Brian the Blessed or Coco the Clown?

Well he certainly isn't Andy Robinson and for that we should all be grateful.

How much is down to the coach and how much the players?

Well, if we look back at Brian's tenure to date, he had a good 6 Nations. The defeats against Ireland and Wales were not coaching errors, just a lack of essential fire from the players.

The tour to South Africa was an RFU cock-up, but it meant that we did not really establish a squad of 30 before the summer. The summer training did not seem to help much either. In the warm-ups we stuffed Wales 3rd XV, should have beaten France at home and then lost our way badly in Marseille - was that Brian's fault or the players'? Probably the latter.

By all accounts, Brain likes to encourage the players to be self reliant. Some, like Dayglo, are suggesting he doesn't give enough direction. Well, if he persuaded the team to start to perform, to be accountable for their actions, then you can't argue against the results he has achieved in his last 5 games.

Now is not the time to chuck him out. I don't doubt that there should be an overall Manager appointed above or alongside him. Also, the assistant coaches are not his choices. Let him pick the guys he wants to work with. Personally, I have doubts about John Wells (too fond of Donkey Cozza?) and Mike Ford (what no blitz?), although I would hate to see Wasps lose Sean Edwards.

Jake White has let it be known that he would love the job. Can he wait until the summer? Let's see how Brain does in the 6 nations then decide. Our target must be to win it, and lose no more than one match or Brian gets it.

Still, when have those buggers at the RFU ever listened to reason?

Final Retrospective - was it a try?

Actually, I think this is the wrong question. It's more a case of "Why wasn't it a try?" We need to remember that the ref should only ask the TMO to consider if "there is any reason I cannot award the try?"

If the TMO - that self serving bastard Stuart Dickenson again unfortunately - believes he can see that the scorer definitely had any part of his body on or over the touchline, then its not a try.

From my point of view, nothing was definite. The left boot kicked up a clod of turf inside the line and you could not see clearly whether it was boot or sod touching the line. In which case, the beneft of any doubt should reside with the attacking side.

Again, I have no doubt that TMO Dickenson was, and still is, convinced that Cueto had a foot on the line. This is after all, the same official who insisted that Simon Shaw was sent off against NZ three years ago for kneeling on Keith Robinson (who was blocking the release by the way).

So that's it then, no try, but still 37 minutes left to win the game. We didn't, we had enough ball, but never again broke down their defence and so lost. Did the decision change the game?

Yes and no. In fact, the game carried on until the end exactly how it had started. Two closely matched teams, limited game plans from both, hard unflinching defence all round and total commitment. Had the try been awarded, would South Africa have been tempted to pass more and kick less? I doubt it.

In the end, England gave away more penalties in our own half, that is why we lost. I could blame the ref, but won't. We didn't seem to get a fair crack with most decisions going against us, but sometimes this happens, I don't believe it was deliberate, however galling and crucial.

Let's face it, the South Africans were a better team. They cleaned out our line out and were able to work the ref to cloak their problems with the scrum. And Percy kicked better than Jonny. Victor Matfield was the deserved Man of the Match, it was he who got back to tackle Tait short of the line when he had beaten all of the Bok back three.

Let's move on, be proud that we stood our ground and fought hard to cling on the trophy, however limited our ability, we were a team. It feels good once again to be an English rugby fan, rather than a Kiwi (choke!) or Wobbly (Australian manhood - ha!). And who would have thought that when we lost 36 - 0 in the pool stages.