Maha Rushie!

Great Article by Maha Rushie - read it and check it out!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123318906638926749.html

Scott Johnson Gone?

http://www.planetrugby.com/Story/0,18259,3551_4867754,00.html

According to Planet Rugby Scott Johnson has quit USA Rugby - what a joke. All this guy did was come in and complain - and now he doesn't even have the gruff to stick it out.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out you loser!

Mike Lee & Murray Mexted Agree

Sharks fan everywhere can enjoy this clip of Ryan Kankowski showing Richie McCaw and the rest of the Crusaders whats what!

Hopefully just a taste of whats to come this year in the S14!

All Quiet on the Rugby Front

The dust has settled from the Heiniken Cup and the quarters are listed below

Cardiff vs. Toulouse
Munster vs. Ospreys
Quins vs. Leinster
Leicester vs. Bath

This will be continued at the conclusion of the six nations in Early April. The draw was announced today and I see the semi's as Toulouse vs. Bath & Quins vs. Ospreys, with a West Country final of Bath & Opsreys and Butch brining home the hardware.

The Super 14 just finished their first round of warm ups with two Americans in the fray - Chris Wyles and the Sarries going to down in Cape Town to the Stormers and Todd Clever getting a run in the Lions pummeling of the Bulls at Wits.

The Six nations starts next week and we like Wales in a repeat - they have two Angry men at the helm each of whom I can hardly understand a word they are saying. Having Mike Phillips back is going to give them the spark they were missing in Autumn Internationals. I will have a full Six nations preview next week.

There is very little rugby on TV this week - at least we have Jack Bauer to look forward to next Monday.

The Corner - Paki's Corner - What a beauty!

If you notice the upgrades on rugbyandlife its due to some help from a talented blogger - Dallen Stanford. USA Eagle's Dallen Stanford's Blog www.PAKISCORNER.com - the Corner, is a great source for awesome rugby info and is hysterical.

For his help I have dedicataded a personal favorate tune of mine - Andrew W.K.'s "She is Beautiful." Slightly un-realted but like the corner - it rocks!

Todd Clever - S14 Superstar!

USA Rugby has a new world Star; his name is Todd Clever. He has impressed for the eagles in 15's & 7's and started the famous try from the last world cup approrpatily deemed, "try of the world cup." He has now secured a contract with Golden Lions Rugby Union in South Africa and as all reports suggest is ripping it up. They love him in the Transvaal and has now become a high profile player on the biggest stage the Super 14. What makes this great is that Todd is an American born & bred rugger advancing through the Age grades. Tom Billups brought him to the 2003 World Cup to learn, and he was a star in the 2007 world cup, maybe the US can get 2 more from him. Todd gets his first run off the bench this weekend against Bulls in a trial match. The lions have some great prospects for this season vs. last year with the return of Jacque Foure, Andre Pretorious, and Ashwin Wilmense. Todd will add to the dynamic back row of Cobus "Baywatch" Groberlar and Wilem Alberts. The lions prospects are looking good for 2009 as are Mr. Clevers's. We wish him the best and will follow him closely all season.

In other news Mike Petri was named to the Barbaians sqaud to face the Scarlets in Wales. Mike is another born & bred USA Rugger - playing all the age grades, all americans and now is a the focal point of the eagles leading from halfback. This is a massive honor for another Eagle to be named to the famous side in recent seasons - with Mike McDonald, Mike Hercus and Paul Emerick all wearing the hoops of the BaaBaa's in recent seasons. Go Eagles!

Here are couple of links about Todd - enjoy
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/topstories.aspx?ID=BD4A922400
http://www.planet-rugby.co.za/Story/0,18259,3551_4828009,00.html
http://www.citizen.co.za/index/article.aspx?pDesc=86236,1,22
http://sport.iafrica.com/news/1455340.htm
http://www.planet-rugby.co.za/Story/0,18259,3551_4828009,00.html

Saries sign Justin Marshall

Eddie Jones has just pulled a rabbit out of his hat and signed Justin Marshall for the rest of the season to replace Neil DeKock. This is great news for the Sarries as Justin Marshall can still play. Reports of him being a dick head have circle through out Europe the most recent when he refused to go on the field as a replacement in a Top 14 League game for Montpellier.

