England win Rugby World Cup

BBC SPORT | Rugby Union | Rugby World Cup | England win Rugby World Cup

I wasn't going to mention this since I didn't actually watch the game, but you have to admire England's effort. In a moderately hostile country, they took the best the hosts had to throw at them and beat them. Only just mind - but win they did. Great effort.

Franchitti to stay with IRL

BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Franchitti to stay with IRL

I remember not all that long ago thinking about the lack of young British drivers moving through the international ranks.

And what do you know but I was only looking in the wrong direction. Justin Wilson was easy to spot in F3000 showing Mark Webber the way around Europe's tracks, but the guys in oval racing were the ones to watch all along.

Sure Dario Franchitti didn't have the best of years, but even in the handful of races he drove last year he still looked quick. Darren Manning was just about the fastest Reynard runner in CART. Dan Wheldon was more or less the most consistent IRL runner by the end of the season and Mark Taylor was quietly winning the IPS series in the States.

So, next year we got 4 British guys in the series and I reckon pretty much all of them have got serious shots at winning races. You gonna be watching too???

Richard Burns

BBC SPORT | Motorsport | World Rally | Burns diagnosed with brain tumour
Richard Burns' official site

I wrote about Richard last week and it makes me feel no better now writing about him again. Whilst his outlook is that he expects to make a full recovery from his brain tumour, you just have to feel sad for the guy. But for now we just have to walk on and let him go and do whatever he needs to get his health back on track and look forward to seeing him back in some car as soon as poss.

Formula One: McLaren grab Montoya

BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Formula One | McLaren grab Montoya

Hohohohoo.....once again Frank Williams misses the big deal. Sure - it's no suprise to anyone but it is sad that a team like Williams can't (or won't) hold on to who may well be the next big star in F1. And it will probably rather ruin Williams chances of winning very much at all next year. I don't buy Ralf Schumacher as being a top line driver i'm afraid, in much the same way as Eddie Irvine could never really carry it off. They're both quick but they're not champions.

And there's no way that Frank W will support JPM in any way now he's off to join Ron. Add to that the fact that Coulthard will presumably have yet another year of poor qualifying and missed opportunities and I guess it all adds up to either a Michael Schumacher benefit year or maybe the year Raikkonen makes a year long challenge for wins, rather than just picking up what Michael drops. Let's hope so - this year was great and a return to Ferrari dominance can only be a bad thing.

Football's poor 'becoming poorer'

BBC SPORT | Football | Football poor 'becoming poorer'

There's really nothing cheerful to report today so I'll just moan a lot more. The Football League chairman was going on about how the Premier League is sooo much richer than the FL.

Two points here...first of all...NO KIDDING BRIAN. Isn't life kind of like that. The best get the most and the rest have to fight over the scraps. Sorry guys, but show me another country in the world that has a sport that tries to support nearly 100 Full time professional clubs. When you come back to the real world, let me know.

And one more thing....now we got Brian Mawhinney in charge of the Football League and Adam Crozier is in charge of the Royal Mail. Leaders of industry somehow becoming leaders of football and vice versa. If that's not a sign of the profit-orientation in the sport these days I don't know what is. That's progress for you.....

Jessica Lynch interviewed

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | 'I'm no hero,' says Jessica Lynch

We know love.....you were just doing your job. Now go home and be quiet.

World Rally | Rally GB future in doubt

BBC SPORT | Motorsport | World Rally | Rally GB future in doubt

The story here is not the nonsense going on between the FIA and the South Wales constabulary. (Who cares?? They're both doing their jobs)

No - here the comedy value is gained by the very last paragraph in the story. Next year, the British rally is moving to September in a bid to avoid harsh weather.

Well excuse me, there was me thinking rallying might be a contest between drivers and cars around largely unfamiliar roads and unfamiliar terrain....but what do you know the weather is unpredictable - well bugger me....i'd never have guessed.

Remember this is the same governing body that thought it clever to put a F1 race in Britain on the Easter weekend, and were no doubt shocked to find it pouring down all weekend. Clever bunch they are in Paris....

Sir Bobby at his best

A wonderful quote from the legend that is Sir Bobby Robson. Here the old bloke is talking about a discussion with grumpy midfielder Laurent Robert

"Robert said I was picking the wrong team. At the time I was - because he was in it"

The man is pure class..........

BBC SPORT | Football | FA Cup | Thurrock 1-1 Luton

BBC SPORT | Football | FA Cup | Thurrock 1-1 Luton

If you love football (the real kind - not that oval ball thing) then you just have to love the FA Cup. Where else can you get the sheer hilarity of professional (allegedly!) footballers being humbled by the giants of world football. Unfortunately the giants of world football were busy today so Luton had to put up with being cut to size by Thurrock. Now while I go and find where that is - you go make a cup of tea or something......

World Rally: Subaru could target McRae

BBC SPORT | Motorsport | World Rally | Subaru could target McRae

If anyone ever needed reminding how harsh professional sport can be then this must be it. The poor guy blacks out at the start of the week and before the end of it some people are writing him off. I mean guys - be fair to the man - let Burns recover or at least find out what the problem is before picking over his drive.

In fairness, you have to respect the comments in this report of Colin McRae - he might be the man who could benefit but quite rightly he doesn't see it as anything to be happy about.

MotoGP merry go round

Some of the minor slots in Moto GP seem to be sorting themselves out. Rossi has finally announced that he's moving on, but won't tell us where to. Colin Edwards is leaving Aprilia, which is an interesting decision, since I didn't think he had that bad a season. Team-mate Nori Haga is also moving on. The good news is that Neil Hodgson is indeed coming to MGP with a semi-works Ducati and the suprise is that Shaky Byrne is coming to taking Edwards' ride. I can't remember the last time there were 3 Brits in the top clase. You'd probably have to be going back to the years of Haslam, McKenzie and McElnea. Should be great to watch.