GLOUCESTER ACADEMY LOOKS STRONG

95% of Gloucester Academy players will be likely to represent England at some level

Head of the Gloucester Rugby Club Academy Mark Cornwell believes he works with a lot of strong players who are likely to run out in an England shirt one day

“The majority of them that we get coming through the academy will represent England at some level.

We always get a tremendous amount of players in, the percentage is very high, I would say about 95%”

Youngsters such as Dave Lewis, Dan Noughton and Craig Sharpells are up and coming players aged between 16 and 20 who are unlikely to feature for the first team next season.

Cornwell said: “We won’t see them for a couple of years, they’re too young. Maybe in a few more seasons down the line”

More experienced players such as James Simpson-Daniel and Andy Hazel will play a key role in making sure these players that come through have the same attitude to the rest of the Gloucester team

Gloucester have a free-flowing style of rugby which has been easy on the eye this season. If the club are to maintain that style and image, the elite academy players will have to replicate the first teams efforts.

One position that has been improving over the past couple of years have been the wingers. Many hopefuls have impressed in front of Cornwell and his assistant Phil Greenaway

Very Best

To breakthrough into the impressive academy, Cornwell implied that a player will have to reach a certain level.

“They have to represent England at under-16 or under-18 level to reach the Gloucester Academy. We work with the very best”

Gloucester are now are now looking forward to a bright future in the hands of Cornwell and Greenaway, who will lead all the young players to a bright future

The Gloucester first team currently sit at the top of the table and will be hoping to extend the gap between themselves and Bath when they play strong opposistion in the form of London Wasps away from home next Sunday



picture courtesy of rockside

GLOUCESTER HOPEFUL TO LIFT TITLE

As Gloucester reach their final few games of the season, general manager Rob Burgess hopes that they take it all the way and capture the Premiership title

Gloucester Rugby Club have been very successful this season, both on the pitch and off it. With only three games to go, including the London Wasps, the cherry and whites will be hoping for their third triumph in the last ten seasons

However, Burgess claims the good position has only been down to the great form throughout the season: "The league is a reflection of your form over the past 6 months, and to be top in April is a good sign that we got the strength across the squad

The league doesn’t lie and we've been playing well consistently"

Air of Leadership

And the strong hold to the top of the table has been down to a young team this season. Burgess said: "Our side is a lot younger than teams at the top end of the table, which is a deliberate thing in many respects

We've made a point of trying to promote youngsters but you need experienced players around them. Especially in positions like centre

Mike Tindall gives a lot of support to Ryan Lamb at 10. Most of Ryan's best performances have come when Mike's been playing outside him. He brings an air of leadership to the team"

There are no fresh injuries for Gloucester coming towards the end of the season, James Forrester returns in a couple of weeks after cruciate ligament damage has kept him out for most of the season

The club have already begun preparing for next season, recruiting Bath Fly-half Olly Barkley. Burgess has a lot of admiration for the player: "He's a fantastic player and will give us a lot of versatility and added depth in our back line"

The club will be hoping for a home semi-final draw after the three games left, which can put them in the driving seat to reclaim something Gloucester fans believe is theirs.

Gloucester fan John Gardner, 58, from Southgate Street, said: "I'm a big follower of Gloucester and I'll be cheering them all the way to the end

They have a great young squad this season, if we win the Premiership, it will certainly show all the hard work we've put in all season"

Gloucester Rugby Club - Kingsholm

O'Sullivan walks away, Ashton stays put (for now)

As the Six Nations came to a dramatic end, there was no real surprise to see some managerial casualties. After falling two years short of his remaining contract, Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan packs his bags and waved goodbye to the ten-time Six nation champions

This week, the BBC offered a "team of the six nations", where youthful talent David Strettle was the only English player to make it into the side. This really shows the poor tournament England had. Yes, "poor" is the best way to describe an England team that struggled to find any confidence and determination. Now not to be pessimistic, Brian Ashton, has done a great job. He picked up a team which has many retiring stars and turned them into a world cup finalist outfit. This is something people forget. However, his decision to replace England's starlet Jonny Wilkinson with young superstar Danny Cipriani caused the most controversy

The Rugby Blog gave a good view to this, of which many people have commented. It seems that the overall standing is that Ashton made the right choice. Cipriani looks like a player who was made for the top level. Rallying his troops at the start of the Ireland game proved how focused this young man is.

The Guardian published a great post, although back in August, discussing whether a Six Nations team can win the world cup. Now everyone is thinking "what about England", but this argument between Gavin Hastings and Michael Lynagh proves a good read

So Ashton's job looks safe for now, but if England are going to mount a serious challenge for any other major trophies, they will have to start building as soon as possible

What the Blog are you on about?

picture courtesy of robinhamman

As promised, this weeks blog is devoted to....blogs. Now when the word "rubgy blog" is typed into a search engine such as google or dogpile, the links are endless. So these blogs have been picked out as some of the most factual, interactive and accessible to the user

The first link that is most likely to appear is the RugbyBlog, this is an official site set up for the public to offer their views about all that's going on in the rugby world. This website seems well produced, as well as offering tickets, clips and photos from the fans.

Blogging is a great way to get involved with media consumption. Although the target audience may not be reading your enthusiastic update to Rugby Union and/or League, it is available for the world to take a quick glance

Now the dropkicks blog is a great example of how Blogs can become interactive. It has various videos, subject to availability with shockwave of flash media players. This means a comment which is published can be backed up by images, rather than just the word of mouth which is a rather easy form of spreading news.

Times are changing and it won't be too long before most, if not all, blogs have a numerous ammount of videos, pictures and audio quality available

Blood and Mud is another site which is simple and easy to access. A key character to this one however, is its "Blog of the week", which this week went to http://ruggerblogger.blogspot.com/, similar to this format, also on blogspot

So the world of blogging is here: quick, easy and simple to navigate, anyone can get involved. Finallly, a player for the Austin Valkyries manages to spare some of her time to write a blog. It offers a better view to Rugby over in America, especially with womens involvement over there


Thanks for reading

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Can Rugby League conquer America?

This weeks post will be devoted to the "other side" of rugby, which is Rugby League. Often divided by the north and south in England, Rugby League was a game created in the north of England and set out a few different rules and point system for those who were sick of the scrums and lineouts found in the Rugby Union game

Now Rugby League has hit America, and with some force. http://www.amnrl.com/ is a great site which gives a good insight into the way Rugby League has been taken under the wing by the Yanks. A-list Actors such as Russel Crowe are getting involved with exhibitions matches, increasing the awareness of the sport itself

However, being compared to American Football is far too early, the patriotic fans of "football" will take more time to embrace a new sport altogether. But it will be interesting to see what journalists in USA think of England's invasion.

This Guardian Blog gives the reaction of an English Journalist who has his own views of the way Rugby League will impact over in America. He describes it as "cold and bitter"...the weather that is.

Other sites that caught the attention this week were http://www.rl1908.com/rugby-league-web-sites.htm. This gave history to the rugby league and gave numerous helpful links for anybody interested in Rugby League

Also the Rugby League review made sure a fan of Rugby League would not miss out on the action whether it was in England, America or even Russia!


Next weeks blog will look deeper at the blogs posted by journalists and the public, yourself.

Thanks for reading

Picture courtesy of "rugbypics"

From Avenham Park to Foster Building

This is a brief video explaining how to get from Avenham park to the University's Foster building in Preston




Now you will know exactly where to go!!