From the moment we arrived in Entebbe, it was clear that nothing was going to be as easy as it is at home. As well as the 12 or so volunteers that had arrived on the same flight, there were also 30-odd heavy Gilbert bags stuffed with rugby kit that we had to load onto the roof of the bus that picked us up – a bus that we then had to push to get us going on our 3-hour journey to Jinja.

Arriving at Nile Rugby Club in Jinja, the first task was to set up camp in the blazing heat, introduce ourselves to the facilities – ‘long-drop’ toilets, cold water that needed iodine treatment before drinking, erratic electricity and so on.

But, there was a rugby pitch, and that’s why we were there. What more does anyone need?

After a day of white water rafting on the Saturday, it was down to work on the Sunday, taking a tour of Jinja and some of the schools we’d be coaching in, then sorting out kit bags, learning some basic Luganda (Ugandan language), dividing into coaching teams and planning for day one. We split into 6 groups, each with a local Ugandan volunteer, and were assigned two schools each – one to coach in the morning, and one in the afternoon.

The first day was certainly the most daunting as we headed off to our respective schools on Monday morning not quite knowing what to expect. There was no way of knowing how many kids would turn up – in some schools there were around 30, whilst in others there were well over 100.

The coaching strategy for the Tag Rugby programme is based on ‘game-sense’, avoiding most drill-based exercises that English kids tend to grow up with, opting for various game situations that teach the basic skills of rugby and make sure everyone is involved as much as possible.

The rules of the game are gradually introduced and despite the communication issues, by the end of the first session, there was a game being played that bore some resemblance to tag rugby.

Passing backwards took some time to catch on (forgive the pun), and the offside rule wasn’t introduced until the Wednesday, but gradually as the children learnt the rules, they shouted at anyone that got it wrong until they all knew what was going on.

“Now, spread out in a bunch”

Seeing the enjoyment on the children’s faces was superb. On one of the days, we witnessed a more normal ‘sports’ lesson taking place – it consisted of a teacher standing in the middle of a circle of what must have been over 60 kids throwing a beach ball to them in turn. Organised sport like tag rugby just wasn’t on offer, and it was clear what sort of impact the Tag programme makes each year.

The more the children played the game throughout the week, the faster they improved – their passing and catching, running at space and defensive alignment was all pretty impressive by midweek. Needless to say there was some serious pace on display, and I soon learnt not to join in too much – when they are so fast and 3 feet tall, they are exceptionally difficult to tag!

The week of coaching culminates in Tournament Day on the Friday where the 12 schools compete against each other, so as the week continues, the coaching team has to keep an eye out for the talent.

Selecting a squad of ten from all the children you’ve worked with is not an easy task, with a minimum of 5 girls and 5 boys. There were one or two that stood out from the rest, but the standard was relatively even amongst the others, so there was inevitably ‘character-building’ disappointment for those that narrowly missed the cut.

Tournament Day itself gets pretty competitive, not least between the coaches that are desperate to see their side do well. Having written off their chances early on without a victory in the group stage, my Naranbhai Primary School team pulled off a shock victory in the semis and final of the ‘Small Cup’ (the Bowl equivalent).

The last team talk before Extra Time in the final

I don’t think they understood the concept of the three-tiered tournament even when they picked up the smallest trophy, but they were certainly delighted and I was proud as we lifted the silverware.

After an exhausting week and a celebration in a Ugandan nightclub, the tour moved on to Mbale where it all happened again with another set of schools and yet more wide-eyed eager-to-learn children being introduced to rugby.

The legacy left behind by each Tag tour to Uganda is clear – last year’s tournament participants managed to duck out of school to cheer on their teams, and as we were packing up camp on the Saturday morning in Jinja, a few of the children were spotted arriving at the rugby club wearing their team T-shirts and looking for a game.

Here’s a brief video featuring some of Mrs Hutch’s photography, and there are plenty more on the Tag Rugby Trust website.

I would strongly recommend volunteering for a tour – it’s an incredible experience and something you and the children you coach will never forget. Take your pick between Uganda, Zambia, India or Mexico and get yourself signed up. All being well, we’ll be returning to Uganda in 2011, so come along for the ride if you can.

