Newcastle and England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson is continuing his recovery from a knee injury with renowned specialist Bill Knowles in the mountains of Vermont, USA. Owen Slot offers an update on his re-hab in The Times.

"If you want to know why the England rugby union team's management have come to make a habit of sending players across the Atlantic, you need only look at the office wall of Bill Knowles, the specialist they come all this way for.

"A framed shirt signed by Richard Hill, the former flanker, thanks Knowles for “one of the most rewarding three weeks of my life”. Charlie Hodgson's shirt next to it has the legend: “You have given me the confidence to achieve all my goals after what has been the most rewarding four weeks of my career.” There is another shirt signed by the entire England 2007 squad. They presented him with that after a pre-World Cup training camp in Bath, when Knowles was deemed such a requirement that they flew him in for a week. As Wilkinson said: “Even for the guys who didn't know him, his positivity was contagious.”"

The sense of frustration and dislocation does not get any easier for James Simpson-Daniel, writes Mick Cleary in the Daily Telegraph.

"Calamity has come calling on Simpson-Daniel's door so often since he won the first of only 10 caps seven years ago that he ought to be on first-name terms with the unwanted visitor.

"Injury has blighted his career. Dealing with adversity has become such a necessary part of his make-up that he is well-placed to help rally his put-upon Gloucester team-mates as they attempt to bounce back from their Heineken Cup exit by beating London Irish in a top-of-the-table clash at Kingsholm this afternoon. Gloucester need to perform, as does Simpson-Daniel, who was earmarked for a slot in England's starting line-up in the autumn only once again to fall foul of injury, the in-form wing wrecking his ankle ligaments just before the autumn series. He is only two games into his comeback and understandably has been demoted to the Saxons squad.

Writing in The Scotsman, Allan Massie believes Scotland's player access complaints stem from their own failures.

"The England rugby squad are all Martin Johnson's for a fortnight before the opening of the Six Nations, and have been disporting themselves in Portugal – except for three unfortunates who have been sent home to get "game-time" with their clubs, which, they will doubtless be reflecting sadly, means no game-time for them against Italy on 7 February. Meanwhile, Frank Hadden will be deprived of a third of his squad this weekend, as they return to be available for their clubs in England and France.

"Tough luck, and both Frank and the SRU chief executive Gordon McKie have been muttering darkly about there being no level playing field. They're quite right of course, but there's no point in girning. If Scotland, like Italy, are in this position, it's entirely because we have failed to make a success of the domestic professional game."

International Rugby News has collated a list of the best wind-ups players have witnessed during their careers. . The Independent features some of these tales including this one from former Leicester Tigers fly-half Andy Goode.

""The one that sticks in my mind is going back seven or eight years, when Austin Healey (L) had a running feud with Steve Booth (R). Austin had this superstition to eat popcorn the night before a game so he would either go to the cinema to watch a film or just drive to the cinema to get some popcorn and then go home. Austin was at the cinema one night with his missus and he had just been given a new Mercedes from his sponsor. Steve was also at the cinema but Austin didn't know he was there. Steve saw Austin's car so he went and got cans and cans of shaving foam and covered Austin's new car in it.

"The next day, Austin got wind that it was Boothy and decided to, for want of a better word, do a number two in his shoe. Austin took Boothy's shoe before the game, did what he needed to do in it and left it there for the whole match! Another superstition of Austin's was that he had a certain lucky T-shirt that he always wore during warm-ups. After the game, Boothy went to put his shoes on, saw what had happened and decided to clean his shoe out with Austin's lucky t-shirt. Austin took great exception to this, put Boothy in a sleeper hold and was about five seconds from knocking him unconscious on the dressing room floor. It was not so much a changing room prank but more of a feud that got out of hand.""

Welsh legend Gareth Edwards previews this year's Six Nations Championship in the Western Mail.

"I’m concerned about our first match again this year because Scottish rugby seems to have turned the corner. The performances of their national side show that the Scots have improved, while Glasgow provided one of the biggest shocks in Heineken Cup history with their stunning victory in Toulouse.

"Like us, Scotland probably should have beaten South Africa last autumn and, make no mistake about it, coaches Frank Hadden and Gregor Townsend will be planning to ambush us in eight days time. Should we come through that, we could be on for the championship again. I’m not saying we are going to lose in Edinburgh, but I doubt there will be a Grand Slam for anybody this year, because it’s so tough to win every one of your matches in the Six Nations two years in a row."

Italy coach Nick Mallett admits he tried to poach Danny Cipriani for the Azzurri in an interview with Robert Kitson in The Guardian.

"The 52-year-old former Springbok No8 will tell you straight and also reveal how Italy tried to poach Danny Cipriani a couple of years ago. "I wish we could have got him for Italy. He was only 19 but, with a name like that, he was one guy we wanted to contact. Our manager, Carlo ­Checchinato, phoned him. Danny appreciated the call but said he'd come through the English system and playing for England was a bigger challenge for him."

"It is still only 9.10am in a quiet room at the Hurlingham Club in London, yet the irrepressible Mallett is already building up a head of steam. This is the man who once slogged Ian Botham around the Parks while playing for Oxford University, even if close scrutiny of the 1981 edition of Wisden suggests the story of him hitting the England all-rounder for three sixes in the same over has been exaggerated. "Botham keeps getting angry about this. He says it certainly wasn't three sixes in one over. I did manage to hit a few runs off him but he was bowling off-spin until he got very angry and bowled a bouncer off a short run. He bloody nearly killed his wicketkeeper who was standing up." The story also goes that some Springbok players once slipped sleeping tablets into his morning coffee to slow down their resident force of nature; apart from the odd yawn in mid-afternoon, the pills had no obvious effect."

Ever since the early decades of its growth the Six Nations has been partial to a bit of monkey business according to Peter Jackson in the Daily Mail.

"Where it had taken France 16 years to renew membership of the old gentlemen's club, England were back within 16 days after their second expulsion for daring to break from the collective television bargaining to do their own £87.5m satellite deal.

"It was all too absurd for words until Bill Beaumont jumped in his car to settle what he called 'a dispute as stupid as it was damaging'. The RFU despatched their old Grand Slam captain to Glasgow for summit talks with Six Nations chairman Allan Hosie and Beaumont duly emerged from the Drum and Monkey pub to declare peace in our time.

"Those were the days when there were some people in influential positions at Twickenham misguided enough to think England would be better off forging alliances with the Southern Hemisphere and slipping England Reserves into the Six Nations on the arrogant assumption that the tournament had been reduced to an Anglo-French monopoly."

Neil Drysdale speaks to former Scotland fullback Glenn Metcalfe about Scotland's last Championship success - in the 1999 Five Nations. Read his thoughts in The Herald.

"That Five Nations year was one where everything gelled and we had the right ingredients of guys who could act as enforcers, such as John and Alan, and those who could produce spontaneous moments of magic, with Gregor to the fore," said Metcalfe, who won 38 caps and played in two World Cups.

"John Leslie had a big part in it and he deserved his award as man of the tournament, because his physicality complemented the way that Taity and Gregor would look for different angles of attack, and we were never afraid to think on our feet. We proved in ’99 the nation has no need to have an inferiority complex

"The backs always tend to get the lion's share of the credit in these situations, but we had a pack who worked their socks off to gain a decent supply of possession and we wouldn't have scored as many tries 16 in four matches without them driving into the sort of positions from where we could burst through the opposition defence."

