Victory for the Warriors! (and Quins relegated)

It went right down to the wire.
Worcester won by 21-19 and so secured their premiership place for next season regardless of how the Quins v Sale game ended (shortly after) If Quins had scored with anything in the last few minutes they would have beaten Sale (final score 22-23) and Northampton would have been for the drop. Luckily for the Saints, Quins' Staunton missed a crucial kick and relegation for Quins was then only moments away. The pressure was on Staunton all through the game which no doubt contributed greatly to his missed kicks. With the benefit of hindsight those missed kicks were invaluable.

The finale of the season couldn't have been any more exciting. Quins, Worcester and Northampton all occupied the bottom place in the "as it stands" table at some stage.
Thank God its all over!

Although the season could be far from over for the Worcester Warriors. Next Friday they play in the Zurich wild card semi-final against Saracens at Vicarage road with the hope of getting to the final at Twickenham and claiming the last Heineken cup place. They also have the European shield final against Auch to play later in the month (21st May). It's very possible (certainly if they beat Saracens) that Worcester games will be televised on sky sports for three consecutive weeks. They'll face either Gloucester or Newcastle in the final if all goes well. If recent form of those clubs is anything to go by then Worcester have a great chance of appearing in the Heineken cup next season.

Congratulations to the Worcester Warriors team! You really lived up to your name through this long hard season. All the doubters have been proved wrong and the respect the club has earned is immeasurable. Now its time to become even stronger and progress to greater achievements. The last half of this season proved how strong the team has become with their consistent wins. We had a couple of wobbly games but so did every other team. If the season was split in two then at one point well into this half of the season we were "second" in the premiership behind Leicester. (not sure where we are now) The early part of this season was tough going at times and that is why we were in the relegation battle on the final day. With a stronger team from day one next season things shoould be very different indeed.
Finishing highly placed next season without the slightest thought of relegation battles is not hard to envisage.

The Worcester Warriors message board - Essential reading for all rugby fans.

Relegation battle half-time update

Half way through the last premiership games of the season and it's still anybody's guess which team will be sitting at the bottom of the table in less than an hour's time.

Harlequins came out fighting against Sale and after a Sale recovery Harlequins scored a try late on and Harlequins have a 19-10 lead.

Northampton took the first points of the day at Worcester and led by 6-0 but a couple of tries from Powell and Rasmussen for Worcester and one from Diggin for Northampton and the half time whistle came and Worcester went in the lead, but only by one point. 14-13.

At the moment Leeds and Northampton are looking most at risk. Although there is far to go. We might be in the last minute of the season before we are fairly certain we know who is relegated. I think it could end up coming down to who gets the losing bonus point in their game.

Nobody can rely on Harlequins losing now as they have clearly shown they have some fight left. But my gut instinct is that Sale will win the second half and the game.

Scores at half time
Bath 6 Leeds 0
Worcester 14 Northampton 13
Harlequins 19 Sale 10
Newcastle 8 London Irish 10
Leicester 20 Wasps 3
Gloucester 3 Saracens 7

The Apprentice (Week 11)

Two candidates were up for the chop this week, although we were ony informed about that late in the programme. I didn't feel that it was made clear to the viewer that the candidates were aware of it when they walked into the boardroom. I was expecting a shocked look on the remaining 3 faces when they were told that their relief of not being fired would be short-lived.

This week the candidates were put through three interviews of thirty minutes by three different people and those interviewers reported back to Sir Alan and advised him on who they thought was worthy of becoming... The Apprentice.

I enjoyed last night's show even though it was different from the others, and i wish it had been longer. Did they cut ten minutes off the end for the snooker coverage or did they think 1 hour was to much for this week? I would have preferred to have seen more of the interviews and a little less cutting between each candidates' interviews would have been nice too.

I was going to post my prediction on who would be fired (assuming at the time there would only be one) in last night's programme but i forgot to. I would have said with confidence that Saira or Tim would be fired. How wrong i was! James and Paul were fired instead.

I was going to post post-show last night but didn't feel i could say all i wanted to because i thought i knew who had won. Some article on the web which i was pointed in the direction of made me think i knew [who hadn't won]. I appear to have been wrong, as (unless I'm mistaken) the winner will be announced live next week.

I am very surprised that Saira and Tim have managed to be the finalists. It appears (with hindsight) that both James and Paul were doomed before they even filled in their application forms. They were already successful in their fields. Why would James want to leave his current job and take a pay cut and work for Sugar? Why would Paul, a successful property developer, want to go and work for someone else. Odd behaviour for someone who is supposedly happily self-employed. Although there seemed to be some questions regarding Paul's property business. He was very cagey and was anything but forthcoming with financial details. What were the motivations of James and Paul; did they simply want their fifteen minutes of fame? That seemed to be Sir Alan's conclusion on James. I don't believe that was the motivation of either of them.

Paul and James should have been the finalists when it came down to the choice of the last four in my opinion. Can the impossible actually happen and Saira ends up winning? The last task (which was filmed more than six months ago) will be interesting. What will the emphasis be on; the performance of the last two in the whole series or will the result of the last task be disproportionately important? Can Sir Alan really choose Tim as his apprentice if he messes up the last task and Saira wins by a mile?

The intro to each programme with Sir alan saying how he dislikes liars, cheats and bullshitters etc will be completely meaningless if Saira does win as she seems to be the epitomy of everything he hates!

