Now, they are operating an All Black-style five-eighth system, with two game-shaping pivots working hand in glove."It's all about communication, this game, and I know what it's like to be out there with the number 10 on your back when no one is talking to you," said Catt. "When I look at Jonny, I see a young guy with a lot on his plate, what with goalkicking and the rest of it. It doesn't take much brain to work out that there are going to be times when he needs to sit back and assess, to let someone else take control for a couple of minutes while he susses the state of the game. It's a role I enjoy."Right now, I think we're working very well together and building a close understanding When I played outside Barnes at Bath, it was a doddle.
He would organise it all so beautifully that I could just pick my line and disappear into the distance. Midfield play has changed since those days - it's a seriously physical area of the pitch now - but Jonny is making things happen for me, just as Stuart did Hopefully, I'm making things happen for those outside me. That's where we're at right now: everyone works, everyone creates and everyone benefits." So there you have it: Catt the communist.There have been bad times, of course "Old Trafford '97 was a low point," Catt confessed. "I missed five kicks against the All Blacks, and we had to play a strong Springbok side the following week It wasn't much fun, to be honest. The problem with being a goalkicker is that you tend to be judged on that alone, that the rest of your game gets pushed to one side. It happened to me when I came on as a replacement against the Wallabies a year later. I felt I played pretty well as a runner, but I missed a conversion and we lost by a point, 12-11.
Those are the things that people remember, unfortunately, and when it happens to you, it's difficult to work through it, to get things straight in your own head."But my only goal has been a simple, straightforward one: to stay in the England side for the next game, and then the game after that. Fifty caps? It's quite something and I'm very proud, but I've never seen it as a target."You don't think that way, do you? You can't afford to. What matters to me is that I'm enjoying my rugby, probably more than I've ever done. I'm not sure I'll ever go back to South Africa, not to live at any rate.
Bath is a fantastic place to live, I love London, I love the whole set-up here And to think I only came over for a five-month holiday.". Scott Allison, the Sheffield Steelers forward, was yesterday suspended for 14 matches by the Sekonda Superleague for his part in a brawl with Nottingham Panthers last Friday. Scott Allison, the Sheffield Steelers forward, was yesterday suspended for 14 matches by the Sekonda Superleague for his part in a brawl with Nottingham Panthers last Friday. Dennis Vial's initial cross-check on Panthers' Greg Hadden was the catalyst, leading to the Steelers defender being floored by Barry Nieckar, who in turn was flattened by Allison.Allison was banned for 10 games for a cross-check to the head, two for fighting and two for leaving the penalty box He was also fined £850 Vial was handed a six-match suspension and a £750 fine Nieckar was banned for five games and fined £700. Both clubs have been fined £2,500 for bringing the sport into disrepute.The two teams set a number of new records, including the highest number of total penalty minutes in a match (453).. It comes to something when the only controversy surrounding the Six Nations' Championship is generated by a rampant talkaholic from Wallaby territory, but just at the moment, Mr John O'Neill Esq of Sydney is the best news story in Ruggerville. No sooner had Vernon Pugh, the chairman of the International Rugby Board, rebuked the chief executive of the Australian Rugby Union for daring to suggest that England and France might ditch the Celts and climb into bed with the southern hemisphere superpowers, than O'Neill responded with another verbal volley. It comes to something when the only controversy surrounding the Six Nations' Championship is generated by a rampant talkaholic from Wallaby territory, but just at the moment, Mr John O'Neill Esq of Sydney is the best news story in Ruggerville.
No sooner had Vernon Pugh, the chairman of the International Rugby Board, rebuked the chief executive of the Australian Rugby Union for daring to suggest that England and France might ditch the Celts and climb into bed with the southern hemisphere superpowers, than O'Neill responded with another verbal volley. "Vernon's outburst is a little bit puzzling," O'Neill said yesterday. "'A deliberate attempt to undermine the integrity and stability of the Six Nations?' Nothing could have been further from my mind. I would have expected a message from the Six Nations' Committee, telling us to pull our heads in That would have been fine. But a message like that from the IRB chairman? I'm not sure what his standing in this matter might be."He's taken the opportunity to really thump us in the head, but he's also concluded that my comments amounted to a pre-planned attack on the Six Nations. That's giving me far more credit than I deserve, because I didn't even know the Six Nations was on."Ouch. Dismissive or what? One way or another, the Brits are going to have a whole lot of fun with this O'Neill fellow when the Lions tour cork-hat country in early summer.By comparison, the respective hierarchies of England and Italy are badly underplaying the build-up to Saturday's sell-out contest at Twickenham.Yesterday, the red rose captain, Martin Johnson, was his usual cautious self, refusing to accept that he was currently leading the form team in the international game and emphasising the physical demands of a Test match against the junior members of the Six Nations' family. "I think our autumn Test against Argentina, which we were expected to win comfortably, was an example of us failing to concentrate on the fundamentals of the game and of attempting to play too much rugby too early," said the Leicester lock.Conversely, Brad Johnstone, the former All Black prop who coaches the Italians, was identifying the red rose army as something rather more special than his near-namesake was letting on.