Writing in The Guardian, Shaun Edwards believes that all of the Six Nations sides need to make a step up this year if the British and Irish Lions are to be a success.

"Without doubt we will be going down there as firm underdogs. The Six Nations has to be a stepping stone for the Lions. All four home unions have to improve on last year, and that includes Wales, even though we won the grand slam. We all showed last autumn that we have the ability: Scotland really stuck it to New Zealand and South Africa at Murrayfield, for example, but virtually every time it came down to clinical finishing and sustaining energy levels.

"All this is not to argue that the style of rugby played in the south is superior. The southern hemisphere is constantly pushing for a quicker and quicker game but the faster the tempo in the Super 14 and Tri-Nations, the faster attendances there seem to be dropping.

"When you watch a Super 14 match, only the colour of jerseys tells the two teams apart. There seems to be a perception there that the quicker a game is and the more time the ball is in play, the more entertaining it is. I do not see it like that. The law variations have robbed the game this season of the driving maul."

Writing in The Guardian, Paul Rees mulls over the dilemma facing the IRB over Perpignan hooker Maruis Tincu's appearances while banned.

"The Tincu case has more profound implications for the IRB and its sub-committee already has a draw full of bulging files as it battles to maintain the system that means a player's ban covers all tournaments, not merely the one he was sent off in or cited.

"A problem with that is if a player is sent off playing for his country, his club suffers, and vice versa; a punishment should principally hit a player. Martin Corry was this week cited for alleged eye-gouging during Leicester's defeat at Ospreys last weekend: if found guilty, he would face a long ban, but anything less than nine weeks would see him free to play in the Tigers' next Heineken Cup match.

"Football's model is fairer and more logical, although punishments for drug offences are uniform. Rugby's disciplinary code was drawn up in the amateur era but livelihoods are now an issue. Whereas suspensions in football only exceed three matches in exceptional cases, bans in rugby are often measured in months, but when did soccer last have an eye-gouging case?"

Stephen Jones vents his frustration about the decision to host the Wales v France Six Nations game on a Friday night in his Rolling Maul blog for The Times.

"What a crying shame that we have reached a disgraceful low point in the grand history of the RBS Six Nations. On Friday, February 27, France play Wales, with the kick-off set for 9pm French time. Horrible, just horrible.

"The essential power and appeal of the tournament has always, always been centred off the field. In the heyday of the Five Nations the number of travelling fans who followed their teams was massive. For one Scotland-Wales match in the 1990s, they reckon that 40,000 Welsh people made the trip to Edinburgh.

"The supporters of each country would travel in droves with tens of thousands adding a wonderful social, cultural, un-sober but friendly element. It was what rugby had over any other sport. It was a source of legend, joy and goodness.

"How abysmally we have violated that tradition. The number of travelling supporters is now drastically down, more than by half. The combination of rip-off hoteliers, with Dublin and Edinburgh the worst, the choking compression of the Six Nations fixture schedule and the regularity of Sunday games mean that people cannot afford the time, the cost and the days off to do what they once loved doing."

Twickenham was synonymous with success and wealth, an image forged on the back of a World Cup-winning side on the field and a bullish, expansionist policy off it. On both fronts, England and their governing body are facing tough, testing times according to Mick Cleary in the Daily Telegraph.

"However, Twickenham's current financial plight has been caused primarily by the economic downturn. Baron has overseen a remarkable period of growth and stability over the past decade. The stadium has been rebuilt and profits have been high and constant.

"There is no evidence of a crumbling infrastructure. In fact, even if the Italy game does not sell out in eight days' time, the enhanced Twickenham capacity of 82,000 might mean that the match actually draws the highest attendance for a Test against the newest addition to the championship.

That said, the depth and reach of the situation should not be downplayed, both for its impact at Twickenham and for the effect it has had, and will have, on the 2,000 clubs in membership."

Mark Reason tackles the latest scrap between the RFU and Premier Rugby in The Daily Telegraph, and doesn't predict a happy outcome for everyone.

"The RFU would seemingly like nothing better than to see one or two clubs go to the wall. Such an eventuality is thought to have formed part of the RFU strategy when they signed the agreement with Premier Rugby Limited and the Premiership clubs last July.

"In return for funding the clubs to the tune of £88 million over eight years, the RFU demanded the removal of a clause preventing the union from gaining ownership of clubs. The RFU reasoned that if they could get control of some of the clubs, they were on their way to regaining control of the England players.

"The RFU believe that the clubs are losing more than £25 million per year at the moment, and that those such as Bristol and Newcastle will struggle to survive in the economic climate. An RFU source said: "The RFU now has the freedom to own clubs. That was the trade-off for an eight-year deal."

"The clubs are likely to react furiously to the rejection of the extra games, with Mark McCafferty, the chief executive of Premier Rugby, having already predicted "a ruck" with the RFU. But there are many in the game who will be surprised by just how much the RFU gave away in the agreement, in order to secure player release, a structured season and the right to buy clubs."

Writing in The Scotsman, Stuart Bathgate previews Scotland's opening Six Nations clash with Ireland by looking back at the record books.

"Since the Six Nations Championship began in 2000, the countries have met on nine occasions. Ireland have won eight times, with Scotland's only victory having come in 2001, when the tournament could not be completed until the autumn.

"It is a remarkable reversal of fortunes in the fixture, and the best statistical illustration of the Scots' slow decline since they won the last Five Nations. In the last few decades of the 20th century England, France and Wales were often too strong, and the depth of talent from which their coaches could select a team often contrasted starkly with the options available to the Scottish selectors. But many a season was salvaged by a win against the Irish.

"It is therefore worth asking why, since 2000, that turnaround has occurred. To what extent is it due to Ireland making progress, and to what extent can it be ascribed to Scottish failings?"

Eye-gouging in rugby is nothing new but it has no place in the cleaned-up modern game insists Eddie Butler in the Guardian.

"The stamp on the head remains the great taboo of rugby. I remember Chris Ralston, the England second-row, requiring a score and more of stitches to repair stud damage to his swede. Suspicion not unnaturally fell on the feet of Llanelli, if only because they were running around the same field as Ralston's Richmond. The scandal raged for days, without anyone being brought to book. It remains one of the unsolved crimes of the sport.

"But the boot to the bonce has slipped way down the list and lies at rest, only just above the stiletto blade that occasionally crept into the stockings of French villagers on derby days in the 1930s. The dear, dear 30s: the good old days of violence."

Peter Bills evaluates the ongoing struggle of Bath and their plans to develop a modern ground on the site of the Rec in The Independent.

"Bath Rugby Club has been conducting an ongoing campaign for years now about whether they can build on the Recreation Ground. The problems, quintessentially, are these. The land was laid aside for the use ‘of all citizens of the city’ according to the original charter.

"That means people who want to play cricket – Somerset have played first class cricket there for many years – or play football or simply run around with their children or dogs. When I last checked, the original document did not state ‘for the use solely of rugby nuts’.

"The second issue is this. Keen as a lot of people are about rugby in this West of England city, by no means all of them are so besotted with the game that they want to see a vast new modern construction erected right in the heart of this Georgian architectural masterpiece. Sacrilege is not too strong a word to describe such plans, in many people’s minds."

Peter Bills praises the skill levels on display as Bath and Toulouse scrapped to a 3-3 draw at The Rec inThe Independent.

