Gareth Lewis (archive)
- Mark Orlovac - ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Sport journalist
- 20 Mar 07, 01:45 PM
London - So after five weekends of thrilling action, the dust has settled on another Six Nations campaign.
Before the tournament started, our team of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Six Nations bloggers sat down to select a combined team of the tournament and we did the same three games in.
Now hostilities have come to an end, the votes have been painstakingly counted and we can exclusively reveal what we think is our definitive starting XV.
Triple crown winners Ireland provide six of the team, with champions France and Italy having four players apiece.
Youngster David Strettle is England's only selection while Wales and Wooden Spoonists Scotland miss out altogether.
Six players from the original team have kept their places, and interestingly five of them are in the pack.
Let us know what you think of our selections, what we've got right, what we've got wrong, and let us know how your Six Nations XV would look.
Continue reading "Team of the Tournament"
- Gareth Lewis - ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wales Sport presenter
- 11 Mar 07, 11:31 AM
The Roman amphitheatre, where through the ages one man has decided the fate of the combatants... and 2007 was no different.
In my opinion, . He told Wales centre James Hook there were 10 seconds to go and time to take the line-out, but on the advice of Geoff Warren, the Television Match Official, he then declined to allow time for that line out to take place.
The conversation between Hook, White and Warren goes out on Scrum V programme on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two Wales this evening (1710 GMT).
Now I usually scoff when a law geek quotes a rule at me, but this weekend I'm a geek too, and by my reading of the relevant rule, Wales were right to feel aggrieved.
Continue reading "Ref row overshadows Wales deficiencies"
- Gareth Lewis - ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wales Sport presenter
- 9 Mar 07, 12:56 PM
Cardiff - It occurred to me as I was browsing through the match data on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Sport website before this weekend's round of games that rugby didn't used to revolve around statistics.
Now we have stats for everything - time in possession, scrums wons, line-outs lost, free-kicks conceded. Free kicks! Always the difference between winning and losing that one.
Continue reading "Lies, damned lies and statistics"
- Gareth Lewis - ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wales Sport presenter
- 23 Feb 07, 03:53 PM
Cardiff - You can always rely on Welsh rugby to throw up something controversial when things are starting to settle down again.
As thoughts turned to beating France rather than beating up the coach and captain, stole the headlines.
It's hard to disagree with the general consensus of wishing Phillips well in negotiating - or having had his agent negotiate - such a big deal, which constitutes a pay rise of anywhere between £50,000 and £100,000 depending on who you talk to.
All power to the scrum-half's elbow.
Continue reading "Will Phillips deal spark pay spiral?"
- Gareth Lewis - ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wales Sport presenter
- 17 Feb 07, 01:29 PM
Sixty-four minutes into the Dragons' match at Ravenhill on Friday night, a mop of curly hair threw itself onto the ball with Ulster players' feet, elbows, arms and legs all heading in the same direction. But Colin Charvis emerged with the ball and set up a great 10 minutes for the Dragons as they bombarded Ulster's line and did everything but score.
The Dragons' effort was monumental, but was not enough as they lost 14-7. Does the same now apply to the former Wales captain in his effort to start against the French?
Continue reading "Charvis shows what might have been"
- Gareth Lewis - ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wales Sport presenter
- 9 Feb 07, 01:49 PM
Cardiff - Spare a thought for Colin Francis of Porthcawl, he's on page three of today's sitting on a suitcase outside Cardiff airport.
But he's not posing in the style you'd expect in The Sun, if he had, he might well have lost vital bits of equipment.
Scottish weather has hit Wales so Mr Francis and thousands of others have faced cancellations and delays on the big trip up to Edinburgh.
Continue reading "It's snow joke"
- Gareth Lewis - ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wales Sport presenter
- 29 Jan 07, 08:02 AM
Cardiff - Usually in the run up to international matches in Wales, there's frantic speculation about who will play and in what position.
Since my previous blog post, injuries have taken an untimely toll, but not even they, not even the spiky-haired wonder, have dominated conversation.
Alfie has.
Continue reading "Has Alfie scuppered his swansong?"
- Gareth Lewis - ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wales Sport presenter
- 22 Jan 07, 12:54 PM
Cardiff - Interesting to see that the Doomsday clock, which signifies how close the world is to nuclear disaster, was moved to seven minutes to midnight last week, its "latest" time for nine years.
This could be a week when even the Six Nations is overshadowed if England's clubs go for the nuclear button and opt out of the Heineken Cup along with the French.
Tick tock, tick tock… we watch and wait. Meanwhile, turning back the hands of time is 34-year-old Colin Charvis.
Continue reading "Clock ticks for Six Nations pretenders"
- Gareth Lewis - ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wales Sport presenter
- 18 Jan 07, 05:13 PM
I was born in a part of Wales now scandalously denied professional regional rugby, but those days are gone and like everyone else who lives there I'm not bitter now. Honest...
Just as well, because that famous ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ impartiality has to come to the fore in my role presenting Scrum V on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wales television and radio.
Like all fans of my generation, my rugby highlight came two years ago when Wales ended almost three decades of agony by .
Either that or winning the Trignac Sevens u-16 tournament in Brittany, only to be accused by the French of fielding an over-age team. And there's always THAT Gareth Thomas interview, still available on the Scrum V website.
Away from rugby, I follow events at Goodison Park closely (another long wait for a trophy goes on) and spend the rest of my spare time refining the delicate balance between post-match hospitality, and running it off.
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