rugby

This evening I watched a superior England rugby team defeat a Welsh team seemingly devoid of ideas as to how to manage a game from a winning position.  That's to take nothing away from England who in the second half took control of the game and never looked like losing it.

I have no gripe with being beaten by a better side.

The six nations tournament is the finest rugby competition in the world.  More historic and some would argue bigger than the world cup itself.

Wales v England is the jewel in the six nations' crown.  The oldest rivalry in sport.

Why then the need for a pyrotechnic display to rival anything a large rock band or Disney could produce to build the atmosphere?  It's simply wasn't needed and was to my mind silly and unnecessary - a complete waste of time.

Just get the players on the pitch and let them at each other for 80 minutes.  That's all that was needed tonight.  No fireworks, no lasers, no flame throwing devices shooting fire into the freezing night sky.

If anything it made the result more inevitable, and certainly more embarrassing.

Leave such things where they belong - in theme parks and rock concert venues.  They have no place in sport.