For more information and to register your interest, please visit www.tagrugbytrust.co.uk. If you’d like to donate to my own fundraising, feel free to do so at www.justgiving.com/hutchuganda2010.

Nick Heath spoke to Sean Fitzpatrick this week about the England performance, New Zealand’s prospects for the Tri-Nations and his triathlon training.

Fitzy was particularly impressed by England’s performance in the 2nd Test and the remarkable improvement shown in one week. “Last week the performance by the forwards was pretty clueless, but this week they really stepped up and gave Youngs an armchair ride.”

“I thought Courtney Lawes was superb and brought a real physicality to the game. Tom Croft brought a new dimension as well and we haven’t seen that since the Lions, and they produced quick ball.”

Hutch was particularly delighted with every single mention of quick ball. “They needed to produce quick ball, and this week they did that. Ben Youngs was then able to distribute, his delivery is outstanding and his quick pass allows Flood time on the ball.”

Funnily enough the sound wasn’t great just as he was singing England’s praises…we thought he might have been making crackly noises himself, but he did seem pretty positive.

He was also very positive about New Zealand’s recent performances, claiming that “New Zealand have started their international year better than any other year.”

“I thought the form in the Super 14 was pretty average from New Zealand teams, but they seem to have got it together in the last couple of weeks and we’re looking good for the Tri-Nations.”

“What was good to see was that the older guys really came through and stepped up, and Dan Carter was probably back to his best form of ’05 which is great to see.”

Whilst he fancied their chances in the Tri-Nations, we couldn’t tempt him with a World Cup prediction unfortunately. “We’ve got a while to go yet, with a whole international season to go, so I’m not getting too excited yet.”

You can listen to the interview in full using the audio player below.

 
Sean Fitzpatrick is competing in the ITU Hyde Park triathlon to raise funds for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, which supports over 75 projects worldwide and helps the lives of over one million children – www.laureus.com

For so long, we have harped on about the importance of quick ball, and how obvious it is that attacking at pace is much harder to defend against – and finally England have cottoned on.

There was a time when we questioned ourselves – surely Martin Johnson and his coaching cohorts could spot the fact that other teams were recycling more quickly before defences could realign? We thought momentarily that the teams they were playing were slowing the ball down, or that there was some other trick that we hadn’t spotted.

But then New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Ireland, Wales and France played the same teams, prioritised quick ball and demonstrated how it was done. So we came back to the sad conclusion that actually the England gameplan was to keep it tight, make no mistakes, creep forward yard after yard and then maybe the defence will get bored and concede a penalty.

The First Test against Australia plumbed new depths of attacking ineptitude, with unfeasibly slow ball whenever England approached the opposition tryline, and we were getting nowhere, literally and metaphorically.

Thankfully, the Second Test was a completely different story altogether, but things don’t change that drastically in a week – focusing on quick ball could be a relatively minor shift of strategy, but look at the effect it has on the whole game.

Tom Croft, Lewis Moody and Courtney Lawes carried the ball with determination, running at a gap and pumping the legs for as long as possible, rather than falling over at the feet of the tackler.

The supporting forwards would be there, clearing out defenders as soon as the ball hit the deck, and Ben Youngs could whip it away from the ruck keeping the Aussie line retreating quickly.

Even when the option was to kick, ensuring that the likes of James O’Connor and Digby Ioane are on the back foot is clearly preferable, and offers a greater likelihood of landing it in space and finding touch – if the ball is slow, they can get into position to field the kick so much more easily.

Indeed, the whole performance stemmed from the speed of possession, in the same way that the dire efforts of the last few years have stemmed from the lack of it.

Johnno and his coaching team must learn from this game, taking the positives out of the victory and building on them, which ought to be a refreshing change from looking for positives in defeat when there aren’t any.

There really has been very little to build on until now, and nearly every game has been a case of starting again, but back this up with strong performances in the Autumn and we might just see some progress.

There have been a few false dawns for England, but continue to cherish quick ball and try to make sure this isn’t one of them.

