The heart of rugby union in deepest, darkest Surrey
| 10:35 UK time, Friday, 30 November 2007
What or who do you think of when you hear the name of ?
I'll give you three for starters - Paul Weller, Tim Buzaglo and Ross Archer.
Weller? The . Like Mozart, did almost all his best work before he was 25.
Buzaglo? Scored a hat-trick as and then turned up on Match of the Day with the match ball.
Archer? That's a tough one. He's one of Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú TV's finest ever VT editors and lifelong fan of the aforementioned footy team!
Well this week the Surrey town has become the centre of the universe for rugby union with the game's great and good at a three-day conference in the town to debate the future.
Items for discussion at the IRB-led gathering were how to solve - third-ranked team in the world but no current place at the international game's top table, by being excluded from the next one, and how to make the international calendar more meaningful.
TV companies may be important stakeholders in the game's future, but none were invited to the gathering - though we were questioned by the consultancy that prepared the agenda for the event.
Mind you, this week we'd have probably been too busy as it's a big weekend for rugby action on the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú. It kicks off on Friday night with cameras in for the EDF Energy Anglo-Welsh Cup clash with . The game is also available via the red button on Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Úi.
Then on Saturday our team, led by John Inverdale, is in Llanelli for the vital clash between and . This could be our last trip to Stradey Park, for me one of the most evocative venues in world rugby, as at the start of next season.
And on Sunday it's Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Wales again at , where the home side need a four-try victory over the if they are to make it through. Again this is available on Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Úi via the red button. We'll also be sending cameras to and for their decisive EDF games against and .
But that's not all. This weekend the series gets under way in Dubai with teams from England, Wales and Scotland hoping to get off to a winning start in the eight event series. , but they took the World Sevens title in a dramatic final event at Murrayfield last May after Fiji had failed to go beyond the quarter-finals there.
You can watch the Sevens live, again via the red button or this website, on Saturday, at 7am and 2.15pm. Also on Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú TWO from 3.55pm on Sunday we will have the best of the Dubai action before a full round-up of all the EDF Energy Cup action including highlights of that Quins v Ospreys clash. The draw for the semi-finals of the competition will then be made live in the studio at around 5.20pm.
Our round-up show, dare I call it , will also include one final look at the mercurial, fleet-footed skills of who takes his bow from rugby for the Baa-Baas against South Africa on Saturday.
Billy Whizz, as he has come to be known to fans of both rugby codes, is a true modern master. His blinding acceleration and elusive skills were , and in the confines of the 15-man code he has remained one of the few capable of continually breaking modern defences - and was .
After their amazing World Cup turnaround England's rugby union team will be fancied for the Team of the Year award while Robinson is an outside contender for the award which will be chosen a week on Sunday. But for the likely winner of this coveted prize we need to head back to our new favourite Surrey town. For Woking is the home of and the working base for a certain .
He'd better stop dreaming of a quiet life...
