super Rugby as All Blacks’ regulations stipulate the successful candidate must be working in the southern hemisphere.

But he maintains he would like to continue at the Wales helm and take the team onto the 2015 World Cup in England.

“I think Wales is in a good state at the moment in terms of the participation agreement that is in place,” Gatland said recently.

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The shock twist over Gatland’s future came just three weeks after the former Ireland, London Wasps and Waikato boss revealed he had been talking to the WRU over a new deal.

“I have been talking to Roger Lewis and it is a case now of weighing up whether to stay or to make a personal, family decision to go back to New Zealand,” he said.

“As well as talking to Wales, I’ve had an approach from New Zealand about a position back there, so I am weighing up now whether to stay on or go back.”

Last month Lewis was adamant Gatland continues to be the right choice for Wales. But he acknowledged: “It’s not about performing, it’s about winning.”

Nevertheless, Lewis was adamant: “I think Warren Gatland is right for Wales. I have always believed that.

“We have not got to the position yet of asking Warren yes or no. This is a very complex decision based not only on the way we are developing professionally, but all of the personal circumstances involved as well.

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Can anyone stop France's charge towards a Grand Slam?

Be afraid, be very afraid. French rugby is stirring and a giant awakes.

It was all very well for France's reinvigorated rugby team to hammer and humiliate the reigning Grand Slam champions Ireland, in Paris on Saturday. But to receive laudatory comments from that notoriously dissatisfied body of opinion known as the French media was another thing altogether.

Thus, we can imagine that French coach Marc Lièvremont (below) probably needed to sit down in a darkened room once he had digested the words of France's great newspapers following his team's 33-10 victory at Stade de France.

"Combat Kings" L'Equipe hailed them. The magisterial Le Monde opined that: "France replied in masterly fashion to the question of what level they are at."

And the rugby bible, Midi Olympique, added: "It was their aggression and breakdown work which were the most impressive aspects of the French performance."

As the Irish captain, Brian O'Driscoll, rightly pointed out: "It was an impressive display, not just from their forwards but an all-round performance."

Since 2004, when they last won a Grand Slam, France's national team has atrophied, stymied by the kind of straitjacket tactics that are currently bedevilling the England team. This has suited the national psyche and characteristics of the French about as well as a glove on a three-fingered man. They have looked ill at ease, out of sync.

But at Stade de France, we saw a different France. For a start, there was a cohesion and balance which had not been apparent before. Forward power is a mighty weapon if it is accompanied by pace, a requisite of the modern game, and a willingness by the pack to set up the backs. Crucially, France appear to have discovered for the first time in years a half-back combination of considerable potential.

Morgan Parra and François Trinh-Duc have brought a quality that has had an ageless appeal to French teams, namely, invention. They can vary their games, which is another crucial facet in modern rugby. This is another of the root causes of England's failings. More propitiously, Parra's goal-kicking was so effective against Ireland, even from long range.

Outside them, Mathieu Bastareaud, a centre who weighs an extraordinary 114kg, could be one of the biggest stars of the next World Cup.

But to counterbalance that, France have beaten the All Blacks and world champions South Africa in the course of the last eight months. Clearly, something is stirring in French rugby and the timing could hardly be better with a World Cup looming next year.

Nor has this transformation been achieved in a nonsensical, cavalier fashion. As the Australian Ewen McKenzie, a former coach of Paris-based club Stade Français and now in charge of the Queensland Reds, says: "Lièvremont has brought a lot of younger players to the fore but he had the skeleton there all the time. He has still got some hard heads – Nallet, Harinordoquy, Pape, Servat, Mas, Jauzion and Poitrenaud – through the key positions of the team.

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Six Nations 2010: France's Mathieu Bastareaud goes up against Brian O'Driscoll

At Murrayfield he confronted his demons and scored two tries, and now in Paris Mathieu Bastareaud will face the world's best centre – Brian O'Driscoll.

It will be a pivotal clash in probably the key game of the 2010 Six Nations. Bastareaud is beginning to make the headlines for the right reasons again, for which he and France are grateful.

