super jimmy back on Welford Road

James Grindal is coming back to Leicester to replace the departing Dupuy.  Grindal came into the Tigers set up initially as a security blanket for Andy Goode, and looked pretty promising as far as Leicester style 9s go.  Solid, steady, enough pace, a flat pass.  He didn't break all the way through though, and was basically pushed out by the emergence of Harry Ellis.  Up to Newcastle he went, where he's toiled in relative obscurity.  136 appearances: that's 19 games a year or basically a full season of appearances.  That'll work for Leicester, where his durability isn't going to be stretched because he'll be the old head who backs up Ben Youngs when we start the bolter, or he'll sit behind Ellis and provide us some sort of steadiness off the bench in a big game.  I think Youngs could be the future, and Grindal may be resigned to the fact that his career will be the constant placeholding for emerging scrum half talent - first Ellis, then Micky Young at Newcastle, now maybe Youngs at Leicester. 

In other news, more rugby emails from Sideshow.

"Picking Simon Shaw in the test team for Saturday = the maddest thing I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t have him in the Saxons squad. Smacks of panic to me, they are playing on the top of a ruddy mountain, the idiot will wander, knackered, to the breakdown, fall over and give up so many kicking points it’s unreal, followed by the inevitable sin binning for whacking someone. If they wanted that, they should have taken White, at least that way we’d not have looked like 8 year olds at scrum time, and wed’ve loved him despite his indiscipline. I love Geech, really I do, but that’s just picking your own bloke at the expense of sanity. I think Burger’s selection will help us, but this hurts us more."

I think Berger is going to ram the ball down our gizzard something crazy.  I think Shaw has had a pretty good tour, but hadn't expected him to get the nod, because I think he's the same player as O'Connell.  I was surprised he went on the tour (the Shaw and Worsley selections
were rampant Wasps homerism, as was putting Cipriani on the waiting list).  I think the harshest move is saying that Monye is a worse player than that leek eating midget.  That will backfire.  I'd have put Hook in at 10, or certainly on the bench.  ROG should have jogged off
the front of the pitch after missing that kick and run straight to the airplane.  Inexcusable.