"But just because the final Heineken Cup pool match of the season did not produce a whir of flowing rugby, does not mean it wasn’t a captivating contest. In many respects it was. For a start, you had to wonder in amazement how players handled the heavy, soaked and mud-caked ball at all. In days gone by, large forwards would have dropped just about every pass made and knocked on almost every time they tried to pick up the ball.

"It was a tribute to the skills of the modern player that so many of them managed to handle correctly and hold onto possession. As Bath fought, literally inch by inch to what they had hoped would be the winning score in the final moments, edging agonisingly close to the Toulouse line in a series of forward surges, you had to admire their technique.

"This was a match that proved rugby doesn’t have to have six tries apiece and 40 points on the board to be an intriguing spectacle."

Former England hooker Brian Moore takes issue with the re-emergence of gouging and remembers the not-so-good old days in The Daily Telegraph.

"Agen were playing Valence d'Agen, their bitter local rivals and there was trouble from the first ball. At the line-out, Philippe Sella drove the ball forward at centre. The Agen forwards drove over him and the ball was then moved away. Three opposition forwards held Sella down and when everyone else had gone proceeded to give him a hiding.

When the Agen forwards realised their deified captain was in trouble they turned and ran to help. The first player to arrive launched a two-footed drop-kick into the jaw of one of the assailants. There then followed a pitched battle; none of your handbags-at-dawn; a fully blown fight using feet, elbows, heads and the usual fists.

The referee dismissed the drop-kicker, but was helpless for the rest of the half as 10 all-out brawls took place. At one point the referee sin-binned two forwards from each side, leaving five and six others, respectively, to play on. When the 10-minute suspensions were up and the four players returned, two of them started scrapping immediately. They were both dismissed, but resumed fighting in the tunnel and had to be separated by police."

The only two England internationals to have endured drug bans offer dire warnings to Bath and England prop Matt Stevens - read their thoughts in the Independent on Sunday.

""Even being your normal character changes," said Adam Dean, who was an England Under-18 flanker when he tested positive for an anabolic steroid in 2005. "I used to be the one who was loud at training and said, 'Give me the ball and I'll smash into them'. After the ban I was very much the opposite. I don't know Matt, but I can imagine him being depressed and very down. The everyday routine of getting up and doing what he used to do is out of the window. It's his job, and he may as well have been fired, but it's not just that. A ban from rugby is like being pushed out of a family."

"Martin Johnson, the England manager, and Michael Lipman, the Bath captain, have expressed a measure of support for Stevens but Dean – who joined the Royal Navy when his thoughts of a rugby contract with Sale or Newcastle evaporated – has felt the effect of a complete break. "Matt's team-mates might be saying the right things now, but I can guarantee they'll forget him," he said. "In two years' time, none of them will have called him. Life moves on, two years is a bloody long time and he won't even feel like training with them.""

England captain Borthwick reveals all to the Mail on Sunday as he hits back at the critics who labelled the economics graduate 'brainless'.

"Steve Borthwick knows he has no choice as England rugby captain than to accept responsibility for his team's humiliating trio of defeats in their last three Tests.

"But being called 'brainless' is another matter. A notoriously private character, intense and brooding on and off the pitch, Borthwick has coped with the upset and anger felt by his friends and family from the endless personal criticism since the disastrous autumn series, which included record defeats at Twickenham by South Africa and New Zealand."

Paul Sackey talks to The Observer about Martin Johnson's England and having the freedom to express himself on the pitch.

"For Johnson, the idea that the present England side lack the core of ­experienced players that was a feature of the team when he first played has become the theme of his more considered post-mortem on the autumn internationals. He talks about the start of his England career and walking into a dressing room where ­players such as Will Carling, Rob Andrew and Brian Moore exuded a reassuring air of ­stability and experience. No such nucleus exists now.

"Maybe prompted by Johnson, Sackey also refers to the absence of battle-scarred veterans when faced with the charge that England's problem in November was that they appeared to lack direction or a coherent plan. "No, we had a plan – we just didn't execute it well," he says. "I know the 2003 World Cup side did exceptionally well, but for a team to get to that level they have to have played together for a while and no one remembers that in the years leading up to winning the cup they were in the same position that we are now.""

Martin Bayfield speaks to the Sunday Times rugby’s strongest players and the fun he has had in the Harry Potter movies

"Who will win the Six Nations? Much as it pains me to say it, I go for Wales. They have a good coaching set-up, an established squad and strong morale. I think England will finish mid-table. Some of the younger England guys play with the nervousness of players with 10 caps or fewer. They need to shake that off if England are to finish higher. It’s going to be more about individual character than playing by numbers.

"Are policemen the biggest thugs on the rugby pitch? I’m not sure Wade Dooley, Dean Richards or I were worse than others. But the thing about being a copper is that you work in a tough environment with shift patterns and odd hours where teamwork is essential. Rugby, particularly forward play, tends to accentuate the characteristics of that environment.

"How did you end up acting in the Harry Potter movies? I got a call from someone at Warner Brothers who had seen me speaking at a lunch. He said they were looking for a Robbie Coltrane double. I gave him a hard time at first because I thought he was a wind-up merchant. I’ve been in five films so far and we are about to start filming the last one. It was great to meet the late Richard Harris on set because he was such a huge rugby fan."

Stuart Barnes previews the crucial Heineke Cup clash between Bath and Toulouse in the Sunday Times.

"Bath’s scrum-half is the man who orchestrates their high-speed game plan. If Toulouse wish to guarantee their progress in this tournament, the less illustrious of Bath’s Springbok half-backs should be at the centre of their disruptive strategy. The French club are famed for focusing more on their own game than that of their opposition. Bath must be praying Toulouse have worried more about their blip in form against Glasgow last Saturday than the antics of this weekend’s opposition.

"Toulouse can eliminate the errors and still lose today if they let Bath play. Steve Meehan’s team should have won in Toulouse, having outscored the French champions by two tries to nil and trumped their fluid game. A repeat display with home advantage, and Bath will prevail."

Waratahs coach Chris Hickey has a "whatever will be will be" approach to coaching and life, which is unusual in the goal-oriented world of professional sport according to Brett Harris writing in The Australian.

"It is Hickey's proven track record as a winner that will be the main attribute he brings to the Waratahs, who are yet to win a Super rugby title. "There are lots of ways to win a footy match," Hickey said. "That's probably what I've learnt. There's lots of ways to win. What you have to do is look at the cattle you've got and work out the best way to use those players.

"When you look at the Waratahs squad, there is no shortage of talent. It's a matter of constructing a game that allows those players to use the talents that they have."

Leicester Tigers stalwart Martin Corry talks to the Daily Mail's Peter Jackson ahead of his side's Heineken Cup showdown with the Ospreys.

"The state of Leicester's game will not have cost the Ospreys any sleep. They have not won a meaningful away match since early October and they travel without Lewis Moody, the luckless victim of a training-ground accident quite distinct from the training-ground punch-up in which he himself featured, albeit at the end of a big hand from Martin Johnson.

"'We haven't had a really good punch-up for a while,' Corry said, sounding almost regretful at having to deny they were back in vogue. 'That may be something to do with the characters we've got. It's thinned out a bit but the competitive training is still there and we still like to knock lumps out of each other. People still get niggly and punches do fly but everyone's fine with everything as soon as we walk off. 'The game's changed as well. There was a time when you could get away with throwing the odd punch. Now you can't do it, so you have to be that bit more disciplined. But the ambition and desire is very much still there.'"

