Even his glory years with Rangers must be tempered by his poor results in Europe – not much help for an international manager.Brown has made a good job of working with limited resources, though they are better than many people – including possibly himself – give Scotland credit for. The truth, like the opinion polls, changes from game to game.With Scotland’s best managers, Alex Ferguson and George Graham, otherwise gainfully employed, it has been suggested that Graeme Souness should be given Brown’s job. England were not bad last Saturday but Scotland truly were, it was said Now it is England who are being damned. Judged on 180 minutes against England, they did not.Apart from the second half at Hampden, when England were able to sit back on the lead and Scotland looked incapable of changing the game, most of the tie belonged to Brown’s team. Only two fragments of poor luck – Kevin Gallacher’s miss after Scholes’s first goal and Billy Dodds striking the bar after the England player’s second – prevented the Scots going in at half-time at 2-2 rather than 0-2.A week is a short time in football. Enjoyable though the Wembley victory was, it cannot disguise the fact that Scotland’s qualifying campaign, even though it was blighted by a catalogue of injuries, was undistinguished: judged on those games, Scotland got what they deserved. By 10pm on Wednesday, of course, some floating voters had come over to his camp.The bottom line for Scotland, however, is that one result does not a new era make.

Brown, too, begged the journalists to “show some support” but there were few takers. (“You’re a nice guy, Craig, but nice guys finish second!” said The Sun.) Brown was smarting by the time he conducted his press conference.It was reminiscent of the moment Graham Taylor was captured by documentary cameras before England’s vain World Cup tie with Holland in 1993 when he pleaded for the Press to be as up as he was trying to be. However, there was no disguising the hurt the avuncular man felt as he cast his eyes over the Monday morning headlines at the Scotland hotel in Troon. (“Seventeen per cent is quite good because the same paper had a poll when I took the Scotland job and only eight per cent wanted me.”)What he meant when he tried to use statistics to back up his case was that he was often scornfully put down as a coaching “anorak”. He was not referring to the phone-in vote, although he laughed that off too. On Friday, the swing back to the Scotland manager would have left Peter Snow apoplectic: only 55 per cent now wanted Brown out, while 45 per cent said he should stay.”There are statistics, statistics and damn lies,” Brown said quietly last Monday as he tried to withstand the welter of calls for him to quit. The Daily Record poll after the first-leg defeat saw 83 per cent say that Brown should quit, with only 17 per cent defending him.

The Scottish tabloids had decided, by half-time last Saturday, that those two goals by Paul Scholes were enough to call a halt to Brown’s six years in the job.Wembley, of course, forced a few people to eat humble pie, though the Daily Record, Brown’s fiercest critic, is not giving up the fight, even though its own opinion polls prove Harold Wilson might have revised his thoughts about what a tough job he had, if he too had been prisoner to the dreaded phone-in. However, even Brown must have been taken aback at the speed of the ever- changing world last week. In the era of the quick sound-bite and influence of the electronic media, a day now seems a long time in football. How else is the Scotland manager to judge the rollercoaster events of the past week? Brown has watched his status plummet and rise again: from being in the stocks (after that 2-0 defeat at Hampden) to rising stock (thanks to 90 minutes at Wembley).
While the Scotland manager has not quite suffered a savaging on the scale of his England counterparts, there is no doubt familiarity has bred contempt.

When Harold Wilson was claiming what a capricious business he was working in, Brown was discovering an equally harsh truth of his own in the mid-1960s as he went, via a broken leg, from being part of a Dundee side who won the Scottish League title to a mere bit part at Falkirk. But you know if you do, you could regret it.” The concern is that, while he seeks to prove it, England football could regret it rather more as it sifts through the remnants of fallen stars.. CRAIG BROWN has been around long enough to recall that old adage about a week being a long time in politics. “You’ve all got the right to say that it’s a waste of time us going there [to Euro 2000].

“Unfortunately, with Jamie Redknapp playing out there for England, there were times when he had to drag the ball back on his right foot, which immediately made it easier for the defenders. Waddle used his right foot for standing on, which was just as well because he stood on it quite often. But just by standing still on the left touchline, Waddle provided England teams with a balance that Keegan’s England desperately lack.
“Balance. That’s the key word,” says Dave Richardson, head of youth development for the Premier League. But if Keegan could put back the clock a decade, Waddle would surely be near the top of his fantasy list for Euro 2000.

