Andrew Cotter (archive)
- Mark Orlovac
- 20 Mar 07, 01:45 PM
London - So after five weekends of thrilling action, the dust has settled on another Six Nations campaign.
Before the tournament started, our team of 麻豆官网首页入口 Six Nations bloggers sat down to select a combined team of the tournament and we did the same three games in.
Now hostilities have come to an end, the votes have been painstakingly counted and we can exclusively reveal what we think is our definitive starting XV.
Triple crown winners Ireland provide six of the team, with champions France and Italy having four players apiece.
Youngster David Strettle is England's only selection while Wales and Wooden Spoonists Scotland miss out altogether.
Six players from the original team have kept their places, and interestingly five of them are in the pack.
Let us know what you think of our selections, what we've got right, what we've got wrong, and let us know how your Six Nations XV would look.
Continue reading "Team of the Tournament"
- Andrew Cotter
- 18 Mar 07, 02:04 PM
I left Rome on Saturday night. There was a tentative plan to rearrange a flight and stay and experience this intriguing drink you call "Guinness" in the Italian capital with a big, bald former hooker. I'm glad I didn't.
Has a celebration ever fallen so flat?
The Six Nations may have been criticised for a lack of quality. Kiwis will be sleeping soundly in their nests. But I can't remember a more dramatic conclusion to the competition. In fact, it was one of the most dramatic afternoons I can remember in any sport.
Continue reading "Irish party falls flat"
- Andrew Cotter
- 6 Mar 07, 10:01 AM
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.......... It was the spring of hope it was the winter of despair"
Two teams will meet at Murrayfield on Saturday travelling on very different paths in the rugby world.
As impressive as was,
And as much as Ireland expect two straightforward victories to end their Six Nations, Scotland are contemplating two likely defeats.
So how can you possibly compare these two sides?
Continue reading "A Tale of Two Countries"
- Bryn Palmer
- 5 Mar 07, 01:34 PM
London Before the Six Nations began, we had a con-flab here in the 麻豆官网首页入口 Sport website office about who would be in our combined team of the tournament.
After three rounds of action, our original team have not entirely justified our faith in them...Only six of the original XV make our latest combined XV, which has been based on aggregating my selections with four of my colleagues.
Controversially (or not given the results/?), there's no room for a single player from Scotland, Wales - or England.
We will revisit the subject after the final two rounds. Anyway, see what you think..
Continue reading "Six Nations XV - take II"
- Andrew Cotter
- 5 Mar 07, 09:52 AM
Here's my team of the tournament so far:
15) Girvan Demspey (Ireland) - Best of an average bunch. Not too many great full-backs around at the moment and perhaps a shame that Josh Lewsey hasn't been playing there for England.
14) Shane Horgan (Ireland) -With Dominici on one wing I wanted a bit more firepower here. Picks great lines. great footballing skills. Great finisher.
13) Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland) - I think this boy has potential and could one day develop into a decent player.
Continue reading "Andrew Cotter's Six Nations XV"
- Andrew Cotter
- 21 Feb 07, 08:46 AM
Now I could talk about Scotland's team selection for the game against Italy, but it looks fairly settled. which is fair enough and Simon Webster is out for a while which is not fair at all, but there you go.
Instead, I'd like to talk about other people who won't be there on Saturday. At the moment, about 20,000 of them.
At the time of writing (Tuesday afternoon) some 45,200 tickets have been sold. Sales are currently averaging about 1,000 a day.
So that would be fine if we could somehow squeeze a few extra days in before Saturday, but I'm told that may be impossible. A lot of paperwork involved. Special forms to be filled in.
Continue reading "Where are the Murrayfield missing?"
- Andrew Cotter
- 16 Feb 07, 09:18 AM
What was missing from last weekend's game between at Murrayfield?
Tries? Max Boyce? A general feeling of well-being? (Wales fans only)
All good and true answers, but not the one which I'm looking for, which is, alcohol.
Oh, I'm sure there was a hip flask or two (thousand) being put to proper use inside Murrayfield and I'm also sure that plenty had been purchased from the pubs and tents around the ground before the 3.30pm kick-off.