Mike Phillips is one of those annoying guys. Good at sport and good looking to boot. It's frustrating for the rest of us. It should be one or the other, not both. But life is not always kind, and the Ospreys fly-half's luck with injury has brought him back down to ground. Will Greenwood writes in the Daily Telegraph.

"The mental side is often the hardest to overcome. Can a player ever truly get back the urge to go between two tacklers and drive on through? Can they stoke up the desire to stay on their feet, planting them wide and fighting the tacklers off, waiting for the cavalry to arrive? Or when they have a full-back to beat, do they step off the right or the left when travelling at full tilt?

"The knee, and the belief that the knee is in top nick, can hinder recovery or help you push on through. Many a brave and talented player never quite got back to the way they were. Sometimes it is for medical reasons. More often than not the mental edge that made them great never quite reappears, or if it does, then it comes back three years not seven months after the injury. Phillips has had 10 months since his knee went pop, he has been back on the field for a month, and it is startling to watch him operate."

The (uncapped) New Zealander who feels very at home in Bath and is widely regarded as the thinking man's winger. Chris Hewett finds Joe Maddock happy to be an unsung hero in The Independent.

"Steve Meehan seemed a little surprised by the question. Asked whether Joe Maddock would be in his starting line-up for tomorrow's beautifully balanced, classically proportioned Heineken Cup contest with Toulouse – the biggest rugby event staged at the rickety old Recreation Ground for a decade, hence the fact the tickets could have been sold three times over – the Bath coach responded: "Joe starts in my side whenever he likes." Do players really select themselves nowadays? "They do when they're playing like Joe," he replied."

Josh Lewsey recounts his career in his autobiography One Chance: My Life and Rugby . Read his words in the Daily Telegraph.

"It was 2000 and I'd been playing full-time professional rugby for over four years and, without a sniff of international rugby, I was unhappy and bored. Rugby was not challenging me enough; I needed to find something that did.

"The following phone call – inevitable, of course, since the army had put me through university – could not therefore have been better timed. Cue the accounts department at Sandhurst. "Are you joining us or can we have the bursary back, please?"

"Now, obviously the boys teased me that I was the only man in history to be so tight as to join the army rather than pay back a student loan, but the reality was that if I wasn't going to reach the top of my current career, then I would try to be top in another. With a few adjustments to my contract with Wasps, I agreed to take the Queen's shilling."

Former England hooker Brian Moore offers his support to shamed England prop Matt Stevens in The Daily Telegraph.

"A double-standard exists in the treatment of athletes and entertainers using 'recreational’ drugs, but there is no other way. Attempts to distinguish performance and non-performance enhancing drugs would lead to judgements capable of exploitation by lawyers for those using the latter.

"All the interviews I have heard asked what effect this would have on his club, Bath and their players.

"His employers have expressed a feeling of betrayal; not so fellow players. They will care only about Stevens’ recovery."

When England and Bath prop Matt Stevens talks about 'throwing it all away' he is not exaggerating according to Peter Jackson in the Daily Mail.

"The sky was the limit, even if the All Blacks last November exposed the flaw in his scrummaging which resulted in the veteran Phil Vickery's reinstatement as England's No. 1 tighthead. For someone supremely confident in his own ability, Stevens would have regarded that as nothing more than a blip in his rise to bigger and better things.

"Perhaps he had never studied Greek mythology and read about Icarus, who flew too close to the sun and perished. Perhaps he did and dismissed it as an utter irrelevance to the life of a Test professional busting the proverbial gut to represent the Lions in South Africa this summer."

Matt Stevens' drug problem has dealt another blow to the image of English rugby according to Roberth Kitson of the Guardian.

"Matt Stevens will never forget the day Barack Obama became president of the United States. Maybe he will ultimately count himself fortunate that the nightly news bulletins had slightly bigger fish to fry than a rugby player testing positive for a recreational drug. Maybe, too, he will look back at yesterday as a blessing in disguise, the moment when he was finally forced to confront what has clearly been a depressingly dark period in his life."

Writing in the Daily Express, Steve Bale is one of many to pass comment on Matt Stevens' failed drugs test.

"Once he was caught, once he knew he had failed a random drugs test after Bath had played Glasgow last month, he went public with his own admission. This involved hiring a PR company to send out his statement of guilt and arranging an excruciating TV interview in which he bared his soul as well as confessing his sins. Stevens, 26, really is one of the most likeable guys in the game. He is also a prodigious charity worker and acquaintance of no less than Nelson Mandela back home in his native South Africa.

"As he is facing a two-year ban, it is clearly better for Stevens to be remorseful when he has just wrecked a career which, if he is as honest as his statement purports to be, had already stalled. Perhaps we now know the reason why."

Peter Bills has some stark opinions on the state of the Guinness Premiership following a disappointing weekend for English sides in the Heineken Cup inThe Independent.

"Much of the hype generated by the propagandists for the Guinness Premiership evaporated like a pile of snow in hot water last weekend.

"Sale Sharks, Gloucester and Harlequins all lost crucial Heineken Cup matches confirming my long held belief that while some or all of them might enjoy the occasional wondrous day in the Premiership, give them international opposition and they’re nowhere near as convincing.

"Sale were blown away in Limerick by Munster’s rapacious hunger for a quarter final slot. Gloucester, as they invariably do on these occasions, came up short again, at home to Cardiff and Harlequins were so bereft of technical acumen, common sense and discipline in Belfast against Ulster, they didn’t deserve to win."

Wales' legendary fly-half Barry John tips his former side for the Grand Slam again in 2009 and also makes special mention of three of Wales' youngsters in Wales on Sunday

"There is a settled, recognised look about Wales these days. That is one of the prime reasons why I believe they are in a better position as we get ready for the 2009 tournament than they were after winning those previous two Grand Slams.

"Such is the strength in depth of the squad, for the first time it’s about who will miss out on selection. We know about the talent of established stars such as Shane Williams, Lee Byrne and others. But to supplement those, there are three young players who really do excite me and who I expect to really emerge by the end of this tournament as fully-fledged stars.

"They are the Blues’ trio of Jamie Roberts, Leigh Halfpenny and Tom James."

Iain Morrison salutes the emergence of Edinburgh centre Ben Cairns onto the international stage in The Scotsman

"What a difference a year makes. Last season Ben Cairns was the 23rd man when the Scotland squad travelled to Rome in the Six Nations. Twelve months on and the young centre will be one of the first names on Frank Hadden's team sheet when the coach comes to pick his starting XV for Wales. Rarely has any player made himself so crucial to any team in such a short time.

"He brings plenty to the table. Cairns is genuinely quick, favouring the outside break, and he picks his angles of run with all the precision of Pythagoras but the slight centre is no Charles Atlas and only last season he was the victim of a brutal mugging. He was set upon in public, perfectly legally, by a couple of big lads from Cardiff in the shape of Jamie Roberts and Tom Shanklin. When Edinburgh hosted the Blues at Murrayfield Cairns was pummelled from pillar to post, knocked every which way but unconscious and he determined there and then that it wouldn't happen again."

Stephen Jones fears for England's Six Nations hopes in The Sunday Times

"Public face, private utterance. Let us pray they are different because England could be battling to avoid the RBS Six Nations wooden spoon if they are not.