At the time, particularly in his more distracted moments, we probably did not appreciate the value of Waddle’s contribution. Tall, angular, with an ungainly, shuffling gait and an ability to deliver crosses to order, his name is Chris Waddle, once of Newcastle, Tottenham, Marseilles, Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, Torquay United, and England’s last genuinely world-class left-sided player. IN HIS search for a footballer who can kick with his left foot, Kevin Keegan might not have noticed a fixture in the First Division of the Meadowhall League in Sheffield this weekend where, according to local reports, a tasty left-winger has been recruited by Brunsmeer Athletic. You might not get good odds at the bookies but you would in my household.”. Sometimes in football you have got to take a step backward to take two forward and if that is the bottom line at the end of the season – whether I’m still here or not – I hope the club will come back stronger because of it.”But I honestly feel we are still in a good position to get ourselves out of trouble. “What we need most of all is stability,” he said, “not just this season but over a five-year period.

“For us, there is little difference playing away and playing at home,” Beenhakker insists.”We are not a team that start a game looking for a draw and defending We play our own match. Up to now, there has been no reason to change that.”OPERATION EUROPE: PHIL GORDON’S GUIDE TO THIS WEEK’S ACTIONCHAMPIONS’ LEAGUEFIORENTINA V MANCHESTER UNITEDA SURVEY by a top “sexologist” last week revealed that most Italian men think about Gabriel Batistuta – with his kit on, celebrating a goal – when making love. Only when a team is playing well can a player with special qualities demonstrate what they can do.”Similarly, even at Stamford Bridge, Feyenoord will not radically alter their adventurous policy of deploying Jon Dahl Tomasson behind two forwards. “With all respect to Chelsea, I will not be looking to give special attention to any of their players,” he says. “In the past, say 15 years ago, one player could win a match, a Maradona, whoever But now more than ever football is about teamwork.

You can’t talk about Chelsea or Arsenal as being typical of British football now Also, football has no secrets any more. We all have TV, we all have video, we all travel to watch our opponents.”Beenhakker is a study of insouciance; a character who has only turned his thoughts to the challenge of Chelsea since Friday night’s domestic fixture, when Feyenoord threw away a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 at Maastricht. He has no plans to counter specifically any of Chelsea’s principal threats, even Gianfranco Zola. “It was useful when British football was British football,” he says. “But little by little, every country is losing a bit of its own football culture. But the venerable coach maintains that it is of no particular significance these days.

Rain ruins Atapattu’s day
Heavy rain yesterday interrupted the Sri Lanka opening batsman Marvan Atapattu when he was 22 runs short of a double century on the third day of the first Test against Zimbabwe. “I’ve won prizes but never as good as this evening’s,” Ali said.. The three-time world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali of the United States – who was given a standing ovation – was named boxer of the century, while four-time world Formula One champion Alain Prost received the motor sport award. The winners, chosen from a short-list of 91 athletes, all received a crystal vase “I am surprised and honoured,” said Pele.

It is sadly ironic that, as a gelding, he didn’t have a first fling never mind a last but, on the grounds that even horses want their dads to be remembered kindly, a small each-way bet is recommended.. SPORT AWARDS:

Pele and Ali are honoured
The Brazilian legend Pele was named footballer of the Millennium at the World Sports Awards of the Century ceremony in Vienna. Eleven of the world’s top sports stars were honoured by a 15-strong panel headed by the International Olympic Committee president, Juan Antonio Samaranch. We needn’t trouble ourselves with the details of this brief relationship but as soon as he had performed his duties to the satisfaction of all concerned, Avocat dropped down dead on the spot.The Last Fling, therefore, has a name more meaningful than most. In the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury on Saturday runs a horse called The Last Fling who has an outsider’s chance and brings to the race a poignant tale.The chestnut gelding was born nine years ago as the result of an arranged assignation between a stallion, Avocat, and a mare, Highway’s Last. Nevertheless, he does have a stake in the success of their biggest rival.Perhaps we should take it as a foretaste of the footballer of the future who, when weighing his next opposition, asks:”Are they in my portfolio?”IN OUR eternal battle to get the better of the bookmakers, no sign or omen can be ignored, and very often the finger of fate is a more reliable pointer than the form book. And if that’s not a conflict of interests, I don’t know what is.Not for one minute do I suggest that Suker would allow his stock market investments to affect his game but if the FA are strict on betting why are they so casual about shares? Their spokesman denied last week that there was a contradiction in their rules if they permit one form of financial speculation on football but ban another.Arsenal, famed for their strict code of player behaviour, said it was “absolutely absurd” to suggest that Suker had compromised his commitment to them.

