sport magazine issue 299

Issue 299 | April 5 2013

Justin Rose heads to the Masters ready to break his Major duck

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING

ONLY IN THE SUN

BURSTING WITH WAYS

FOR YOU TO ENJOY

THE GRAND NATIONAL

ONLY IN THE SUN

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ISSUE 299, APRIL 5 2013

20 3310

60

Radar

07 Colour clash The vital red versus blue statistics ahead of Monday’s Manchester derby 10 Flashback The story of the Grand National’s biggest upset: Foinavon’s 100-1 win back in 1967 o this coming weekFeatures

20 Justin Rose Looks good on our cover. Would look better in a Green Jacket. Can the world number three fulfil his promise at Augusta? 27 The Masters contenders The men who – along with Rose – might consider taking their chest and arm measurements with them to Georgia next week

33 Mako Vunipola The Saracens prop reflects on his Six Nations experience and looks ahead to his side’s Heineken Cup quarter final

36 The Grand National Trainer Paul Nicholls and jockey Daryl Jacob relive their dramatic victory of 12 months ago. Can they do it again on Saturday?

Extra Time

50 Gadgets Toshiba’s 9Series HD television and Canon’s new DSLR camera 52 Kit We bring you two pages of gear to help you master your own game ahead of the Masters

56 Grooming Gucci Guilty Black, Nivea’s Invisible range and Acqua di Parma turn us to the dark side 60 Entertainment Spring Breakers brings you a combo of bikinis and armed robbery – not in that order

| April 5 2013 | 05

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Radarp10 – Flashback: The 1967 Grand National, won by the rank outsider Foinavon

p12 – Our old friend Wisden is 150 not out

| April 5 2013 | 07

ome sections of the

Cardiff City fanbase

were incensed when

it transpired the club’s new

Malaysian owners wanted their

team to play in red instead of the

traditional blue. They would

probably have been more easily

convinced had they seen the

evidence that playing in red

can actually boost a team’s

performances, however.

A 2008 study published in the

Journal of Sports Sciences

looked at results in English

football over a 55-year

period, and found teams

that play in red

have performed

consistently better

over the years – a

finding backed up by

similar studies of other sports.

Certainly, it’s obvious that the

most successful teams in English

football have played in red (see

table, right), and that teams

who play in red have tended to

outperform their city rivals

(bottom right), with the notable

exception of last season.

It’s theorised that the so-called

‘red advantage’ might occur

because it’s an easier colour to

recognise in peripheral vision, or

because it’s associated with

dominance. Either way,

Cardiff fans have seen the

benefits – their team are

top of the Championship,

and are odds-on for

promotion. Perhaps

Man City should switch

to red for next season?

S

RED

BLUE

MANCHESTER UNITED 19

LIVERPOOL 18

ARSENAL 13

SUNDERLAND 06

NOTTINGHAM FOREST 01

SHEFFIELD UNITED 01

MANCHESTER UNITED 19

LIVERPOOL 18

ARSENAL 13

SHEFFIELD UNITED 01

09 EVERTON

04 CHELSEA

04 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY

03 MANCHESTER CITY

03 HUDDERSFIELD

03 BLACKBURN

03 MANCHESTER CITY

09 EVERTON

04 CHELSEA

04 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY

MOST TITLES WON BY COLOUR

CITY COMPARISONS

VS

Manchesters United and City meet on Monday, with the title slipping from the Sky Blues’ grasp. It’s no surprise – red teams always do better

THE STATS

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In 1967, 100-1 shot Foinavon won the Grand

National. David Owen, the author of a new book about

the race, looks back at the extraordinary result.

It was a battlefield. It was a defeated cavalry

charge. It was reminiscent of those blood-curdling

19th-century sporting prints. It was like cars in

a multiple motorway concertina in fog. It was a

cauldron of furious activity. It was a chain reaction

of ruin.

In the days that followed the 1967 Grand National,

all these images – and more – were used by

writers striving to convey the trauma of seeing

one of the world’s great sporting spectacles

disintegrate into chaos in the blink of an eye.

The incredible pile-up at the 23rd fence, caused

by a loose horse, which stopped two dozen or more

galloping half-tonne thoroughbreds in their tracks,

undoubtedly decided the outcome of that particular

race. But it also encapsulates, better than any

other single incident, the sheer unpredictability

that is the Grand National’s hallmark and which

has helped to turn it into a national institution –

a magnet for millions who would never normally

think of watching a horse race. And a vehicle for

thousands of office sweepstakes.

The anonymous 100-1 outsider in peculiar

blinkers who picked his way through the wreckage

and plodded home to win – Foinavon – became for a

few months a bona fide celebrity. Indeed, you might

say he is the slowest racehorse ever to be

immortalised, since that 23rd fence now bears

his name.

As a seven-year-old watching on TV in a

bay-windowed Taunton living room, the episode

had me transfixed. It has never left me. So much

so that I have now written a book about it.

For John Buckingham, Foinavon’s delighted

jockey, who only got the ride a few days earlier, it

was the shining moment of a career that ended

four years later after a fall at Wetherby.

John Kempton, Foinavon’s young trainer, who

operated from an obscure yard in Berkshire, near

the ancient Ridgeway, was unable to be at Liverpool

and hence missed by far the greatest feat of his

training career.

Also a rider, Kempton watched the race from the

jockeys’ room at Worcester racecourse, where he

had just ridden another of the horses he trained to

victory in an obscure novices’ hurdle.

As Foinavon and Buckingham emerged from

the Aintree melee, the rake-thin Kempton, beside

himself with excitement, sprang up on to a table to

get a better view. When they passed the winning-

post, still with 15 lengths in hand on their closest

pursuer, he jumped into the air with what one

witness remembers as an “extraordinary

screech”.

When I went to meet him four decades on,

Kempton confesses that he thinks the table

might have “broke a bit”.

1967 GRAND NATIONAL

The Grand National’s greatest upset

As remembered by David Owen

1956 THE MYSTERY FALLTheories abound as to why

the Queen Mother-owned

Devon Loch suddenly

sprawled hopelessly to the

ground with but 100 yards to

go – and the race at his

mercy – in the 1956 National.

The most likely explanation

is that the horse saw the

water-jump on an adjacent

part of the track and thought

he had to jump it for a second

time – although anyone who

backed eventual winner

E.S.B. won’t much care.

1981 THE COMEBACKJockey Bob Champion was in

remission from cancer ahead

of the 1981 National, in which

he was due to ride Aldaniti –

an 11-year-old chestnut who

had himself recovered from a

career-threatening injury to

take his place in the line-up.

In a result for the romantics,

the pair streaked clear to

beat favourite Spartan

Missile by four lengths;

within two years, the pair

were immortalised in a film,

Champions, in which Aldaniti

played himself.

2010 THE CHAMPMany of the sport’s greatest

jockeys – Dick Francis (see

1956), John Francome, Peter

Scudamore – ended their

careers without ever

winning the National. And,

after 14 failed attempts, the

greatest of them all, AP

McCoy, was threatening to

add himself to the list. But

then, in 2010, he teamed

up with the talented but

enigmatic Don’t Push It; the

pair went off 10-1 joint-

favourites and duly came

home five lengths clear of

Black Apalachi. A hoodoo was

broken, and eight months

later a disbelieving McCoy

was named Sports

Personality of the Year.

Three more Grand Nationals that will live long in the memory

Nationaltreasures

<<FLASHBACK <<

Foinavon:The

Story of the

Grand National’s

Biggest Upset,

by David Owen,

is published by

Bloomsbury,

£18.99,

hardback

Radar

12 | April 5 2013 |

he world has changed a lot in

the last century and a half, and

cricket has been dragged

begrudgingly along for the ride, into

a brave new era of decision review

systems, Twenty20 Super Overs and

DLF maximums. As the winds of

change have swept through, however,

one publication has documented it all,

from WG Grace to Allen Stanford.

And, this year, it celebrates its 150th

edition. The cricketing bible that is

Wisden has changed little over time, as

you can see from a selection of covers

ranging from the original, launched by

John Wisden in 1864 and priced at one

shilling (top left), to this year’s edition.

In a transient world, the iconic yellow

woodcut cover is here to stay.

Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack 2013,

150th edition, out Thursday, £35

Every time we bet on the Grand

National, we spend half of the race

struggling to identify which horse it is

we’ve actually staked our mortgage

on. Luckily, losing track of your horse

is now a thing of the past (insert

obligatory Tesco joke here), thanks to

a new app from Channel 4 Racing. Hold

it up to whichever screen you happen

to be watching and it will track your

horse, with data on speed, position

and distances to the next horse and to

the finish (if it stays on the screen).

Horse Tracker, free, iOS

A new app helps identify your horse during the Grand National. If your luck’s like ours, it’s probably been shot

T

A long innings

Hold your horses

i

£17.95 / €24.95LIVE & EXCLUSIVE

14 | April 5 2013 |

Radar Editor’s letter

Deputy editor

Tony Hodson

@tonyhodson1

Sport magazine

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Editor-in-chief: Simon Caney (7951)

Deputy editor: Tony Hodson (7954)

Art editor: John Mahood (7860)

Subeditor: Graham Willgoss (7431)

Senior writers: Sarah Shephard (7958),

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Staff writers: Mark Coughlan (7901),

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Designer: Matthew Samson (7861)

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Production manager: Tara Dixon (7963)

Contributors: David Lawrenson

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Yet more proof of football’s enduring status as the most conservative and retrograde of sports last weekend, as the sacking of Martin O’Neill

prompted outrage among former pros.”I can’t think of anyone who could have

done a better job at Sunderland than Martin

was doing,” bleated Tony Cottee on Sky

Sports News, seemingly unaware that the

Black Cats are without a win in eight league

games and hovering dangerously close to

a previously unthinkable relegation. Steve

Coppell went a step further on BBC Radio 5

live, accusing the club’s American owner

Ellis Short of a ”spoilt-brat reaction”.

”There are so many foreign owners, I have

nothing against that,” continued Coppell,

immediately suggesting that he probably

does have something against that. ”But they

don’t understand the history and heritage

of British football... there is a way of doing

things in English football that has now gone

out of the window.”

Absolute nonsense. Martin O’Neill has

been a fine manager over a number of

years, but Sunderland’s season has been

little short of a disaster. The club went out

of both cups at home to lower-league

opposition and have been by some distance

the dullest team to watch in a generally

exciting Premier League season. That

wouldn’t matter as much if results had been

good, but they have not; starve the natives

of both success and entertainment, and

they will inevitably become restless.

To be fair to the Stadium of Light faithful,

they never really turned against O’Neill. He is

one of the sport’s good guys and deserves

the respect they gave him. But the spark had

gone and, as owner, Short was absolutely

right to wield the axe. Whether or not the

undoubted fruitloop Paolo Di Canio is the

right man to replace O’Neill, though, only

time will tell. One thing is for certain – life

under the Italian will be anything but dull.

Great to see Andy Murray winning in Miami, but why is everyone getting so excited about him rising to number two in the rankings? With Roger Federer taking an extended mid-season break, the Scot’s ascension was pretty much inevitable – and he’s still a mile behind world number one Novak Djokovic.Yes, it means he will now avoid the Serbian before the final of any tournament in which they are both playing – but the claycourt season is imminent and Murray failed to get

beyond the last eight in any of his four clay outings in 2012. Improving on that moderate record must now be his main priority – if he does that, then we really can get excited.