Inside the ground, though, you could buy not a drop.
Continue reading "Should Murrayfield alcohol ban be lifted?"
- Andrew Cotter
- 11 Feb 07, 09:22 AM
Edinburgh - My co-commentator Jonathan Davies finally got out of snowy Cardiff airport late on Friday night. Arrived in Edinburgh at 1am. On Saturday afternoon he must have wished he hadn't made it.
I don't think he, or most of the thousands of Welsh fans who are now drowning sorrows in various Edinburgh bars can really believe what has happened to their side.
Continue reading "Wales wails"
- Andrew Cotter
- 9 Feb 07, 12:04 PM
Edinburgh - They are coming鈥︹︹..
Friday morning - I have arrived in Edinburgh and already they are everywhere.
Legions of them, bringing strange sounds and songs. They are unstoppable. Soon they will take control of the city and will run red.
No pub is safe. Flee while you can.
So, is it still true that Welsh fans travel in greater number to Edinburgh than they do for any other 6 Nations game?
Continue reading "Hail the Welsh invasion"
- Andrew Cotter
- 7 Feb 07, 12:00 PM
London - I'm not going to write much since I'm deep in the middle of preparing for the Scotland v Wales game on Saturday and about to listen to the Wales team announcement which I'm sure will be given plenty of discussion.
So , eh?
More or less the changes expected I suppose and when Frank Hadden prefers Phil Godman to Dan Parks, you know he wants to play a slightly more open game of rugby. But is he Scotland's best option at ?
Rob Dewey coming in? Few could argue with that for a bit of pace and finishing power. Is Marcus Di Rollo's passing ability enough to merit a recall?
Simon Webster and Nikki Walker - how many would like to see their very different running abilities feature on the wing at some stage?
Plenty to discuss so with that I'll return to finding out how many Jones' I have to confuse on Saturday and throw it open to the floor........
- Andrew Cotter
- 5 Feb 07, 08:22 AM
"He's impressive with ball in hand. No doubt about it," said my co-commentator Phillip Matthews before the Italy-France game. "But he does have a tendency to drift in and out of games."
I nodded wisely, but silently, since the object of our attention, was standing just a few feet away, looking like an enormous, brooding version of .
The criticism has been levelled at Chabal before and, for all his talents, Bernard Laporte has never really warmed to the giant, furry creature known affectionately by supporters of his club Sale, as 'Sea Bass'.
Incidentally, I know it's inspired by his own name, but could Chabal not have a nickname more suited to his terrifying form? It's like calling Martin Johnson 'The Monkfish'.
Continue reading "Sea Bass is the new French National dish"
- Andrew Cotter
- 31 Jan 07, 01:58 PM
London - "What might have been?" Four words that never should be spoken in professional sport.
So is it ok to at least think them? Because I can't help it when I consider two players on either side of the Calcutta Cup divide on Saturday.
The first is, of course, Jonny Wilkinson - a name which, for the past three years, has been uttered by rugby fans only in conjunction with a furrowed brow, a rueful shake of the head and increasingly wild (and possibly untrue) speculation about his health.
"He'll never play again, of course". "I heard he had to have a stair-lift installed at his house"."Friend of mine said they had to replace his entire left leg with a titanium job. Japanese technology."
Continue reading "The fly-half who never was"
- Andrew Cotter
- 17 Jan 07, 01:23 PM
I鈥檓 one of 麻豆官网首页入口 Television鈥檚 rugby commentators. I come from Troon on the Ayrshire coast (south-west Scotland) but have lived in London for the past seven years - although I make frequent trips north to 鈥渧isit the family鈥 (play golf).
My grandfather J.L.Cotter played stand-off for Scotland in the 1930鈥檚, as far as I鈥檓 aware was the only minister to have pulled on the dark blue jersey.
My own international sporting recognition was far more limited, representing Scottish Schools at golf against England. Scotland lost.
I started commentating on rugby and golf on 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio in 2000 before a Bosman-style free transfer to TV.
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