Recently in Rugby Category

In the last eight months I've watched nearly forty games of rugby in person and countless others on television and, though I can't be 100 per cent sure, have probably seen more than 150 tries scored.

The other day at Goldington Road someone asked me which is the best try I've seen this season and I had to be honest and say I couldn't recall one that stuck out head and shoulders above anything else.

Given the itinerant nature of my job - I watch most sides quite regularly but none week in week out, it occured to me the quest to find try of the season should probably start with the playes, officials and supporters of our local clubs.

Dan Norton has scored a couple of crackers for Moseley as have James Aston and Uche Oduoza for Bees. Of all West Midlands National League sides Coventry probably integrate forwards and backs better than anyone else which means Butts Park must have seen a few quality ones.

And even though Stourbridge's season ultimately ended in the disappointment of missing out on promotion they have had some great fun along the way,.

I am not by nature the sort of person who views change with suspicion, instead I try to take the view that if something is inevitable the best course of action is to find positives.

I could never, therefore, be described as a traditionalist. To me traditions are not entities that have existed since the beginning of time, they have themselves developed through changing circumstances. If they have a beginning so they must have an end.

But I do get a bit touchy about the Six Nations. Rugby Union has known unprecedented change in the 13 years since professionalism was introduced. Virtually nothing has escaped untouched, neither the club game nor the representative sport.

Yet there are certain non-negotiables that give rugby its defining character. Principles that separate it from rugby league or other versions of football. The Six Nations is one.