With the leading amateur jockey JT

McNamara still in hospital after his

horror fall at last month’s Cheltenham

Festival, horse racing again comes under

the spotlight this weekend. The Grand

National is one of my very favourite

sporting events of the year, combining

stunning action with great drama. As

Channel 4 prepares to broadcast it live

for the very first time, we can only cross

our fingers that all 40 horses and jockeys

return safe and sound after the race.

Many of us will have watched open-mouthed

at the horrific leg break suffered by US

college basketball star Kevin Ware last

weekend. It was proper David Busst stuff,

reminding us that serious injury can result

from the most innocuous of situations, but it

also gave us an insight into the psyche of

elite sportspeople. As he was carried away,

his leg shattered, all Ware could think of was

to order his teammates to go win the game.

Appropriately, they did just that.

For footballing reasonsThink what you like about foreign owners, but Ellis Short was correct to sack Martin O’Neill

Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand

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Get your coat: O’Neill has

appeared a shadow of his

former self this season

Free iPad app available on Newsstand

Cover of the Year

16 | April 5 2013 |

Radar Opinion

There are tons of really good pieces of music that have been ruined by their overuse on TV. But there are

also a good few so synonymous with their

respective programmes that nobody even seems

to know if they were nicked or indeed written for

that purpose. I have no clue whether or not that

tune that plays on Heineken Cup weekends, for

example, was written by a bearded guitarist in

the 1970s or not – but it works.

As soon as I hear that music, the hairs properly

stand up on my knuckles and upper back, and my

mind drifts back to European memories of old.

I recall being at an England training session, just

warming down after a tough workout with a few

pretend stretches, listening to a legend of the

game telling the group a quite unbelievable story.

So unbelievable was it that nobody believed him,

but I knew it was true. I knew because it was my

story and he had pinched it, forgetting that his

original source was in fact sitting beside him.

I was a kid in the game and by no means qualified

to out the banter thief, so I sat still and allowed my

mind to drift back to those heady days…

I was 18 and, despite only having finished school

a few minutes earlier, found myself playing against

Toulouse in a huge Heineken Cup match in front of

a baying French crowd. We won the game – which

was nice – but that wasn’t really the main event.

Just as we thought a fun night was drawing to

a hazy close, a couple of extremely prominent

French players (the omerta prevents further info)

literally burst out of a nightclub into the street.

Enjoying a manly wrestle, they flung each other

this way and that, with one of them eventually

landing on a neatly chained-up Vespa scooter,

knocking it to the ground. The owner, stood but a

yard away, yelped as his pride and joy crashed to

the concrete and left purple blood stains on the

pavement. The offending ape, instead of living up

to his macho appearance and reputation, instantly

picked up the prone vehicle, hugged the man in

apology and took out what seemed to be a million

Francs from his pocket, giving it all to the

despairing scooterist.

Then, short of a few quid for the journey home,

he hijacked a taxi – removing the driver with a

fireman’s carry and placing him in his own boot

– got all eight of us in and wheelspun back to the

team hotel. Where, obviously, he stole a ninja sword

from behind reception and pretended to splice

everyone in the bar. Somehow, everybody loved it.

The next morning, as we wobbled gingerly down

to breakfast, we found him, still going. He was, at

this point, chatting up a waitress in the restaurant

with said sword tucked into his jeans and a

bandana wrapped around his large, battered head.

“Aren’t you hungover?” I asked him. “Non, mon

cochon,” he replied. “I do not drink.”

Didn’t want to dilute the memories, he said.

Looking back, he had a point.

@davidflatman

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Flats on Friday

Just another Heineken Cup night out

Those of a UKIP tendency in English football

predicted that the influx of foreign players would

ruin both the domestic game and the national

team. They have, of course, been proved as profoundly

correct as Irish scientist Dionysius Lardner, who

anticipated that high-speed rail travel would never be

possible because passengers would inevitably asphyxiate.

To the UKIPers, we are able to say au contraire.

Mata, Silva, van Persie et al have transformed the

Premier League into the best in the world, and the

national team has not deteriorated at all. It is, in fact,

precisely where it has always been – somewhere

between qualifying for a major tournament and

going out in the first

knockout round.

But it’s not just about

flair and ability – Cantona

and Balotelli and

Klinsmann and Ronaldo all

had that in spades. It’s

about personality. And,

as Paolo Di Canio takes

over at Sunderland,

Roberto Mancini talks

about wanting to punch

one of his own players

and Rafa Benitez can say

Chelsea are having ‘a

great season’ with a

straight face, you have to

say that even the foreign managers are great value.

To throw things into even greater relief, in the same

weekend all the above took place, ‘Colin’ (a quasi-

affectionate nickname for Neil Warnock, and the first

part of an anagram of his name) left Leeds and Martin

O’Neill (perhaps the pre-eminent amateur criminologist

in world football) was given the boot. Their departures

leave a raft of clean-shaven British bosses who look and

sound like they should be in the lower reaches of the

management structure at a DIY store in Northampton.

Other than the FA handbook, where does it say that

a great British player or manager has to be vacuous

cavity, a humourless on-message android, a cliché-

spouting no-mark? A Michael Owen clone or a Stepford

boss? Taggart aside, all we are left with is Joey Barton,

in France and on Twitter, and wanting Crystal Palace to

get promoted so Ian Holloway can return to the Prem.

That’s how bad it is.

@billborrows

Plank of the weekAlexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, London

The Boat Race takes place in London, the idiot went to

Oxford University, and if he can okay the deployment of

the Royal Marines to protect the grade-dodgers in the

big canoes, he can surely sanction a game of pooh-

sticks that involves the lower orders dropping

baronets from Hammersmith Bridge.

It’s like this…Bill Borrows

“As Di Canio takes over at Sunderland and Benitez says Chelsea are having ‘a great season’ with a straight face, you have to say that even the foreign managers are great value”

18 | April 5 2013 |

Frozen in time

| 19

Peter pedaller picked a pinch of poor propriety No doubt disappointed to have finished only second

in last weekend’s Ronde of Flanders Classic, Slovak

cyclist Peter Sagan decided to console himself with

a quick fondle of a podium girl’s saddle area during

the post-race ceremony. He seemed pretty happy

with himself at the time, but has since apologised via

video message. “I promise to act more respectfully

in the future,” he muttered, a million rebukes from the

right-thinking world ringing in his grubby little ears. Bry

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Justin Rose

Those natty green jackets they

hand over in that rather awkward

ceremony at the Masters every

year don’t just symbolise victory.

They signify life membership to Augusta

National Golf Club: the most prestigious

golf club in the world.

Many of the finest players in the game

never got to put on the Green Jacket.

The Masters provides a unique test in golf –

only a handful have ever got to grips with it.

One player who feels he can join that

select band is Justin Rose. The world number

three is yet to win a Major, but it is now

accepted in the game that it is merely a

matter of time before he does. His record at

Augusta is impressive; he has never missed

a cut in seven trips down Magnolia Lane –

and while his wardrobe is missing a jacket,

he still feels at home in the deep south.

“I guess you can look at it like this: winning

the tournament makes you part of the club,”

says Rose. “But every time I turn up on tour, I

feel like I belong, and that includes the Majors.

“There is no reason at all why I can’t put

together four good rounds there and

contend. Last year I shot 72-72-72 and then

had a good final round [68, on his way to an

eighth-place finish]. I like the golf course – it

exudes good feelings for me. I’ve putted well

at Augusta for the most part. And, if I feel

like I’ve got my touch on the greens, I can

score low. I always have the sense that with

my iron play, I can really attack the flags.”

This is not spoken with any sense of

bravado. The softly spoken Rose answers

questions thoughtfully and with no sense of

self-aggrandisement. But he has reason for

his confidence. In 2012, he led both the PGA

Tour and the European Tour in greens in

regulation: nobody in the world struck a golf

ball more consistently than him. Not only

that, but his game is improving all the time.

As the strength in depth of golf gets ever

greater, his current run of form – he has

finished in the top 25 in his previous 13

tournaments – is remarkable. Last year

also saw his first World Golf Championship

victory [the WGC-Cadillac Championship].

A Major tournament success is the logical

progression.

ROLLERCOASTER CAREERBut it was not always so. While Rose enjoyed

a stellar amateur career as a youngster –

he was the 1995 English Boys Stroke Play

Champion, and his last tournament before

joining the paid ranks was a fourth place in

the 1998 Open Championship at Royal

Birkdale – he found life as a pro tough.

Indeed, he missed the cut in his first 21

tournaments – a run that would have been

the end of many players.

When Sport asks whether he’s pleased, in

hindsight, that he had a tough apprenticeship

on tour, one that he can look back on with

pride, the answer is unequivocal. “No way,”

says Rose in a flash. “I’d trade it, say, for

Rory’s start to his career any day.

“I would say it made it much harder for me.

I had to work my way back to truly believing

in myself. When you have had that sort of dip

in form, it can leave some scar tissue, and

you have to work really hard to get over that.

Depth of confidence takes a long time to

properly build up, and I’d say that only in the

last three or four years has that come about.

That’s been the change – I now have that

confidence. Had I not gone through that

tough time, I may have had it a lot sooner.”

That said, those formative experiences

help Rose keep his success in perspective.

“It has made me appreciate the game, it’s

kept me humble and it’s kept me working

hard at it,” he explains. “It’s meant I’ve never

taken success for granted – and I learned

that talent has to be coupled with hard work

in order to pay off. It possibly made me a

better person, so I don’t regret it. But if you

look at it from a golf point of view, you’ve got

to think I’d have got to this level sooner if I

hadn’t had those setbacks.” >

JUSTIN ROSE HAS BECOME ONE OF THE BEST GOLFERS ON THE PLANET, BUT IT’S BEEN A LONG, HARD ROAD – CAN HE PUT THE ICING ON THE CAKE AT AUGUSTA NATIONAL NEXT WEEK?

READY TO BLOOM

20 | April 5 2013 |

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Justin Rose

22 | April 5 2013 | Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand

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The #1 Driver at Augusta for 13 years straight.

2013#1DriverInGolf

THE BREAKTHROUGHSomehow, Rose kept going. He looks back

and reflects that, on turning pro, he gave

himself a three-year plan to crack it on tour.

It proved very accurate, although his plan

envisaged him spending a year on the

Challenge Tour and having a ’normal’

grounding in the game, rather than missing

cut after cut on the main tour.

“The thing was, the expectation wasn’t

coming from me,” says Rose. “It was your

[the media’s] expectation. Unfortunately,

I got a bit wrapped up in everyone else’s

expectations. It’s why turning pro early can

be a problem, because you’re often not

mature enough to understand those things.

“When I turned pro, people had the

misconception I did it because I finished

fourth in the Open. But that wasn’t the case.

I had already made the decision – I had

invites for the Dutch and Scandinavian Opens

before that Open. In hindsight, the three-

year plan turned out to be realistic. It just

took a little time to realise it.”

His breakthrough year was 2002, when he

won four times worldwide, and by 2003 he

was world number 33, receiving invitations

to the biggest tournaments in the world.

