Weekly Round-up (19/03/12)

This week, one headline rocked the sporting world: the sad news that Bolton's Fabrice Muamba suffered a heart attack during the FA Cup quarter-final with Tottenham Hotspur. As the time of writing, Muamba is still in a fight for his life and is still being treated in intensive care. Like everyone involved with football, I wish him a full recovery and hope that one day, we may see him playing again. It's fair to say Muamba has talent, having represented England at every youth level and is the joint second most capped under-21 player for England of all time. Whilst it would have been unlikely that the midfielder would have made it to Euro 2012, it would not have been beyond the realms of possibility for him to have been pulling on a Great Britain shirt during the Olympics. However, in times like this, football becomes irrelevant and we can only pray that Muamba pulls through.

Elsewhere in sport, the Six Nations came to its conclusion. Congratulations to Wales for securing their third Grand Slam in seven years, a truly wonderful achievement. Of course, this only leads to people shouting even louder for Warren Gatland to be named Lions coach next year. I for one, however, am completely against this motion for the simple reason that Gatland has a strong dislike for the Irish. I may be slightly biased being of Irish heritage, but how can you let someone manage a side likely to be made up of some of the people he despises? It will not generate good team spirit, which could lead to poor performances and an embarrassment of a tour. In my opinion, I believe the task of leading the Lions should once again fall to Ian McGeechan. He just somehow seems to make the Lions click and perform at their best. Just look at 2009, even though there was a series defeat, faith was restored in the touring side after the debacle that was 2005.
At the other end of the Six Nations, Scotland finished with the wooden spoon after failing to win a single game. This is a huge worry to the Scots, and I would be all for sacking Andy Robinson. What has he done that Frank Hadden had not? I believe that, if anything, Scotland have gone backwards under Robinson. They have talent in Richie Gray, Dave Denton and Stuart Hogg, so it is not a lack of quality. If England stick with Lancaster, which they should given how well he has got England to perform, then Scotland should quickly swoop for Nick Mallet or John Kirwan. Both have previous in getting a team full of potential to where they need to be, and that is exactly the type of manager Scotland currently needs.

Furthermore, both France and Ireland suffered worrying campaigns. In the five matches, they both only beat the bottom two teams. For both nations, this is simply not good enough. We are talking about teams here who both believe they were going for the title this year. Ireland came into the tournament off the back of a World Cup where they beat Australia, and France from a World Cup final that they perhaps could have won. And yet for both sides to struggle as they did means there are lots of questions to be answered.

And finally, this weekend saw the return of Formula 1 - oh how I've missed it. I was absolutely delighted for Jenson Button to win the first race and I hope he carries his form into the rest of the season. Credit to Sebastian Vettel, who steered his Red Bull to second place despite starting sixth on the grid. However, my driver of the race would have to be Kimi Raikkonen. Having started in 17th, the Finn eventually finished seventh on his return to Formula 1. It just proves that for world champions, Formula 1 is like riding a bike - you never forget how to race well. I bet all the way through the race, there was a beaming smile underneath Raikkonen's helmet, reminding him why he loves the sport after two years of rallying.