Ö÷²¥´óÐã

Ö÷²¥´óÐã.co.uk

Nick Mullins (archive)

Rome learns to love rugby

  • Nick Mullins
  • 9 Mar 07, 05:04 PM

Nick MullinsRome - There is money at stake for Italians tomorrow.
If they can beat Wales and record their second win of the championship then they will each pick up a bonus of £15,000.

Forget the pride of recording back-to-back victories in the Six Nations for the first time, this is also about pounds and pence, or euros and cents.

No-one is entirely sure why they have that . Andrea Scanavacca might not be Dan Carter but he did the business against Scotland.

Having said that Ramiro Pez was banging them over from his own half in the sunshine at the this lunchtime.

Continue reading "Rome learns to love rugby"

Six Nations XV - take II

  • Bryn Palmer
  • 5 Mar 07, 01:34 PM

Bryn PalmerLondon Before the Six Nations began, we had a con-flab here in the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Sport website office about who would be in our combined team of the tournament.

After three rounds of action, our original team have not entirely justified our faith in them...Only six of the original XV make our latest combined XV, which has been based on aggregating my selections with four of my colleagues.

Controversially (or not given the results/?), there's no room for a single player from Scotland, Wales - or England.

We will revisit the subject after the final two rounds. Anyway, see what you think..

Continue reading "Six Nations XV - take II"

Nick Mullins' Six Nations XV

  • Nick Mullins
  • 5 Mar 07, 09:40 AM

Nick MullinsHere's my team of the tournament so far:

15 - Hugo Southwell
14 - Shane Horgan
13 - Brian O'Driscoll
12 - Yannick Jauzion
11 - Christophe Dominici
10 - Ronan O'Gara
9 - Alessandro Troncon
1 - Andrea Lo Cicero
2 - Raphael Ibanez
3 - Martin Castrogiovanni
4 - Paul O'Connell
5 - Marco Bortolami
6 - Alix Popham
7 - David Wallace
8 - Sergio Parisse

Wales wary as France build for World Cup

  • Nick Mullins
  • 26 Feb 07, 05:11 PM

Nick MullinsSo that’s it then. Why don’t we just cut out the middle-man and tell France they can keep their Grand Slam for another season?

With the greatest of respect to England and Scotland, it’s all over, isn’t it?

was the latest a Six Nations match had ever kicked off, so by the time we were ordering our coffees and crepes it was well into Sunday morning.

Around our dinner table in the late-night brasserie there was consensus. France fought off a stirring early challenge from Wales but then won with depressing ease – rather like a boxer holding off a plucky opponent at arm’s length.

Continue reading "Wales wary as France build for World Cup"

Welsh fans set Paris abuzz

  • Nick Mullins
  • 23 Feb 07, 04:07 PM

Nick Mullinswal_badge.gifParis - I guess Wales will have a tougher French test to overcome when they run out at the Stade de France, but I hope they react with slightly less bemusement than the fans from Neath on the table next door this lunchtime, who struggled to decipher the bistro's rather unhelpful English menu.

This city is one of the gastronimical centres of the world - but I doubt chefs in the Place de la Republique will be rustling up too many dishes of "paving slabs on of top pepper sauce" for the red army this weekend.

A fortnight after trooping rather disconsolately away from Edinburgh, the fans are back out in force this weekend. It remains one of the enduring features of this grand old championship that no matter how badly your team might have let you down last time out, it'd be rude not to be with them again next time, especially when that next time is in Paris.

Continue reading "Welsh fans set Paris abuzz"

Why Wales have cause for hope in Paris

  • Nick Mullins
  • 22 Feb 07, 08:16 AM

Nick Mullinswal_badge.gifCardiff – I don’t think England’s rugby players know how lucky they are sometimes.

Sure they’ve been rightly pilloried for that insipid performance against Italy, but they ought to pay their £5.10 and spend some time on this side of the .

Then they’d know exactly what when you live in an oval-shaped goldfish bowl.

It’s interesting to see how quickly a team dubbed by some as potential Grand Slammers before the opener against Ireland can attract two games later. It’s either feast or famine when it comes to the national team - the middle line is rarely popular.

Continue reading "Why Wales have cause for hope in Paris"

About Nick Mullins

  • Nick Mullins
  • 17 Jan 07, 01:33 PM

n_mullins_6666.gifI’m one of Ö÷²¥´óÐã Sport’s all-rounders. Over the course of a year you might hear me commentating from Centre Court at Wimbledon, the River Thames on Boat Race day or Tower Bridge on London Marathon Sunday.

My day job though is rugby union. I switched codes - from radio to television - in 2001 to help fill the gap left by Bill McLaren and this will be the seventh year I’ve talked my way through the Six Nations for Ö÷²¥´óÐã Sport.

I’ll spend the majority of the tournament with my head in the Ö÷²¥´óÐã scrum, but when I come up for air I’ll look to spend time with the guitar I’m learning to play, a large film collection and Erin and Rosie - my two young daughters.

The Ö÷²¥´óÐã is not responsible for the content of external internet sites