<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta name="description" content="Rucked.com is the none-too-shabby rugby e-zine crammed with meaty interviews, little funny bits and some proper rugby. Also the latest Guinness Premiership, Magners League, Six Nations, Womens and World Cup 2007 news"> <meta name="keywords" content="rugby, proper ruby news, rugby world cup, rugby union, France 2007, rucks, mauls, rugby comedy, rugby humour, rugby interviews, rugby photos, rugby pictures, scrum, guiness premiership, magners league, national division 1, Womens Rugby, ospreys, scarlets, dragons, blues, sale, leicester tigers, harliquins, london irish, newcastle, bath"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="images/favicon.jpg" type="image/x-icon"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <title>rucked.com - Club previews from the Guiness Premiership, Magners League and even National Division One</title> <link href="2colpagestyle.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <!--[if IE 5]> <style type="text/css"> /* place css box model fixes for IE 5* in this conditional comment */ .thrColFixHdr #sidebar1 { width: 150px; } .thrColFixHdr #sidebar2 { width: 206px; } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if IE]> <style type="text/css"> /* place css fixes for all versions of IE in this conditional comment */ .thrColFixHdr #sidebar2, .thrColFixHdr #sidebar1 { padding-top: 0px; } .thrColFixHdr #mainContent { zoom: 1; } /* the above proprietary zoom property gives IE the hasLayout it needs to avoid several bugs */ </style> <![endif]--> <script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript"> _uacct = "UA-2435165-1"; urchinTracker(); </script> <script src="Scripts/AC_RunActiveContent.js" type="text/javascript"></script> </head> <body class="thrColFixHdr"> <div id="container"> <div id="header"> <h1 align="left"><a href="index.html"><img src="images/weblogogrey.jpg" alt="rucked.com" width="456" height="76" /></a><a href="index.html"><img src="images/eyesgrey.jpg" alt="eyes" width="381" height="76" /></a> <script type="text/javascript"> AC_FL_RunContent( 'codebase','http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,28,0','width','762','height','50','src','menu','quality','high','pluginspage','http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash','movie','menu' ); //end AC code </script> <noscript> <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,28,0" width="762" height="50"> <param name="movie" value="menu.swf" /> <param name="quality" value="high" /> <embed src="menu.swf" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="762" height="50"></embed> </object> </noscript></h1> </div> <!-- end #sidebar1 --> <div id="sidebar2"> <img src="images/montage.jpg" width="206" height="455" border="2" /> <br class="clearfloat" /> </div> <!-- end #sidebar2 --> <div id="mainContent"> <img src="images/prev2.jpg" alt="Preview" width="124" height="28" style="float:left;"/> <h1>&nbsp;</h1> <h1>&nbsp;</h1> <p><br /> <strong>Ahead of the star-studded Barbarians clash with world champions South Africa, Welsh stars </strong>Martyn Williams<strong> and </strong>Tom Shanklin<strong> spoke to www.rucked.com</strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>So the Barbarians  nice break from club rugby?</strong><strong><img src="images/features/baabaasmain.jpg" alt="Sackey" width="239" height="178" border="1" /></strong><br /> Martyn Willams: Yeah, it s been a breath of fresh air, it s not been as full-on as a normal week with you club and it s been nice to be with the boys form the southern hemisphere too.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>There s a lot of quality in the squad isn t there?</strong><br /> MW: It s difficult because clubs don t always want to release players, but we re lucky because we ve got the likes of Jerry [Collins], Joe Rokocoko, Matt Giteau and those guys. On paper we ve got a really strong side. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Ever had a chance to mix with them before?</strong><br /> MW: No, we come across when we play them and have a brief chat afterwards, but nothing like this. It s been good to get to know them off the field.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>How many times have you played for Barbarians before?</strong><br /> MW: It s only the second time, I played about ten years up in Northampton. This is the first Test match though and it s something I ve always wanted to do.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Who are you most looking forward to playing alongside?</strong><br /> MW: I m really looking forward to playing in a backrow with Rocky Elsom and Jerry Collins  they re great players and I ve always admired them.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>What about you Tom?</strong><br /> Tom Shanklin: Probably Joe Rokocoko, Matt Giteau and players like Ma a Nonu. The thing about this is that we don t get to socialise with them, it s nice to be able to relax with them and have a few drinks together  it s a good place to be.