#blake-ferguson

#blake-ferguson

Martin Johnson, England's World-Cup winning skipper, believes there is no huge mystery to being a great captain. If you haven't got a good team it doesn't matter how good a captain you are. To suggest that calm, sure-footed leadership is irrelevant in top-level sport, however, is another matter. Even the greatest sides need decisive, intelligent direction, regardless of who supplies it.

Starting with the hosts, while Newcastle might have spent the whole of last season scrapping it out at the foot of the A-League standings, the Jets have firmly cemented their spot as Australia's ultimate surprise package this time around. Last seen putting in another sensational performance as they stormed their way to a thumping 3-1 victory against Perth, Mark Milligan's high-flying squad are remarkably leading the chase at the top of the table and they have continued to shatter a string of long-standing records.

Henry Pollock has been such a prominent figure in the recent rugby landscape that we had to double check that Saturday will be the first time he has started a game for England. Such has been the meteoric rise of the effervescent 21-year-old, it's easy to forget that up to now, each of his seven Test caps has come from the bench. That will all change against Ireland at Twickenham this weekend.

One minute you are riding the perfect wave, the next you're being dumped from a great height and having your world tipped upside down. Which is essentially how Razor will now be feeling after being ousted as All Blacks head coach barely two years into his tenure. On the surface he was everything New Zealand rugby could have wished for. The serial domestic winner who had guided the Crusaders to seven successive Super rugby titles, the empathetic everyman with the break-dancing skills to match.

I reflect on my seven years at the club with a huge amount of gratitude. I arrived at the club in 2019 with a few suitcases and a girlfriend, I'm leaving the club with a lot of memories, new friends, a wife and baby,

"A few of the lads have played it back to me. We've had a laugh about it. Estevao said he can't believe I was a professional footballer. This is a great job. I love this job. I am serious in many aspects. I'm demanding, but life is too short. You have to enjoy life and be able to laugh at yourself. At the moment a lot of people in this country have been laughing at me."