Anyone's Game Episode 13

This week's pod is the last one for a while, so hopefully we've left you smiling!

James and I take you through all the week's big sports stories, including Stuart Lancaster's appointment as England head coach, all the week's football, England's cricketing woes and a possible financial lifeline for the Bradford Bulls. There's even a special guest appearance from Mr Will Roe!

I hope you enjoy this week's offering - any comments, as always, feel free to leave them below.

Anyone's Game Episode 13

Anyone's Game Episode 12

Anyone's Game returns with all the week's big sporting stories. This week's pod is presented by James Pearson and produced by yours truly. Joining us we have Vincent Carroll and birthday boy Jamie Hamilton. Plenty on the agenda this week, including all the week's football action, the dramatic conclusion to the Six Nations and plenty more besides!

Hope you enjoy it, and as ever any comments are more than welcome - just pop them below. Happy listening!

Episode 12

Anyone's Game Episode 8

This week's sports podcast was produced by yours truly and features the vocal talents of James Pearson, Will Roe and Jay Patel.

Topics covered include Arsenal's Champions League meltdown in Milan, England's unlikely revival in one-day cricket, the latest from the Six Nations and that Man U-Liverpool game.

I hope you enjoy it - as ever, any comments or suggestions welcome. Happy listening!

Anyone's Game Episode 8

Anyone's Game Episode 7

It's back! The latest episode of Anyone's Game is here for your enjoyment. Apologies this one's a couple of days late, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

This week's topics: the saga of the England manager role, the latest from the Six Nations, a look ahead to the Premier League, the appeal (or lack thereof) of Formula 1 and lots more!

This week's presenter is James Pearson, guests are Matt Tyzack, Jamie Hamilton and Charli Burden and the producer is yours truly.

As ever, any comments or suggestions welcome - just pop them below.

Anyone's Game Sports Podcast

This is something I've been doing for a while, and I thought it was about time I shared it with you all. Every Friday afternoon I get together with a couple of other MA Broadcast Journalism students and talk through the week's sports news. The result is this podcast, Anyone's Game.

Among the topics we're discussing this week are the FA's decision to strip John Terry of the England captaincy, the letdown that was the January transfer window, the impending start of the Six Nations, the England cricket team's inability to play against spin and that epic Australian Open final.

This week's podcast is presented by me with guest panellists Rob Porter and Andrew Binner, and produced by James Pearson. I hope you enjoy it, and as always I want to hear from you so get in touch and let me know your thoughts!

Anyone's Game Episode 6

Rugby World Cup Quarter-Finals Preview

Whatever else they may have been, the pool stages of Rugby World Cup 2011 certainly haven’t been dull. With the competition about to enter its knockout phase, it’s an appropriate moment to look back at what we’ve enjoyed, and indeed endured, so far, and to consider what might be coming next.

Let’s kick off (yes I went there) with the pool stages. First of all, I’d like to say how refreshing it’s been to see some genuine upsets in this tournament. One oft-repeated criticism of rugby is that, in the vast majority of cases, results go according to form, so that the sport continues to be dominated by the same small group of superpowers to the exclusion of everyone else. And looking at the list of quarter-finalists this year, you might think that wasn’t too far wrong. But there’s plenty of evidence that the so-called “second tier” nations are often more than capable of competing with the big boys. The final few days of pool matches saw South Africa pushed all the way by Samoa, before a determined Tongan side overcome a woeful French outfit on Saturday. The old elite may still be in charge for now, but there’s plenty of evidence that the rest of the world is catching up fast.

Which brings me to perhaps the most controversial element of this competition: the scheduling. Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu’s ill-judged rant aside, many will feel that the smaller nations have a legitimate gripe against a system that’s landed many of them with a three-day turnaround while their bigger opponents get a week off to recover. But on the other hand, I’ve yet to hear anyone come up with a convincing alternative. Giving everyone a week off would mean the tournament would drag on interminably, and no-one wants that. In the absence of an agreed-on solution, this is a debate that looks set to run and run.