It looked as if the golden boy of British

golf was going to come good after all –

and possibly be the man to challenge

Tiger Woods, who by then was already

a colossus in the game.

But as quickly as form came, it disappeared

again, and Rose’s world ranking suffered.

He moved to the PGA Tour in a bid to improve

his game, but could not arrest his slide as he

tumbled out of the world’s top 100.

But Rose is nothing if not a battler, and

he ground away at his game. Bit by bit, he

gained a foothold on tour, and in the 2005

season he kept his tour card. The following

year, he won the Australian Masters –

his first title for four years. It served as a

catalyst. He finished in the top five of the

Masters the following season and was

Europe’s top golfer in 2007, resulting in a

debut Ryder Cup appearance in 2008.

It is easily forgotten, amid all his success

in recent years, that Rose’s travails were not

over: in 2010 he won twice on the PGA Tour,

but was not deemed worthy of a Ryder Cup

spot by European captain Colin Montgomerie.

He returned to the team in 2012, famously

beating Phil Mickelson in the final-day singles

with a performance that had even his

opponent applauding, when a monstrous

curling putt dropped on the penultimate hole.

THE MAJOR MENThe evergreen Mickelson, with a victory

already on the PGA Tour in 2013, will be

among Rose’s main rivals at Augusta.

But so will plenty of others.

“The course really suits me,” says Rose.

“But it suits a lot of players. It suits Bubba,

it suits Rory, Keegan Bradley, Phil, Tiger and

others. It’s not just a course for long hitters.

Zach Johnson won it there when we had

some quite extreme conditions – a very, very

tough Masters, and a really good grind.”

The challenge for Rose is to treat this

week like any other – something he admits he

will always find difficult until he has his first

Grand Slam title under his belt.

“When you become a Major champion

there’s no doubt it must take the pressure

off,” he says. “We all go about our careers

trying to win one, and it can get in the way >

“I GOT WRAPPED UP IN EVERYONE ELSE’S EXPECTATIONS. IT’S WHY TURNING PRO EARLY CAN BE A PROBLEM, BECAUSE YOU’RE OFTEN NOT MATURE ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND THOSE THINGS”

#1DriverInGolf

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Justin Rose



2013#1DriverInGolf

sometimes, because you put too much

emphasis on them. Once you get one out

of the way, I’m sure it does become easier.

Majors shouldn’t be any different to regular

tournaments in terms of the process of how

you play the game. The more you can hold

Majors in the same regard as other events,

the better you will play.

“But to win a Major, you have to deal with

pressure at its greatest – and beat the best

players in the world on the toughest courses.”

MAKING PROGRESSRose’s career has netted him in the region of

£25m on the golf course, and plenty more in

endorsements, but he is adamant he is not

the finished product. “The progression has

been good,” he says. ”But I can still become a

more prolific winner on tour. Winning breeds

winning. I still feel there are elements to my

game that have great room for improvement,

and that’s what I’m most excited about.

I’m three in the world, and I’ve won some

great tournaments – all with what I would

describe as some glaring gaps in my game.

“Take my wedge play from 100 yards and in.

Up against someone like Luke Donald, I give him

a couple of shots a week from that distance.

And inside 10 feet on the greens I probably

give the best putters in the world four to six

shots a week. Those sort of gaps are huge.”

Rose is renowned as one of the thinkers of

the game, choosing to spend practice rounds

alone and weigh up his surroundings. It’s an

approach he has no intention of changing.

“Yes, I’m very concerned with the process

of the game,” he says. “I’ll give you an example

of something I’ve been thinking about. Two

exact same putts – the one I holed against

Phil in the Ryder Cup [on the 17th green] and

one on the final green in Abu Dhabi this year

that I needed to force a playoff. I read them

both the same – just outside right edge – and

I hit two great putts. I felt like I hit exactly the

same putt, but one goes in, one rims out.

That’s the nature of the game. I’m a hero

at Medinah, but miss out in Abu Dhabi.

“You have to keep showing up and

executing your game under pressure. Some

days they go in, some days they don’t. It was

nice that everything went for me that day at

the Ryder Cup – the stars aligned. Three

putts went in for me, and I couldn’t have

chosen a better moment for that to happen.”

One better place could be Augusta National

next week. Nobody will arrive in better form

or better prepared. All it needs is for the

stars to align again, and Justin Rose will be

wearing the Green Jacket. Not bad for a kid

who missed 21 straight cuts.

Simon Caney @simoncaney

Justin Rose plays the new TaylorMade R1. The R1’s

three adjustability technologies mean it can be

tuned 168 different ways, allowing golfers of all

abilities to customise their swing to optimise

distance and accuracy. www.taylormadegolf.com

That elusive Major“I’m looking to have a multiple-winning

season this year, and I’d love one of those

to be a Major. But I’m not solely focusing

on the Majors. I’m going to make sure my

preparation is perfect for them, but from

an expectation point of view there is a lot

more for me to achieve in the game before

I look 100 per cent at the Majors only.”

Getting better“I had a strong amateur career, but I’ve

made huge improvements. They come

from knowing my swing, understanding

the tendencies I have and learning how to

keep the bad shots at bay. Managing my

game and maturity play a big part.”

His rivals““There’s a nice story you want to tell about

the success of British golf, but there’s not

really a lot in that. We’ve all got our eyes on

our own careers and, while there’s good

camaraderie, there’s a diverse mix on tour

as a whole. Rory’s very young, Luke is

mid-career, Tiger is this superhero, Louis

Oosthuizen is very humble, very talented.

I have quite an interesting story, and Adam

Scott is another great player starting to

fulfil his potential and knock on the door in

the Majors. It’s a diverse group of guys.”

Practice“I can be a lone wolf. I like to go out there

and learn the course. I’m not really into

going out and having money games.

Those are perhaps good for making putts

under pressure, but that’s the only thing

you get from that sort of practice. I like to

establish a game plan, and it’s much easier

to do that on your own, because you can

take that little bit longer on each hole.”

Favourite course“Probably Royal Birkdale. Obviously it has a

sentimental reason, but it’s a really fair links

course. The fairways are relatively flat. If you

hit a good tee shot, the ball stays in play.”

The Ryder Cup“It is staggering to see how much it means

to people, and you really do sense you’re

playing for your continent. The first tee

shot is a unique atmosphere, like hitting

a tee shot at a football match. We’re not

used to that.”

ROSE ON...

“TO WIN A MAJOR, YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH PRESSURE AT ITS GREATEST – AND BEAT THE BEST PLAYERS IN THE WORLD ON THE TOUGHEST COURSES”

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The Masters

| April 5 2013 | 27

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2013#1DriverInGolf

THE CONTENDERS

SCHWARTZEL OOSTHUIZEN WOODS POULTER WATSONWinner here two years ago,

and bang in form so far

in 2013, South African

Schwartzel has the perfect

profile to take a second Green

Jacket. His tee-to-green game

is electric (he has hit 79 per

cent of greens this season

– at one stage it was a

European Tour-leading 82.4

per cent) and ranks second

on stroke average, too. Has

played at Augusta National

three times now, and it’s

clearly a course that suits his

eye. If a few putts start to

drop for him, Schwartzel will

take some stopping.

Masters appearances 3

Best finish 1st (2011)

World ranking 15

Paddy Power odds 22-1

It’s virtually certain that

Schwartzel’s countryman

Oosthuizen will be in the mix

again: very quietly, he has

turned himself into one of the

very best players in the world,

and his playoff defeat here

last year (a tournament he

really deserved to win)

demonstrates his aptitude for

the unique test of Augusta.

Quite simply, there are no

weak spots in his game –

when he won the 2010 Open

Championship, plenty of

people called it a fluke. He has

demonstrated that, without

question, it wasn’t.


Best finish 2nd (2012)

World ranking 6


Oh, him. Well, yes, Tiger is

world number one again. And

yes, in typical Tiger style, he is

one win away from 100 as a

professional, and there’d be

no better place to do it. And

he’s won three times on tour

this year already. And four

times previously at the

Masters. In fact, on paper,

this is a one-horse race.

However, his driving can still

be wayward – he’s fighting a

hook – and Augusta does not

favour him quite like it used to.

He won’t be far away, but can

he hold his swing together for

72 holes?


Best finish 1st (1997, 2001,

2002, 2005)

World ranking 1


If they gave out Green Jackets

for self-belief, Poulter would

have a walk-in wardrobe full of

them. As it is, he is still without

a Major – but there is a

growing sense that his time

is coming. He claims he has

added more distance off the

tee to his game (though the

stats don’t back that up), but

it’s his short game that comes

into its own here. Few people

can hole putts under pressure

quite like Poulter, and his

scrambling (fourth best on

tour) can be spectacular.

Finished seventh last year, and

could improve this time around.

Boom! Bubba Golf! Last year’s

winner played one of the more

remarkable shots ever seen

at Augusta to break Louis

Oosthuizen’s heart in a

playoff, and there is nothing to

say that the big-hitting owner

of the Dukes of Hazzard’s car

won’t be up there again. His

enormous drives mean eagle

and birdie opportunities on

the par-5s, while approaching

par-4 greens with shorter

irons give him greater control.

All will depend on his putting

– his putting average ranks

him 74th on tour this year, but

when he’s hot, he’s very hot. >

No

1 No

2 No

3 No

4 No

5 CHARL LOUIS TIGER IAN BUBBA


Best finish 7th (2012)

World ranking 12



Best finish 1st (2012)

World ranking 14


If the man you’ve just been reading about isn’t to win the Masters, then which player will? Sport selects the 10 most likely alternatives

The Masters



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BRADLEY MICKELSON KUCHAR MCDOWELL CHOIPurists at the R&A would

choke on their late-night

sherry would the long

putter-wielding Bradley win

a second Major, but there’s

no question he is one of the

world’s most improved

players of the past two years.

Only 0.5 yards behind Watson

off the tee, Bradley is a par-5

scoring machine (average

score on long holes this year is

4.38), which always goes down

well at the Masters. He may

need an eagle or two on holes

13 and 15, but Bradley has the

tools to take down Augusta.



World ranking 11


Few players have mastered

the Masters like Lefty since

the turn of the century. In

those 13 tournaments he has

won three and finished in the

top 10 on a further eight

occasions. Factor in current

form – a winner already in

2013 – birdie stats (second

on the PGA Tour) and scoring

average (he has been as high

as sixth), and there are few

reasons why he won’t win

again. Except... he is far from

straight off the tee, so he may

find it tough. Never rule him

out, though.


Best finish 1st (2004,

2006, 2010)

World ranking 10


Kuchar’s an enigma. A star

amateur in the 1990s, he

faded into obscurity for

several years before bouncing

back and becoming the top

money-winner on tour in

2010. Indeed, he qualified to

play in only one Masters

between 2000 and 2009, but a

third-place finish last season

– having shared the lead on

the back nine – suggests he

knows his way around here

now. He putts and scrambles

(especially out of bunkers)

very well. Will that be enough?

Possibly.


Best finish 3rd (2012)

World ranking 9


On the sly, McDowell is

enjoying a very solid season

indeed. He has limited his

competitive starts to just four,

but has returned three top-

10s, including two in World

Golf Championship events.

The Ulsterman hits the ball

very straight off the tee and

is among the best on tour on

par-4s, averaging 3.95. Five

appearances at Augusta have

yielded three missed cuts and

two top-20s, but one thing’s

for sure – if he’s in contention,

he won’t back down. McDowell

has ice in his veins.