"Here’s an example. I asked Martin Johnson on Wednesday if the death of the maul, a legitimate, core feature of rugby that has been murdered by the game’s lawmakers, had adversely affected England, traditionally a strong-armed rugby nation that used to maul so effectively. Johnson gave a diplomatic answer, suggesting England didn’t need the maul and could get round its absence and, in any case, achieving a good maul was still possible even though they can now be collapsed.

“You can still maul,” he said. I asked him if he was sure. After some thought, and prompted by ever-helpful members of his small audience, he came up with examples this season — a grand total of two. As he lumbered away, he said: “Personally, I am not in favour of the measure \ but I emphasise that I am only speaking personally.”

Paul Kimmage meets Leicester coach Richard Cockerill for a chat about Hakas, punch-ups and the good old days inThe Sunday Times

"I am sitting in a room with Richard Cockerill, reminding him of a chapter in his life that he would rather leave behind. The month is June, 1998, eight months after “the little episode” with the haka, and he has travelled to New Zealand for a Test match in Dunedin.

"Hewitt is benched for the game but the fans haven’t forgotten the Englishman who confronted him and shower Cockerill with abuse. He scores a try and hoofs the ball into the stands in defiance, but England are badly beaten. Later that evening, Cockerill and Hewitt meet at a bar in Dunedin. In the book ‘In Your Face’, this is how Cockerill describes what happened next . . .

“Later that night — or early next morning, it’s difficult to remember which — John Mitchell, Graham Rowntree and I go into town for a beer. We enter this bar, it must be two or three in the morning by now, and find Hewitt in there badly pissed up. He starts slagging English rugby, saying how shitty we are. I ask him how his arse feels with all those splinters in it from sitting on the bench. Then I really get to work on him. I start doing the haka in front of him, slapping my thighs and sticking my tongue out.”

David Ferguson of The Scotsman talks to Scottish Rugby Union chief executive Gordon McKie

"When Gordon McKie took over as chief executive of the Scottish Rugby Union, even this sports fan more aligned to football than the oval-ball game was acutely aware that he faced potentially the toughest challenge of his career to turn around the great Murrayfield ship.

"The accountant with a reputation for rescuing failing businesses, who had impressed Sir David Murray with one of the Rangers chairman's former firms, was heading into notoriously choppy and, for him, uncharted sporting waters. Now in his fourth year at the helm, McKie is still involved in cost- cutting, with a number of high-profile employees leaving Murrayfield yesterday in the latest round of restructuring, and he admits that the scale of the undertaking did take him by surprise.

"But the accountant is intensely aware now of the direct correlation between Scotland's results and the balance sheet, which becomes clear when the monotones of accountant-speak are broken by the passion of a Scotland supporter."

England's recent troubles arguably began when Lewis Moody limped out of the last Six Nations. Chris Hewett hears why he is desperate to play for his country again in the Independent.

"Happily for Leicester – not to mention England, for whom he is expected to resume international duty when the Six Nations starts anew in three weeks' time – he is every bit as good as he was. Nine matches into his comeback, he is considered so important to his club's cause that the acting head coach Richard Cockerill rested him from last weekend's Premiership derby at Northampton, where the Tigers promptly lost both the contest for the loose ball and the match, and has withheld him again from this afternoon's Heineken Cup pool tie with Treviso. Next Saturday is do-or-die day against Ospreys, the best side in Wales. Moody will be in the starting line-up for that one, definitely.

"Both Leicester and England need everything he has to offer – his energy and aggression, his line-out athleticism, his bravery over the ball, his unerring instinct for the charge-down. Neither team is in the best of shape, although the Tigers occasionally deliver a performance of sorts. (The last 15 minutes of their recent Premiership match with Bath were decent enough, as Moody well remembers, having delivered the scoring pass for Tom Croft's winning try in stoppage time.)"

The Times' David Hands talks to rising star Jordan Turner-Hall in the wake of the Quins centre's call up to the England Saxons squad.

"He is a very modest, quiet lad, they said at Harlequins. On the other hand, as Jordan Turner-Hall shares a house with Danny Care, he will have learnt to hold his own with the ebullient scrum half and at the moment he has little to be modest about, having been called up by England Saxons this week and returning to the Heineken Cup, in which he has been outstanding this season.

"Turner-Hall turned 21 this month, so you could say that he is growing up fast. For one who came to the game as a 14-year-old with his local club, Hove, the centre is moving in exalted company and performing on the grandest stages; he scored a try in each of the back-to-back European ties against Stade Français and caused Leicester all sorts of problems in the Guinness Premiership match at Twickenham last month."

Robert Kitson previews the Heineken Cup clash between Wasps and Leinster and speaks to centre Dominic Waldouck in the Guardian.

"Josh Lewsey said this week that the quality of the big Heineken Cup ties nowadays is frequently superior to Test rugby. If he is correct, and he has played long enough for club and country to have a well-developed sense of perspective, this game is as near as an uncapped player will come to experiencing a formal Test trial. When he looks across the halfway line, the Wasps centre Dominic Waldouck will see the great O'Driscoll, flanked by Felipe Contepomi and Shane Horgan, opponents who boast more than 200 caps between the three of them."

Rupert Guinness of the Sydney Morning Herald talks to the Waratahs' rugby league convert Timana Tahu on the eve of his second season in union.

"For Timana Tahu, the tactics and game patterns of rugby union were like a new language when he switched codes, but with one season behind him he has become an excellent student of the game.

"In a recent knowledge test of secret Waratahs' plays by the 14 NSW backs, the former Parramatta Eels rugby league star was one of only four to score correct answers for 12 of the 13 questions posed by NSW assistant coach Scott Wisemantel. And while he went into the exam confident his grasp of rugby science was good, his result - equal first - helped prove that while he has missed many games due to injury, his time out has far from stalled his progress as some might have suspected."

Wasps captain Phil Vickery will show his commitment to his club in several ways on Saturday afternoon at Twickenham. He will be assured and implacable, eager and hard-nosed too according to Mick Cleary in the Daily Telegraph.

"The mood will be raw and the consequences significant. Heineken Cup pool ties are meant to be this way at this stage: edgy, uncertain and full of fury. Vickery will be there in the middle of the mayhem. He will set the tone and others will follow. Wasps officials might hope that several of his team-mates might copy him too in signing a new contract.

"We've verbally agreed on a two-year deal," said one of the West Country's finest, whose move to the bright London lights three years ago was greeted with some surprise, primarily because of Vickery's chronic back problems. But he has endured, and in the wake of Lawrence Dallaglio's retirement has become an ever-more influential figure in the attempts of the champion club to get a grip on their faltering season."

Mixed Martial Arts and Boxing writer Gareth Davies blogs about the upcoming UFC debut of former Harlequins academy player John Hathaway in The Daily Telegraph.

"John ‘The Hitman’ Hathaway looks like a great prospect as a mixed martial artist. Says the right things, speaks a lot of sense, but most importantly, has a great attitude. Very similar to many elite level sports people I’ve interviewed over the years.

"Amazing that Hathaway gave up rugby union – he was attending the Harlequins Academy - for mixed martial arts. Or is it ?

"There are many rugby players with a fascination for the Octagon. Several players I have interviewed have expressed awe at the sport, including some of the foremost rugby league and union players. James Haskell among them. You could picture Lewis Moody, Tom Rees, Nick Easter, getting in amongst it. Perhaps it is something to do with back row forwards."