Justin Marshall showed some great form for the Ospreys in Wales last season but did not like sharing the spotlight/game time with Mike Phillips and left for the South of France.

I think this is a huge positive for the Sarries and will help thier Premiership and Euro Challange Cup chances.

Great Quote

"We are getting a notoriously ambitious woman who made a fool of herself over Bosnia, at the time and during the recent campaign, and who otherwise has no command of foreign affairs except what she's picked up second-hand from an impeached ex-president, a disbarred lawyer, and a renter of the Lincoln Bedroom. If the Senate waves this through, it will have reinforced its recent image as the rubber-stamp chamber of a bankrupt banana republic. Not an especially good start to the brave new era."

Christopher Hitchens on Hillary Clinton's appointment as Sec of State for the United States.

Here is a link to the entire column http://www.slate.com/id/2208425/

Weekend of Insanity!

This weekend consisted of insanity on many many levels.

1. Smith Barney/Morgan Stanley rumors - It seems the goverment is forcing Citi to sell its best asset - Smith Barney. This would be a great move Morgan and would give some stability to the Brokers of Smith Barney. What seems as something that is "too bad," for Citi is almost, "too good," for Morgan.

2. The Giants lost. Cinderalla story no more - I got a huge tv to watch them win the Superbowl and with my luck its going to be the Steelers and Eagles - the two teams I hate the most in the NFL. What a joke.

3. Barrack Obama is taking office this week - as a die hard republican this is more insanity.

4. Northamton beat Leicester tigers - WTF? Ben Foden wants to play scrumhalf but he has serious wheels at 15 and created a fantastic try and scored one of his own. Not sure if he ready for Test rugby at 15 - the english will most likely do this - start him once against against Wales/France/Ireland - he'll have mare of a game in his first test (expected) then they'll drop him and he will flounder around and do nothing for England - Just like Anthony Allen. Nothing makes me laugh more or shows the insanity of English rugby the way they build players up just to rip them down. Danny Cipriani is the latest - the fact that he was even avialable for the Autumn internationals was nothing short of remarkable - he had some average performances with a test rookie at 12, and average 9 and a pack going backwards. All of sudden he's done - INSANITY!

5. Four weeks until Super 14 - Insanity!

6. The game I was looking forward to all week Bath vs. Wasps - cancelled due to frozen pitch - Insanity!

USA Rugby Coach to Wales?

Reports are going wild about USA Eagle coach Scott Johnson going to Wales. Here at Rugby & Life we have mixed feelings about this - mostly becuase details and rumors are running wild.

We've heard that he is going to forgo his salary to pay the players and in his new role could get some USA players playing rugby in 1st Division in Wales. These would all be positives of the move but nothing has been substantiated.

The negatives is that the Coach for the Eagles is not here.

However in the off season for the Eagles (7 months of the year) what does the Eagle coach do?

If he is available for the Eagle setups - put money in the players hands - and get some guys contracts - this will be a plus for USA Rugby.

Hopefully Clarity on this issue will soon follow!

Book Review - Monty

Percival Colin Montgomery was an exceptional rugby player and this book reads more like a list of stats/records because that is what this guy is - a walking record book.

This book as not as heart stoping as Jake Whites book but does give a quite a diffrent look into the fancy pants pretty boy monty was portrayed in the media.
(He was raised from humble beginnings and worked extreamly hard for everything he achieved.) He was constantly booded in Pretoria, Bloem and Joburg even though he was a better goal kicker than Naas Botha. He was instrumental in winning a world cup, won the currie cup several times and was within inches of winning the S14. He played fantastic in Wales, and has the most springbok caps of all time.

So goes the saying that "numbers don't lie," Percy Montgomery is one of the greatest rugby players ever to play the game.

For any rugby fan I highly suggest picking up this book as he is truly a legend of the game.

Here is another great picture of Percy