Being nosy

By Whaley Shark
August 10 2014

It’s all rather quiet round here at the moment. Our quiz is the liveliest thing at the moment and I’m still bruised after being told off for owning obscure music. So I thought I’d have a look at what the neighbours are up to…..  

In Bath, the local paper’s been chatting to Henry Thomas about his return to Somerset, and the other topic of interest is the endless saga of the Wreck and its development, or not. Also down in the south-west, Exeter seem to be tying themselves in knots over developing a training facility which now can’t have anything to do with the Chiefs (so they can bid for funds), and worrying about whether their major redevelopment of Sandy Park will be completed for the start of the season. It’s obviously sensitive, with one of their posters getting into hot water with the club. Finally, Gloucester’s pretty subdued board is reflecting on Mike Tindall’s retirement and the aftershocks of Nigel Davies’ departure.

Moving on to the London clubs, genuine, or displaced, Quins are revving up for the first of their pre-season fixtures, at Grenoble. Likewise, London Welsh are getting excited about their rather less exotic fixture against Esher. The Welsh are also debating their forthcoming new kit. Saracens seem mainly to be worrying about whether Austin Healey may or may not have said something nice about them, and if so whether it’s justified? Interestingly, Wasps are mainly debating London Welsh’s signing of 24 players so far, and the difficulties of making the jump from Championship to the AP. London Irish are also obsessing over shirt designs and fabric.

In the Midlands, the Tigers’ new shirt is dividing opinion and they seem less than impressed with the early development of the new European Champions’ Cup. The Saints’ fans are getting very interested in the postal service as their season tickets start to land on doormats. They’ve also been somewhat offended by a Saracens’ poll which has Saints as the Saracens’ fans least favourite away ground, worst opposition fans and least favourite other Premiership team.

Finally, in the AP’s northernmost reaches, the Falcons are worrying about front row strength, particularly at loosehead.

Hopefully, two weeks from now, rugby will be back......