Stephen Jones is yet to be convinced of England's selection of Ben Foden as cover for both fullback and scrum-half in his Rolling Maul blog for The Times.

"Foden must now be very careful. Even Johnson was undecided this morning when discussing Foden, merely saying that he could play well in two positions. He even hedged his bets when he was asked what Foden's best position was. How the poor lad must be wishing that he'd never showed such dexterity.

"Where will he end up, and how badly will his career be affected by indecision, both his own and that of his coaches? Frankly, if I were Foden I would stick to full back. The problem with scrum half is that because it is so unique and so technical a position, and involves learning a whole barrage of different calls, that it is almost impossible to keep popping back now and again.

"People hint that his scrum half skills are not of the very highest order, something borne out by the fact that Sale always chose Sililo Martens and Richard Wigglesworth ahead of him. Scrum half skills are bound to fall into disuse when they are not being used so it is understandable if Foden's have receded."

Peter Bills urges referees to play hard-ball with repeat offenders at the breakdown in The Independent.

"When, oh when, will rugby’s referees take off their kid gloves and sort out the mess at the breakdown? The ruck. The pile up, the breakdown - call it what you will. Whatever name you use, it has become the biggest blight on the entire game.

"Former Ireland and Irish Lion Donal Lenihan said recently during the Munster/Ulster Magners League clash "At almost every second breakdown there seems to be a penalty." There’s a good reason for that. Players are cheating. And the sad fact is, few referees are doing much to stop them."

England rugby star, county cricketer, BBC journalist: a remarkable life in sport was cut short in May when multiple sclerosis forced Alastair Hignell to give his last radio commentary. But he refuses to be downhearted as Brian Viner finds out in the Independent.

"It is 10 years to the week since Hignell was diagnosed with MS. He remembers the day with devastating clarity. "January 8, 1999. I drove home in a bit of a daze. I was pretty scared, but the old competitive thing kicks in: I'll fight this. Jeannie was away, on a business trip in America, due back on Monday. I didn't phone her, I wanted to tell her in person. I had a bunch of flowers for her. I said, 'I've got something to tell you, I've got multiple sclerosis'. She was fantastic. She said immediately, 'It's not yours, it's ours'."

"Hignell is the least self-pitying of men, yet his eyes brim with tears as he tells me this. So do mine. One would need a heart of stone not to be moved by the spirit with which he and Jeannie deal with their predicament."

Brian Smith - the man charged with giving Martin Johnson's England a cutting edge says the long journey has only just begun. He talks to Michael Alywin in the Observer.

"Smith was universally approved as the man for the impossible job by media and punters alike when he was appointed in July and, even if questions have been raised over the suitability of some of the coaches on England's panel, no one has been so fickle as to level them at him. Bleak the autumn may have been, but there were fleeting flashes of invention to cherish from it and to try to develop. Smith is as well qualified as any to try to grow them into something more coherent. He is an intelligent, cosmopolitan Aussie with a history of transforming sterile attacks into prolific ones."

Writing in the Independent on Sunday, Tim Glover casts an eye over England manager Martin Johnson's options as he prepares to name his latest elite squads.

"The game within a game is to second-guess Martin Johnson's selection, and that has not been as straightforward as was once envisaged. Some very dubious calls led to the downfall of Andy Robinson as England coach, and Brian Ashton also had his banana skins.

"Perhaps it is the sheer size of the talent pool that confuses them, but England manage to get it more wrong than right on an alarming scale. Johnson is new to the coaching game and got his nose bloodied during the autumn campaign, during which his side suffered defeats to Australia, 28-14, South Africa, 42-6, and New Zealand, 32-6."

If England do not deliver an absolute minimum of second place in the forthcoming RBS Six Nations, then they have failed. They have more resources and more time than all their competitors, so what, exactly, is the problem? So asks Stephen Jones in the Sunday Times.

"We are a merciless lot in the media, so I was told last week by what can be termed sources close to the England management. They are getting their excuses in for their shocking autumn campaign, it seems, by complaining that we loaded too much expectation on the poor dears by suggesting that they might actually be expected to win the odd game over the autumn - in fact, I suggested that they should be expected to win all four.

"Let us leave aside for the moment, as we wait for Martin Johnson’s new squad to be announced on Wednesday, the fact that not only did they not win their big games in the autumn, but they also did not play remotely to the standard of a proper international team."

A tweak to the Danny Cipriani's game is all he needs to eradicate those costly charge-downs according to Stuart Barnes, writing in the Sunday Times

"Amid all the advice, the technical verbiage, the drop punt against the screw-kick, the eternity of time between the ball leaving the hand and making contact with the boot; amid all the headline-generating ideas to tamper with technique mid-season and watch the one-step snap of the American football kickers, nobody seems to have identified the biggest problem of all for the fly-half. He is standing in the wrong place.

"The so-called charge sheet levelled at Cipriani is exactly the sort expected in relation to a left-footed kicker. The pair of charge-downs against Harlequins last Sunday and the seven-point slip-ups in the autumn for England against the Pacific Islanders and South Africa all happened when the fly-half moved right to left and - Shaun Edwards is absolutely right in this - took too long to get rid of the ball."

Writing in The Scotsman, David Ferguson reflects on the appointment of Gregor Townsend to the Scotland coaching team.

"It has been a rapid rise for Townsend, which perhaps highlights the lack of top-class backs coaches operating in Scotland, and some will question his experience as a hands-on coach. There are, however, few people around with his experience from a career in the vanguard of professional rugby in England, Australia, France, Scotland and South Africa.

"In an 82-Test career stretching from 1993 to 2003, Townsend scored 17 tries, matching the record of 1925 Grand Slam centre Johnnie Wallace by scoring a try in each of Scotland's Five Nations Championship matches en route to the last title a decade ago. He had played a key role in the British and Irish Lions' last Test series win, in South Africa in 1997, and was awarded the MBE in 1999 for services to rugby, but his Scotland career came to an abrupt and controversial end."

Writing in the Irish Times, Gerry Thornley argues whichever ELVs are adopted universally the fear must be that the game will not necessarily be the better for it.

"Let's face it, rugby has become a little boring this season, hasn't it? There are still some cracking games, and both the refereeing of the vexed ELVs (Experimental Law Variations) and the pre-season protocol about penalising players for going to ground has calmed down, along with some of the initially irate reactions to them. But much of the rugby is simply not as good to watch as last season.

Confusion also reigns, not least among supporters, who can scarcely understand or even recognise the sport from a season ago. This is because last April the governing body's council voted to trial 13 of the 33 ELVs at the outset of the current season...Then, just to muddle things further, at the outset of this season the IRB issued their "protocol" to crack down on players not staying on their feet (liberally if inconsistently applied) and crooked feeds at scrum time (largely ignored).

"Confused? We certainly ought to be. Perhaps, in hindsight, it would have been better if the IRB had ensured the global game had actually moved forward universally and simultaneously in adopting all the ELVs in their entirety."

Leicester have turned to Richard 'Cockers' Cockerill in coach Heyneke Meyer's absence due to family illness - Peter Jackson speaks to the Tigers' stand-in boss in the Daily Mail.

"As a Rottweiler of a hooker, Richard Cockerill personified the in-your-face aggression of front-row combat. He did the lot, from turning the Haka into a war zone to taking a pop at Sir Clive Woodward and losing his England place for his trouble. As a coach, older and wiser, Cockerill has put himself through a crash course in anger management.

