honestly united

I think Scotland will do ok in the 6 nations, we had our 3 main attacking players in Hogg, Visser and Scott out injured. I think only Visser is long term (hogg played for Glasgow at the weekend), and the main aim of the autumn internationals was to blood more players, which I think he could have done more off. Dissapointed Bennett didn't get any game time, but dont think he wanted to risk him at centre along with Taylor, with him only having played a handfull of games as well.

I wonder if they would switch the current raw crackdown etc to the new channel? Amazing amount of stuff the have as a back catalogue

Started reading his search for Bill Ewasko this week, who, after 50 odd trips and 2 and a half years has still not been found. Which is the reason I spent 3 hours working at home last night to catch up on work I hadn't done in the office

It was silly mistakes for most of the tries we conceded, interceptions, poor line out throws etc, but saying that SA were much better, have to say its dissapointed after we came so close to an upset in the summer. Matt Scott is a big miss for us being injured, we have zero attacking edge in the backs without him, and without Hogg and Visser we dont have anyone that looks like scoring

Haven't got round to reading any of his others yet, but the missing Germans was a fascinating read

Had done some extra reading on a few and found one that was actually solved, although not sure if you would call it successful or not http://www.otherhand.org/home-page/search-and-rescue/the-hunt-for-the-death-valley-germans/introduction/ Note its quite lengthy, but solves the dissaperance of a German Family in 1996 another of my favourites is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YOGTZE-Fall

Its a bit of events overtaking legal agreements. When the Heineken was set up, each country was guaranteed a certain number of entries each year to both the competitions and it was up to the individual unions to decide on how the decided on their entries, back then there was no Pro12 so (if memory serves me correctly) it started as the 4 district teams entering in the days before professional rugby in Scotland, when actually put teams in the Amlin Challenge Cup. split i think was 3-1, same as Ireland. If you look at Italy who now have just 2 teams they enter their own league teams in the Amlin as well, which Scotland could do as we are given places just never take them up. England and to a lesser extent france just have a problem now that the 4 countries are all in the one league. There is still competition for places, like with Ireland who are only given 3 places, but as the winners are given a free passage it gives another team from that country a place so all get in. To be fair I dont see how a new league will be any different, as you would have to a least gaurantee 1 team from each country qualifies or the unions wont go for it.

Thought Glasgow were excellent again last night, will be even better when we sort out the scrum and line out which still isn't functioning properly. But to be top after 3 games beating Cardiff ulster and Leinster is no mean feat. And with 4 off the best players missing yesterday then we are only going to get better. I thought moving to scottstoun was a good move, but after selling out (or close to) I'm thinking they could do with a bit of a bigger stadium now

When i first saw he was up challenging my initial thought was, guy near retirement, finds himself near the top and then in leaders jersey, will give it his all for a few days, then drop away. As you know how it is, a guy thats been a won quite a few smaller tours and races (i've never heard of him just looked him up on wiki), thinks F**k team orders im retiring soon lets go for it, and busts a gut for a couple of stages to keep up there, then gets overtaken eventually. if that was the scenario then i could have gone along with it, but to keep it going that long, against some top riders, when he has done nothing similar previously is a bit hard to beleive he was clean. He might just be a late developer

Cant seem to find a record of times for each ascent, (or Froomes from yesterday for that matter), just that the record is 55'51" by Mayo which was a Time Trial in the Criterium Dauphine about 10 years ago from Bedoiun to the Summit. edit to add, After a lot of searching NEW TOP 50 1. 2004: 55:51 Iban Mayo 23.10 km/h 2. 2004: 56:26 Tyler Hamilton 22.86 km/h 3. 1999: 56:50 Jonathan Vaughters 22.70 km/h 4. 2004: 56:54 Oscar Sevilla 22.67 km/h 5. 1999: 57:33 Alexander Vinokourov 22.42 km/h 6. 1994: 57:34 Marco Pantani 22.41 km/h 7. 1999: 57:34 Wladimir Belli 22.41 km/h 8. 2004: 57:39 Juan Miguel Mercado 22.38 km/h 9. 1999: 57:42 Joseba Beloki 22.36 km/h 10. 2004: 57:49 Lance Armstrong 22.31 km/h 11. 1999: 57:52 Lance Armstrong 22.29 km/h 12. 2004: 58:14 Inigo Landaluze 22.15 km/h 13. 1999: 58:15 Kevin Livingston 22.15 km/h 14. 1999: 58:31 David Moncoutie 22.05 km/h 15. 2004: 58:35 José Enrique Gutierrez 22.02 km/h 16. 2009: 58:45 Andy Schleck 21.96 km/h 17. 2009: 58:45 Alberto Contador 21.96 km/h 18. 2009: 58:48 Lance Armstrong 21.94 km/h 19. 2009: 58:50 Fränk Schleck 21.93 km/h 20. 1999: 58:51 Unai Osa 21.92 km/h 21. 2009: 58:53 Roman Kreuziger 21.91 km/h 22. 2002: 59:00 Lance Armstrong 21.86 km/h 23. 2013: 59:00 Chris Froome 21.86 km/h 24. 1994: 59:02 Richard Virenque 21.85 km/h 25. 1994: 59:02 Armand De Las Cuevas 21.85 km/h 26. 1994: 59:02 Luc Leblanc 21.85 km/h 27. 1994: 59:02 Miguel Indurain 21.85 km/h 28. 1994: 59:02 Roberto Conti 21.85 km/h 29. 2009: 59:03 Franco Pellizotti 21.85 km/h 30. 2000: 59:05 Marco Pantani 21.83 km/h 31. 2000: 59:05 Lance Armstrong 21.83 km/h 32. 2009: 59:05 Vincenzo Nibali 21.83 km/h 33. 1994: 59:07 Pascal Lino 21.82 km/h 34. 1999: 59:08 Tyler Hamilton 21.82 km/h 35. 1999: 59:08 Roberto Laiseka 21.82 km/h 36. 2009: 59:10 Bradley Wiggins 21.80 km/h 37. 2004: 59:12 Levi Leipheimer 21.79 km/h 38. 2004: 59:24 Michael Rasmussen 21.72 km/h 39. 2004: 59:27 Stéphane Goubert 21.70 km/h 40. 2013: 59:29 Nairo Quintana 21.69 km/h 41. 2000: 59:30 Joseba Beloki 21.68 km/h 42. 2000: 59:34 Jan Ullrich 21.66 km/h 43. 1999: 59:35 Txema Del Olmo 21.65 km/h 44. 1999: 59:43 Kurt van de Wouwer 21.60 km/h 45. 2009: 59:46 Jurgen Van Den Broeck 21.58 km/h 46. 2004: 59:47 Oscar Pereiro 21.58 km/h 47. 2006: 59:47 Denis Menchov 21.58 km/h 48. 2006: 59:47 Christophe Moreau 21.58 km/h 49. 2009: 59:49 Andreas Klöden 21.57 km/h 50. 2004: 59:50 David Moncoutie 21.56 km/h Important mentions: In 1999 and 2004, Mont Ventoux was climbed in a 21,5 km individual time trial. The top 50 doesn't include time ascents from 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2005 and 2007 editions of the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré because of the lack of the data

