Perhaps England teams who went there before never thought themselves capable of winning whatever happened

Perhaps England teams who went there before never thought themselves capable of winning whatever happened.”Mention of England’s trouble-free victory at Lansdowne Road came as a poignant reminder that sport can actually be played in an atmosphere of goodwill, and Carling exuded it yesterday as he congratulated the Wales team on their manifold attributes.”They have probably got the best front five in terms of set-piece ball- winning capability that we will come up against,” the captain said “They have two very good tacical-kicking half-backs They have two very fast wings. One of Carling’s teams – the 1991 one – were the first to lay the Arms Park bogy since Richard Sharp’s in 1963 but Carling’s teams of 1989 and 1993 were as fancied as this 1995 version and lost like their predecessors.”We had a great game against France but that will mean nothing when we run out on Saturday,” he said “We look at it as a very, very hard place to go and play. Since then, Mike Teague’s in ‘91 stands alone.However, handsome defeats of Ireland and France over the past month have made England the bookmakers’ favourites to win by 10 points. It’s similar at Murrayfield but, whatever their record, the Welsh have always had good players and they raise their level of performance when they play England, especially at Cardiff, so if ever there is a weakness they will find it.”By way of propaganda, the Welsh Rugby Union has this week been helpfully circulating statistics of England’s persistent post-war demises in Cardiff, among them the English failure to score a try in 12 of their 18 visits and that the last try by a back, Simon Smith’s in 1985, was 385 minutes ago. He is fed up being reminded that England have won there once in 32 years.
“We don’t sit around asking each other if there are any mental hang-ups,” Carling said after yesterday’s private practice at the Bristol University ground and before leaving England’s five-star hotel in Bath for the dreaded Cardiff. “There is no doubt Wales play exceptionally well in Cardiff, and even better in Cardiff against England.”A lot of it is that the Welsh get themselves in a superb state of mind to play England The Welsh have this pride. Yesterday the England captain said, as he does biennially, that there is really no such thing and then, as is also his wont, went on to explain why the Welsh are so damnably difficult to beat in their own capital city.

At about this time every two years Will Carling is asked to consider the Arms Park factor, a collective phobia that supposedly descends on Englishmen whenever they are confronted – as Carling’s team are tomorrow – by a game against Wales in Cardiff. But if you are going to get international clubs with high-profile players involved, it is pretty obvious that they will get paid for their services I know I’d like to get paid for playing. Who’d say no for £400 or £500 a game?”Wainwright’s words further underline the increasingly flawed regulations relating to amateurism, which are to be discussed in full at next month’s meeting in Bristol of the IRB.. Standings: 1 Team New Zealand, 20pts; 2 NZL-39, 17; 3 oneAustralia, 13; 4 Nippon Challenge, 10; 5 Sydney 95, 8; 6 France 3, 7; 7 Rioja de Espana, 0.. Revelations by Kevin Campbell, the former Hawick flanker, that he is paid £800 a month to play club rugby in France has moved on to a higher plane with an admission from Rob Wainwright, a member of Scotland’s back row in Paris tomorrow, that: “I can’t call myself an amateur player.”

While Campbell’s claims that payments are rife across the Channel have prompted the International Rugby Board to seek an explanation from the French federation, Wainwright, interviewed in the latest issue of Rugby World, published today, says: “I don’t exactly get a lot of money but I get a sum from the Scotland team sponsors, Famous Grouse.
“Now tell me the difference between Famous Grouse pumping money into the Scottish Rugby Union who then pay us, which happens at the moment, and just Famous Grouse cutting out the middle man and paying us direct? As far as I am concerned, I can’t call myself an amateur player when I get paid, even in an indirect fashion.”It’s pretty clear that some kind of European League for clubs will happen sooner or later and the notion appeals to me a great deal. Standings: =1 Stars & Stripes, 9pts; =1 Young America, 9; 3 America3, 7.LOUIS VUITTON Round-Robin Three, Race One: Sydney 95 bt France 3, 38sec; Team New Zealand bt Nippon Challenge, 1min 34sec; NZL-39 bt Rioja de Espana ,2:30.