I won't be happy if Saira wins, as all through the series she has been shown to be unsuitable to be the apprentice. In the early part of the series her very presence was destructive to her team. She is clearly not a teamplayer. If Sir Alan takes her on i think he'll regret his decision very soon after. I can see Saira having a £100,000 cheque being thrust into her hand at the end of her first day and told by Sir Alan to never to darken his doorway ever again.

I'd like Tim to win. But what choice have i got! I'm not convinced by Tim at all, he is an unknown quantity. He says the right things and looks the part but how much substance is there to him. He's never been tested in a real business situation and i don't recall him doing anything particularly memorable in the whole series that makes him stand out. Was he really working every hour God gave him to help bring his team success? (I believe he claimed something like that last night) If so, why didn't I get that impression from what I've seen in the last 11 weeks. He's simply managed to keep his head down all these weeks from what i can see and i'd go as far as saying he bullshits his way forward with all the right words when in the boardroom.

What exactly was Sir Alan looking for in his search for an apprentice? I don't think he even knows. If Tim does win, then the selection of some of the 14 candidates was wrong as they clearly had no chance however successful they were in the tasks (most notably James wth his 8 times on the winning side).

The decisions made by Sir Alan in the last couple of weeks have been odd to say the least. He obviously decided that Miriam wouldn't be his apprentice regardless of her consistently solid performances in the series. How could anyone in their right mind choose Saira over Miriam?

Tim should win because he is someone who can be moulded into whatever shape Sir Alan desires, and Saira is obviously well past the moulding stage.

Some sites i found earlier which may be of interest...


JamesMax.net
MiriamStaley.com
PaulTorrisi.com
RajDhonota.com

Chelsea v Liverpool (champions league)

It's the first leg of the semi-final tonight (on sky sports 1)
I might have a look at it, but will change channel when The Apprentice begins. I could watch the whole game and watch the repeat of the apprentice at the weekend, or even download it from the net. But i won't.

I've lost almost all interest in football this season. I can't remember what the last game i saw was. The fact that Roman Abramovich is effectively buying the premiership and Champions League titles for Chelsea doesn't help. The whole spirit of sporting competition is lost when a team has virtually unlimited funds and can buy any player they want. Although, I'm not naive enough to believe that it's only money that wins titles, a club also needs a good manager/coach to bring the best out of even the best players and to create an efficient team. So what do they do... they throw millions of pounds at Jose Mourinho. Perfect.

Score pediction for tonight:
Cheslea 3 Liverpool 1

I have little doubt that Chelsea will win quite easily over the two legs and will win the champions league.

Leeds v Harlequins result

Early in the half Quins bagged themselves 7 points. 10-7. The score at that stage didn't reflect the way the game had gone at all. Just as I began to really wonder if Leeds had the strength to close in on the win they scored a brilliant try (and converted it) and had taken the lead back (14-10) The question was, could they know close the game down and come away with at least 4 very valuable points which meant Quins would then be bottom of the table and they would be feeling a little safer.

As the score was, Quins had a bonus point which gave them some extra hope should they lose against Sale and Worcester lose against Northampton (without a bonus pt) on Saturday. Finishing level on points with Worcester isn't an option though because of Worcester's eight wins against Quins' six. Snyman then scored Leeds' third try and put any chance of victory beyond Quins' reach. 21-10. and Quins desperately needing a score or two simply to resuscitate their bonus point. A score didn't come but the final whistle did and brought to an end a very dramatic tension filled game.

Leeds 21 Harlequins 10

Sporting drama at it's best.
The look on Quins' coach Mark Evans' face in the latter stages of the game said it all.

Harlequins are now staring relegation in the face after tonight's crucial game.

Leeds v Harlequins

The second half is about to begin in the Leeds v Harlequins game. Leeds have the lead, but with the score at 7-3 the match could go either way. Leeds have had by far the better half but the Quins defence has been very strong and only leaked with the single try late on in the half.

Quins will be worried by the fact they haven't been able to get to the other end of the field.

Leeds will be disappointed to have such a small lead after all the pressure they put their opponents under in the first half.
There is the worry that Quins could come out with all guns blazing in the second half.

They will be safe if they win so there's plenty of incentive.

Zurich Premiership relegation battle

With just one weekend of games and the Tuesday game between Leeds and Harlequins left to go it's still impossible to tell which team is likely to be relegated. Leeds, Harlequins, Worcester, Northampton and London irish are all going into the last week wondering if it's their last in the premiership, at least for a while.

Irish under pressure
London Irish were dealt a blow to their chances of survival today with their 21-19 loss against Bath. Bath are fighting. along with Sale for third place. I feel Worcester should surive the last round of games and can look forward to another season of premiership rugby. Not that i'm biased, of course. A win against Northampton will seal their place whatever happens in the other games. After staring at the table for a while i think they could stay up even if they don't win. (as long as other results go the right way) They won't be thinking like that, though. They will go out and play as if their lives depended on it. I'm pretty sure they will be favourites to win at home against Northampton. It will complete a double home/away victory over Northampton this season. The ideal situation was that Northampton wouldn't be in the relegation battle going into the last game. That didn't happen but at least it makes for an exciting season finale. Hopefully Sky sports will decide to televise the game. The last time I looked they still hadn't published which game would be covered next week. I think it's a choice between Wasps and Leicester at the top and Worcester and Northampton in their relegation fight. I think they'll choose the right one.

Sky sports rugby

With both bottom of the table Leeds and Harlequins playing the teams both fighting for third place next week, it will be hard to think both can come away with wins. A win for Halequins on Tuesday evening and they are safe. As a Worcester Warriors suporter I'm not sure which team i should be cheering on in that game. Maybe it doesn't really matter who wins.

The current Premiership table