UR TV CAST

A great talent, probably lost for good.Bernard Laporte (France, coach)Laporte had to be persuaded to stay on after his side’s limp World Cup semi-final, and while his side completed a Six Nations Grand Slam last spring, he must be wondering once again whether he made the right call. By the time he reached Murrayfield, he was out on his ear.Henry Paul (England, centre)Will we see his like again? Not if the England coaches have anything to do with it. Did not deserve the political hassle he received over his selection to face England, but handled it with dignity and was rewarded with the sight of two black players, Bryan Habana and Solly Tyibilika, making their marks on Test rugby.LosersSchalk Burger (South Africa, flanker)Burger won everything and gained nothing. His top-drawer display against the Springboks was no more than he deserved.Jake White (South Africa, coach)The Springboks did not hit the heights, but White has put the South African game back on track. A Test Lion in 2005? Quite possibly.Graham Rowntree (England, loose-head prop)It is good for the soul to see a one-club hero re-establish himself as an international performer after years of knock-backs and kicks in the teeth.

Rowntree is a diamond of the rugby age – unfailingly approachable, positive and honest as the day is long. WinnersRonan O’Gara (Ireland, outside-half)A choker no more, O’Gara answered the last questions about his big-match temperament by kicking Ireland to valuable victories over a Springbok side chasing a first Grand Slam of the home nations in more than 40 years and an Argentinian side fresh from a convincing win over France. The Twickenham regulars had no right to expect such resourcefulness from an unfamiliar team experimenting with new combinations in virtually every area, but they got it anyway. If the Irish are in a position to secure a Slam come the spring, it will be over Robinson’s dead body. “I think I’ll still be watching the cricket when that’s on,” said the Wallaby coach, Eddie Jones, at the weekend, milking his team’s victory for all it was worth.

“I watch quite enough rugby as it is, and as our Super 12 tournament will be kicking in just then, I’ll be concentrating on the day job,” said the captain, George Gregan, in equally superior tones But the two of them protested far too much. Andy Robinson is clearly the right man in the right job, appointed at precisely the right stage of the red rose cycle – a conclusion drawn not from his team’s unexpectedly ruthless dismantling of the Boks 10 days ago, but from the composure and togetherness they showed in overturning a 15-point deficit against the Wallabies last weekend. They will spend Christmas cogitating on the fact that they are favourites for the Six Nations title.And England? Not bad, not bad at all. If the cutting edge was not quite at its optimum, the blade was at least sharpened. Reliable at the set-piece and equipped with a genuine turn-over specialist in the vulturish shape of the new flanker Jonny O’Connor, they provided plenty of ammunition for Ronan O’Gara, Shane Horgan and Brian O’Driscoll.

They know, as all right-thinking rugby folk know, that a truly competitive European championship is the best annual show in international union, and they are as jealous as hell.Along with the All Blacks, the men of Ireland were the big autumn winners. Their forwards, overrated for some years with the exception of a second row to die for, finally stood firm on the big occasion and choked the life from the Springboks. Given some decent preparation and the rub of the green they would, on current form, stand a realistic chance of making the last four of a World Cup So, too, would Ireland. The dying of the light in the Pacific islands remains heartbreaking, but at the very top end, the union game is expanding rather than contracting.As per usual, the Australians are utterly dismissive of the Six Nations festivities to come. No one need worry about the superpowers of the southern hemisphere, whatever the stage of their season.

They can look after themselves.Argentina, another southern hemisphere side according to the dictates of geography but located somewhere in outer space as far as the isolationists of the Tri-Nations community are concerned, cannot really look after themselves, because they spend 12 months of every year in financial Queer Street Agustin Pichot’s team are quite something, none the less. The Wallabies, as good at winning matches on the road on their bare behinds as they are at dominating all-comers in Brisbane or Sydney, were magnificent at Twickenham on Saturday; the All Blacks lit fires all over the northern hemisphere with a free-running approach that took no account of underfoot conditions; the Springboks had their moments, and might have had a whole lot more had they not been diddled out of a possible victory by some desperate refereeing in Dublin. Many believe that Beckham’s presence in both the World Cup of 2002 and the European Championship this year could not be justified in pure football terms. On both occasions he was demonstrably not properly fit, from injury in the first case and disputed training methods, or maybe a lack of application, in the second.This is something the FA chief executive, Brian Barwick, a career television man, needs to clear up immediately. The moment an England coach is influenced by the paymasters of TV, however much the greedy monster coughs up, is the time the game is over. It is then just another branch of the television industry along with all the other catch-penny junk.. There is no aura quite like the one of invincibility It wrapped Mike Tyson in a fearsome cloak.