New Features

The new design is generally a lot tidier, so it should be easier to navigate. It’s also more image-dependent which makes it look a little better, so we’ll have a picture with every article – there are still a few to add retrospectively, so bear with us whilst we sort it out. We are on the hunt for any amateur photographers who don’t mind sharing their images with us – drop us a line if you can help.

It’s a bit of a ‘magazine’ layout, which should make it easier to find what you are interested in, each tournament has it’s own section, and we’ll be adding sections for each country that we cover as well.

The tabbed section on the right of the homepage will let you keep an eye on the latest comments and most recent articles. You’ll notice Avatars beside each comment, and you are welcome to add a picture if you like – just register at www.gravatar.com with the same email address that you enter when you comment, and it will come through here by some technological magic.

Coming up on The Rugby Blog

The site will be a little quieter for a few weeks whilst Hutch is in Uganda with the Tag Rugby Trust, but there will be a few articles as we keep things ticking over.

Then we’ll be starting the build up to the new season in earnest – it’s a long year ahead culminating in the Rugby World Cup, so stay with us for the duration as we cover the Guinness Premiership, Magners League, Heineken Cup, all the internationals, going off on the odd rant, sharing our opinions and keeping an eye on those players that could feature for the home countries in New Zealand.

I’m pleased to say that the Podcast will return for the new season – it was something of an experiment last year, but all the feedback we’ve had has been very positive and so Nick Heath will be back with your usual weekly helping of rugby interviews and insight. There’s a new iTunes icon on the right, so click on that and you’ll find every episode in iTunes where you can subscribe.

We are also looking to expand our coverage. We realise that we are fairly England-centric, but we’d like to have more articles about the other home nations to start with, and then take on the rest of the world when we have more capacity. Contributions are always welcomed, and we are looking to expand our writing team, so send us an email if you’d like to be involved.

We really value the comments and discussion by our readers – without it, the site wouldn’t be any good, frankly. I think you’ll agree that it’s better when there are more comments and there’s more discussion, so perhaps you could help spread the word – tell your friends about it, post links to your favourite articles on Twitter and Facebook, forward on our monthly newsletter and generally help us out. At the very least, click the new ‘Like’ button on each article if you have a Facebook account.

Feedback

We’d really like to know your thoughts on the site, the new design, the ramblings we write or anything else you’d like to get off your chest. Suggestions for new features are always welcome, so again, please get in touch.

Despite the injury concerns, Declan Kidney has named a strong Ireland squad for the upcoming acid tests against Australia and New Zealand down under, and some young tyros have been handed a touring place.

Chris Henry of Ulster, who can pack down at 6 or 8, looks to try and fill the gap left behind by his provincial colleague Ferris. Ferris has been a revelation for Ireland over the past 18 months, and would have been in many pundits’ starting XV for the Lions over the summer, but a fractured cheekbone has opened the door for Henry.

The absence of Lion Luke Fitzgerald has also allowed Leinster team mate Fergus McFadden to enter the fray. The young centre is viewed as one of the long term successors to Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy, and along with Fitzgerald is seen as the future of Irish centre play. Whether McFadden will get the chance to don the green shirt on this tour remains to be seen, but for the time being, the experience of touring will bring the player on leaps and bounds.

This tour will be a real test of Ireland’s depth, particularly with the news that Paul O’Connell has lost his race to recover from a groin injury that has hampered his season. The side has been making significant progress over the last couple of years, introducing younger talent as the Golden Generation begin to retire, but now that their hand is forced, how will they fare?

South African Coach Pieter de Villiers – whose decision to rest some of his big names (Habana, Spies, Burger, Smith) ahead of the upcoming summer internationals had already come under some scrutiny – has no doubt had the worst of the luck.

De Villiers was forced this week was to fly in the resting Victor Matfield and team mate Zane Kirchner from South Africa after Premier Rugby refused to release Bath’s Butch James, and man-mountain Andries Bekker’s withdrew injured, forcing them out of the starting line-up.

And while at first glance these changes and the disruption they have caused in the South African set up will be music to Welsh fans’ ears, to call this disrupted, non first-choice starting line-up a weakened South African side would be an oversimplification.

