In short it is not an ideal venue to visit when you need to return home not only with your body
by admin
In short, it is not an ideal venue to visit when you need to return home not only with your body in piece, but with two points in the bag. If revenge is a form of wild justice, as one eminent British philosopher believed, a French rugby ground is as good a place as any to watch it being meted out; especially a ground like the Stade Jean Bouin, ominously situated in the shadow of the old Parc des Princes and about as welcoming as a dark alley in the Bronx. The final pool games are next weekend, and then the whole thing shuts down until April. It makes no sense to me."But Pienaar will make the best of it He always does. The legs may be weakening, but the mind and spirit are still operating at peak efficiency.As his competitive career teeters on the edge of the past tense, he will fight like a lion to make the very most of his immediate future..
If revenge is a form of wild justice, as one eminent British philosopher believed, a French rugby ground is as good a place as any to watch it being meted out; especially a ground like the Stade Jean Bouin, ominously situated in the shadow of the old Parc des Princes and about as welcoming as a dark alley in the Bronx. And anyway, why stagger the tournament in this way? Instead of blocking the whole thing off and allowing it to reach a crescendo, we keep stopping and starting and losing the momentum that makes the best competitions what they are. "I don't know of another situation like this anywhere else in world rugby, but you have to shut up, knuckle down and play the fixtures in front of you for better or worse."There has to be a more sensible way of structuring the season, though Take the Heineken Cup as an example. It's a quality tournament, but its pretty loaded against the sides who have other competitive commitments. Munster will have rested up for this game against us, while we've had three hard Premiership and cup matches to contend with.
The injuries to Kyran Bracken, Roberto Grau and Dan Luger have prevented us putting out our top side at any point this season. But the players who are fit are picking up experience with every game and some of the younger guys, like David Flatman in the front row, have come on tremendously."The true test of that progress begins this afternoon and ends in three weeks' time, when Saracens take on a rampant Northampton in the fifth round of the Tetley's Bitter Cup. In between, there is a final Heineken Cup qualifier with Colomiers, plus highly significant Premiership games against Leicester and Gloucester. "Basically, our season will be decided over the course of five games in three competitions in the space of 21 days half way through the campaign," said Pienaar, almost audibly shaking his head in exasperation.