United’s shares are likely to be worth more if they win the Premiership than, say, if Arsenal do. The Wembley squabbles merely show how short of vision we are.IF DAVID SUKER, the Arsenal striker, had bet a large lump of money on Manchester United winning the Premiership this season, there is no doubt that the Football Association would have performed their famous impersonation of a ton of bricks. Rightly so, for Arsenal themselves are likely to be among the main contenders for the title and Suker could be subject to a conflict of interests.But the FA see nothing wrong with Suker purchasing pounds 20,000 of United shares, as he did last month Obviously, there’s a difference, but only of degree. It would be absurd to attempt to cure that failing by wrecking English football’s hopes of having a headquarters worthy of the name.If we are serious about bringing the Olympics here in 12 years’ time, or the World Athletics Championships in 2005, then we should create a stadium built specifically for that purpose Although a stadium is hardly adequate. We need a site that offers facilities for many sports and which can serve as a national focal point. Compared with most other countries our lack of facilities is appalling. It is shaming that a country of our size and range of sporting traditions doesn’t possess one already.

There may be grounds for an argument about where its replacement should be sited, but there should be no doubt that it should be an arena dedicated to the national game.In fact, the England football team don’t need a stadium, they need a fortress; a home that intimidates the visitors and where they can feel the crowd’s hot breath. A visit to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff would provide an inspirational example of what I mean. Wembley frightens nobody; apart, that is, from England.To saddle the new place with an athletics track would kill all possibility that there might be some interchange of passion between England and its followers. To introduce this dead-hand suggestion at this late stage is ludicrous and reveals only what an uncontrolled mess our sporting thinking is in.No one disputes our need for a major athletics stadium, but that has been apparent for years. At least we’re going to get rid of the old and soulless Wembley Stadium from this recurring nightmare.This would be a more comforting thought but for the controversy now ensuing about what should be built in its place. Physical correctness in sport is becoming as boring as political correctness elsewhere.So Keegan, hero of Hampden, becomes the wally of Wembley and the ritual chants for his head have been sounded or, worse still, that a coach should be appointed to help him. This sad scenario is all the more depressing for having been repeated endlessly for 20 years or more.

Revelations that the England coach and some of his players had stayed up late on Saturday night drinking beer and watching the Lennox Lewis fight were presented in triumph – as if that was the reason England lost, not that their resident experts had been hopelessly wrong. There has been the added bonus since of watching the acrobatic agility of somersaulting experts. “Tarts 0 Tartans 1″ was one headline on a page that had oozed patriotic patronage the previous day.Brown was swiftly removed from the dole queue and promoted to tactical genius while many found it easier to execute the volte-face if they used Kevin Keegan’s head as a springboard. A lifetime of watching England flounder at Wembley has equipped me with a cynicism that won’t be cured until the place is demolished.I didn’t quite win the bet but I had an exciting run for my money and the pleasure of watching an excellent Scottish performance pieced together by players I’d hardly heard of was ample return.

For 11 years now, the loyal Tynesider, a member of Wallsend Harriers and a floor manager at a Newcastle hotel, has stuck by his assumed identity. Even at his peak, when he stopped the clock at 11.6, he was never quite as quick as his hero – the Ben Johnson who won the 1988 Olympic final in 9.79.
It was in May 1988, four months before big Ben was first struck off the competition list for failing a drugs test, that Gary Smith, as he was known at the time, decided to adopt the same name as the Canadian sprinter. THE DIARY can reveal that Ben Johnson will be challenging for the coveted New Year Sprint title in Edinburgh next month. In an exclusive interview, Johnson revealed that he will be making his debut as a professional runner in the traditional handicap race meeting popularly known as “Powderhall” in recognition of the track where it was held until 1970. “I’ve been training with the `pro’ guys since February,” he said, “and I’ve been going pretty well.

