England XV v Barbarians

Willie Mason: A rugby league enigma

The word enigma can be defined as: a person of puzzling or contradictory character. Never has this been more true of Australia's Willie Mason.

Hull Kingston Rovers announced on Saturday that they had released Mason just six games into a possible three-year contract. Since then the Australian has moved to sign for French Top 14 giants Toulon.

Mason signed for Hull KR in the winter but hopes of their marquee signing arriving in the country in time for the start of the new Engage Super League were stunted by his inability to obtain a Tongan passport.

This Tongan passport would allow for Rovers officials to register Mason as a non-overseas player. Thus allowing head coach Justin Morgan to select the likes of Blake Green, Michael Dobson, Ben Galea and Clint Newton all in the same squad.

Unfortunately for both Rovers and Mason he was unable to obtain the passport, only an injury to lynch-pin stand-off Michael Dobson giving the club the ability to play their big-money signing.

The former North Queensland Cowboy made an immediate impact in the 40-22 home defeat of the Crusaders, a performance that saw Mason pick up the man of the match award.

Since then for both Mason and the club his performances and relationship with officials at Craven Park have been on a downward spiral.

Last month rumours surfaced that Mason had travelled to the continent to discuss a move to France. Since then it has been discovered that Mason may even have met with Toulon officials before he signed for Rovers.

Toulon reportedly have offered Mason a deal that will see him earn up to £400,000 a year, four times what he was set to pocket at Hull KR. The Challenge Cup quarter finalists hope to reclaim any wages paid via compensation from Toulon.

This farcical turn of events that are set to see Mason move to to France are not too dissimilar to those of former Canterbury Bulldogs teammate Sonny Bill Williams. His desire for a move to rugby union and Toulon saw him banned from the NRL for breach of contract and the French Top 14 forced to compensate his previous employers.

The proverbial plot thickens with the announcement that the 24-cap Australian forward will make his rugby union debut for the Barbarian against England on Sunday.

Mason admitted his excitement at the challenge to the Sydney Morning Herald, going onto say:

"If you ask all the boys, I've always told them I've wanted to have a crack at rugby and I've always been the type to jump in at the deep end, and I'm ready to try the best I can to make an instant switch."

This saga brings the game of rugby league into disrepute as it continues in its attempts to put itself on a level footing with its more credible and wealthier bigger brother in union.

If episodes like this are to be prevented then the overseas quota system needs to be tightened in such a way that your nationality is the country that you represent, or you are believed to represent.

A quote was once used to describe world heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis, who represented Canada at the Olympics but competed in the professional ranks as British, although of Jamaican decent.

"If you are not a resident of somewhere, you're a resident of no where."

Never has this quote been so true then when related to Willie Mason, a man of New-Zealand birth, Tongan decent, but Australian representation. Where Mason's career will take him next is for us to see as this circus continues the other side of the English Channel.

That Was It!

Last night at the O2 Arena & viewers on Sky Box Office bore witness to a British title fight for the ages.

The bout dubbed 'The Grudge' had all the build-up of a world title fight and it did not disappoint, James DeGale on the other hand did.

The fight went all 12 of the championship rounds for the Super-Middleweight Lonsdale belt. At the final bell the judges returned a majority decision, Richie Davies scored the fight evens, a draw, with Dave Parris & John Keane scoring the fight one round in favour of the 'The Saint' George Groves.

In what was a cagey affair in the main George Groves implemented the 'Hayemaker' camp's strategy, devised by Adam Booth, to a tee. Boxing with his lead hand high, a contrast to previous fights where it has hung dangerously low, the Hammersmith resident counter-punched superbly.

James DeGale in stark contrast appeared to revert to the style that characterised his amateur days, boxing defensively in an attempt to pot-shot his way to victory. The sort of style the computerised scoring of Olympic competition favours.

Unfortunately for the Olympic champion or 'Chunky' as he is known no longer found himself boxing in the amateurs, like the first meeting between the two. One must add that this revert to type that DeGale showed in the contest was promised by Groves in the build-up.

Once the fight entered its second stanza the Harlesden champion appeared to wake from his slumber as he begun to put combination togethers and disorientating the Commonwealth champion.

This pressure however came in fits and starts, finding himself unable to excerpt a sustained level of pressure at any time during fight. It appeared that the defending champion had, as Adam Booth claimed during rounds "ran out of ideas".

