All in the scrum

A RUGBY MISCELLANY COMPILED BY JOHNNY WATTERSON:

ASM Stadium a major doubt

An official assessment, the results of which are expected to be released very soon, is highly likely to confirm the ASM Stadium in Christchurch has suffered major structural damage and will not be fit for purpose for September’s World Cup tournament.

An International Rugby Board member said that the engineer’s structural report is expected to be bleak after the pitch sustained serious liquefaction damage and the buildings structural damage.

England had been scheduled to open their World Cup campaign against Argentina on September 10th at the venue, as well as their second pool match against Georgia on September 18th, while Scotland were also due to play against Argentina on September 25th at the same venue.

Seven matches in all were scheduled to take place there, including two of the quarter-finals.

Lawrence in hot seat for final game against England

HI, I'M BRYCE:Saturday's referee for Ireland's final game against England in the Six Nations Championship is Bryce Lawrence.

Like Mr Kaplan, he’s from the Southern Hemisphere; New Zealand rather than South Africa. The former headmaster refereed the first Lions Test in 2009, was an assistant referee in the second Test, and also officiated at the Six Nations game between France and England last season.

In all three matches he was widely accused of treating the non-British teams favourably, with Brian Moore taking up the cudgel in his Daily Telegraphcolumn.

“Of course, any point made in defeat is characterised as a whinge, but those who make that accusation should answer this – can they name another elite official whose performance in three successive Test matches, as referee or as an assistant referee, have been a major talking point (the others being the first and second Lions Tests in 2009)?” said Moore.

Does this mean Bryce will favour Ireland, or, like many from afar just think we’re British too?

ROYAL RED FACES:Royal blushes at Twickers? Hardly. But there may have been a knowing smile as Princess Ann presented the Calcutta Cup to her future son-in-law. The Royal daughter is a patron of Scottish Rugby and appeared to be cheering for Scotland during Saturday's match. But it was England captain Mike Tindall, who is to marry Princess Ann's daughter Zara Phillips, who was awarded the trophy. Royal watchers did point out that Zara, an accomplished equestrian competitor, was unlike her mother, cheering for country and future kin.

Lievremont's tinkering continues for Wales game

GREAT TINKERER:Yes, you would have liked to have been a fly on the French changing room wall in Rome last Saturday. But French coach Marc – "some players maybe wore the France jersey for the last time"– Lievremont's six changes to his squad for next weekends concluding Six Nations match against Wales just shows how much talent he has at his disposal.

The great tinkerer has binned Sylvain Marconnet, Jerome Thion, Sebastien Chabal, Yannick Jauzion, Clement Poitrenaud and Aurelien Rougerie and brought in Jerome Schuster (Perpignan), Pascal Pape (Stade Français), Alexandre Lapandry (Clermont), Fabrice Estebanez (Brive), David Marty (Perpignan) and Alexis Palisson (Brive). Winger Rougerie has been dropped due to his mid-week disciplinary hearing for an incident in a French Top 14 game for his club, Clermont.

Despite Saturday’s loss to Wales, Ireland maintain their place as the sixth-ranked team in the world and the third highest of the Six Nations Championship sides. England is in fourth place behind New Zealand, Australia and South Africa with Wales in seventh place with 80.51 points to Ireland’s 81.02.

Scotland are in ninth behind Argentina, with Italy in 12th just outside the top 10 but threatening to burst through for the first time.