World ranking 17


Choi loves Augusta National.

He’s recorded three top-10s

here and, with a little more

luck, could have won one.

In both 2004 and 2010, he was

never out of the top four, using

his ultra-consistent all-round

game to wonderful effect.

He is not necessarily great at

any one aspect of the game,

but rather he is very good at

the vital ones at the Masters

– driving accuracy, greens

in regulation, scrambling,

putting and bunker play.

He’s 42, but knows Augusta

like the back of his hand.

No

6 No

7 No

8 No

9 No

10KEEGAN PHIL MATT GRAEME KJ

ON THE SCRAP HEAP...


Best finish 3rd (2004)

World ranking 83


RORY MCILROY (10-1) is

having a season to forget and

has somehow contrived to

lose the coveted world

number one spot after a run

of performances that have

been ordinary at best, and

downright dreadful at worst...

LUKE DONALD (28-1) on paper

has all the attributes to sweep

all before him at Augusta, but

seven top-10s in 39 majors

suggest he’s not a man for

the big occasion...

BRANDT SNEDEKER (28-1)

has stormed up the world

rankings this season and has

a short game to die for, but a

rib injury has curtailed his

progress...

ADAM SCOTT (28-1) is a little

like Donald – bags of talent and

potential, but really should

have won a major by now (last

year’s Open will haunt him)...

LEE WESTWOOD (28-1) has

been in contention at the

Masters more times than he’d

like to remember, but simply

does not putt well enough.

23Lowest average 18-hole

score for any player (of

those who have played at

least 25 rounds) around

Augusta National, set by

Tiger Woods. Only four

others average under 72

– Phil Mickelson (70.97),

Fred Couples (71.89),

Jerry Pate (71.96) and

Jack Nicklaus (71.98)

0104

The Masters

| April 5 2013 | 31


2013#1DriverInGolf

THE MASTERS BY NUMBERS

1,500 14Amount, in dollars, won by

inaugural winner Horton

Smith in 1934

Age of Guan Tianlang, who

will be 14 years and 168

days old when the Masters

begins, making him the

youngest ever player in

the tournament. He

qualifies as Asia-Pacific

Amateur Champion

46Age of Jack Nicklaus when

he won the Masters in

1986, making him the

oldest man to ever pull

on a Green Jacket

52Record number of

Masters appearances,

held by Gary Player. Jack

Nicklaus has made the cut

the most times (37) while

Arnold Palmer made the

most consecutive

appearances (50)

235Distance in yards from

which Gene Sarazen holed

out for double-eagle on his

way to victory in 1935 –

the ’shot heard around

the world’ that put the

Masters on the map

12Biggest winning margin,

set by Tiger Woods when

he won his first Masters in

1997. For the record, Tom

Kite was second. Woods’

final score of 270 is also

a record

Number of champions

who have led for all

four rounds: Craig Wood

(1941), Arnold Palmer

(1960), Jack Nicklaus

(1972) and Ray Floyd

(1976)

Only one rookie has ever

won the Masters: Fuzzy

Zoeller in 1979

289Highest ever winning

score, recorded by Sam

Snead in 1954 and Jack

Burke Jr two years later

14Most appearances at the

Masters before finally

winning, set by Mark

O’Meara in 1998

75Highest first-round score

of eventual winner, carded

by Craig ’Walrus’ Stadler

in 1982

63Augusta course record,

shared by Nick Price

(1986) and Greg Norman

(1996). Neither man won

Number of holes in one

recorded in the Masters

– 15 of which have come

at the 16th hole

22Most top-10s recorded at

Augusta by one player:

Jack Nicklaus (again)

70.87

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Mako Vunipola

| April 5 2013 | 33

EURO PROP

After winning plaudits for his (very) direct style of play with England, Mako Vunipola is back at Saracens with a Heineken Cup semi final in his sights – and it’s still his ‘breakthrough season’

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind season for you.

How are you enjoying it?

“A lot. Yeah, my target at the start of the year

was to get a regular start for Saracens and

to be involved with England Saxons when the

chances came up – so to get a call back in the

autumn to train and be injury cover for the

England senior side was a massive surprise.

I certainly didn’t expect to be in the squad

for the Six Nations.”

Do you think the hurt of ‘that day in Cardiff’

will help in the long run?

“Yeah, definitely. You have to learn from

experiences like that, and we’re still a young

side, so we have the time to do so. We had a

good tournament, and it was really hard to

finish it in that way. But we know we have

to learn quickly and become better for it,

so hopefully we can come back in next year’s

Six Nations and go one better.”

How was the Six Nations experience?

“It was amazing to be involved at senior level

in such a big way, and it was a great learning

experience for me. It was strange being away

for so long when it wasn’t a tour, though.

I’ve been involved with the under-20s before,

but it’s different being in the senior side and

being away from your club side for eight

weeks. It’s tough to come back in and try to

get back into the swing of things straight

away with the club, but to have a game

against Harlequins straight after what

happened in Cardiff was exactly what we

needed to get focused back on club matters.”

How big was that win over Harlequins?

“It was amazing. As a team, we were really

happy with our performance – not just in the

result, but also the way we defended and

brought a physicality to the game. Our

physicality has really improved since the start

of the season, and we obviously knew this

game could give us a lead at the top of the

table. We knew our performance didn’t matter

as much as the result, but to not concede a

try against them, especially at the end when

we were down to 14 men, was massive for

us. Wasps last weekend was tough as well,

but to get those wins gives us the confidence

and belief that we’re a hard team to beat.”

It’s Ulster in the Heineken Cup this weekend.

Can you approach this like any other game?

“We have to. We said that in the lead-up to the

Quins game. We knew it was a massive game

because it decided the lead in the league,

but it’s a case of targeting the next game.

It’s getting to the point of the season where

every game is huge, so we’re not looking

beyond any one fixture. We just sit down at

the start of the week and start our approach

all over again.” >

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Mako Vunipola

Have you seen a lot of Ulster this season?

“Not really, to be honest, but we know they’re

a quality side. They went on that run being

unbeaten until around December, I think, and

they haven’t lost many since. We know they

have quality throughout their team, so we

can’t afford to worry about any one player

– but we’ll be hoping to impose our game on

them anyway.”

Has management set a target for the season?

“No. As a team, we’re not just driven by results

– we’re driven by our performances, so it’s

about going out there and just playing like we

know we can play. The idea is to do that and

let the results take care of themselves.”

How are you enjoying life at Allianz Park?

“Yeah, we’ve settled in really well. We train on

the new surface all the time now, so we’re

getting used to it, and we’re scoring a few

tries as well – which is always pleasing to

show what we can do in attack. The surface

gives our backs – and the forwards on the

odd occasion – a chance to go out and

express themselves. The atmosphere there

has been amazing as well.”

What are your thoughts on moving this

particular game to Twickenham, then?

“I don’t think it’s a problem, it just makes it

an even bigger crowd and occasion. It’s a

massive game for us as a club, so hopefully

we can get a great crowd down there and

generate a massive atmosphere.”

On a personal note, a lot of positive

headlines have been coming your way. Is it

hard not to get carried away with them?

“Not really. We pride ourselves on humility as

a team, so we’re good at keeping our feet on

the ground. It’s always flattering to get great

reviews, obviously, but any headlines just

show how well the team are playing. The style

of rugby we’re playing really helps my game.”

Your brother Billy is coming to Sarries next

year. Who has the better ball skills?

“I’d say myself, but he’s pretty good to be

fair! It’s exciting for our family to have us

both playing together in the same team.”

Speaking of ball skills, you’re a big

scrummager, but you also love to carry,

have a decent turn of pace and tend to make

big hits. How’s your kicking?

[Laughs] “Yeah, kicking is probably one part

of my game that I’m just not going to be good

at. I’ll leave that one to the half-backs!”

The many pictures on Twitter tell us the

Saracens squad were in Verbier two weeks

ago. How was that?

“Yeah, it was amazing. You spend so much of

your time with the squad that it’s important

to be mates, and we’ve got that here. We’re

creating great memories on and off the pitch,

so it was great to get out to Verbier and relax

ahead of a big few weeks. The coaches are

great at knowing when to push us and when

to let us chill, and that was a perfect example.”

Finally, it’s Lions year. Is it fair to say that

every game takes on an extra level of

pressure with the Lions looming?

“Maybe, but every game has a lot of pressure

on it anyway... and, like I said, our mentality is

all about approaching the next game, so

we’re trying not to look too far ahead. As a

player, you’ve just got to keep your head down

and concentrate. And, if they notice you, that’s

great. You can’t afford to start thinking about

it too much, though, because the games keep

coming thick and fast, and we’ve got another

huge one this weekend to focus on.”

Mark Coughlan @coffers83

Mako Vunipola plays for Saracens, who are

sponsored by Allianz, one of the world’s leading

financial services providers. Visit allianz.co.uk

to find out more

CLERMONT v MONTPELLIERSATURDAY STADE MARCEL-MICHELIN |

SKY SPORTS 1 3.40PM

Clermont are unbeaten at home

since November 2009 (57 matches),

so Montpellier face the quarter final

nobody wanted. With the power

Clermont have up front, expect

them to hammer away at Montpellier

before Morgan Parra unleashes the

brawn of Sitiveni Sivivatu and

Aurelien Rougerie, and the sheer

class of Wesley Fofana. The visitors,

though, have a clever coach in

Fabien Galthié, and can silence the

home fans if they can raise their

game to the level they showed

against Toulon in the pool stages.

SARACENS v ULSTERSATURDAY TWICKENHAM | SKY SPORTS 1 6.30PM

It’s back to the site of last year’s

humbling Heineken Cup final defeat

for Ulster. But this is a different

side – they started the season with

a 13-match unbeaten run and boast

Irish internationals across the

board. The kickers will keep them in

the game, but it’s Iain Henderson’s

ability to steal and secure lineouts

that will be vital. The Londoners,

meanwhile, are flying after victories

over Harlequins and Wasps. You only

have to look at the manner in which

they overcame Racing Metro in

Nantes to see the class oozing out

of this side.

HARLEQUINS v MUNSTERSUNDAY THE STOOP | SKY SPORTS 2 2PM

It’s the young guns of Europe versus

the old masters, yes, but the young

guns have chosen a horrid time to

hit a bad run of form, with three

league defeats on the bounce. The

return of a fully fit Chris Robshaw is

sure to galvanise the side, while

Danny Care was back to his best last

week, and he’s sure to keep Munster

busy. The visitors, meanwhile, were

torn apart by Glasgow (51-24) last

weekend, but will have had both

eyes firmly on this tie. Expect the

forwards to put in the kind of shift

that nearly saw them turn over

Saracens in London.

TOULON v LEICESTER SUNDAY STADE MAYOL | SKY SPORTS 2 4.30PM

The tie of the round? The French

side boast an embarrassment of

stars looking to carry them to

Europe’s top table, and Steffon

Armitage has rarely had a better

platform to remind Lions coaches

of his form. Behind a big pack, it’s

that man Jonny pulling the strings,

while Mathieu Bastareaud will

be out for revenge after he lost

his Six Nations battle with Manu

Tuilagi. The Tiger, though, showed

scintillating form as he and Tom

Croft tore Northampton apart last

week. Against Toulon’s ageing

stars, the duo could be devastating.