But enough about what’s already happened – let’s look ahead to this weekend’s action. The quarter-finals get underway with a clash of two in-form teams as Ireland take on Wales. This is a tough one to call. Wales looked strong coming into the tournament and have built on that promise with some impressive displays. They’re a youthful team but one that’s playing with impressive maturity, as personified by their outstanding captain Sam Warburton. Ireland, meanwhile, lost all four of their warm-up games before coming from nowhere to stun Australia 15-6. Since then they haven’t looked back, and a comprehensive 36-6 win over Italy last time out showed just how far they’ve come. The battle of the back rows is going to be key, with Dan Lydiate, Warburton and Toby Faletau squaring up to Stephen Ferris, Sean O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip. At fly half it’s youth versus experience, with the impressive Rhys Priestland lining up against seasoned campaigner Ronan O’Gara. It has all the makings of a Celtic classic. I’m going with Ireland to win, just because experience often tells in knockout rugby. But it’ll be close, and expect plenty of fireworks along the way.

At the other end of the spectrum, we find two teams that have really struggled for form. On the one hand, England’s discipline has caused them plenty of problems both on and off the field. On the other, France appear to have imploded in spectacular fashion, epitomised by their 19-14 defeat to Tonga last week. But then the French team’s weakness can also be their greatest strength: unpredictability. Never underestimate the potential of the French to unite around their common hatred of the English. And if everything finally starts to flow for Les Bleus, then it could spell trouble for Martin Johnson’s men. But then again, England have World Cup history on their side. In knockout matches, they’re generally pretty good at beating the French. They’ve also shown in recent weeks that, it nothing else, they know how to grind out a result. Discipline will be an important issue, as will goal-kicking (whoever gets handed the responsibility). England to win for me – just don’t expect it to be pretty.

Sunday sees the southern hemisphere take centre stage. First up it’s Australia against South Africa, a match-up that before the tournament would have had us drooling in anticipation (and probably confidently predicting a win for the Wallabies). How things change. For me, Australia’s performance so far has been one of the biggest disappointments of this competition. A young Wallabies side has been made to look naïve and inexperienced at times, notably against Ireland where they contributed significantly to their own downfall. True, they haven’t been helped by injuries, but then what team hasn’t had that problem? At the moment Australia look like a team searching for direction, and if they want to play the kind of creative, attacking rugby we saw in the Tri-Nations then they need to find it soon. Meanwhile, the Springboks came through the Group of Death fairly unscathed despite being run close by both Wales and Samoa. The major exception to this, of course, is the loss of the influential Frans Steyn. The Springboks looked vulnerable against both Wales and Samoa, and in both cases it was their defence that helped them hold on for the win. There’s a good reason why they’ve conceded the fewest points of any team ever in the pool stages. And it’s this that I think will see them through to the semi-finals, barring a return to pre-tournament brilliance from the men in gold.

And so we come at last to the hosts themselves. The All Blacks go into Sunday’s game against Argentina still reeling from the loss of playmaker and talisman Dan Carter. Without him, they still have a formidable group of players, and to write them off now would be foolish indeed. But people will look at them now and think that they look just a little bit more beatable. And that must be what the Pumas are pinning their hopes on. Contepomi and co have done well to make it this far after their own star fly half Juan Martin Hernandez was ruled out of the tournament through injury. They’ll certainly give the All Blacks a physical battle, but it seems unlikely they’ll be able to compete in the backs. New Zealand have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to powerful, skilful centres and wingers, not to mention having the luxury of choosing between Mills Muliaina and Israel Dagg at full back. Argentina will put in a valiant performance, but I expect it to be pretty comfortable for the hosts.

But of course, only the next 48 hours will show who’s called it right and wrong this time around. There’s been plenty of tension, nerves, frustration and joy so far, and there’s plenty more to come yet. I’ll be watching it all, and I hope you’ll join me. Time to set the alarm.