6 Nations Half-Back Evaluation

This has not been a vintage tournament for half-backs.

For England, the distinctly average stop-gap Lee Dickson was eventually found out against Ireland and Ben Youngs thankfully returned to somewhere near form. Owen Farrell is ready to play international rugby but his passing is too often behind the man.

Mike Blair also returned to his form of 2009 but his teammates were too often slower in thought and deed. Greig Laidlaw is arguably not the answer at fly-half though he did provide much needed direction even if direction did not manifest itself in penetration.

Conor Murray impressed me as an all-round scrum-half and will hopefully recover quickly so that he can push his case for the Lions. Sexton confirmed his place as the most capable and rounded fly-half in the competition.

For France, several combinations were tried and more often failed. Yachvili missed out through injury though Parra should have automatically replaced him and not Julien Dupuy. Lionel Beauxis sadly failed to produce his early season form and PSA should surely stick with Francois Trinh-Duc.

Italy have no half-backs of value except perhaps Bennvenuti. Burton plays so deep and so lateral his backline has no chance.

For Wales, Mike Philips seemed to find the right balance between passing, kicking and utilising his strong running game, a balance that he lost for a season. His performances have been tidy, understated, and classy. Wales’ success has come in spite of Rhys Priestland and not because of it. He fell apart at Twickenham and I feel he is too keen to kick the ball. His confidence and composure from the world cup was non-existent. This was no doubt related to his aberrant goal-kicking.

"Oh Danny Boy"

Such clichéd headlines that very closely match the title of this piece are now obsolete in relation to Danny Cipriani. He is no longer a boy and certainly not a boy wonder. He has served his apprenticeship, albeit an atypical one, and is now surely ready to push for a place in England's national side from the dog pound of unwanted and undervalued players that is the Sale Sharks.

I have long been a fan of Danny Cipriani. He burst on to the European scene at a time when defences were very much on top (possibly like Kelly Brook) and the chances of a 10 breaking were definitely as slim as her. We'll get on to that lithe temptress that so distracted young Daniel very soon. Here was a 10 with genuine pace, the quickest in the team. He wasn't just a sprinter though, he was a footballer too, with a very cultured left foot.

And he had swagger and was good looking and there were 'human interest' stories about his mother driving a London cab to help make ends meet. He was undoubtedly naive and stories about training ground fights with Josh Lewsey over missed tackles didn't help. This is the first time I have mentioned Cipriani's tackling, or lack of tackling. It is not his strong suit and I am often too keen to sweep this awkward fact under the carpet to focus on the parts of his game where he is is outstanding.

He made a wonderful test debut at Twickenham against Ireland where he exhibited such control and poise, qualities that Owen Farrell has shown recently, although with a harder edge and a greater willingness to tackle than Cipriani. He even swore on the BBC. Irresistibly rock star and everyone loved him.

Of course, to think these thoughts was naive in the extreme, though not as naive as Danny. It was exciting though, seeing a 10 who could do all these things in such an audacious fashion not seen since Carlos Spencer. There were few detractors that day, though hordes have emerged since.

Two months after being crowned the new King of Twickers, he suffered one of the worst injuries around, the fracture dislocation of the ankle. Awful luck. But he came back 6 weeks ahead of schedule,a  testament to his own hard work, a much-questioned virtue of his, sometimes correctly, and sometimes not.

Back in the England side under Martin Johnson, chargedowns became the symbol of Danny's downfall. He fell out with Johnson, got injured again and then came Australia.

I still find it staggering that some questioned his move to the Melbourne Rebels. It is a tournament made for Cipriani and what 22 year old would turn down the opportunity to move to Australia and get paid loadsa money to play rugby on hard, fast pitches across the Southern Hemisphere. Sounds better than the bus to Newcastle...

But he'll be unavailable for England, they crowed. And? He was never going to be there forever, he was 22 and looking to broaden his horizons. Surely there was no problem with sacrificing two years of England caps which were never going to arrive anyway because the dogged Leicester streak in Martin Johnson hated everything that Cipriani stood for from the very beginning. So good luck to him, that was my view at the time.

Since then Cipriani has had 'disciplinary' issues. He leaned over a bar and nicked a bottle of vodka, hardly a crime, though was treated as if he'd then brought it down with a crash of alcoholic glass over Rod MacQueen's grey head rather than pouring it down his throat. The Australian move hasn't gone all that well, with moments of brilliance tempered by that old inconvenience, the need to tackle.