HEINEKEN CUP QUARTERS A QUICK GLANCE AT THIS WEEKEND’S FOUR SALIVATING SHOWDOWNS

“KICKING IS PART OF MY GAME I’M JUST NOT GOING TO BE GOOD AT. I’LL LEAVE THAT ONE TO THE HALF-BACKS”

Offer applies to each-way bets placed from 1.30pm 12th Feb 2013. See paddypower.com or shops for full conditions. Competitor place terms correct at time of print.

08000 565 265

36 | April 5 2013 |

Grand National

WINNING COMSATURDAY JOHN SMITH’S GRAND NATIONAL

AINTREE | CHANNEL 4 & RACING UK 4.15PM

Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand | 37

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Ruby Walsh is a two-time Grand

National winner, the most

successful jockey in the history of

the Cheltenham Festival and widely

considered one of the all-time greats of

jumps racing. So when trainer Paul Nicholls

asked his number one jockey about the

chances of his only runner in last year’s

National, the veteran Neptune Collonges,

you would have expected him to listen.

“I kept asking Ruby about whether he was

going to ride him in the build-up, and he kept

saying no,” revealed Nicholls in a recent chat

with Sport. “In fact, he kept saying the same

thing: he’s too old, too slow and carrying too

much weight. That pretty much put me off his

chances, but the only thing with Neptune is

that he had been placed in a Gold Cup. He was

class. And, in the end, that was the difference.”

Nicholls looks back on the victory of his

galloping grey (the first to win the National

since 1961) with an excited nostalgia, born

largely from the relief of winning the world’s

most famous race at the 53rd attempt.

The multiple champion trainer isn’t used

to having to wait so long to taste victory,

but this is one he continues to savour –

particularly given the perfection with which

his plan for the race was carried out.

“Neptune was always lazy and bloody

slow,” he smiles. “Here at home, we used to

work him on his own [rather than in pairs, as

is the norm] because he was so slow he’d

get disappointed at not being able to keep up

– so he’d follow the others out the back.

“In his races, though, we always used to

jump him off handy, drive him along early

on and then hope he wouldn’t fade back.

But I thought if we rode him like that in the

National, we were going to be in trouble –

if we jumped him off in front, he’d be nearer

back than front after two fences.

“So my idea was to start him off near the

back. Eventually he’d pass one horse, then

another, and if we were close enough with a

circuit to go, I thought we’d have a chance.

And it worked a treat: we’d talked about

trying to be eighth or ninth over the water

jump, and I think we jumped it ninth. He’d

made up a massive amount of ground on the

first circuit, and I knew he would gallop every

single yard to the line. Daryl had never ridden

Neptune before, but he carried the plan out

to perfection.”

NO SECOND STRINGThe man Nicholls refers to is Daryl Jacob

(left, in yellow), who took the ride aboard

Neptune Collonges after Walsh opted to ride

On His Own for his Irish employer, Willie

Mullins. On a day of contrasting fortunes for

Nicholls’ jockeys, Walsh missed the race

through injury, while Jacob claimed the most

famous victory of his career in the closest

finish ever recorded in the Grand National.

“It was my first season riding properly

for Paul, and I’d had some nice rides at

Cheltenham the previous month, but you

want everything to go right – and Neptune

winning the National was just perfect,”

recalls the 29-year-old Irishman. “He was

very good over the first three or four fences

so I knew that, barring accidents, he’d jump

round okay. Did I know he’d won at the line? >

MBINATION

After years of trying, champion

trainer Paul Nicholls finally landed

the Grand National last season with

Neptune Collonges (above) – but he

might not have to wait so long to bag

winner number two.

Nicholls is set to saddle Join

Together, who looks to have all the

attributes to land the world’s most

famous race – not least an ability to

jump the Aintree fences, which are

still daunting despite having been

softened up in recent years.

Join Together finished a close

second in the Becher Chase over 3m2f

of the Aintree track in November,

when he passed four horses on the

run-in but failed by a neck to overhaul

course specialist Hello Bud. He will

relish a further mile-plus on Saturday,

and don’t worry about his pulled-up

effort in his prep run at Doncaster; he

was nearly brought down early on and

then just schooled round.

Favourite will be On His Own, who

was cantering when coming down at

Becher’s Brook second time round

last year. He is highly likely to be

ridden by Ruby Walsh, who would have

been on him last year but for injury.

Walsh would also have the option of

riding Join Together, but if you think

his decision to swerve the Nicholls

horse is a negative, bear in mind he

also turned down Neptune Collonges

last year...

GRAND NATIONAL: EXPERT VIEW WITH PAUL KEALY OF THE RACING POST

On the eve of this year’s Grand National at Aintree, we speak to

the men behind Neptune Collonges’ dramatic, last-gasp victory

12 months ago – trainer Paul Nicholls and jockey Daryl Jacob

Sport prediction GRAND NATIONAL: THE BIG SPORT PREDICTION

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38 | April 5 2013 |

Grand National

CAPPA BLEUFourth last

year, when

stamina doubts led jockey

Paul Moloney to ride him a

touch more patiently than

he might have done. The

way Cappa Bleu stayed on

that day will leave canny

trainer Evan Williams with

no such concerns this time

round; aimed at this race

all season, the 11-year-old

ran superbly at Ascot last

time out, looks to have a

nice weight and should

make the frame once more.

It was just too close to call; I knew I was

eating into Richie McLernon’s lead [on

Sunnyhillboy] all the way up the run-in, but it

was just about whether I was going to get

there in time. We literally crossed the line

bang together, but thankfully Neptune’s big

old nose had just got there first. To be fair

to the horse, he was class.”

Jacob is a more naturally outgoing

character than the dry-witted Walsh, but

Nicholls recognises the importance of having

two such talents among the ranks at his

Somerset yard. “Ruby is Ruby, obviously, but

they are similar in the way they get horses

jumping – quite relaxed and never in a hurry,

which is the biggest thing,” he says. “Being

second jockey here is not an easy job, but

winning the National last year has given Daryl

so much confidence – and if Ruby packed up

tomorrow there is no doubt that Daryl would

move into the number-one spot.”

BACK TOGETHER?Jacob exhibited that newfound confidence

with big-race wins aboard the Nicholls-

trained pair Sanctuaire and Tidal Bay at

Sandown less than a month after his Aintree

success. He is yet to hit the same heights

this season – Nicholls had only one winner at

last month’s Cheltenham Festival, and that

was ridden by his nephew – but the drier

weather saw the pair combine with a good

winner at Haydock last Saturday. With Walsh

set to select On His Own once again, that

augurs well for Jacob’s chances aboard his

employer’s chief hope for this year’s Grand

National: Join Together.

“I was second on him in the Becher Chase

[over the National fences] in December,” he

says. “He jumped great, but got bogged down

in the soft ground. From two out he really got

going, though, and in another stride I think

we’d have won. Hopefully the ground will be

better on Saturday, which will suit him.”

Nicholls has two other runners in the big

race this weekend; both What A Friend and

Harry The Viking are part-owned by Sir Alex

Ferguson, but the riding arrangements for

Jacob leaves us in little doubt as to which of

his trio he prefers: “Join Together is the one

for us. We’ve trained him for the race, and

we think he’s a horse who could run in a few

Nationals in the next three or four years...

and maybe get lucky in one of them. But I

think it took us 53 goes to win the race, so

we ain’t gonna win it twice in a row, are we?”

His jockey isn’t so sure. “Now we have won

it, the pressure is nowhere near as strong,”

says Jacob, whose National victory came on

attempt number five. “Having had so many

runners get beat, the pressure was always

building, building. Now we’ve done it once, it

doesn’t matter if we never do it again. Things

will happen a lot easier for us now.”

Not since 1974 has a trainer or jockey

recorded consecutive victories in the Grand

National, and that was Ginger McCain and

Brian Fletcher with Red Rum – names that

will forever dominate the folklore of this

great race. Should Nicholls and Jacob repeat

last year’s victory with Join Together on

Saturday, however, they would be writing

a whole new chapter for themselves.

Tony Hodson @tonyhodson1

RARE BOBIrish raider whose trainer Dessie Hughes

is in great form, and whose stylish jockey

Bryan Cooper is one of the rising stars of the sport. The

11-year-old was brought down early in the race last year,

but he is a sound jumper who likes Aintree and looked

well suited to a waiting ride when running third in his

prep race at Naas last month. Our idea of the winner.

COLBERT STATIONTed Walsh

(father of

Ruby) is a master at

preparing horses for the

National, and he has two

fancied runners this year.

Seabass was third in 2012

and could run well again for

his daughter Katie, but our

preference is for the

rapidly improving Colbert

Station. The nine-year-old

is the likely mount of AP

McCoy and looks to have

more stamina than his

stablemate.

FORPADY DEPLASTERERAnother Irish

horse, Forpadydeplasterer

is an 11-year-old who was

formerly high class over

shorter distances – but he

has looked better suited to

longer trips these days,

winning over three miles on

heavy ground in November.

A good jumper (he has

never fallen) with very solid

form at Aintree, he looks

overpriced at around 66-1

– the best of the outsiders

in this year’s race.

“WE CROSSED THE LINE TOGETHER, BUT THANKFULLY NEPTUNE’S BIG OLD NOSE HAD GOT THERE FIRST”

40 | April 5 2013 |

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7 DaysAPR 5-APR 11

HIGHLIGHTS

» Football: Premier League Preview » p42

» Cricket: Indian Premier League » p44

» Cycling: Paris-Roubaix » p46

» Basketball: LA Clippers v LA Lakers » p48

» Rugby League: Leeds Rhinos v Warrington Wolves » p48OUR PICK OF THE ACTION FROM THE SPORTING WEEK AHEAD

SUNDAY MOTOGP | ROUND 1: GRAND PRIX OF QATAR | LOSAIL INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT, DOHA | BBC TWO 8PM

The arid Gulf state of Qatar may prove

too hot to host a World Cup, but it's not a

problem for the new MotoGP season, which

races into life in Doha on Sunday night.

Like the World Cup, though, the 2013

MotoGP season is likely to be a mostly

Spanish affair, with last year's champion

Jorge Lorenzo (pictured, above) again

looking nervously over his shoulder at his

elder countryman Dani Pedrosa. The Repsol

Honda rider won six of the last eight races

of last season, closing the gap on Lorenzo,

who had maintained a healthy lead for the

first half of the year.

Pedrosa might have thought he would

have a better chance of winning the title this

year, given former teammate Casey Stoner's

retirement. But Stoner's replacement, Marc

Márquez (another Spaniard), has proved he

is no slouch in pre-season testing.

Two-wheeled titansThe 2012 Moto2 champion has taken to

the senior series like a duck to a more

high-profile body of water. The 20-year-old

ended the first testing session of the season

in Malaysia inside the top three, just behind

Pedrosa. He's admitted to nerves ahead of

his MotoGP debut, and while it's probably a

bit much to expect him to be challenging for

the title, he has the ability to be finishing

near the front in his first year.

