Powell does not buy the SANZA argument? There is absolutely no reason why

Powell does not buy the SANZA argument? “There is absolutely no reason why the European season should be shifted to fit in with the southern hemisphere. How often do you see the football boys playing in mud up to their knees these days? Never, for the simple reason that the right money has been spent for the benefit of the sport.”We can do it in rugby, too Look at Murrayfield. Of all the major rugby cities in Britain and Ireland, Edinburgh is most under the cosh from the weather, yet it plays well 99 per cent of the time.”Mind you, they’ve always had it right up there. I can remember propping in a Calcutta Cup match and being astonished at spotting a single daisy on the pitch.”As things stand right now, Twickenham is more likely to throw up one water lily and a colony of newts.. Timing is everything, as any good politician will tell you, and the power-suited committee men of the Rugby Football Union have beaten their opposite numbers from Leicester RFC to the punch – or, rather, the knee in the ribs – on this occasion. Martin Johnson, who captains the Midlanders as well as England, will answer two disciplinary charges arising from last weekend’s cup victory over Saracens at a specially convened hearing on 28 December – a date far more advantageous to Twickenham than to the Tigers. Timing is everything, as any good politician will tell you, and the power-suited committee men of the Rugby Football Union have beaten their opposite numbers from Leicester RFC to the punch – or, rather, the knee in the ribs – on this occasion.

Martin Johnson, who captains the Midlanders as well as England, will answer two disciplinary charges arising from last weekend’s cup victory over Saracens at a specially convened hearing on 28 December – a date far more advantageous to Twickenham than to the Tigers.
Leicester had pressed for a 23 January hearing, which, irrespective of the outcome, would have guaranteed them Johnson’s services for the Tetley’s Bitter Cup semi-final at Harlequins on 6 January and the Heineken Cup trip to Pau a week later. A rather Machiavellian notion might also have occurred to them that, by spinning things out until late January, they would have minimised the chances of the RFU throwing the book at their outstanding second row. After all, England visit Wales in the opening round of the Six Nations on 3 February.The union have not played ball, however; they want the case done and dusted as quickly as possible and have asked Commander Jeff Blackett, the Royal Navy’s chief judge advocate, to chair the hearing in the company of Bob Taylor, a former England captain and RFU member for the East Midlands, and Peter Budge, a council member from Surrey.Johnson, accused of applying an errant knee to the ribs of Duncan McRae, the Saracens stand-off, and of striking Julian White, the Londoners’ international prop, will now know his fate before the turn of the year. If convicted on video evidence – the match officials at Welford Road did not witness either incident – he is likely to receive a ban of between three and four weeks. McRae, who suffered rib cartilage damage, will not play again before February.All this is of little use to Bath, who visit Welford Road and must subdue Johnson and company if they are to stand any chance of breaching the most forbidding fortress in British rugby.

Leicester have not lost a Premiership match at home for almost three years, and while the West Countrymen once relished the challenge posed by the Midlanders, they are hardly in the best of shape for this particular fixture.Angus Gardiner, their New Zealand-reared open side, will be missing from the back row through injury, and while Mike Catt returns at outside-half, the Bath three-quarter line has been misfiring all season.Leicester, on the other hand, are likely to stick with the combination that put 41 points past Saracens. Martin Corry, their international No 8, has shaken off the nasal problems that cut short his appearance last week and the Tigers are clear favourites to protect their six-point lead at the top of the Premiership.Saracens, who invested so much money in Thomas Castaignÿde and Tim Horan at the start of the campaign that they were forced to cut their squad to a bare minimum, are seeing the pigeons come home to roost in their hundreds. With Castaignÿde out for the season and McRae bandaged up like an Egyptian mummy, they are in real strife at outside-half. Horan, the great Wallaby centre, is expected to face Harlequins at Vicarage Road tomorrow after a spell on the injury list and he may well find himself in the pivot role, with Kevin Sorrell and the exciting Tom Shanklin outside him.There are high-profile absentees elsewhere.

Phil Greening, the England hooker, misses Wasps’ visit to London Irish after undergoing surgery on the finger he mangled up during the red rose victory over South Africa a fortnight ago. (Interestingly, the Irish are so keen to stay at the Madejski Stadium after an encouraging response at the turnstiles that they are negotiating a five-year extension with Reading FC). Northampton, meanwhile, go into today’s tough encounter with Gloucester at Franklin’s Gardens without their goalkicker-in-chief, Paul Grayson. Joe Shaw replaces him.In Dublin, there has been all manner of jiggery-pokery at the headquarters of the International Rugby Board.

Stephen Baines, who joined the IRB as chief executive in July 1998 after a spell as executive director of the Canadian Rugby Union, has vacated his post and was not expected to return from an “extended leave of absence”.The board would not confirm that a replacement was being sought, but Rian Oberholzer, the chief executive of the South African Rugby Football Union and the man widely held responsible for Nick Mallett’s recent demise as Springbok coach, was said to be in the frame.. Home-crowd favourites Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi defeated top seeds Rick Leach and Ellis Ferreira 6-3, 7-5 today to advance to the final of the ATP Tour World Doubles Championship for the third time in four years. Home-crowd favourites Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi defeated top seeds Rick Leach and Ellis Ferreira 6-3, 7-5 today to advance to the final of the ATP Tour World Doubles Championship for the third time in four years.
In Sunday’s best-of-5 championship, Peas and Bhupathi face Donald Johnson and Piet Norval, who defeated Simon Aspelin and Johan Landsberg 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in the first semifinal at the Kerala State Lawn Tennis Association.”We will come out with all our guns blazing in the finals, that’s for sure,” Paes said after the match.Paes and Bhupathi will be battling for their maiden title Sunday, having ended up runners-up on each of the last three occasions.Playing their trademark hard-hitting tennis before a noisy and partisan crowd, the Indians started the match in style, breaking Leach’s serve in the third game and Ferreira’s in ninth after the South African veteran made three double faults.Ferreira’s problems with serving continued in the second set when he produced two double-faults in the second game, sending the Indians two games up.The top seeds then briefly recovered, with Leach serving flawlessly and Ferreira taking care of the net. Paes lost his serve in the seventh game and Leach held his to make it 5-5, but Ferreira stumbled again in the 12th game and the Indians seized their opportunity.In the earlier semifinal, Johnson and Norval halted the winning spree of Simon Aspelin and Johan Landsberg, beating the Swedes 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.Johnson and Norval lost their touch in the second set after having run away with the first. They were a break down in the third before recovering and taking the match.. For well-heeled London gents of a certain age and racy stamp, Drones was the premier pleasure palace of the 1970s. I asked a few former regulars for their recollections, and they came over all misty-eyed.