At my age, 35, you stand a better chance running against younger guys with the handicap system.”

And time and the tide appeared to be catching up with Johnson last summer In two comeback races he ran 13.2sec for 100m. And yet he presumed to encroach; suggesting, as many Spanish commentators have inferred, that he committed hara-kiri, that he judged suicide to be nobler and less painful than death by a thousand indignities.John Carlin writes for the Spanish newspaper El Pais. In recent weeks he has been openly – and recurrently – criticising his players, in defiance of the warnings of the mighty Sanz.Criticising, bullying, threatening: this is Sanz’s province Toshack knew this. Toshack’s frustration, his increasing awareness that the responsibility his job carried grotesquely exceeded its power, made him bolshy. Had Anelka simply been omitted, thereby allowing the excellent strike pair of Raul and Morientes to do their stuff uncluttered, and thereby allowing space for an extra man in a notoriously leaky midfield, Real Madrid would very probably be playing with more assurance, in a more settled pattern, four or five places higher up the table.As it is, Toshack’s Real have been unpredictable, disorganised and torn with dressing-room dissent, offering only dim prospects – mathematics aside – of titles this season, either in Europe or in Spain. Bosses elsewhere can sack their employees, and the employees know it, which is why they do as the bosses say. The Real Madrid players, almost all of them, knew that Toshack had no say in determining their futures with the club.

Gilly Handley, one of only four British women in the event, has strong views on taking care of No 132. Although this 5ft 4in, 28-year-old was almost born into motor sport, and is intimately involved with it through her job as secretary to the Benetton Formula One team, she feels that women are still not fully accepted in rallying and racing. SELF-PRESERVATION is not the most obvious priority for the drivers who hurtle through the forests and drive on after crashes that would give most of us recurring nightmares, but at least one competitor in the Network Q Rally Great Britain, which starts in Cheltenham this morning, will see it as a priority. His works-supported Toyota will certainly be up to the job but he must control the temptation to overcook on today’s first stage if he is to reach the Welsh forest tracks which on the last occasion, he says, gave him the thrill of his career.NORMAN FOX. He has previous rally experience, having driven the 1996 RAC event, but admits that road racing and spreading the dust and mud are vastly different techniques. He has always enjoyed the special demands offered by the event and, with nothing to lose, could be the foreign driver with the best chance of beating Burns and McRae.MARTIN BRUNDLEThe 40-year-old television pundit and ex-Formula One driver remains quick and alert enough to surprise a lot of people with a place in the top 20.

Now 37, the Spaniard has won 22 World Championship events and has twice won the British Rally. His attitude to this year’s rally is that it is almost certainly going to be a straight fight between himself and Richard Burns, especially on the second and third days. “When it comes to the Welsh forests, home advantage is definitely going to be a big advantage,” he said. No doubt his co-driver, Nicky Grist, is in for some “moments”. Ford have not won a domestic rally since 1979, but that could be about to change.CARLOS SAINZToyota, who will end their factory involvement after this closing event of the championship, have already lifted the manufacturers’ world title this season, but Sainz comes to Britain determined to avenge his frustrating memories of last year, when failure to finish cost him the world title. His confidence has never been in doubt and the Subaru has always reacted well to the demands of the British Rally.COLIN McRAEWith wins in the Kenyan and Portuguese rallies, the three-times winner of the British Rally has shown that while the Ford Focus has had teething troubles, in his hands it is fast.

We were all looking forward to having a good laugh and entertaining the crowds, which have been numbering up to 5,000. The All Blacks were packed with famous old names like Jock Ross, now in his 50s, Andy Haden, Wayne “Buck” Shelford, Terry Wright, Joe Stanley and John Bow, who is tipped to be the next New Zealand coach.It was great to meet old opponents from all over the world that I hadn’t seen for years. The Classic has become just as ferocious and defensive as any class of rugby.I was part of a British Lions team that included players like Mike Teague, Wade Dooley, Keith Crossan and Colin Deans. ALONG WITH a group of other doddery rugby veterans, I’ve been finding out how tough the modern game is – and we’re not fond of it.