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>There s been a lot of fuss surrounding the Test about Regan and Sheridan etc &</strong><br /> TM: We were asked quite a while ago and they [the Barbarians] said they would sort it out with the club and we left it at that. Last week there was a bit of hoo-hah about being released but, luckily for us, the club had plenty of cover.<br /> MW: Cardiff have been great  the owner, the coach have both been brilliant. Credit to them because some clubs wouldn t have let you go.<br /> TM: Yeah, this opportunity might not come around again  it s a great experience and even better to be able to make it.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>All the stars have turned out for this game &</strong><br /> TM: We re playing the world champions off the back of the World Cup and because all of the players who were invited have turned up makes it a much bigger game.</p> <p><br /> <strong>Martyn  you re back on the international scene after retiring so recently &</strong><br /> MW: This is as close as I m going to get to international games  it s a nice way to finish it off. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>What about Cardiff, how do you rate your season so far?</strong><br /> MW: Yeah, it s okay, top of the Magners League, top of our European group  if you d told us that we d be in that position going into December at the beginning of the season we d certainly have taken it! The problem now is to keep it going, that s where we ve struggled before. We ve got big matches in December  against Stade Francais  and how we do against them will set us up for the rest of the season.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>It s the Heineken Cup that s going to be the measure of the Blues though &</strong><br /> TM: I think most people are judged by the Heineken Cup because it s the closest you can get to international competition but, saying that, we do want to finish top of the Magners League as well. The Heineken Cup with all the coverage it gets  you are judged on it as a result.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Tom, you played the South Africans last week, you going to impart your knowledge this Saturday?</strong><br /> TM: I ll try but I don t think we learnt much.<br /> MW: There hasn t been too much analysis work done this week!<br /> TM: To be honest, it s more about us than them, a lot of these guys probably didn t even watch the game.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Did Wales learn much from last week?</strong><br /> TM: We learnt where we are with regards to world rugby, but it s a difficult job to implement that. It s exciting times for us now though, we ve got new coach coming in with new ideas. It s the end of an era now with Gareth Jenkins and Nigel Davies, so it s just onwards and upwards with Gatland.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Was it strange watching as a spectator Martyn?</strong><br /> MW: It was strange because, at the end of the day, all your good friends are playing and you miss that part of it. But as Shanks says, with Gatland coming on board now I think they ll be really strong, we ve got the talent there it s just getting us going in the right direction. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>It seems that everyone agreed that Gatland was the right choice  isn t that rare?</strong><br /> MW: I wouldn t say that! <br /> TM: I don t know what he s like but all he can be judged on is what he s done and he s done wonders with Wasps. From talking to people like Rob Howley and others who ve been around him, he seems to be a great guy, great coach and he ll be good for us. We ve just got to be positive now and buy into whatever he brings to Wales.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Any regrets about retiring?</strong><br /> MW: No, I ve only been a few weeks retired really, but can be difficult when you re running out in front of a couple of hundred people in Glasgow on a Friday night!<br /> TM: You ll look forward to getting time off in the Six Nations though.<br /> MW: Yeah it ll be good to get a couple of weeks off while the Six Nations is on to spend time with the family.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>As for the club season, are Cardiff ready to go that one extra step this time?</strong><br /> TM: Yeah, when we re full strength we ve got a lot of big players so I think we can. It s easy to say this and when we ve got ourselves into these positions we ve fallen short, but I think the squad is stronger this year. People like Paul Tito and Gareth Thomas have come on board  we need old heads like that in the big games that are coming up.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="images/features/baabaasplayers.jpg" width="530" height="253" border="1" style="float:left;"/></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- This clearing element should immediately follow the #mainContent div in order to force the #container div to contain all child floats --> <div id="footer"> <a href="about.html">About Us</a> | <a href="terms.html">Privacy Policy</a> | <a href="mailto:info@rucked.com">Advertise With Us</a> | <a href="contact.html">Contact Us</a> | <a href="mission.html">Mission Statement</a> | &copy;2007 Ruck Media</div> <!-- end #footer --></div> <br class="clearfloat" /> </body> </html>