AA

I would place Anthony Allen at number one on my Kingsholm talented youngster chart. Ryan Lamb comes a close second but needs a touch much experience and requires a little more consistency on a game by game basis. Master Oliver Morgan takes bronze. The young prince, Simpson-Daniel and the expressionist James Forrester are now too old to meet the qualification requirements for this imaginary roster but I touch my forelock in their general direction because it needs to be done regularly. Anyhow, my point is that I’m thrilled with today’s news that the boy Allen, capped by England at an age at which I was only occasionally leaving my bed before lunchtime, has signed up to play for the noble and splendid city club for at least another couple of years. Marvellous business. The fellow’s pace, eye for gap and tryline, ability to stay on his feet and recycle ball and general all-round genius have caught the attention of the cognoscenti from day one. His immense maturity, professionalism and ambition sadly make me consider a recent international centre three-quarter, H. Paul, who was found wanting on all three counts. I feel it an apt comparison and indicates how the club is moving in the correct direction and adopting a winning culture instead of blindly accepting a less salient one.

I won’t bore folk with all the technical stuff that goes on behind the scenes to bring this website to the baying and demanding masses but the erstwhile Blogger organisation has offered a few more options to the humble, er, blogger recently. It has become really simple to change the template and settings and colours and the facility is now available to sort all the lists down the side into alphabetical order. Have a look; isn’t it neat now down the right flank? The last thing I want is to become too professional but I quite like these new features; I’ve spent ages seeing what this website would look like in this colour or that and have tried out numerous lay-outs. ‘Geek!’ I hear you ululate.