With four points for a win in this round, Marc Pajot’s quest for a semi-final place is now in earnest and the weakest of the two Australian challengers should have been a banker.CITIZEN CUP Round-Robin Three, Race One: America3 bt Stars & Stripes by 1 min 26sec. There was no surprise in the way their Kiwi rival, Dickson, disposed of Spain’s Pedro Campos.But the French were already losing to Sydney ‘95, now with Colin Beashel added to the afterguard squad, before they ripped a spinnaker and lost distance. Certainly the syndicate boss, Bill Koch, has claimed it will be radically different from the formula he produced to win in 1992 and which has influenced many of the syndicates.Comparisons over the relative strength of development between the defenders and challengers are difficult to make, but the ease with which Team New Zealand continues to breeze through the round-robin stage could, if anything, be counter-productive.They opened the third series of the Louis Vuitton Cup with a win over Nippon Challenge and have yet to be beaten. Speculation has it that it is another “skinny lizzy” of the type produced by Bruce Farr for Chris Dickson’s Tag Heuer challenge. But Wednesday’s victory, by 1min 26sec, it says that either they have been running a pretty successful development programme on their 1992 boat, or Conner’s 1994 Stars & Stripes has not made the giant leap forward he had hoped.
The A3 camp will be putting out extra flags tomorrow to welcome their new 75-foot yacht. SAILING

Defeat for Dennis Conner at the not always gentle hands of the all-woman crew on America3 is less of a sensation than it was on the opening day of the 1995 America’s Cup. Pakistan 231

Zimbabwe 243
Pakistan’s players produced a workmanlike performance on the second day of the third Test against Zimbabwe in Harare yesterday.But a ninth-wicket partnership of 40 in nine overs between Paul Strang (32) and David Brain (22 not out) helped the home side to 243, giving them a first-innings lead of 12.(Second day; Pakistan won toss)PAKISTAN – First Innings 231 (Inzamam-ul-Haq 101; H H Streak 4-53)ZIMBABWE – First Innings(Overnight: 4-0)G W Flower b Amir Nazir 6S V Carlisle c Salim Malik b Aqib Javed 31A D R Campbell c Manzoor Elahi b Amir 14D L Houghton c Rashid Latif b Wasim 19*A Flower c Aamir Sohail b Manzoor 37G J Whittall b Aqib Javed 34I P Butchart c Inzamam-ul-Haq b Wasim 15P A Strang c Aamir Sohail b Amir Nazir 28H H Streak lbw b Aqib Javed 0D H Brain not out 22B Strang b Aqib Javed 6Extras (lb4 w1 nb26) 31Total (78 overs) 243Fall: 1-20 2-51 3-79 4-95 5-145 6-175 7-193 8-193 9-233.Bowling: Wasim Akram 28-2-90-2 (12nb); Aqib Javed 25-5-64-4 (6nb 1w); Amir Nazir 13-3-50-3 (6nb); Manzoor Elahi 10-3-28-1 (1nb); Aamir Sohail 2-0-7-0 (1nb).n Australia’s role in the bribery allegations against Pakistan cricket will not threaten this year’s Test series between the two countries, Australian Cricket Board chief executive, Graham Halbish, said yesterday..