We’ve been gathered in Bermuda and, while there’s no lovelier island, we’re all aching from head to toe after competing in the Bermuda Classic tournament. This is one of the most popular events in the rugby world among those whose boots are not only hung up but rotting. It is extremely well organised and managed and the social side is very enjoyable, but the rugby itself has become ultra serious.
The oldsters playing in it used to revel in the chance to play open and expansive rugby and although everyone wanted to win, the tournament was played in a free and easy spirit Not any longer. A win but little satisfaction.Northampton: N Beal; J Sleightholme, A Bateman, M Allen, B Cohen; P Grayson, I Vass; G Pagel, S Walter (C Johnson, 60), M Scelzo, J Phillips, R Metcalfe, T Rodber (D Mackinnon, 78), P Lam (capt), S Holmes.Neath: G John; S Williams, D Tieuti, T Davies, M Singer; M Pearce (C Rees, 80), R Jones; D Jones ( L Gerard, 70), M Davies, A Millward, M Turner (A Codling, 53), A Jackson, S Van Rensberg, R Phillips (capt), B Sinkinson .Referee: B Smith (Irl).. A beautifully balanced run took him to within a inch or two of the Neath line but when the final whistle blew it was Neath who were hammering away at Northampton’s line. Lam remained in a class of his own, the sole Northampton player capable of breaking through and lifting the monotony. Rough justice perhaps, following Mr Smith’s failure a few minutes earlier to spot some sly jersey pulling as Allan Bateman went charging through on a deftly placed kick.Northampton continued on their slipshod way, spilling passes, spurning chances and generally making life difficult for themselves.

He escaped on a number of occasions but sadly outstripped his support and too often found himself isolated.Pearce kicked his third penalty within two minutes of the restart and six points were all that separated the sides until Grayson converted his third penalty after Shaun van Rensberg was penalised a shade harshly for a late tackle on Ben Cohen. Perhaps the ease with which they had scored their points induced complacency. But Pearce, with a drop goal and a penalty, kept Neath in the game.Grayson kicked his second penalty before half-time, giving Northampton the prospect of a second-half cashing in on their dominance in the first It did not happen. Inexplicably, the Saints scrummage began to fade and Neath, sharper and unquestionably swifter in the backs, began to make room for their quicksilver winger Shane Williams. When he did his passing lacked sharpness and accuracy.With a comfortable cushion of 12 points midway through the first half, Northampton appeared to be coasting.

The position had been set up by Grayson’s mighty penalty kick from inside his own half but, overall, the fly-half was well below his best. He missed with three kicks at goal, a penalty, conversion and drop, and seldom had the confidence to move the ball wide. Good though he is, this is hardly a compliment to the Saints backs, who are simply not good enough as an attacking force.Without the corrosive power of the pack Northampton have little to offer and, when the forwards start to misfire, as happened throughout the second half, they are in trouble. It was ludicrous that with such an abundance of possession, Northampton should have been a mere six points ahead going into the final quarter.Northampton’s second try was scored by Simon Holmes following Metcalfe’s clean line-out take and a concerted drive to the Neath line. That was fair enough because Lam had been, by a country mile, the most penetrative player on the field and, despite the possession which flowed the way of the Northampton backs, he remained in a class apart as a runner. Furthermore, in their efforts to keep Northampton out they conceded 14 penalties in this period, Grayson choosing to kick two and using the others to set up promising attacking positions for his pack.Northampton’s first try came, almost inevitably, from a scrummage pushover and although Metcalfe arose from the debris with the ball, it was Lam who was credited with the try.

But when both made errors at the eighth America drew level and then steamed away over the final nine holes. A three-putt by O’Meara at the last was the only time either he or Woods went over par.With the American birdie and eagle tally clicking up like a World Cup rugby score it is no wonder that all other contenders fell away in the oppressive heat and humidity. All credit to Miguel Martin and Santiago Luna of Spain, who have played alongside Woods and O’Meara these past two days, for staying in touch for as long as they have.
On Friday they actually out-scored the Americans to lead at halfway and over the opening holes yesterday briefly went further ahead. It took the Americans those two days to unlock the secrets of the Mines Course on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur but once they did they played flawlessly to record individual scores of 63 and 67.

