England Bounce Back, the Lions need to Sharpen their Claws, and the Joys of Pre-Pre-Season!

When I managed to, in the most technical terms, bugger my neck a couple of weeks ago doing some weights, I didn't know how long it would be until I managed to get back into the old rugger training.

Supposedly it's a herniated disc, and I am awaiting an MRI for it, but the good news is that after two weeks the constant migraines have finally stopped and I actually feel semi human again...well as human as I ever feel.

I have even managed to get to the gym this week, although to be fair I am limited to sitting on the bike for 30 minutes, but it's a start! I can't tell you how mad I have been going over the last two weeks not being able to train, especially as for the last 2 months I have been going crazy with the idea of being able to hit the ground running in pre-season with the Birmingham & Solihull Bee's as we get ready for our first season in rugby's new Championship!

Although I must admit, I hate cycling (I ride motorbikes for crying out loud, I don't pedal!), but at least it has given me a chance to fall in love completely with the new Silversun Pickups album "Swoon", as I have had it on repeat while I pound out the miles, and wow is it a grower, so many different layers of sounds, and if you like the Smashing Pumpkins, you should give it a go!

Its just nice to feel like I can do some exercise again, but with preseason kicking off a week on Monday, I reckon its all a bit too little too late, so no doubt all the Bee's boys will be ripping the Mick out of me as I pass out ten seconds into the first session, but at least it will make a change for them ripping the piss out of me for wearing an Alice band! Actually having just received the pre season schedule in an email......oh my God it's hardcore......I might not even make it through the first week.......tell my mother I love her!

One upside of being injured, as I wrote the other day, is that it gives you a huge amount of time to sit around and eat cake...........D'oh.......I mean.....watch sport, that's it!

And what a smorgasbord of sport there was over the weekend! First up lets focus on the Lions, they beat the Orange Free State Cheetahs 26-24 over in Bloemfontein, but they were literally one kick away from being beaten, with the Cheetahs missing a drop goal in the last minute.

Sure they could have lost, but they didn't, and in fact in the first twenty minutes before the sin binning of Ferris, I thought we looked awesome! Our forwards were hitting the rucks hard, providing go forward ball for our lively backs, who simply cut them to shreds. Sure after the yellow card we struggled, the Cheetahs started coming in to their own in the breakdown and in the end the boys in red were holding on for their lives in up against some incredibly passionate play from the home side....but they won. Let's not forget that in this area of South Africa, rugby is more important than oxygen, so just to come away with a win is a top result. Nuff said, lets move onto the next game, and it gets interesting this week as "Geech" and the boys will be starting to get an idea who will be making up the Test 15, so expect some fierce competition amongst the players, and some slightly better opposition as things get cranked up a notch!

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahaha!!!!!

I love nothing more than keeping my professional sports journalistic unbiased-ness up, but sod it, take that you Aussies!!! Unceremoniously dumped out of the Twenty 20 World Cup, they now face two weeks in Leicestershire to get ready for the Ashes, and as Punter himself said "No one really wants that!" I am sure they will bounce back from this, but you could still see how much it hurt them, and if you're anything like me, seeing an Aussie suffering is one of the greatest things in the world!

Oh and top work from England, to see them perform under pressure against a potentially very good Pakistan side was awesome, and they certainly banished the embarrassing defeat by the Netherlands on Friday from their minds. I must admit this tournament has been awesome-tacular and I should know as I have pretty much watched every game, so bring on the Super Eights!

Federer put his name in the annals of tennis history on Sunday by winning the French Open, and becoming only the 5th player of all time to win all of the Grand Slams, and a lot of people are now saying he is the best tennis player of all time...........D'uh!!!!

Of course he is!!! I don't care what sport you play, but times move forward, and sport evolves, so if you really think that someone like Bjorn Borg would be able to live on the same court as someone like Nadal, well you're crazy!. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that sportsmen from the past aren't any good, of course they are, but sport has changed so much now, the training methods, the science behind it, the nutrition, and of course the level of professionalism now that I doubt any player in any sport from say 20-30 years ago is comparable to an athlete today.

Training methods have moved on so much, and the sport itself evolves, I mean imagine legendary England Number 8 Dean Richards, one of the finest players the world has seen, trying to play today, he would simply not be able to compete with the athleticism of players like Croft or Ferris and his meandering to the breakdown would be pointless anyway as there are no mauls now anyway......sorry Dean.....I still love you though.

Unless of course you are Geoffrey Boycott who would never admit that anyone was better than him, past or present!!!!

England also managed to survive a bit of a scare out in Kazakhstan to come through and win convincingly in the end and make it 6 out of 6 for Capello, which means we already have one foot in South Africa for 2010. I must admit though, its almost a shame that we are doing so well, I mean our nation loves a good moan, and we are not getting the chance at the moment!

We are walking it this time out and I miss the drama and excitement that comes from supporting a team of under achievers! Who can forget that famous free kick against Greece from Beckham that put us through, or that game out in Italy where we held out for a draw to qualify? These moment of tension that are so crucial to England footy fans are simply non-existent when we actually win easily.....so sort it out Capello, actually, don't worry about it, I'm sure we will get to South Africa nice and easily, and then when we get out there it will all go Pete Tong!

Oh and if that wasn't enough, I thought Button was absolutely amazing out in Turkey, and its going to take a hell of a lot to stop him winning the F1 title this year. Yes it is a shame to see Lewis struggling so badly, but I thought after a lacklustre start he started to get back into it, but there is no doubt that Button is the man of the moment, and his incredibly smooth driving skills are reminiscent of a certain Michael Schumacher, who had a certain Ross Brawn as his team manager at Ferrari.

To be fair I kept wanting to tell the commentators in Sundays race to shut up, as they kept trying to jinx the Brit by saying things like "He hasn't made a single mistake all season" and "Surely he will go on to win now!" Unbelievably though he really does seem able to handle the immense amount of pressure on him, and really doesn't make mistakes which are so crucial at this level, as Vettel learnt after his slight mishap early on was enough to lose him the race, and I cant wait for the F1 circus to arrive at Silverstone in two weeks.

Anyway, I best get back to watching the Twenty Twenty, and I will blog tomorrow to preview the big footy and Lions game, so until then my illustrious compadres, rock on!