Bowling: Mhambrey 10-0- 33-1; Wassan 10-2-34-2; Ankola 8-1-40-0; Singh 10-0-62-2; Chattergee 10-0-65-0; Dravid 2-0-16-0.INDIA A*V S Rathore c Gallian b Chapple 4R Puri c Piper b Cork 2A A Muzumdar c Hemp b Cork 8R S Dravid b Stemp 14R Shamshad c Chapple b Patel 26S S Dighe c Gallian b Patel 29A S Wassan c Wells b Weekes 16U Chattergee run out 23P L K Mhambrey c Wells b Weekes 9S A Ankola not out 14K Singh c Ramprakash b Weekes 5Extras (lb2 w2 nb2) 6Total (46 overs) 156Fall: 1-7 2-7 3-25 4-48 5-72 6-98 7-114 8-137 9-140.Bowling: Chapple 10-4-20-1; Cork 8-1-23-2; Gallian 3-0-15-0; Stemp 7- 1-20-1; Patel 9-0-36-2; Weekes 9-0-40-3.Umpires: S S Porel and S Sharma.. The tourists beat India A in the third one- day international to add a 2-1 series win to their 3-0 triumph in the Tests.Yesterday’s win, under the Lalbahadur Stadium floodlights, was more emphatic than England could possibly have anticipated in a closely fought 50-over clash.But India A never had a chance to challenge England’s score of 254 for 6 after the pace pair Dominic Cork and Glen Chapple initiated a collapse which sent the hosts reeling to 156 all out.Knight, Warwickshire’s capture from Essex, was named man of the match after a superb, unbeaten 114, which gave England’s innings backbone and bite throughout.He shared a breathtaking 118-run stand in 88 minutes with Ramprakash before the England A vice-captain was dismissed for 57, scored from just 63 deliveries and including three sixes.Knight’s innings, made off just 146 deliveries in three and a half hours, was highlighted by four huge sixes into the largely empty stands.India never recovered from losing their captain Vikram Rathore, Rajesh Puri and wonder boy Amol Muzumdar to the England pacemen with the floodlit scoreboard showing only 25 runs scored.As Rahul Dravid, Rizwan Shamshad and Sameer Dighe tried desperately to accelerate, the Middlesex off-spinner, Paul Weekes, picked up three vital wickets to rock the Indians once again.Phil Neale, the England A team manager, praised a “very professional” performance and claimed the tour had been England A’s most successful “because they played as a team, with great spirit and no selfishness”.(England A won toss)ENGLAND AN V Knight not out 114D L Hemp c Dravid b Wassan 25M R Ramprakash b Mhambrey 57*A P Wells c Rathore b Singh 2J E R Gallian run out 0P M Weekes c Shamshad b Singh 7D G Cork b Wassan 23K J Piper not out 15Extras (lb4 w1 nb6) 11Total (for 6, 50 overs) 254Fall: 1-46 2-164 3-176 4-177 5-189 6-226.Did not bat: G Chapple, M M Patel, R D Stemp. CRICKET

England A 254-6; India A 156
England A win by 98 runsAn exhilarating partnership between Nick Knight and Mark Ramprakash allowed England A to finish the Indian leg of their winter tour in impressive style in Hyderabad yesterday. If I could get my handicap down to one and have a go at pre-qualifying you never know. My enthusiasm and interest in golf is as keen as it is in rugby but I’ve had to put it on the back burner for 20 years.”Ladies and gentlemen, on the tee, from Edinburgh, Gavin Hastings (deafening tartan roar) He would even be able to sell tickets..

“I would love to play in an Open although the odds are stacked against. I don’t believe in having an ambition you can fulfil in 10 minutes. They play each other again in the World Cup in the summer, after which Hastings is expected to announce his retirement Not that he will confirm it “We’ll see Look at [Philippe] Sella [of France]. I might find a new drug to keep me going.” On the other hand if Scotland lose to the Ivory Coast in South Africa, Hastings may not have a choice in the matter.At least when he bows out he will have another goal on the horizon His golf handicap is six. Who on earth wants to train three or four times a week in foul weather?”Scotland have not won in Paris for 26 years and it is a fair bet that Hastings, at the age of 33, will be making his last appearance at Parc des Princes, although not his last against France. How anyone gets enjoyment running through ankle-deep mud is beyond me.