AFTER TOYING with the World Cup field in Malaysia for the first couple of days, Tiger Woods and Mark O’Meara yesterday raised their game and eased the United States into what should be an unassailable lead. With a round to go they are 23 under par, seven strokes in front of Spain with Argentina third a further six shots adrift. Cayard, whose AmericaOne team lie in fourth place behind Prada, America True and Team Dennis Conner, is said to be expecting much more from his new boat.The next question is when will AmericaOne, Prada, Nippon and Abracadabra decide to introduce their new boats and whether, when they do, the single boat America True and Team Dennis Conner teams will be able to hang on to them.. The French are simply slow and will need a miracle, while Young Australia and the Swiss FAST 2000 are surely without hope.And as the impoverished contenders contemplate Christmas at home, salt is rubbed into their wounds by the appearance out on the water of others with more luxurious budgets.While Paul Cayard was out dishing defeat to Young America yesterday, his B-boat crew were putting a brand new USA 61 to the test. They, like the Hawaiians, will need more speed if they are to make it past Christmas.In truth the Spanish and the Hawaiians will be the only teams in the bottom half who will be agonising over extending their hotel bookings. The Spanish, one place behind Young America, led the second-placed America True during their final race but could not eventually prevail. The team that were second behind Prada at the end of round one are now perilously close to the relegation zone in sixth place.But if Young America are struggling, they will take heart from the fact that they have still won more races than they have lost, a statistic that eludes all of the players beneath them.

They withdrew from two races and suffered two defeats as they gingerly coaxed their valuable asset around the course. The end of the round could not have come quickly enough after they were forced to commission their second boat earlier than they wanted. Kolius will be hoping for much more from his second boat if the team are to move the two places up the standings needed to make the cut next month.Sadly for Kolius it is familiar territory: the last time he was running an America’s Cup team of his own was back in 1987 when he represented the stuffy New York Yacht Club and humiliated their members by not making the semi-finals in Fremantle.The New York Yacht Club are facing humiliation once again unless Ed Baird and his Young America syndicate can turn round the poor run of form precipitated by the near-sinking of their first boat a week and a half ago. Since Chris Larson took the wheel and Kolius stuck his head out of the boat in a more tactical role, the team have showed more promise and even led the golden-boy Prada crew before the Italians finally restored normality and went on to win. While the leaders cruised easily into the final period of trialling and testing before the defining third round, after which five teams will go home, the scrabble at the cut has reached intensive proportions.
John Kolius made the ultimate commitment to the Hawaiian Abracadabra cause when he relinquished the helm in an attempt to improve his team’s ailing form. THE PAST week has been a time for drastic measures out on the Louis Vuitton Cup racecourse as the 11 America’s Cup challengers completed the second of three round-robins in the unpredictable waters off Auckland. But I wasn’t waterlicked after all, and my record book shows that for 14 days in India and Arunachal Pradesh, I had landed (and sportingly returned) two goldfish Best of all, without being caught myself..

Hennessy replaces Craig White, who performed the role during the World Cup.Meanwhile, Paul Grayson hopes to confirm his fitness for Six Nations duty when he returns to the Northampton side for the Allied Dunbar Premiership game with Bedford at Franklin’s Gardens. Stringer, meanwhile, is in direct competition with Tom Tierney, his fellow Munsterman. Up front, the theory that Malcolm O’Kelly and Jeremy Davidson will make up the second-row pairing has been complicated by the form of Munster’s Mick Galwey.The Irish have also appointed a new fitness manager – not simply a fitness coach, mark you – in the athletic shape of Liam Hennessy, a former international pole-vaulter who worked with the national track and field team at both the Atlanta and Barcelona Olympics. The other rookies to have caught Gatland’s eye include the out-sized Leinster centre Shane Horgan, the sparky Munster scrum-half Peter Stringer, and two of Stringer’s front-row team-mates, the prop John Hayes and the hooker Frank Sheahan, who plays for Cork Constitution and understudies the remarkable Keith Wood at provincial level.Assuming Gatland selects from his training squad, O’Gara will go head to head with the Ulster captain David Humphreys for the outside-half berth at Twickenham.