The team is still brimming with talent and experience, and Wales will have to box clever if they hope to stand any chance against South Africa’s remaining threats.

South Africa’s backline may be inexperienced, and putting them under pressure should be Wales’ main objective throughout the game. Francois Steyn’s presence at full back however means a Welsh tactical kicking game may be all but out of the question – see exhibit A below.

Warren Gatland’s mantra on the road to the World Cup has been to build up Wales’ physicality, an area South Africa have made their own over the past few years, and even with their famously ferocious back row resting, South Africa have very few weaknesses in the contact area.

Wales will also be without many of their first choices for the tie. Gatland has decided to rest elder statesmen Shane and Martyn Williams for the duration of the tour, and in the last two weeks both Gethin Jenkins and Andy Powell have been lost to injury.

Much like South Africa though, Wales are not too significantly weakened by these changes. Wales’ front row Adam Jones, Matthew Rees and Paul James should be up to the task in the scrum, with Jones and Rees having proved their mettle against South Africa for the Lions, and all three already being familiar with BJ Botha and CJ Van de Linde from the Magners league.

The surprise return of James Hook, who has put off much needed shoulder surgery to play the Springboks, will bolster the Welsh chances as Hook is a player who consistently causes Southern Hemisphere teams problems and whose centre partner will be Jamie Roberts, still one of rugby’s greatest attacking assets.

Young guns Tom Prydie and Sam Warburton have already proven that they are ready for the international stage and will relish the chance to test themselves against uncapped opposite numbers.

Undoubtedly Wales have the ability to win, but with South Africa’s strength in depth they’ll need to climb a mountain first to do so.

By Sam Francis

This is the general consensus apparently, but that doesn’t necessary mean you’ll agree!

1. Soane Tonga’uhia
2. Schalk Brits
3. Carl Hayman
4. Juande Kruger
5. Marco Wentzel
6. Phil Dowson
7. Lewis Moody
8. Luke Watson

9. Ben Youngs
10. Toby Flood
11. Chris Ashton
12. Olly Barkley
13. Dom Waldouck
14. Joe Maddock
15 Ben Foden

The main reason is because we’d like to raise a little more for the Tag Rugby Trust in order to do justice to the quality of prizes that various people have kindly donated.

The other benefit is that it delays the inevitable frustration when I take all the prizes to the local Post Office, where the ineptitude is quite remarkable.

So, if you haven’t already entered, please, please do so at www.justgiving.com/rugbyraffle2010.

Here are the prizes:

- RBS 6 Nations England jersey signed by Paul Hodgson, Tim Payne and Steffon Armitage, donated by the RBS RugbyForce team

- RBS 6 Nations Wales jersey signed by Ryan Jones and Warren Gatland, donated by the RBS RugbyForce team

- RBS 6 Nations Rugby Ball, signed by Brian O’Driscoll, Ryan Jones, Steve Bothwick, Chris Cusiter, Dimitri Szarzewski and Leonardo Ghiraldini, donated by the RBS RugbyForce team

- Leicester Tigers shirt signed by the squad, donated by SportGuru

- Replica match ball signed by the Sale Sharks squad, donated by Gilbert

- Barbarians rugby jersey, signed by the 2008 squad

- Midweek Spa Day for two at Champneys

- Official England rugby shirt, signed by the whole England Women’s Team that won this year’s Six Nations Grand Slam

- 2 Tickets to the Middlesex Sevens at Twickenham on Saturday 14th August

- 16 VIP Paintball passes, with 100 paintballs included, donated by the Ministry of Paintball

- 2 Tickets to Rugby Rocks 7s – the ultimate rugby and music festival in London on June 12th

- Copy of Football Manager for Playstation 3, donated by Sega – just in time for the World Cup!

- Copy of ‘Rugby Union: The Men Who Make The Game’, donated by Book Guild Publishing

Here are our player ratings for the England squad.

1. Jon Golding – 8
Showed he isn’t shy of making a tackle, even with a big forearm in the face from Xavier Rush, and made a decent contribution in the loose. Held his own in the scrum against Julian White, and although the Sky team were suggesting some illegal techniques, he got away with it.