Im still clinging to the chance he may be clean, as if he isn't, by assosciation that makes Wiggins / Cavendish / Hoy / anyone else in the British Olympic cycling team a drugs cheat. Im assuming he would have been tested at the Olympics last year when he finished 3rd in the time trial, but as has been noted if it is new drugs it wouldn't have been detected. They had some guy on Eurosport yesterday after the stage, (he was a team manager for a small team i think, that had been in to have a look how they ran team sky) and he was asked outright if he thought he was dirty, and he replied that Sky had 15 years of training data, which they used to develop individual programs for there riders, the same as the British Olympic team has done with similar success. He also said that Sky identified Froome from an early age as someone with excpetional natural talent and this is just the training paying off. His soundbite was something along the lines of you have seen these results before as a consequence of "bad" science, why could you not see the same by ploughing money into "good" science? Still skeptical myself, but im sure we will fins out eventually.

Although I agree it looks over, I still hold out hope as a few attacks today could still have sky struggling and someone could make up some lost time

I was thinking skinner then realised that was the other doing Steve keirn

Would have thought only his fifties, had quite a few characters in wwe if I remember correctly

Would have thought only his fifties, had quite a few characters in wwe if I remember correctly

he has played well with dubar in the 3 games, the problem was up till now he has had Lamont outside him who isn't a centre The sneding off in the samoan game would not be out of place in a wrestling ring, proper crunching clothesline!

To be fair there has been a few positives from the tour, with Matt Scott looking really impressive. With everyone fit we could have a set of backs of, weir, visser, Scott, Hogg, lamont, maitland which I think would be as exciting as anyone else in the 6 nations Up front we do seem to lack depth in the front row, but we good options in the 2nd and back row

One of the best Scottish performances in a while, bodes well considering we were missing about 10 first choice players (4 Lions, Ford, Brown, Barclay, Weir, Cuisiter etc) Up until the sin bin I thought we had the game won, thought it was a tad harsh, but we got away with it on the 2nd try, and we were pushing the ref slightly with the amount of penalties given away. More pluses than negatives, thought the 2 centres looked good, and if Johnston gives Hogg a run at 10 then we could have a really exciting back line next season

Just wondering where the drug accustations against sky come from? Is there any evidence, anicdotal or otherwise, or is it just an assumption as they are the best team at the moment?

Thought it showed the jump from club to international, with the new guys that are good club players not quite being up to speed. Also am I the only one who doesn't rate laidlaw that highly. Pyrgos looked much better when he came on and he's only 3rd choice at Glasgow. I assume its a case of him only getting a game as he's first choice goal kicker.

They had originally said that anyone that played in the Pro 12 or Premiership final wouldn't be picked for the Baa Baa's game as they wouldn't have had enough time training to be up to speed, but the selection goes against that (ie the team would have been pretty much all the welsh players if that was the case). Interesting selection but has no bearing on what the test team will be, but obviously always good to put in a good performance early.

MVG was amazing, thornton was playing ok, but what can you do against that!

Had thought Grant was in with a shout and maybe Hines as well who has been excellent for Clermont this season. Also Visser, Hamilton and Brown unlucky not to feature, as were Ross Rennie who was unlucky with injury. Most suprising thing for me is only 2 Fly Halves, although wondering if a certain Mr Wilkinson will be called up as soon as his European / Top 14 commitments are out of the way as he will miss the first game in HK at least because of them.

Have to agree on the champs losing non title matches. And why are there hardly ever any title matches on TV now. Its like you know whos going to win before the match starts (not withstanding Wade Barrett/Kofi Kingston) as the majority of the time, non title match, challenger wins, title match, champ wins.

Glasgow have been brilliant this season, was dissapointed last week when they lost a close one to Leinster, but the 2nd half last night vs Munster was something else. If we can avoid Ulster and Leinster in the Semi, we should make the FInal, but will be tough vs either of those 2 in the Semi or Final as both of them have been there and won titles both domestic and european.