Reggie Corrigan, Paddy Johns, Andy Ward and the two Erics, Elwood and Miller, were demoted to the A ranks and there were no places of any description for Matt Mostyn, the Connacht wing, or Jonathan Bell, the Ulster centre, both of whom were in the 22 when Ireland messed up against Argentina on a desperate night in Lens last October.O’Gara, one of the central figures in Munster’s breathless rampage through the Heineken Cup pool stages, has every chance of winning a first cap on 5 February. Well, there were certainly one or two new departures when Warren Gatland, the national coach, named a 25-man training squad for the Six Nations opener with England at Twickenham a fortnight tomorrow.
Five uncapped players, including the much talked-about Munster stand-off Ronan O’Gara, were given a toehold among the élite, while umpteen members of the squad that failed to reach the World Cup quarter-finals last autumn were presented with an unceremonious heave-ho. Well, there were certainly one or two new departures when Warren Gatland, the national coach, named a 25-man training squad for the Six Nations opener with England at Twickenham a fortnight tomorrow. They say nothing ever changes in Irish rugby: that the outside-half will inevitably spend his entire career kicking the ball in the air, that the Test side will never win two games in succession, that the Saturday evening will always be more important than the Saturday afternoon. They say nothing ever changes in Irish rugby: that the outside-half will inevitably spend his entire career kicking the ball in the air, that the Test side will never win two games in succession, that the Saturday evening will always be more important than the Saturday afternoon.

Nick Price and Justin Rose both posted level-par scores of 72.First round scores65 W Coetsee (Rsa)66 G Owen, D Terblanche (Rsa), P Eales68 D Fichardt (Rsa), JF Remesy (Fra), R Goosen (Rsa), N Van Rensburg (Rsa), S Webster, T Johnstone (Zim), T Immelman (Rsa), D Gammon (Rsa), R Green (Aus)69 J Senden (Aus), G Ogilvy (Aus), A Roestoff (Rsa), P Price, W Bradley (Rsa), J Lomas, B Vaughan (USA), L Westwood, S Gallacher, P Lonard (Aus), T Moore (Rsa), M Lafeber (Ned)70 B Pappas (Rsa), B Davis, J Hugo (Rsa), D McGuigan, JM Singh (Ind), I Woosnam, G Orr, R Jacquelin (Fra), K Horne (Rsa), M Gronberg (Swe), A Wall71 B Vaughan (Rsa), C Hanell (Swe), D Pappas (Rsa), A Da Silva (Bra), B Davison (Rsa), J Skold (Swe), P Broadhurst, T Van der Walt (Rsa), J Sandelin (Swe), D Frost (Rsa), D Howell, N Vanhootegem (Bel), R McCann (USA), S Yates, I Palmer (Rsa), S Tinning (Den), B Dredge, K Storgaard (Den), T Gillis (USA)72 (x) J Oliver (Rsa), A McLardy (Rsa), T Gogele (Ger), C Williams, J Rose, M McNulty (Zim), D Botes (Rsa), M Jonzon (Swe), H Otto (Rsa), J Mellor, R Fulford (Rsa), M Brier (Aut), T Bjorn (Den), N Price (Zim), B Lincoln (USA), B Liddle (Rsa), G Muller (Rsa), D Crawford, J Loughnane, G Hutcheon73 S Hansen (Den), R Wessels (Rsa), C Kamps (Rsa), P Sjoland (Swe), F Lindgren (Swe), W De Haas (Rsa), I Pyman, I Garbutt, A McKenna, M Bothma (Rsa), M Archer, S Van Vuuren (Rsa), D De Vooght (Bel), (x) T Fisher Jnr (Rsa)74 M Davis, S Struver (Ger), T Dodds (Nam), B Langer (Ger), J Hobday (Rsa), (x) H Alberts (Rsa), C Whitelaw (Rsa), A Michell (Rsa), B Hlophe (Rsa), P Sanderson (Rsa), V Phillips, C Davison (Rsa), (x) R Wellington (Rsa), S Kjeldsen (Den), A Bossert (Swi), P Affleck, P Nyman (Swe), T Levet (Fra), C Swart (Rsa), A Hansen (Den), J Bele (Rsa), S Ludgater (Rsa), (x) J Van Zyl (Rsa)75 C Van Der Walt (Rsa), B Teilleria (Fra), E Canonica (Ita), I Hutchings (Rsa), D Van Staden (Rsa), S Daniels (Rsa), H Walters (Rsa), J Mashego (Rsa), A Van Staden (Rsa), R Johnson (Swe), (x) R Sterne (Rsa), (x) J Van Der Merwe (Rsa), R Gonzalez (Arg), A McLean, G Levenson (Rsa), J Kingston (Rsa), R Stewart (Rsa), R Michelmore (Rsa)76 W Druian (Rsa), R Kaplan (Rsa), M Murless (Rsa), N Henning (Rsa), N Maart (Rsa), S Hobday (Rsa), M Scarpa (Ita), R Muntz (Ned), T Clark (Rsa)77 A Henning (Rsa), W Abery (Rsa), M Gortana (Rsa), M Cayeux (Zim), I Garrido (Spa), A Cruse (Rsa), KH Han (Chn)78 S Pappas (Rsa), O Sandys (Rsa), N Burch, K Stone (Rsa), P Baker79 (x) T Aiken, J Cayless80 T Simon (Rsa), D Dunford (Rsa)82 J Vaughan (Rsa). I’ve also been working on my swing for two weeks and it’s not feeling comfortable But I’m looking to the future, it’s a long-term measure. At my age you have to start hitting the ball with as much power as you can.”The defending champion, David Frost, had a 71, while last week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship winner, Anthony Wall, went round in 70. “I’m playing better as I’m maturing, even though the results don’t always show it, and I feel I’m ready for a few good results now.”Ian Woosnam kept himself in contention for a first win since 1997 with a round of 70, containing six birdies and four bogeys as he struggled once more on the greens.”I putted pretty badly,” Woosnam admitted. “I had to go back to putting cack-handed last week because I lost it entirely. I certainly do this year and I’m playing much better.Meanwhile, Eales was putting in a blistering finish to join Owen and Terblanche in second place.

