Formed 2004 ... Herts 7s U14 Runners-up 2005 ... North Herts U14 team, Herts Youth Games 2005 runners-up (coached by Letchworth)... Herts Superteams U14 Runners-up 2005 ... Herts SuperTeams "Fairplay" winners 2006 ... Rochford 10s U17 Champions 2006 ... East Midlands 10s U17 Runners-up 2007 ... East Midlands 10s U17 "Fairplay" winners 2007 ... National 10s U17 5th place and "Fairplay" winners 2007 ... Herts 7s U17 Plate runners-up 2007 ... National 7s U17 Plate winners 2007 ... RFU "President's XV" Award winners 2007 ... Herts Superteams winners 2007 ... Midlands 10s U18 Runners-up 2008 ... National 10s U18 4th place 2008 ... North Herts U11 team, Herts Youth Games 2008 runners-up (coached by Letchworth girls) ... London and SE 7s U18 Plate runners-up 2008 ... Herts 7s U18s runners-up 2008 ... National 7s U18s quarter-finalists 2008 ... Gloucester City 10s U18 Bowl runner-up (6th) 2009 ... Worthing 10s U18 Plate runner-up 2009 ... National 7s U18 Plate winners 2009... Worthing 10s U15 Plate winners 2010... Worthing 10s U18 Shield winners 2010... Herts 7s U15 and U18 Bowl runners-up 2010... National 7s U18 Plate runners-up 2010...

Sunday, May 01, 2011

England A: Does Mike not talk to his team?

Are the England A management and team over in Spain not on speaking terms?

I just ask as, talking about his next opponents, Mike is quoted today as saying that Netherlands "are very much an unknown quantity for us".

Now, leaving aside the fact that The Netherlands is not exactly that far away, have been playing international rugby for longer than anyone else (including five years longer than England), and that finding out about Dutch women's rugby is really very, very easy (there was a pretty good article on Dutch rugby on ScrumQueens a couple of weeks ago) there is one overwhelming reason why Mike should have very good intelligence about his next opponents.

Only two weeks ago, as a warm-up for this tournament, Netherlands played against the British Army. And who plays for the British Army? Why, none other than England A flanker Jane Leonard.

Do the England management team do no research on their opponents at all? More seriously, has Mike fallen out with his team? Or maybe is Jane so miffed about only starting the game on the bench that she no longer on speaking terms with him? Perhaps we should be told...

[In fairness it is possible that Mike never said anything of the sort and the entire quote was made up by someone in the press office at Twickenham - after all, most quotes in most press notices are. Even so they should have known better too.]

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