A clash of heads opened two cuts on the face of the fair skinned Groves, one on the eyebrow the other on the forehead, as his face became a mask of blood as the fight entered the final round.

Before the final round it was obvious that the DeGale camp, lead by ex-world title challenge Jim McDonnell, believed that they needed the final round to secure victory. The final round was won by DeGale, but it was unknown if it was enough to take the spoils.

As the final bell rung it was clear that both fighters were in the belief they they had done enough to take the contest, both fighters marked and bloody. With the judges in the process of returning their verdicts Jim McDonnell took his phone from his pocket. Looking up to his man he claimed that they had won, obviously a text tipped him off, putting his finger to his lips insisting that 'Chunky' did not celebrate.

With the fighters at centre ring Lennon Jnr. returned the verdict. . . . (skip forward to 3.56)

The look on James DeGale's face, priceless. . . . .

The issue with judging a boxing match is that it can be scored in so many ways, do you score just the scoring shots, or intent to attack or good counter-punching?

It is clear that the judges scored the fight on not only counter-punching but also shots landed, the computer statistics claimed that Groves landed a greater percentage of his punches thrown.

The person at home can score a fight in so many different ways themselves, their own bias helps. I've seen people claiming they had DeGale by as many as three rounds, personally I had Groves by the one round. Boxing, unlike most other sports it is subjectice, that is the beauty of the sport known as the sweet science.

The sweet science, unlike other sports has a certain level of emotion that cannot be found in others. This can be illustrated in the picture of Adam Booth letting Jim McDonnell and his team know exactly what he thinks of them. I for one couldn't agree anymore.

The fact of the matter is, and I don't think it can be denied, James DeGale was well and truly worked out and exposed as one dimensional. Yes, if it had been a fight DeGale would have snatched it instead but it wasn't. Unfortunately for the now ex-British Super-Middleweight Champion it was a boxing bout, and George Groves won this bout.

Frank Warren in his post fight interview claimed that a rematch should be ordered immediately, whether and how soon this will come to fruition is unknown. One thing he did say however stood out to me.

The 'This Is It' bill is a wake up call for James DeGale and perhaps the back slapping of a fighter who hasn't achieved quite as much as people would like to believe he has does need to stop.

Will we see James DeGale defeat George Groves in a rematch should it happen or has 'The Saint' got 'Chunky's' number? That is the question.

Lancashire 46-12 Warwickshire

Lancashire began their defence of the Bill Beaumont Cup with a 46-12 victory against Warwickshire at Sedgley Park.

Although a 34 point winning margin might suggest a comfortable win for the defending champions this was not the case.

With a large National League Two North winning contingent the home side went into the contest high in confidence.

It was Oliver Brennand, one of nine men from the championship winning Fylde outfit, who opened the scoring within a minute.

Head Coach Mark Nelson handed eight new caps for this the opening game of the 2011 campaign.

It was newly capped Tom Hughes who doubled the hosts tally within five minutes; this prompted many to believe that the contest would soon become a rout.

This was not the case as the Red roses were made to work hard throughout by a stubborn Warwickshire defence.

After weathering an early storm the visitors missed the opportunity to open their scoring account, Lee Audis’ penalty kick hitting the post.

This however did not deter the Warwickshire outfit, soon gaining a foot hold in the game via a Matt Goode try as he snuck in the corner.

Had it not been for the inaccuracy of Audis’ boot the men from down the M6 could have found themselves in front as he pushed another penalty wide.

This profligacy in front of the posts was soon confounded as Gareth Rawling had the easiest of tasks to touch down at the back of a strong Lancashire scrum.

Another Brennand try was added on the half hour mark. A huge Peter Aitham dummy enough to breach the defence, Brennand left with the easiest of finishes.

Warwickshire responded once more with a second try two minutes from the interval, Heath Stevens latching onto a Mike Walls grubber kick.

A penalty on the stroke of half time from Alex Davies took the sides in at half time with the score 27-12.

Lancashire came out after the interval lacking a certain amount of precision.

This however was soon found by full-back Chris Briers his supporting run carving a whole in the defence as he stretched well to finish.

Briers was again at the heart of another Lancashire attack as Brennand’s solo effort saw him complete a hat-trick of tries.

After the roses sixth try it wasn’t for another 24 minutes until the scoreboard ticked over once more, this a representation of the hard-fought nature of the contest.

An exclamation point was added two minutes from time to what can be described as an efficient Lancashire performance, referee Andrew Jackson awarding a penalty try.