JOHNSON'S 32 DUE, AWARDS, TRANSFERS
Oooh, the excitement... Martin Johnson is announcing his 32-man squad for the two Test tour to New Zealand today (about 10ish we reckon) and all manner of exciting things could happen. New caps, old caps, everyone's hoping Johnno's going to shake it up. Banahan, Ojo, Care, Haughton, Robshaw, Guest, Foden, Kennedy, Hobson and Hartley are all in contention for inclusion...
In the player of the season awards, Danny Cipriani is once again in contention, joining Olly Barkley, James Simpson-Daniel, Paul Sackey and Akapusi Qera in the main category. What with his youthfulness and all, Cipriani is alongside Banahan, Care, Foden and Robshaw in the young player of the year category. Dean Richards, Steve Meehan and Dean Ryan are fighting it out for the director of rugby award.
Bit of transfer news and Gloucester continue to splash the cash on creating the biggest squad ever with the signing of Scarlets' centre Matthew Watkins – what this means for the Welsh region remains to be seen, but Watkins is surely going to suffer from Gatland's 'home rule'.
Other movements of the transfer kind and South African flanker Wikus van Heerden could be set to do a u-turn and opt for staying with the Bulls rather than go for Saracens; Newport Gwent Dragons have signed ex-All Black hooker and Waikato Chief's skipper Tom Willis, ex-Otago No.8 Grant Webb and James Aldridge, who turned out for Japan last year at fly-half.
In the other matches that mattered, Gloucester and Bath fought it out at Kingsholm (8-6, but much better game than scoreline suggests) and Wasps predictably put Leeds to the sword – although Leeds did a cracking job to score 28 to the visitor's 45.
Although, that said, Richard Hill's final performance of his professional career is well worthy of a mention. Even if just to salute a genuinely world-class pro. Saracens even managed to rally for him and grab a 25-20 win over Bristol in Milton Keynes.
As if announcing the release of two of your best players isn't a depressing enough way to end a season, Newcastle went one step further by getting totally whupped by Worcester at Sixways, A 51-10 drubbing meant they finished second from bottom – let's hope not too many Falcons' fans bothered making the trip.
Speaking of dead rubber games, the Magners League strolled on for another week with wins for Edinburgh over Scarlets (29-12), Glasgow over Munster (18-21).
In other news Justin Marshall isn't going back to New Zealand (and it has nothing to do with cash, he insists); Dan Carter is still waiting to find out if Toulon will finish top of French second division and therefore capture his signature too (they're currently three points clear); and Mick Galwey (currently coach of Shannon) wants the Munster job.