“I remember each detail of what I thought about the music in my first concert,” says Maxim Vengerov of his five-year-old debut. For every Joshua Bell, whose equable nature ensured a smooth transition from childhood phenomenon to adult virtuoso, there is also a Kennedy – whose unstable temperament proved, for a while at least, his professional undoing. Part of the enigma lies in the fact that prodigies are not prodigies to themselves. Consider Lorin Maazel’s comment on his infant exploits, which included conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic when he was eight: “I don’t remember the period all that clearly. I do know that I found the experience utterly normal.” The gift emerges with absolute assurance, unstoppable force.More interesting is what happens to that gift when its owner grows up and collides with reality.

Lott has talent – probably more than the “Teeny Paganini”, Vanessa-Mae ( now 21 and in the news this week after sacking her mother as her manager), and she’s light-years ahead of the grotesquely hyped Charlotte Church – but as yet she shows no trace of the godlike authority Menuhin seems to have been born with.But the good Lord wasn’t always wrong. When he hailed the nine-year-old Sarah Chang as “the most wonderful, perfect, ideal violinist” he had ever heard, he was not overstating the case: listen to her debut record (also on EMI) and your belief in miracles may be restored.No one can explain the emergence of a true prodigy, as opposed to that of a child who is merely quick on the uptake. Since the life of prodigies is by definition short, the industrial supply must be constantly stoked up. This month EMI are touting the talents of a “12-year-old elf from Germany’s Black Forest”. With the aid of Mozart’s own violin, “miraculous Mädchen” Maria-Elisabeth Lott is said to provide “a new definition of virtuosity”. Among her commendations is the late Lord Menuhin’s assertion that “when she is 13 she will be just as good as I was at that age”.
Thanks to Menuhin’s early recordings on the Biddulph label, we can all make a judgment on that: mine is that the miraculous elf will have to improve preternaturally fast if she is to fulfil that prophecy by her 13th birthday in June. Since the life of prodigies is by definition short, the industrial supply must be constantly stoked up.