"They will never believe it in New Zealand, where his scraps with All Black hooker Norm Hewitt have become the stuff of legend, but the occasional hothead of yesteryear has matured into a coach able enough to be responsible for running Britain's biggest club."

Even on his seventh expedition with the famous touring team, Ian McGeechan’s desire to conquer is as great as it ever was writes Owen Slot in The Times.

"He tells me that when he first became a Lion, in 1974 and he rolled up to a London hotel to find Gareth Edwards and Willie John McBride checking in at reception, he felt “like a boy in a sweetie shop”. The same feelings are generated even now.

"...Even now, even on the eve of his seventh Lions tour, a tour that the head coach says is “the biggest challenge so far for the Lions” - one for which he believes South Africa have rightly been installed as favourites, in which the preparation time has shrunk again and professionalism has made the task even tougher - he still feels that way."

No-nonsense England centre Mike Tindall tells Robert Kitson about his drink-driving conviction, his injuries and his Lions ambitions. Read his thoughts in the Guardian.

"Life, according to Mike Tindall, is less about the situations you stumble into than how you respond to them. Whether it be three-year bans for drink-driving, horrific injuries, selectorial disappointments or dating a member of the royal family, the true measure of an individual is what he or she does next. "Things are always there to challenge you," murmurs the Gloucester captain, eyeing the tape-recorder warily a few hours prior to his high-profile visit to Reading magistrates court this week. "It's how you come out of them that counts. I try not to get too worried about too much.""

David Ferguson believes the Scottish Rugby Union is cutting off its nose to spite its face in failing to make more of the Netherdale facility it is maintaining in Galashiels. Read his thoughts in The Scotsman.

"When the Scottish Rugby Union pulled the plug on the Border Reivers professional side in 2007, chief executive Gordon McKie insisted that the union was not turning its back on the rugby-playing region.

"However, there are growing concerns that the SRU has done exactly that with confirmation that it is to persist with last year's policy of staging no major representative fixtures in the Borders in 2009, despite continuing to plough funds into one of the country's best pitches, at Netherdale in Galashiels. At the heart of that approach appears to lie a contract to maintain the Gala pitch."

The Gaelic Athletic Association are being urged to keep Croke Park open for Six Nations business beyond next year's deadline, writes Peter Jackson in the Daily Mail.

"For all the historical enmity built into its walls towards the British - and English in particular - God Save the Queen was given more respect on the occasion of the England match there two years ago than it is given in Edinburgh or Cardiff. The change of thinking, as articulated by GAA president Nickey Brennan, points to the venue staying in a ball game which they never imagined would darken their doors.

"A 'yes' vote in April would put the IRFU in a difficult and potentially embarrassing position when it comes to the location of future home fixtures against England, given the high level of demand for tickets. Lansdowne Road will have 50,000 seats but Croke Park has 82,500. Quite why the IRFU chose not to increase capacity beyond a figure which will make it small compared to Twickenham, Cardiff, Murrayfield and Paris is for another time."

Next Wednesday Martin Johnson will publish the two 32-man squads who will battle through the Six Nations and on into the summer on England's behalf. Paul Ackford discusses his options in the Sunday Telegraph.

"The signs are that Johnson will not make headline changes. At the December Twickenham debrief he reaffirmed his belief that the guys he ticked in July are, by and large, the best available.

"What's the point, he argued, having exposed young players to the rigours of Test rugby, in jettisoning them for another bunch who will have to learn the same lessons over again? Tindall, Cueto and Steffon Armitage, younger brother of Delon Armitage, are contenders for promotion on the back of some robust recent performances, but don't expect too many bolters. It's not in Johnson's nature to backtrack on initial decisions he made just six months ago."

West Country rivals Gloucester and Bath display a colourful mix of Super 14 and traditional English styles according to Paul Rees writing in the Guardian.

"Bath and Gloucester may be local rivals but in terms of style they are as far apart as Carlisle and Camborne. If Bath's motto is who dares wins, it is a case of who dares sins at Kingsholm, especially if the audacity is shown in their own half...

"A few years ago it was Gloucester who were all sparkle and glitter while the prospect of watching Bath, who tended to score in multiples of three, made a trip to the dentist seem pleasurable. Bath topped the Guinness Premiership but lost in the play-off final while Gloucester have finished at the head of the table in the last two seasons without picking up the trophy. Gloucester won friends but not silverware."

Through the rugby year, across the oceans of the different hemispheres, the game of rugby union has many guises. The Independent offers a visual retrospective of the rugby world in 2008.

"For sure, the image of grunt and grind, impact and intimidation, is thoroughly merited. In this professional era for the sport, never has rugby so resembled a gladiatorial encounter.

"Yet the game has many faces which is one of its most enduring appeals. It can be alarmingly physical yet still aesthetically enchanting. And sometimes, what the photographer’s camera captures is a different image, a fresh vision of the sport hidden away from most supporters."

The end-of-season shakedown should be enlarged because the elite player agreement penalises some clubs according to Shaun Edwards writing in his column in the Guardian.

"Six months into the new agreement between the Premiership clubs and Twickenham over the management of elite players the time has come to review the play-off system. Traditionalists went mad when it was introduced in the 2002-03 season as a method of deciding the champions. I am not advocating a return to the days when the team that finished first got the trophy, far from it. The new agreement reinforces the need for the play-offs because of the increasing amount of time players are away on England duty or forced to kick their heels on the sidelines.

"Without the play-offs, there would be no incentive for clubs to have more than a couple of current England players and what would be the point in developing internationals for the future? Just recruit foreign players galore. I believe the play-offs should be expanded from four clubs to six. That has nothing to do with the fact that Wasps are currently in the bottom half of the table and everything to do with the way the new agreement penalises clubs the more England elite players they have."

Writing in The Independent, Peter Bills puts forward his belief that the ELVs are here to stay.

"Clear signs are emerging that the rugby dice appear to be falling in favour of adopting most of the ELVs at the IRB Council’s meeting on the vexed issue in May.

"It is my firm understanding that the five leading countries of the world – New Zealand, South Africa, France, Australia and England – are ready to vote for most of the proposals when the matter is discussed by the IRB Council.

"As things stand, it is chiefly the Celtic countries, Ireland, Wales and Scotland that are standing out against making the proposals law. Of these, Wales are seen as crucial in possibly being drawn to the side of those in favour. If the Welsh succumb, then Ireland and Scotland will be lost, isolated and certain to be defeated on the issue."

In his latest Rolling Maul piece for the The Times, Stephen Jones ponders the return of Scott Johnson to Wales after he was linked with the Ospreys.

"He is certainly under pressure. The Ospreys have an enormous budget, an enormous squad, an enormous stadium and potentially, enormous support. There are no excuses for them and Johnson is the man who must lift them so that their traditionally reasonable results are turned into the pot-hunting bonanza that they crave.

"No coach in my experience occasions such debate. During the Welsh Grand Slam of 2005, he was a remarkable figure, wandering up and down the touchlines, bawling at the players and receiving afterwards the almost awed praise of skipper Gareth Thomas and the inner cabal of Welsh players. He had a very brief go at being the Welsh supremo but was soon on his way back to his native Australia, where he was part of a coaching set-up under John Connolly which notably failed to set the world alight. He then moved on to become coach of the USA Eagles, where he appeared, at least, to be bringing about an improvement of sorts."