Cal Crutchlow, on the other hand, has

taken a few seasons to really feel his way into

MotoGP. The man from Coventry improved

his performances considerably in his

sophomore season with a string of top-10

finishes, including his first MotoGP podiums

in the Czech Republic and Australia. A series

of retirements towards the end of the year

marred his championship, and he ended up

in a disappointing seventh position in the

standings. A revitalised

Crutchlow topped the

final timesheets in the

practice session in Jerez,

though, and he is confident

he can start the season well in Qatar.

There are also two British riders

making their MotoGP debuts:

31-year-old Michael Laverty has made

a big step up from British Superbikes

and will join one of the new Claiming

Rules Teams. The other is 22-year-old

Bradley Smith, who has progressed through

the ranks and replaces Andrea Dovizioso as

Crutchlow's teammate at Monster Yamaha

Tech 3. Dovizioso, for his part, replaces fellow

Italian Valentino Rossi (right) at Ducati. The

legendary racer has moved back to Yamaha,

with whom he enjoyed so much success, and

has looked back to his old best in testing.

42 | April 5 2013 |

7 Days

With the title race sauntering to a less dramatic

conclusion than last season, will the Manchester derby

still deliver the drama promised by the TV men?

Manchester United’s 6-1 battering by their neighbours

at Old Trafford last season was a result Alex Ferguson

labelled “the worst in my history”, and understandably

so – it was United’s worst defeat at home since 1955.

So, despite the fact his side go into Monday’s game with

a king-sized 15-point cushion over City, Ferguson will

want vengeance to go along with three more points.

The defending champions know the trophy is almost

out of reach, leaving manager Roberto Mancini struggling

to keep a lid on his frustration. “We have lost a lot of our

players through injury, many times at crucial moments,”

he said after watching Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure

both make successful returns in last weekend’s 4-0 win

over Newcastle, before letting slip his true feelings about

Samir Nasri. The midfielder pulled out his rarely utilised

A-game against Newcastle, eliciting a measured response

from the Italian: “I’d like to give him a punch. A player like

him should play like this every game.”

All the punches will be coming from the red corner on

Monday though, should United underperform as they did

against Chelsea in their FA Cup defeat. Indeed, Fergie has

already stated: “A positive result will just about seal the

title.” In other words: Do. Not. Mess. Up. Again.

If Everton’s away form matched

their home form (they’ve lost once

at home in the league this season),

Tottenham might have something to

worry about on Sunday. As it is,

David Moyes’ side have drawn the

most away games of any side in the

top six this term (six) and won the

least (four). Spurs’ home form has

been patchy, but they – by which we

mean Gareth Bale – got back into

the groove at Swansea last

weekend. Over to him again, then.

SUNDAY TOTTENHAM v EVERTON

WHITE HART LANE | ESPN 2.05PM

It might surprise their fans, but

QPR’s league position isn’t for want

of trying. QPR have had 42 shots in

their past two games, yet lost both.

We can only conclude that the same

desire needs to be shown at the

other end of the pitch. In Wigan,

QPR face the masters of relegation

avoidance, who have won three of

their last four. They restricted

Norwich to five shots on goal last

weekend, suggesting it could be a

tough day front and back for QPR.

SUNDAY QPR v WIGAN | LOFTUS ROAD

SKY SPORTS 1 4.10PM

The Manchester derby gives United a chance to all but close the book on this season, and get revenge for a day Sir Alex would rather forget

Premier League

MONDAY MANCHESTER UNITED v MANCHESTER CITY | OLD TRAFFORD | SKY SPORTS 1 8PM


SATURDAY NORWICH v SWANSEA | CARROW ROAD | 3PM

| 43

Southampton outscored all of their

relegation rivals under Nigel

Adkins. Unfortunately for his new

employers Reading, Saints have

continued that trend under Mauricio

Pochettino. Reading, in contrast,

have the worst defence in the

division. Their new boss has had a

week to prepare his new team for

the visit of his old charges, but even

Adkins’ insider knowledge won’t be

enough if Southampton play the

way they did against Chelsea.

SATURDAY STOKE v ASTON VILLA | BRITANNIA STADIUM | 3PM SATURDAY WEST BROM v ARSENAL | THE HAWTHORNS | 3PM

West Ham were undone by their

own graduates in the December

meeting with Liverpool, as Glen

Johnson, Joe Cole and Jonjo

Shelvey consigned them to a 3-2

defeat. With Andy Carroll ineligible

to play against his parent club,

Carlton Cole could get a chance to

add to his two goals this season.

Liverpool have won four of their last

five and haven’t given up on Europe

yet, while West Ham need a few

more points to secure safety.

SUNDAY LIVERPOOL v WEST HAM | ANFIELD | 1.30PM

Paolo Di Canio’s Sunderland should

have a bit more bite about them

than Martin O’Neill’s. The Northen

Irishman oversaw the Black Cats’ 3-1

home defeat to Chelsea last year –

a result that saw Fernando Torres

end 12 and a half hours of goalless

league action with two of the

blighters, sending Sunderland into

the drop zone. They’re one point

clear of it now, but Di Canio’s task

is a daunting one with a northeast

derby to follow his debut at Chelsea.

SUNDAY CHELSEA v SUNDERLAND | STAMFORD BRIDGE | 3PM

The Canaries continue their painful

crawl towards safety with the visit

of Swansea, who have taken their

foot off the gas since winning the

League Cup. The sides’ last meeting

was a 4-3 win for Norwich, with

Michu netting twice in a losing cause.

Since then, both goals and points

have dried up for Chris Hughton’s

side – they’ve won just one of 11 in

the league, failing to score in seven

of those. How Hughton must wish he

had a goalscorer of Michu’s calibre.

The last four matches between

these teams have ended in draws,

which were, according to the match

reports: insipid, dour, drab and

scrappy (respectively). So we’re not

holding out much hope for a thriller

at the Britannia. Villa slipped back

into the relegation zone with defeat

to Liverpool, but Paul Lambert is

confident his side are playing well

enough to escape the drop. Tony

Pulis’ team have won just once this

year and are sliding down the table.

Now Tottenham have arrested their

slide, it’s Chelsea who are the most

likely targets for Arsenal if they’re

going to get fourth place. The Blues

have at least seven games in a

packed April, and Arsenal can put

themselves ahead on Saturday with

a win at West Brom. Steve Clarke’s

men have little to play for, with

safety assured and European

qualification unlikely, but Chelsea

loanee Romelu Lukaku could do his

parent club a favour with a goal.

P W D L F A Pts

PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE

Manchester

United are the

only team in the

league not to

have conceded

a penalty this

season0

Man Utd 30 25 2 3 70 31 77

Man City 30 18 8 4 55 26 62

Tottenham 31 17 6 8 53 38 57

Chelsea 30 16 7 7 59 32 55

Arsenal 30 15 8 7 59 33 53

Everton 30 13 12 5 47 35 51

Liverpool 31 13 9 9 59 40 48

West Brom 31 13 5 13 41 41 44

Swansea 31 10 10 11 41 40 40

Fulham 30 10 9 11 43 46 39

West Ham 30 10 6 14 35 44 36

Southampton 31 8 10 13 44 53 34

Stoke City 31 7 13 11 27 36 34

Norwich 31 7 13 11 28 47 34

Newcastle 31 9 6 16 41 56 33

Sunderland 31 7 10 14 33 43 31

Wigan 30 8 6 16 36 56 30

Aston Villa 31 7 9 15 32 58 30

QPR 31 4 11 16 28 51 23

Reading 31 5 8 18 36 61 23

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SATURDAY READING v SOUTHAMPTON

MADJESKI STADIUM | SKY SPORTS 2 12.45PM

Dimitar Berbatov got riled by a

tackle on a teammate during

Fulham’s win against QPR. This

rarely happens. He’s also scored in

four successive league games for the

first time in his career, both of which

suggest the Bulgarian has finally

found a club where he feels settled.

Bad news for Newcastle – they’ve

won one of their last seven against

Fulham. The Magpies have also lost

their last two in the league, leaving

them seven adrift of the magic 40.

SUNDAY NEWCASTLE v FULHAM | ST JAMES’ PARK | 3PM

FRIDAY INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE: SUNRISERS HYDERABAD v PUNE WARRIORS INDIA | RAJIV GANDHI INTERNATIONAL CRICKET STADIUM, HYDERABAD | ITV4 3PM FULL GAME SCHEDULE ON ITV4 THROUGHOUT APRIL AND MAY

7 Days


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...hard-luck tales

The Delhi Daredevils are the Jimmy

White of the IPL: chokers who topped

the league stage in 2009 and 2012, but

who serially mess it up in the knockout

phase. They’d be among the favourites

again for 2013, except for two late

blows. Kevin Pietersen (above) is

nursing a knee injury and absent for the

full tournament, while powerful Kiwi

Jesse Ryder recently suffered an horrific

assault that put him into a coma. With

players such as Mahela Jayawardene,

David Warner and Morne Morkel –

top wicket-taker in the 2012 IPL – the

Daredevils do still have classy overseas

talent to call on. But, given their

longstanding history of heartbreaking

defeats and recent record of shock

injuries, the Delhi team are definitely

the sympathetic choice.

...big underdogs

The Rajasthan Royals, Kings XI

Punjab and 2013 newcomers the

Sunrisers Hyderabad make up

the trio of tournament outsiders.

However the Sunrisers’ (a new

replacement for the old Deccan

Chargers) batting line-up includes

skipper Kumar Sangakkara,

six-smoting Aussie Cameron White

and Shikhar Dhawan (above) – the

current darling of India after scoring

the fastest century by any batsman

on Test debut in March. Their

Achilles’ heel is a lack of pace-

bowling support to star Dale Steyn,

who isn’t as devastating a white-ball

bowler as he is with a red cherry.

Still, the Sunrisers should offer

entertainment in their debut

campaign, which starts today.

...home interest

Irish England international Eoin Morgan

has his Kolkata Knight Riders kit, Owais

Shah lords it up as Rajasthan Royalty,

while veteran all-rounder Dimitri

Mascarenhas is a Kings XI Punjab man.

However, with foreign players limited to

just four in each starting XI, it’s tricky to

gauge how much each will play. One

man we hope can force his way into the

Pune Warriors India team, however, is

England Twenty20 star Luke Wright

(above). With the Warriors also

possessing Yuvraj Singh and Marlon

Samuels, they have all-rounders in

abundance. But Wright can be

supremely destructive, as he showed

last year in belting a 44-ball century for

the Melbourne Stars in Australia’s Big

Bash. Get Wright on it, Pune: it’s your

duty to your English fans.

…winning above all

If you support Manchester United or

Liverpool yet sport a curiously southern

accent, you’re probably a good

old-fashioned glory-hunter. If that’s your

game, three teams stand out as likely

winners. Mumbai Indians feature a Ricky

Ponting/Sachin Tendulkar dream team,

while defending champions Kolkata

Knight Riders offer the bamboozling

bowling of Sunil Narine. Our pick,

however, is the Chennai Super Kings.

The two-time winners boast an Indian

elephant spine of Suresh Raina, Ravi

Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni

(above), the best skipper in the

competition. Overseas players include

Mike Hussey and potentially match-

winning all-rounders Dwayne Bravo and

Albie Morkel. Once they spark up, the

Super Kings will be difficult to put out.

Find your IPL teamWith the sixth Indian Premier League

getting under way this week, it’s time

to nail your shiny colours to the mast.

