96 points, 11 tries, 0 fans - Paolo Odogwu stars as Wasps beat Bath

The curtain may have come down on European club rugby temporarily, but this was a match that captured the excitement that northern hemisphere club rugby can deliver.

If English rugby can be known as a stodgy, boot-based affair in which defences dominate, this was the perfect rebuttal.

In fact, it was the stuff of a defence coach's nightmares.

Despite the sub-zero temperature at The Rec both Bath and Wasps displayed the slickest of handling - if not the most resolute of defences - as Paolo Odogwu and Tom Cruse scored two apiece for the visitors.

Embed from Getty Images

Winger Odogwu caught the headlines and deservedly so with his low-slung, high-impact running.

Here's my piece for The Times, with reaction from fly-half Rhys Priestland who didn't pull any punches in his assessment of his team's shortcomings.

Saracens' defensive 'wolfpack' defanged by Wasps - Mark McCall reaction

Nevermind France beating Ireland in Paris, the shock result of the weekend was closer to home: Wasps' eight-try walloping of Premiership leaders Saracens at Saracens.

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall gives his reaction to the 64-23 loss.



If we didn't know it already, Sunday's game confirmed that loose forward Nathan Hughes is one heck of a piece of kit

Embed from Getty Images

You certainly won't want to watch this if you're a Sarries fan, but if you're a Wasps supporter then make it your desktop:

Highlights: @Saracens 23-64 @WaspsRugby. #AvivaPrem https://t.co/33730Gt1O5 pic.twitter.com/bsKtwJpHD2

— BT Sport Rugby (@btsportrugby) February 14, 2016

Gloucester, Wasps and monkeys off backs

No festive slacking for me - Gloucester v Wasps on Sunday for the Daily Express and The Rugby Paper. You can read my thoughts in the Express here.

Watch out One Direction! There could be a scrum for the Christmas number one

If One Direction started going to the gym, played with oval balls and grew 'taches, the result might be something like this:

(l to r) Chris Bell, Ben Ransom, Elliot Daly, Will Fraser, James Haskell and Dylan Hartley show off their taches after a trip to a barbers in Covent Garden for Movember. Picture: Garry Bowden/Pinnacle

And Saracens' Ben Ransom would surely have to be the frontman. Just look at those cherubic features. Watch out Harry Styles!

Picture: Garry Bowden/Pinnacle

Wasps' Elliot Daly, meanwhile, looks like he missed his vocation as a RAF pilot. Chocks away, Wing Commander Daly!

Picture: Garry Bowden/Pinnacle

To donate to Movember and raise money to support the fight against testicular and prostate cancer, go to http://uk.movember.com/donate

Summer musings: Part I

The domestic season may be over and I may have fled to that famed rugby hot-spot Mallorca in search of some post-season inspiration, but the tireless hack still has to knock out a column or two. So here are a couple of recent efforts: my thoughts on what the Delon Armitage and Brian Moore tete a tete on social media says about the way rugby is reported in these days of the 24/7 Twitter melee, and why Wasps versus Bath will be a particularly spicy morsel on next season's Aviva Premiership menu.

Life's a Beech at Bath

Loosehead prop Charlie Beech will be moving from London Wasps to Bath Rugby this summer. He is Sir Ian McGeechan's son-in-law and McGeechan is, of course, Bath's director of rugby.
But it looks like he'll be getting a far from comfortable ride.