Nigel Owens talks to Patrick Barkham inThe Guardian about the trials of being the only openly gay international referee.

"Early one morning, Nigel Owens scrawled a note saying he "just couldn't deal with it any more" and crept out of his parent's house. Fat, lonely, bulimic, addicted to steroids and secretly gay, Owens climbed high above the Welsh valley where he grew up and waited for the sleeping pills to take hold. He has no memory of being saved but was spotted and taken to hospital by a police helicopter. If his rescuers had arrived half an hour later, he would have been dead.

"Nearly 13 years on, Owens is not fat, or bulimic and certainly not on steroids. Most notably, his sexuality is no longer a secret. This is a big deal because Owens is an international rugby union referee. Being a referee is a lonely job; being the only professional - player or ref - brave enough to be openly gay must be lonelier still on rugby union's pitches. And Owens is not just an exception in rugby; apart from the tennis player Amélie Mauresmo, virtually no international gay or lesbian sports star still playing has publicly discussed their sexuality. The few who do, such as basketballer John Amaechi and footballer Justin Fashanu, who later killed himself, only came out after retiring."

Peter Bills meets IRB chairman Bernard Lapasset, and the main man of world rugby has money on his mind in The Independent

"Removing the selfishness of a ‘me not we’ attitude in rugby union should be paramount among the game’s priorities for 2009, IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset has said.

"In his New Year message on the state of the game, Lapasset insists that rugby must consider a wider collective and forsake the policy of individual gain at the expense of others.

"Lapasset conceded “At this time, the north and the south are more and more divided, partly because the economies are different. Nor is this true only of rugby. In so many sports, the best players are in Europe where the markets and economies are much bigger. Look at football.

“But if we allow this to be maintained we are in danger of devaluing the game in other parts of the world. The fact is, economy cannot be the only criteria; it must not be the pinnacle of our strategy.”

Iain Morrison previews the return of former Scotland coach Matt Williams to Murrayfield where he will take charge of Ulster against Edinburgh in their Magners League clash next Friday. Read his thoughts in The Scotsman.

"The Belfast Telegraph had an interesting headline the other day: "How Matt Williams revived Ulster". For those of a sceptical outlook, the Belfast paper was indeed referring to the same Australian coach who was once in charge of Scotland and managed just three wins in 17 outings.

"The habitually talkative Williams is a little less chatty these days, still shunning the Scottish press after suffering a bruising time at their hands during his two-season stint at Murrayfield. At one point the Aussie hinted that the media's adverse reaction to him was motivated by his nationality and the evidence on that score is mixed; Dan Parks' experience may back him up although that of Nathan Hines suggests otherwise. It is more likely that his smooth, some would say glib, delivery grated with the rugby writers and public alike who were more accustomed to Jim Telfer's no-nonsense delivery."

The credit crunch is now forcing professional rugby to not only consider reducing clubs' salary cap, but also to limit their squad sizes - and Brian Moore, writing in The Daily Telegraph, has sympathy for any players set for the chopping block.

"Players do not have a career of over 40 years as most people do; they have at best 15 years, often less than 10. Once a player finds himself out of contract and does not play for a number of months his eligibility plummets; even if he is re-signed his form is bound to have suffered; he may never make it back. Don't think we are only talking about also-rans; this could easily apply to young players whose talent has not yet been fully recognised.

"I would not, as a player, agree to the dishonouring or renegotiation of my contract by my club unless there were similar pro-rata cuts for all the squad, management and staff. If we're all taking the hit then that is different. I believe players are realistic about the situation and, if not singled out, would acquiesce; not just out of self-preservation, but also out of loyalty towards team-mates."

Stephen Jones worries for the future of the Rugby World Cup after new financial demands were made by the IRB inThe Sunday Times

"There are growing fears that the Rugby World Cup, the showpiece of the sport and its financial engine, could fall into the wrong hands because the International Rugby Board is demanding in the middle of an economic crisis that any nation wishing to host the tournament must give a massive financial guarantee before being considered.

"Final bids are now being prepared to host the 2015 and 2019 tournaments, with at least eight nations showing interest, but an IRB directive that they must be guaranteed £80m for the 2015 event (they have moderated their demand from an original £100m) and a staggering £120m for 2019 has stopped many nations dead in their tracks, with even Australia expressing doubts. At present, only Italy appear to be in a position to come up with the guarantee - they have been promised support by the Italian government and Rome’s civic authorities.

"Other unions feel that the guarantee could destabilise them. Martyn Thomas, chairman of the powerful Rugby Football Union, is worried that a dearth of unions willing to put up the guarantees will leave a vacuum that could see bids from outside rugby."

Eddie Butler comments of the interesting dichotomy facing Ian McGeechan as coach of the Lions and Wasps in The Guardian.

"Back in September, Ian McGeechan and Gerald Davies, coach and manager of this summer's British and Irish Lions touring South Africa, used to discuss the "types of player" and "sorts of person" that they were looking for. From now on, they will be reaching for the pen and rubber, inking in here, erasing there. Types of player and person will be given names.

"The sense of urgency is heightened by McGeechan's own circumstances at Wasps. I haven't met anyone who thinks that his club are shot, that this time there will be no about-turn. But the wise man of northern rugby has little time left to resurrect his club season. And it may have to be on a single front, Europe, so poor has been the first half of their domestic season.

"He was on the receiving end of some good fortune - always handy, however much he would put hard work above luck - when Leinster lost in Castres in round four of the Heineken Cup. Wasps face the Irish province at home and the French club away in Pool 2's remaining fixtures at the end of this month.

"Here are Wasps, perennially successful, full of England international players, and coached by McGeechan and Shaun Edwards, who will join him on the Lions tour, with everything hanging on two games in January. We shall know a lot more about Danny Cipriani, the resurgence of his supposed understudy Dave Walder, the form of several players at the core of Martin Johnson's England side, McGeechan's powers of recovery and Edwards's blood pressure when the final whistle blows at the Stade Pierre Antoine in Castres on 25 January."

Paul Rees lends a helping hand to Martin Johnson by flagging up some potential stars for England in 2009 in The Guardian.

"Olly Morgan, 23. Full-back, Gloucester

Morgan won two caps in 2007 before suffering a series of shoulder injuries but he has returned to fitness and form with his club this season. He is a more polished player than he was two years ago, as he showed in scoring an outstanding individual try in the win against Bristol at the Memorial Ground last weekend.

"We have known for some time about his bravery, security under the high ball, his tackling ability and his rangy running, but over the last few months he has developed an ability to be a real threat from deep," said the Gloucester head coach, Dean Ryan. "That has given an additional layer to his game that will, over time, make him a much more rounded and consistent player."

Wales defence coach Shaun Edwards blogs on preparing his charges for the new expectation on them as Six Nations favourites in The Guardian

"We go into the Six Nations next month in the unusual position of being favourites. That creates a different pressure, one you have to deal with.

"When I started at Wasps, we were not fancied for anything, but once you win a few trophies, expectation mounts and you cross a line as players and coaches. You have to be able to manage success, a totally different mindset from going into tournaments and games as underdogs.

"The next stage in Wales's development is to cope with expectation, both external and internal. We have a tough start to the defence of our title in Scotland and players are going to have to step up. They always say that it is harder to retain a title than to win it in the first place, but if I am sure of one thing it is that there will be no problem in terms of attitude."