Here’s who to support if you love...

...booming batting

Every IPL team has a few clean hitters,

but the Royal Challengers Bangalore

batting stars shine even brighter than

their gold-tinted kits. Captain Virat

Kohli is clinical rather than brutal, but

scores rapidly in limited-overs cricket,

while the versatile AB de Villiers and

heavy-scoring Cheteshwar Pujara

would walk into most teams.

However, the Challengers' big

bazooka is the man with the mightiest

guns in world cricket. Chris Gayle (left)

hit 59 sixes in the 2012 IPL, while the

most anyone else managed was 20. If

the West Indian fires, he can crush

opposition bowlers’ and fans’ noses

with a lusty swing of his bat. Get your

hard hats on, Bangalore supporters.

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7 Days


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One of the oldest one-day

cycling races in the world,

Paris-Roubaix is also one of

the most hellish. Known as the

‘Hell of the North’, the race is

famous for its rough terrain,

cobblestones, broken bones and

mud-caked riders crossing the

finish line at the end of the

257.5km route.

“It’s a circus, and I don’t want

to be one of the clowns,” said

Chris Boardman of the race he

refused to ride. But the race

carries a legendary status that

marks it out as one of the most

prestigious of the one-day

spring classics.

Bradley Wiggins has a

long-held ambition to win

Paris-Roubaix, but with his

attempt at the Giro on the

horizon, Team Sky might regard

those treacherous cobbles as

too risky. Mark Cavendish rode

it for the first time in 2011, after

revealing he’d been begging his

then team – HTC Highroad – for

a crack at it for five years. But he

failed to reach the finish line and

last year gave it a miss to be at

home with his newborn daughter.

The Manxman could ride it this

time, though, in support of his

Omega Pharma-QuickStep

teammate Tom Boonen

(pictured), who scored his

fourth Paris-Roubaix victory last

year. Boonen crossed the finish

line one minute 39 seconds

ahead of his nearest rival after

launching a solo attack some

50km before the end.

If he can become the first

rider ever to win it five times,

Boonen will surely cement his

place in history as the current

generation’s king of the cobbles.

Road to hell

On the same weekend an Andy Murray-

less GB team takes on Russia in the Euro/

Africa Zone Group 1 Davis Cup second

round tie in Coventry, world number one

Novak Djokovic (pictured) leads the

Serbian team in their World Group

quarter final against the USA.

The teams have met just once before,

in 2010, when Serbia were 3-2 winners on

an indoor clay court in Belgrade. That

was the start of an historic campaign

that saw Djokovic and his countrymen

win Serbia’s first ever Davis Cup title.

It had an equally big impact on Djokovic

individually, as his two victories in the

Davis Cup final against France set him on

USA play hard ball

FRIDAY ≥ TENNIS | DAVIS CUP QUARTER FINAL: USA v SERBIA | TACO BELL ARENA, BOISE, USA | BRITISH EUROSPORT 8.30PM

a long unbeaten run that lasted until the

semi finals of the French Open in June 2011.

This time, the US and Serbia meet on the

former’s terms, on a hard court in Idaho.

The teams are likely to remain unchanged

from that 2010 meet, with Djokovic joined by

Viktor Troicki and Nenad Zimonjic, and Sam

Querrey, John Isner and the Bryan brothers

(Bob and Mike) turning out for the home side.

With Djokovic expected to win his two

singles matches and the Bryans almost

unbeatable in Davis Cup doubles (their

current record stands at 20-3), it’s likely

that Isner (world number 23) and Querry

(20) will both have to beat Troicki (44) if

the States are to progress.

46 | April 5 2013 |

Our bodies were built to run. Not just on

treadmills, but barefoot through the

great outdoors: on mud, sand and rock.

The minimalist running movement aims to

rekindle that connection with our natural

environment through lightweight footwear that brings

you closer to the ground, so you can run in the way

your body was designed to.

Standard running shoes are built with cushioning

at the back, with the heel raised above the forefoot.

This, combined with the flat surfaces found in urban

environments (or treadmills), encourages people to

run with what’s known as a ‘heel-strike impact’ – their

heels hit the ground first, absorbing all of the impact

and weight of the body. Running this way can increase

your chances of injury, because of the impact on joints,

and because the body is not in alignment.

Merrell’s MConnect footwear changes this. With zero

drop between the back and front of the foot, your foot

hits the ground perfectly flat, spreading pressure out

and resulting in a more naturally efficient stride.

EASY DOES ITIf you’re taking your first steps in minimalist footwear,

there are some simple steps you can take to make the

transition easier. First, make sure your posture is right

– your shoulders should be slightly back and relaxed,

with your arms slightly bent. Second, try not to land on

your heel – this might take some adjusting to, but you

will feel the benefits if you have suitable footwear.

The final step involves your own steps – your

cadence. This refers to the number of times your feet

touch the ground in a given amount of time. When

barefoot running, you should aim for around 180

footfalls a minute, which is more than in heel-strike

running. A faster, shorter stride helps prevent

overstriding, and is more efficient because it engages

the body’s natural system of muscles, ligaments and

tendons to propel you forward.

RUN FREEThe MConnect range from Merrell is perfect if you

want to get back to a more natural way of running with

a lighter, minimalist approach. It’s designed specifically

for athletic outdoor pursuit, whether you’re running on

or off road, training or speed hiking. It includes four

collections, designed for different athletic pursuits,

with different levels of ‘drop’ – the difference in height

between heel and toe.

There’s a whole world out there waiting to be

explored. With minimal running and Merrell’s MConnect

range, you can get closer to nature, and start running

the way you were built to.

The Merrell MConnect range is available at John Lewis

| 47

Advertising Feature

FREE YOUR FEET Connect to your world with Merrell’s new MConnect range of lightweight footwear

RUN Lightweight and flexible with a natural

glove-like fit. All Merrell shoes are

designed to get you closer to the ground for

better control, agility and responsiveness when

running on any terrain.

HIKE The next generation of Merrell footwear is

designed to give the ideal balance of agility

and stability, while minimal design contours to

the shape of your foot for the ultimate fit and

comfort when outside.

TRAIN Merrell MConnect footwear features

minimal heel-to-toe drop, helping you

align posture and find your centre of balance,

and encouraging greater stability and sensory

feedback when training for any activity outdoors.

CONNECT TO YOUR WORLD

SUNDAY NBA | LA CLIPPERS v LA LAKERS | STAPLES CENTER, LOS ANGELES | SKY SPORTS 4 8.30PM

7 Days


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As the Miami Heat dominate the NBA Eastern

Conference, captivating fans with their 27-game

winning streak, the LA Lakers look to avoid

becoming one of the biggest flops in the history

of basketball.

With the highest team payroll in the league – more

than $99m, compared with the Heat’s $82m) – the

Lakers and their team of star names began the year

under the weight of great expectations. With seven

games of the season remaining, though, they face

a battle to make the playoffs. Five of the seven

opponents they have left to face are already playoff

contenders, and they still have to play Western

Conference leaders (at the time of writing) San

Antonio Spurs. The good news for the Lakers is that

most of their remaining games are at the Staples

Center, where their performances have improved

through the season – they were 9-6 in March.

But, as the regular season reaches its finale, they

will need more heroic performances from Kobe

Bryant (pictured), whose 19 points against the

Sacramento Kings last week saw him pass Wilt

Chamberlain as the fourth-highest NBA points

scorer of all time. On Sunday they take on local rivals

(and Pacific Division leaders) the LA Clippers for the

fourth time this season. Ominously for the Lakers,

the Clippers have won the previous three.

Lakers in last chance saloon

After their stunning win over the Catalan

Dragons in Perpignan on Easter Monday,

Leeds Rhinos will be full of confidence

going into their game against Warrington

Wolves at Headingley on Sunday.

They showed great character and

commitment to overcome a strong

Dragons outfit, given that they were down

to 12 men for much of the second half

following the dismissal of prop Ryan Bailey.

They are likely to be further depleted for

this fixture, with hard-working second row

Brett Delaney out injured. However,

skipper Kevin Sinfield is an expert at

marshalling his resources and centre Joel

Moon, who joined from Salford this season,

is proving a real threat down the left in

combination with England wing Ryan Hall.

The Wolves have had a mixed start to

their campaign, despite their relatively

comfortable win over the London Broncos

on Monday, and will probably still be

smarting from their surprise 38-22 defeat

at Widnes on Good Friday. Although

influential half-back Lee Briers is still

missing, Stefan Ratchford has been putting

in some eye-catching displays at stand-off

– together with scrum-half Richie Myler,

he is always a threat.

Michael Monaghan remains a key figure

for Warrington at hooker, meanwhile, and

with Chris Hill and Ben Westwood in the

pack they are always going to be

competitive. This might be the game,

then, in which the Wolves finally click and

show their championship credentials.

Wolf pack to roar at last?

SUNDAY RUGBY LEAGUE | SUPER LEAGUE: LEEDS RHINOS v WARRINGTON WOLVES | HEADINGLEY STADIUM | SKY SPORTS 2 6.45PM

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50 | April 5 2013 |

Ultralook

EXTRA TIMEMaking the most of your time and money

Toshiba 9Series UltraHD Televisions

It’s a definite first-world problem, but we find

it quite hard to watch football in standard

definition now. At first it was terrifying –

being able to see every crude gesture from

the crowd, every gaping furrow in Alan

Hansen’s storied brow – but now we’re

used to it. We can only imagine what new

depths of excitement and terror Toshiba’s

new range of UltraHD televisions will bring,

then. The first of their kind to be launched

for consumers, they display in a resolution

up to four times that of full HD, and have 3D

and Cloud TV, too.

Available in 58, 65 and 84-inch models from

summer 2013. Prices TBC | toshiba.co.uk

P60

James Franco

hams it up and

overuses the

word ‘y’all’ in

Spring Breakers

Gadgets

Dyson Hot+Cool

After they released

the Dyson Cool, the

first bladeless fan,

and the Dyson Hot,

the first bladeless

fan heater, this

next product from

Dyson was pretty

inevitable. In a step

the company could

arguably have taken

initially, it combines

heating and cooling

elements with the

unique bladeless

technology. The

result: room-wide

heating or cooling

without the buffeting

effect from regular

fans – and a few

irked early adopters

whose fans only

do one thing.

From £350 |

dyson.co.uk

Canon EOS 100D

A starting point for those looking to dabble

in serious photography, the EOS 100D is

the smallest and lightest DSLR ever made.

Weighing just 407 grams (about the same

as a tin of Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup),

it has simple controls and a built-in guide.

So, like a tin of Heinz’s best, it’s small and

light enough to take with you. A practical

alternative to a full DSLR (and soup).

£570, from late April | canon.co.uk

Withings Smart Body Analyzer

This super-smart set of scales not only

weighs you and tracks your level of body

fat; it also measures heart rate, syncs

wirelessly with an app and measures the

temperature and air quality of the room

in which it’s placed. It’s basically a high-

tech way of knowing when you might

need to leave it a few minutes before

entering the bathroom. £130 | store.apple.com/uk



TIME TO SWING

ET Kit Inevitably, next week’s Masters will make you desperate to get out and play golf. Which is why we’ve done some research and picked out the hottest new kit on the market

Adizero Shoe

The shoe that has been sweeping the

professional tours – or perhaps it just

looks that way because it’s bright yellow.

