It just goes to show that first impressions can be misleading Whoever replaces him Bumble will be a tough act to follow

It just goes to show that first impressions can be misleading Whoever replaces him, Bumble will be a tough act to follow.. But you could take that from him because he was so supportive And at a second meeting he listened to my point of view. There was a proper effort to encourage rapport, which can sometimes be difficult with England squads. That had never happened before.The atmosphere in the dressing-room struck me immediately as different, too. He struck twice in as many minutes to fudge any thoughts of a Vale revival and show the on-looking Wales team manager, David Pickering, that he still has something to offer.It may not have been a vintage display by Swansea, but they have all the qualities and personnel needed to win the Cup again this season.Swansea: D Weatherley; R Rees, M Taylor, S Gibbs (capt) (C Van Rensburg, 74), M Robinson; A Thomas (L Davies, 76), R Jones; D Morris, G Jenkins (C Wells, 76), B Evans (C Anthony, 71), T Maullin, P Arnold (J Griffiths, 63), P Moriarty, C Charvis (D Thomas, 71), L Jones.Ebbw Vale: J Williams (R Jones, 77); A Harries, J Hawker, J Funnell, L Olsen; J Strange, D Llewellyn; A Phillips (I Thomas, 63), L Phillips (A Peacock, 74), A Metcalfe, L Banks (C Billen, 41), K Faletau (G Green, 50), N Budgett, R Collins, M Jones (capt).Referee: N Williams (Bryncoch).. Even though it is good news for all that the English clubs have agreed to return to Europe next season, the mathematics involved in Wales finding five teams without another round of bitter battles will be tricky.Swansea, along with Cardiff, have still to settle their differences with the Welsh Rugby Union after deciding this season to opt out of the domestic league programme and instead play the highly controversial friendlies against English clubs. O’Shea emphasised his team’s dominance by attempting a cheeky long range drop goal but, although another Cunningham penalty extended their lead soon after the break, the Irish had to adopt a less frivolous approach to keep the Scots at arm’s length.De Beer showed O’Shea how to drop goals with one perfectly flighted effort but Irish had the final word when Cunningham’s pass created an overlap for replacement Richard Kirke to score.

The hotel also owns one table tennis ball which is available for hire for a maximum of a half-an- hour. His fellow international, Justin Bishop, had obviously taken the field in similar mood, his elusive running proving a key influence on the building of a match-winning lead as he switched inside to hunt the possession denied him on the Test stage.Bishop’s ability to break cover helped create the penalty chances with which Irish got off the mark through Jarrod Cunningham, who proved an ideal replacement for the injured goal-kicker Niall Woods.O’Shea then took his turn to land his first kick from almost half-way before a superb pass by Kevin Putt created the game’s first try. A fully professional club game was not on their agenda – or it wasn’t until the entrepreneurs moved in.Nevertheless Europe is back on the horizon although without, as yet, confirmation of English participation in the second-tier Shield competition. Richmond were docked two points for that and have the chance to go double or quits when the match is finally played on 3 May.This supposed enmity was hardly borne out by an almost laughable number of turnovers in a slapdash contest. Additionally Matt Dawson, the English scrum-half during the second half, was in possession of the ball 35 times, whereas his counterpart, Philippe Carbonneau, had 10 fewer opportunities to influence the game.So why is there such calm and serenity throughout La Belle France? Pierre Berbizier, the former international scrum-half and coach of Les Tricolores before the present regime took over, believes he has the answer: “For the first time ever, the management is very good at communicating.

In fact, its whole strategy is based around communication,” he said.Thanks to their strong ties with France Television (the French BBC), and Midi-Olympic (the written voice of French rugby), Skrela and his entourage are indeed in an incredibly powerful position. “The media and the public have been clamouring for this style of open rugby – advocated by Pierre Villepreux and Maso for the last 15 years – so they are determined to give it a real chance.” Irrespective of results? “Well.. the truth is slowly emerging,” said Berbizier. “People are maybe beginning to realise that the theory cannot work in practice.”Results on the pitch, including the defeat to England, appear to back up Berbizier’s views “The best team won,” he said “It was a difficult match, and a disappointing result. But, to be honest, the French performance was not unexpected. It only served to highlight the obvious weaknesses which we have been showing for a while.”Rugby is, above all else, a physical game. And, as long as we prepare our players for an open and running game, rather than give them the necessary combative training, we risk losing out,” said the man who led France to third in the 1995 World Cup.

“We lack penetration in the centre and from the back of the scrum And our front three are often outplayed. With this in mind, the performance wasn’t a surprise.”As for the theory, put forward by L’Equipe, that the match simply highlighted the deficiencies of northern hemisphere rugby, Berbizier disagrees. “The Scotland-Ireland game was an excellent one, and Wales have a good team now. These sides are improving all the time, so you could hardly say that our [northern hemisphere] rugby is stagnant.”And he refutes the argument that the Murrayfield match was more open because the Celtic nations are not on the same level as France and England.