With his contract with the Rebels coming to an end and keen to return home, few clubs were interested in a prima donna who may well make searing breaks but who also is an arrogant celebrity before before professional rugby. Shame on these clubs. What an indictment of their club that they have such little faith in their own abilities and values, that Cipriani might flourish there.

Sale Sharks are the real winners in all of this, and Cipriani may well be too. With Steve Diamond and his strong personality running the show, they are hoovering up talent that other clubs have either missed or feel isn't quite right for them. Andy Powell, the first problem child and world renowned racer of golf buggies, was the first. Apparently he needs a minder with him to make sure he behaves. But more importantly, Sale have trusted him, they have put in place the necessary measures to make sure he repays that trust and is doing well. Other clubs have missed a trick.

Hopefully they can do the same with Cipriani and his clichéd personality of flawed genius. Being in Manchester and not London (or Melbourne) should help and the ethos of Sale may well closely resemble the 'Once a Wasp, always a Wasp' feel of that club. He can do things that very English players of his generation can. Whether he will learn to tackle well enough to convince an England coach of his talents is arguable, but even if he doesn't make it back to that international level, Sale can hide him around the backline in defence before reaping the pacy rewards of placing their faith and trust in a lost soul. I hope he does well - players of his calibre, flawed as they may be, and they are all the more interesting for these flaws, are rare, and we should enjoy them while they are around.

On Saudi Arabia, the Olympics, and Women

If you try to navigate from the IOC website to that of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Association, you are met by an internet silence. Perhaps it was my dodgy internet, but this accessibility failure struck a chord. The Saudis do not believe in accessibility. They believe in denying accessibility of the most basic kind, that of a woman's right to play sport. They deny plenty other rights, too, but sport is the area in focus as the Olympics approach. Saudi Arabia do not buy into the most basic tenets of the Olympic movement, Olympism and the Olympic Charter. They should be expelled from the IOC until they include a female athlete in their Olympic team.

Even the most basic glance at the IOC website confirms what the Olympics are all about: 'Sport For All.' All, all all all. Everyone! Some more aims: "to build a better world through sport;" and the true Olympic values of friendship, excellence, respect. Again, Saudi Arabia falls short. They do not respect women. Janice Turner summed it up perfectly in the Times: "sexual apartheid."

The IOC's 6 fields of activity are: development through sport, grassroots, environment, education through sport, peace through sport, and finally, women in sport. So how can a country that so flagrantly and so blatantly disagrees with everything the Olympics stands for be allowed to compete? Many have pointed to Saudi Arabia's oil wealth and the resulting influence they hold with power to wield. I think it goes a little further.

The answer lies in a growing uber-liberal apologist attitude in the West so keen to uphold and respect a nation's right to hold beliefs, especially if they are different to how we view the world. Such an attitude misses the point. Saudi Arabia is welcome to make laws on whatever it wishes but, crucially, it does not have a pre-ordained right to take part in the Olympics.

Some might argue that it is Saudi Arabia's religious beliefs the leads to their 'sexual apartheid' and so who are we to meddle in their affairs and impose our ideology on them? This is also missing the point. Religion doesn't make it any less abhorrent and certainly not less open for question.

The Olympics stand for certain things, certain ideologies - this needn't be a dirty word. Women in sport is one of these. This is not a political issue, it is one for the IOC. When South Africa excluded black people from its teams they were excommunicated until they sent a team representative of their nation. The same should happen with Saudi Arabia.

Are we, the Olympic community, so scared of offending people and saying, "No, this is wrong, women do deserve to represent your country and if you don't agree then we will carry on without you." There is a definite and clear Olympic ideology - a very positive one, in my opinion. This is not an imposition of our view of the world, it is simply laying out the conditions of entry - no team has a divine right to be a part of the Olympic movement.

What are we scared of? The IOC should have enough faith in what it believes in to put a stop to this and say that they will not be bullied by misogynistic, sexist rulers who don't sign up to what the Olympics should be all about.

The Olympic movement, from Pakistan to Peckham, should wake up and start believing in Olympism with such a fanatical force that the IOC can no longer ignore everything they believe in. The Olympic message is a positive one, we must not be afraid of shouting this from the roof of the Olympic stadium. It's time the IOC put some firm action behind the slogans and say good riddance to any countries that disagree.