The lightest golf shoe yet from adidas is,

as you’d expect, exceptionally stylish

and effective.

£130 | taylormadegolf.eu

ECCO Tour Hybrid Shoes

Danish firm ECCO are renowned for the

quality of their shoes, as worn by Graeme

McDowell, and this is their first ‘crossover’

model – a classic leather upper sitting on the

firm’s award-winning Street outsole.

Comfortable, stylish.

£160 | ecco.com/golf

Wilson D100 Irons

A face that is 7 per cent thinner offers even

more ball speed, while a new design has

moved 35 per cent of the clubhead mass to

be distributed to the sole, heel and toe –

meaning if you’re not flushing it out of the

middle, you’re still making a solid contact.

£349 | wilson.com

Nike VR_S Covert Driver

Quite why nobody thought of a

cavity-backed driver before Nike is

anyone’s guess, but here it is: the VR_S

Covert. It looks brilliant but, more

importantly, Nike claims it’s the firm’s

most innovative golf club yet.

£250 | nikegolf.eu

Callaway X-Hot Pro Driver

Callaway promises incredibly fast ball

speeds off the face of this adjustable

driver. Set the face open, square or

closed, with an adjustable centre

of gravity to reduce off-centre hits.

You can’t miss. Honest. >

£279 | callawaygolf.com

Cobra AMP Cell Green Driver

You have to hand it to Cobra – this

limited-edition green driver certainly

stands out. And it performs, too –

packed with a ton of tech, the AMP

is fully adjustable and finding its way

into more and more golf bags.

£319 | cobragolf.com

YO U ’ R E W E L C O M E .

©2013 Callaway Golf Company. Callaway, the Chevron Device, OptiFit, X Hot, Hyperbolic Face and Speed Frame and VFT are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Callaway Golf Company.

YOU’RE ABOUT

TO GET A WHOLE

LOT LONGER.

Introducing the XHot Family from Callaway. The new standard in distance from every club in the bag and from every lie on the course. See how at callawaygolf.com/xhot

B R I N G . I T. O N .

T H E N E W S TA N DA R D I N D I S TA N C E .


Scotty Cameron GoLo 5 Putter

The latest addition to the Scotty

Cameron line, the GoLo 5 features

weighting technology for more balance

and stability at impact, but comes with

a slightly smaller head.

£278 | titleist.co.uk

Mizuno MP-S Ball

Mizuno’s foray into the world of golf balls

has delivered what you’d expect – something

of the very highest quality. They have been

on sale in Japan for some years, but this is

the first time they’ve been available here.

They will almost certainly be a massive hit.

£50/dozen | golf.mizunoeurope.com

Bridgestone e-Series Balls

Three balls in this series – the e5, e6 and e7

– mean Bridgestone can effectively custom-

fit you with the right ball. They’ve done it

with 200,000 golfers worldwide, and claim

to be able to give you an extra 10 yards.

£26/dozen | bridgestonegolf.com

Motocaddy M1 Pro Trolley

This is Motocaddy’s most compact trolley

yet, weighing just 10.5kg. It features a USB

charging port, nine speed settings and the

benefits of an adjustable handle height.

It can travel on its own up to 45 metres, too

– just mind out for those water hazards.

From £399.99 | motocaddy.com

TaylorMade R1 Driver

There are 168 different permutations

with this driver, more than any previous

TaylorMade club. Among those are 12

loft settings and seven face-angle

positions – traditionally, amateur

players think they need less loft,

when the truth is they don’t. A market-

leading club for a reason.

From £349 | taylormadegolf.com

Titleist Pro V1X Ball

The ProV1 revolutionised the

professional tours, and its latest version

continues to enjoy enormous success.

The Pro V1X, as used by Luke Donald,

among others, offers greater distance

and less spin off the driver face.

£51/dozen | titleist.co.uk

Odyssey Versa Putter

Quite simply, a blade putter that brings

its own alignment aid purely in the way

it’s designed. The contrast on the

putter head means you will line up

better, put a more consistent contact

on the ball and hole more putts.

£119 | odysseygolf.com

Ping G25 Driver

This is the driver in the bag of big-hitting

Bubba Watson, defending champion at

Augusta National next week. As with its

market rivals, it’s adjustable so you can fit

it perfectly to your swing... now you just

need a swing that works.

£299 | ping.com

Oakley Fade Polo

Emulate that man Watson again by

wearing this new Oakley polo on day one

of this year’s Masters on Thursday. Its

sublimated stripes give ‘big rippers like

Bubba a look that sets them apart from

the crowd’, apparently.

£45 | uk.oakley.com

Extra Time Kit

ONE DEGREE OFF IS ONE DEGREE OUT.

THE NEW VERSABY ODYSSEYVISIONARY HIGH CONTRAST ALIGNMENT

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IMPROVE YOUR ALIGNMENT AND LOWER YOUR SCORES.

©2013 Callaway Golf Company. Odyssey, the Swirl Device, #1

Putter in Golf and Versa are trademarks and/or registered

trademarks of Callaway Golf Company. All other trademarks

are the property of their respective owners. odysseygolf.com

ODYSSEYGOLF.COM/VERSA


The collection

Acqua di Parma

A tall, dark and handsome range that uses “the purest and most precious ingredients” is designed to complement AdP’s cult Colonia Essenza eau de cologne (£53 for 50ml) and leave notes of this elegant citrus, woody fragrance with

patchouli, soft white moss and warm amber on the skin. The deodorant (£27 for 150ml),shampoo and shower gel (£27 for 200ml) and face emulsion (£40 for 75ml) are luxurious, rich and potent enough to take out all 101 dalmatians. johnlewis.com

Gucci Guilty Black Pour HommeGuilty Black lovers are, Gucci tell us, “fearless in their passion, brazen, shameless, unpredictable… they go where they sense danger”. This is, then, exactly the sort of thing you’d expect Emperor Palpatine to slap on first thing in the morning while he’s gearing up to provoke a galactic war. Top notes of bracing green coriander and invigorating lavender give way to middle motifs of orange flower with neroli – a sweet, honeyed plant oil produced from orange tree blossom. Patchouli blended with a lavishly textured cedarwood make up the base notes of a scent “in which dynamism spells seduction”. Actually, Uncle Gucci, it still spells dynamism. But it is alluring enough to have anyone turn to the dark side. Let the neroli flow through you. Gooood. £46 for 50ml | boots.com

SOMETHING SOMETHING DARK SIDE

ET Gucci’s new fragrance, Nivea’s deodorant and Acqua di Parma’s range

will leave your bathroom cabinet something something complete

The eau de toilette

Grooming

Nivea For Men Invisible

If the emperor used deodorant

(and, let’s face it, he should –

ruling a soon-to-be-overthrown

empire is a stressful business),

he’d be delighted with Nivea

For Men’s Invisible for Black and

White range. The 150ml spray

(£2.03), 40ml stick (£2.50) and

50ml roll-on (£2.10) protect

against irritating white marks and

yellow stains caused by deodorant

use. It o�ers antiperspirant

protection and is alcohol-free,

meaning Palpatine needn’t worry

about ruining his black robes or

the crisp white shirt he wears on

date night. boots.com

The deodorant

SEE THE DIFFERENCE PROTEIN CAN MAKE

Now available

See how Maximuscle can also help you

get fi tter, leaner and stronger.

If you think protein is just for professionals, think again.

Right now our three average guys David, Oli and James

are using a variety of Maximuscle products to help

them achieve their own individual goals in just 12 weeks.

Watch all their progress live online as they undertake

The Protein Project.

To pick up your own 12 week challenge and see how

Maximuscle and exercise can help you achieve your body and

sporting goals simply visit: maximuscle.com/proteinproject

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James, 2

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58 | April 5 2013 |

Extra time Kelly Brook

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Kelly Brook/Lipstick Syndication

| 59


Levels of Life Julian BarnesBritish Booker Prize winner

Barnes’ latest book covers such

diverse topics as ballooning,

photography, love and – most

potently – grief. Written in three

parts, it begins as a history,

moves into fiction, then ends in

a memoir concerning the death

of the author’s wife, which took

place in 2008. An impassioned,

raw insight into a survivor’s grief.

Out now

Shaking the Habitual

The KnifeThis Swedish electropop duo’s

first album in seven years is 98

minutes long and features songs

from 37 seconds in length to

over 19 minutes. Thankfully, they

have the invention to back up

their extravagance, Shaking the

Habitual living up to its title as a

pulsating profusion of o�-kilter

rhythms. Weird and wonderful.

Out Monday

Spring BreakersWhen team handsome’s James Franco is the ugliest

of your five lead actors, it’s safe to say you’ve picked

an aesthetically pleasing cast. However, there’s

a lot more to Kids writer Harmony Korine’s new

comedy-drama than meets the eyeful. It begins with

four bored college girls, short of cash to fulfil their

desire to escape to the hedonistic indulgence of

spring break. Rather than taking on extra shifts at

the local fast-food joint, they just decide to rob it at

gunpoint instead. “Pretend like it’s a video game,”

one enthuses. However, their crime doesn’t just take

them to Florida – it puts them in the path of dopey

drug dealer ‘Alien’

(real name: Allan)

and pulls them

into a seedy world,

where at least two

of our heroines

feel right at home.

A garish, flashy,

provocative film

that knowingly

and brazenly exploits the boozy flesh-flashing of its

subject matter, but has the brains to match its beauty.

Out today

The Hobbit:

An Unexpected

Journey

Whether you

thought the

first part of

The Hobbit was a

frolicsome treat with imaginative

action set-pieces and Martin

Freeman terrific in the lead role,

or a sprawling, overlong mess

featuring a harrowing excess

of Sylvester McCoy (and, really,

both views are correct), Peter

Jackson’s fantasy will look

sensational on Blu-ray. The New

Zealand landscape is as astutely

utilised as it was in creating The

Lord of the Rings trilogy, even

if – curiously – the CGI seems

slightly more glaring this time

around than it did in a series of

films made more than a decade

ago. Extras include 10 video blogs

from the film’s hirsute director.

Out Monday

All Things to All Men

A cut above recent British crime

flicks, this London-based heist

film boasts the talent of Gabriel

Byrne, Rufus Sewell and Toby

Stephens (above) as a crime

kingpin, bent copper and expert

thief respectively. A £50m bank

raid is the centre of their plans,

but the double-crosses escalate

to triple-crosses and beyond in

this slick, stylish-looking thriller.

Out today

Schindler’s List

Steven Spielberg has a gift for

evoking emotion, but rarely has

he put it to such masterful use

than in this powerful Holocaust

epic. He’s aided by Liam Neeson:

charismatic but convincing as

Oskar Schindler, an imperfect

man moved to save thousands of

lives. Out on Blu-ray for the first

time, extras including testimonies

from real-life Holocaust survivors.

Out Monday

Film Blu-ray

Book MusicFilm Blu-ray

BEAUTY AND THE GEEKS

ET Entertainment Bank robberies, neon bikinis and hobbits make up this

week’s releases. Unfortunately, not all in the same film

ONLY IN THE SUN

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sport magazine issue 299

Documents

vital red

socalled red advantage

successful teams

teams performances

enjoythe grand nationalonly

grand nationals biggest

english football

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