To look at Martin Johnson's face on Saturday, was to look at a man being worn down. The expression suggested a heavy defeat not a 25-point victory, but it was of course the manner of the victory that will have disturbed him. 

In the same way Heath Ledger's Joker haunted Summer '08 with the immortal words 'Why so serious?', Gatland fired an immediate warning following Wales' victory: 'It is a good position to be in' he said, 'There are a lot of things we can improve and work on.' Johnson will of course hope Gatland's words were also for the cameras, but the way Wales swatted Scotland aside will mean England go to Cardiff in hope, not expectation.

Had Italy not decided to ludicrously experiment with Bergamasco at scrum-half, they might have been celebrating a famous result - England were bad, Bergamasco was worse.

Rafa Benitez wore the very same look until Fernando Torres came to his rescue a minute from time. Rafa probably wouldn't look so worried if he didn't a) Buy a £20million striker and then sell him for £8million less 6 months later, b) leave his best players on the bench in big games and c) have that goatee.

Sir Alex never messes with hairstyles or facial hair and he couldn't look less serious right now, even though you know he is on a mission. He even managed a laugh and a joke about Giggs' winning goal, suggesting it 12 years since the last goal with his right foot, when he knows full well it's longer than that.

The managerial merry-go-round stopped twice yesterday, first on the South Coast and then in the capital. Big Phil and Tony Adams were the unlucky men, and their respective clubs now begin the search for saviours.

Adams claimed to be 'surprised' more than anything, but given his managerial record during his tenure and prior to it, it really wasn'tt hat surprising. And whilst Big Phil's Chelsea were world-beaters in late summer, hapless displays against big contenders and the small fish sealed his fate.

Linked to the Chelsea job are the usual suspects (Hiddink, Mancini, Riijkard), plus an old friend, Avram Grant. Seriously. In all fairness, he never deserved the sack in the first place, but only in the crazy world of football could such a turnaround be possible. Not good enough in June, Abramovich wants him to complete a similar damage-limitation job to the one he did following Messiah Mourinho. If Avram grants him his wish (sorry), be sure to watch out for an interesting end to the season.

Portsmouth of course are not quite on the same playing field, and Alan Curbishley and the like are the names trotted out for this one. Anyone linked would do well to stay clear. No-one can do the job Harry Redknapp did except Harry himself and Portsmouth are plummeting.

In other sport, the England cricket team did it's very best to defy belief and scale new lows, barely making a 50 total in their second innings. Alastair Cook claims that no major changes are necessary, but anyone who takes that seriously needs to re-watch that second innings again, and again in case they blink and miss it.

Super-Middle and light-heavyweight champion Joe Calzaghe retired undefeated, although he did say "never say never" to the prospect of a comeback. Having defeated everyone put before him in the last 20 years, he joins legends Floyd Mayweather and Rocky Marciano as undefeated fighters at the very top of the game. He is rightly the Pride of Wales.

Bonne semaine!


 
 

An 'all-rounder' is traditionally a cricketer who is equally good at batting and bowling. So what do you call a man who is good at those, plus throwing a rugby ball or kicking a football?

Ian Botham turned out to be one of England's greatest ever cricketers, but also unknown to many, played professional football for both Yeovil Town and Scunthorpe. He turned out 28 times professionally in all, scoring one goal. Having played both sports up until this point, he decided to concentrate on cricket, and I think English fans are eternally grateful that he did.

Liam Botham, Ian's son, arguably takes the term 'all-rounder' even further, having played professional cricket, rugby union and rugby league. Whilst not achieving the heights his father did at cricket, this is undoubtedly an incredible achievment such is the rarity for multiple sportsmen in the UK. He played for some good sides in that time too, cricket at Hampshire, rugby union at Cardiff and Newcastle and rugby league at Leeds Rhinos.

Britain's greatest all-rounder must be Denis Compton, however. Capped 78 times (batting average over 50) by England at cricket, and a career at Middlesex was in addition to having won the League and FA Cup with Arsenal. Unfortunately for Compton, his careers in both sports were hindered by the Second World War, otherwise he might have achieved even more.

In America, there is more of a tradition for multiple sportsmen, the most famous being Michael Jordan. Not content with already being the greatest basketball player and a decent golfer, Jordan decided to take a sabbatical to play for the Chicago White Sox baseball team. The Chicago Bulls continued to pay his wages while he did such was his ability with a basketball, and he returned to them a year later, tail between his legs and lead the Bulls to three more titles.

Beyond Michael Jordan, there's Jackie Joyner-Kersee (basketball and Olympic gold medalist at Heptathlon/long jump), Bullet Bob Hayes (NLF and 1964 Olympic gold medal sprinter), Neon Deion Sanders (NFL & MLB), Shaun White (snowboarding and skateboarding) and Gridiron legend Jim Brown (NFL and Lacrosse).

The greatest multiple-sportsman of the modern era is widely regarded to be Bo Jackson. More recently famous through the 'Bo Knows' Nike adverts that ran through America, Bo is the only sportsman to be named an 'all-star' in two sports - American Football and Baseball. In addition to this incredible achievement, Bo also had the opportunity to join the USA Olympic team, but turned it down for the financial security of the bigger sports.

Who knows when another like him may come along. The most hig profile sport-switch of recent times was Clive Woodward's unsuccefful foray into football, which he claimed to be his first love. But even with a world cup on his management CV, he only demonstrated how hard it is to switch sports.

Who knows if or when another Bo Jackson will come along?








 
 

So Andrew Strauss has taken over from Kevin Pietersen, claiming England need a 'fresh start'. This will be the third time Strauss has taken on the captaincy, but the first time permanently. Having lead the team to a 2-0 series victory over Pakistan in 2006 when Michael Vaughan was injured, Strauss feels he has more experience than most as he comes into the job. However, he may end up being in charge of 4 ex-captains, something which no-one can expect when going into the job.

The only positive that comes out of this mess, is that it has happened so early on. Further rift and division amongst the team would have only lead to an irreperable damage to not only the team's confidence, but performance. A series victory against the West Indies is still more than possible despite all this uproar, and that way at least the transitional period will be completed by the time the Ashes comes around.

The players who have been spoken to have all expressed their shock at the developments, indicating just how incredible they are. Strauss claims he has the backing of his good friend Pietersen, and no doubt he fully intends to continue to give his all for the England cause. If nothing else, it's well known he wants to become the best batsman in the Test Arena and that will drive him on if nothing else does. However, going from being in charge, to playing with the people you were in charge of is unquestionably difficult, as it is to go from player/friend to captain. Pietersen has done both in 5 months.

Pietersen is capable of the sublime or the ridiculous when he takes to the field against the Windies, but I back him to sort his head out and score some serious runs, over the series if not in the first test. Although he was desperate to hold on to the job, and will now have is pride wounded, he will even less want to become a liability to England.

The questions we're left with can only be answered by the team and KP's performance in the first test in 2 weeks time.