2. Steve Thompson – 7
A reasonable game from Thompson, although was probably looking for more ball in the loose in a game like this. Throwing-in seemed pretty good, which has been a concern in the past.

3. Paul Doran-Jones – 6
He also managed reasonably well in the scrum, but somehow looks less convincing as a tight-head prop. I know this isn’t directly related to his performance at the weekend, but he looks a bit small and isn’t going to terrify an opposition front row. There are a few ahead of him in the pecking order I’d say.

4. Dave Attwood – 8
A great display from the young Gloucester lock. Authoritative in the lineout with a number of good takes, and dynamic in the loose, often in support and displaying good hands with several offloads.

5. Tom Palmer – 5
Despite a comment on the site to the contrary, I thought Palmer had a poor game. He conceded three penalties in the first half which would be punished in a Test match, and his skill levels in open play seem slightly under par compared to many second rows in world rugby, including the rookie alongside him.

6. James Haskell – 8
Haskell was busy and work-hungry throughout, showing his power and pace to waltz through the weak defence for a try. We seem to have a number of options at 6 at the moment.

7. Steffon Armitage – 7
Had a reasonable game, and was able to demonstrate his pace and ability to stay on his feet with some good surges forward. It’s a tricky game to judge an openside with both sides looking to avoid the breakdown, but Armitage could be a good bench option if the captain gets injured.

8. Nick Easter – 7
Fairly effective, and as you’d expect from Easter these days. Combined well with club-mate Danny Care and made some yards charging at the Baabaas’ defence, and the offloading game that England were attempting suits his abilities with strength in the tackle and good hands.

9. Danny Care – 7
Care wasn’t the best English scrum-half on display at Twickenham this weekend, but had a decent enough game, distributing the ball quickly in the first half and using runners effectively to keep defenders guessing. Thankfully, there wasn’t much evidence of the previously favoured ‘pop to a static forward for a mini-ruck’ strategy.

10. Charlie Hodgson – 5
It looked like he had the yips right from the start, and this wasn’t even a full international fixture. He made one lovely pass to put Mark Cueto in space, but got bounced off a tackle by Ben Kay and was generally pretty average.

11. David Strettle – 7
Worked hard to get himself into the game, and showed off his quick feet a few times – particularly when stopping dead and changing direction to evade a defender in his own 22. He’s still a livewire, but still a bit lightweight.

12. Shontayne Hape – 8
I was pleasantly surprised by Hape, and despite the usual caveats about this type of game, I thought he showed that he could be an asset in England’s midfield. A great step and hand-off for a simple try, as well as a number of solid tackles in defence – he got me thinking about a potential new-look midfield (more on that later).

13. Mike Tindall – 7
Not a bad game from Tindall, and looked in great shape. Again, it’s difficult to gauge his performance in a match like this, but did enough to suggest that he deserves to be in or around the squad.

14. Mark Cueto – 9
One of his best games for England, constantly finding space with the ability to speed through the gap. He was easily the player of the first half, and with this sort of attacking prowess to go with his defensive capabilities, he ought to be a fixture on England’s wing.

15. Ben Foden – 6
This should have been his type of game, but he was outshone by Cueto, and looked like he was trying to force things too much when they weren’t really on. That said, it was only his second start for England, and he looked confident at the back, and it will be interesting to see how he gets on down under.

Subs
Olly Barkley was impressive when he replaced Hodgson towards the end of the first half, kicking well and passing as effectively as Hodgson. Dan Ward-Smith looked like a viable option in the second row and would add a bit dynamism, Mathew Tait was pretty average I thought, whilst everyone else did a reasonable job.

All the details and list of prizes is available at www.justgiving.com/rugbyraffle2010, and they include various signed jerseys and balls, rugby tickets, kit, books, spa days and all sorts.

It’s a very worthy cause, and all the money donated will go to the Tag Rugby Trust, which aims to improve the lives of under-privileged children by teaching them a new sport, building social skills, teamwork and confidence.

Your support is hugely appreciated – thank you.