A farewell and a new beginning

Rugby, institutionally, does many things badly as well as many well. One of the things it's done really well is say Farewell and Thank You to Bill McLaren. To send off someone called "The Voice of Rugby" with a minute's silence would seem odd at best. A minute, more than a minute actually, of applause and cheers from the crowd and the players to show their appreciation was very moving.

And then we had the rugby. Three hours of it didn't really live up to the hype. Ireland v Italy was turgid and dull. Ireland looked like a side in second gear in the first half, and not even that high in the second half. Italy never got out of first gear by international standards but never looked like they could do more either. It might be a very bad 6N for the azuri but if Ireland play like this again they'll lose their other 4 matches, possibly badly.

England v Wales started where Ireland v Italy left off. That's not entirely fair - Wales defended heroically although you have to wonder how much of that was heroic defence (which Wales under Edwards can certainly deliver) and how much of it was simply dull, predictable England attacking. Some blame must go to the officials too - there's a lovely shot of one Wales line out where there's a gap of about 5cm between the sides rather than the clear 1 metre there's meant to be. Yet the line out was allowed to continue and was disrupted. In another the player had to stretch his arm sideways to take the ball. His outside arm further out to the outside... and this was apparently straight enough to be allowed to continue.

And then there was that moment of madness from Alan Wyn Jones. You could question, given it was so ineffective, if it really deserved a yellow card (although it should really, regardless of that) and for quite a lot of the time it looked like Wales blocked out the worst of it and would go in only 6-3 down. Then a sneak off the side of another breakdown and a try... and one from another quick break just after half time. 17 points rather than 3 due to the sin bin and Wales were always in trouble. However, this seemed to inspire them and if Stephen Jones' pass had gone to a red-shirted hand rather than being intercepted it could actually have been a win for Wales. It made for a good end to the first Saturday and a hope of better things to come.