That brace of tries against Scotland has got the French rugby public back onside – there were many who felt his recall was premature after the disgrace he brought on Les Bleus by his false accusations of an assault by a street gang in New Zealand. A command performance against the Irish would surely see all sins forgiven.

It should be a personal clash to savour at the Stade de France, the ground where 10 years ago a young O'Driscoll – 21, as Bastareaud is now – announced himself to the rugby world at large with a match-winning hat-trick of tries against for Ireland against the French.

O'Driscoll has reigned supreme for a decade since then, but you fancy Bastareaud is a worthy opponent and an individual capable of being the benchmark midfield player in the Six Nations well into this next decade. A changing of the guard possibly? O'Driscoll will resist, like all great

"Mark is a very young man and his actions in New Zealand were those of an immature young man not used to the responsibilities of representing his country abroad," France coach Marc Lièvremont said. "It was a difficult personal time for him and he paid a high price but now he has been reintegrated into the squad. He has been rehabilitated and we start again.

"Mathieu is a wiser man. He has apologised to everybody who needed apologising to many times over. He cannot apologise any more, the incident is over. He can only play good rugby and conduct himself in the appropriate fashion. His abilities have always been evident and now he is a hungry man with points to prove, which is always good in a player."

A cousin of the France and Arsenal centre-back, William Gallas, Bastareaud burst on to the scene at the 2007 Under-19 World Cup in Belfast and was always going to be fast-tracked into the senior team. A product of Créteil rugby club and humble SU Massy of the French third division, Bastareaud was eventually signed by Stade Français.

Built like a dump truck and weighing 17st 7lb with power to add, Bastareaud can claim to be the heaviest centre playing Test rugby. He has, however, surprising pace, which sometimes catches out opponents steeling themselves to tackle a straightforward battering ram, and he also possesses a better than average pair of hands, which gives him other options.

"We are going to polish up our report to Paddy O'Brien [head of the International Rugby Board's referee commission]. Refereeing is a factor of the game we can't control but we'll still try to solve the problem."

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RUGBY: Kidney gears up for Six Nations test

IRELAND coach, Declan Kidney, said having a competitive squad would be key to following on last year's success in the Six Nations Championships.

There was no talk, however, of Grand Slams, with Kidney preferring to focus only on the visit of Italy to Croke Park on Saturday and the opening game in a new campaign.

Kidney was basically saying the slate was clean again and the side had to build once more towards achieving what they did last year.

The Irish management made a few tough calls on Tuesday when announcing the team to start against Italy.

But Kidney said competitiveness in the squad would breed success.

"Having players all bidding for the same places is what you want.

"It is crucial and if you do not have it, then the team, the squad, do not grow."

He added: "Last year we tried to put ourselves in a position where there would have to be calls to be made when selecting the teams.

"You look at the players and see how they are going. You just have to be honest and make the calls on form, which players are going better.

"Some of the decisions are so marginal it is almost inexplicable, others are based around combinations and also the opposition we face."

Andrew Trimble was one of several close calls made by Kidney, but he said the Ulster winger had come through well after a difficult spell with injury.

"In Andrew's case, he had an injury situation where it was do you get it sorted, or do you play?

"Ulster, Andrew and ourselves decided the right option was not to take him on the summer tour to North America.

"He got what he needed done, had a big pre-season and when he started playing in September he showed great form. He has continued to do that on a consistent basis.

"Andrew was probably unlucky in November not to get a game, but Shane (Horgan) deserved his outing on that occasion.

"This time around he (Horgan) loses out and Andrew gets his chance."

Last year, Ulster skipper and hooker, Rory Best played a big part in the Grand Slam and he also captained the Ireland side which toured North America.

But he has not played since following a neck injury which required surgery. Remarkably, Best has returned to playing earlier than expected and with him fit and ready to go, Kidney had no problem naming him on the bench.

"It is a credit to Rory. It was a major injury, but the way he has got himself back and fit again. Indeed I think he is probably fitter than he has been for some time.

"I think the importance of the club system to us as well was reflected in that he was able to play for Banbridge just two weeks ago and then get an outing against Saxons last Sunday.

"The fact that he has presented himself as being fit and ready to go is a credit to himself as much as anyone else.

"He was a senior player for us last year and we are going to need all that experience coming into the game."

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