Poetic Justice

With the new Premiership season just round the corner who has recruited best and which players have moved where? I look into the transfers of every side and dish out the pre-season grades based on how well they’ve recruited on the player front. For the purposes of assigning a grade I haven’t considered managerial appointments, academy promotions or contract extensions although they have been mentioned. However I have taken into account players already in place at the club, i.e does the club actually need a prop? As well as how well I feel the signings will actually fit in at his new team, both on and off the field. Bath Grade: B+ All in all it looks to have been a pretty decent transfer period for Todd Blackadder’s side. Matt Banahan is perhaps their only major loss, he made 251 appearances for the club, the combined total of the others on the way out is just 179 – 86 of these are from Academy raised Kane Palma-Newport. Amongst those arriving is Will Chudley wh...

For over half the population, myself included, we will never know or experience the physical and mental damage that carrying and giving birth to a child does to the human body. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination or common sense to realise that it’s extremely hard to go through all of that and still perform at the top of your game, even more so in the sporting pantheon. So consider the fact that Serena Williams just reached her thirtieth Grand Slam final ten months after giving birth and battling through a horrendous delivery. Despite defeat to Angelique Kerber, Williams’ recorded one the most incredible tournament runs of her career displaying class, power and precision throughout Wimbledon in a competition that outlined her ‘GOAT’ credentials even more. Right from the beginning of her pregnancy Williams has defied the odds of what many would think possible. Just days before she was set to play in the 2017 Australian Open, a competition she had already won six times, Serena dis...

Exeter Chiefs - 1st My Prediction - 1st Review: Another superb season down on the Devon coast which culminated in the Chiefs topping the pile by eight points. Following the comprehensive victory over Newcastle in a manner now synonymous with Exeter, Rob Baxter's charges have succeeded in taking their title defence all the way. This season has once again proved the merits of the coaching and recruitment team at Sandy Park, the semi-final winning side featured only four of the same players to have started the Twickenham final almost a year ago. Players like Johnny Hill, Joe Simmonds, Lachlan Turner, and Sam Simmonds have all been revelations for Exeter. Despite a losing start to the season and a rare fixture that brought no league points (defeat to Newcastle in Week 13) the Chiefs have been far and away the best team in the league and they go into their final game on a streak of ten successive wins and five straight games scoring 30 or more points. Player of the Season: Sam S...