It's been a very restful Xmas period spent sleeping on a beach in Koh Samui, enjoying fine Thai cuisine, diving and massage - what a contrast from the last 4 months on the go with RWC, Dubai 7s and Las Vegas for the Hatton Fight. I am now ready for the onslaught of the annual 6 Nations Championships.

Whillst I was away it gave me great pleasure to read that my old club, Bath, maintained the 17 year record of smashing Gloucester at the Recreation Ground. By all accounts, Gloucester's pack failed to turn up. My only regret is that I failed to do a double or quits on an old bet with my mate Steve Jones, a committed Shedhead - the last time Gloucester came to the Rec, I hosted him and 19 other Gloucester fans in the VU Box. Gloucester were ahead and looked unstoppable and Bath had 13 men on the pitch, two were sin binned. At this stage, Steve arrogantly laid a bet that who ever lost would entertain the other plus partners to a curry anywhere in the world! With boisterous pressure from the rest of the shedheads in the box I had no option but to accept. When the fat lady sang, Bath were ahead! I am still to claim my prize so all suggestions welcomed.

Ashton named his 32 man squad for the 6 Nations and has gone for the conservative approach which is no surprise considering his short term tenure. If the RFU had been bold enough, like other nations, to confirm his appointment until the next RWC then I am sure we would have seen him taking a different approach.

I was very surprised that Josh Lewsey was omitted. I thought his performances at RWC warranted inclusion  but I am excited by the inclusion of the giant Gloucester wing Vainikolo. His speed and power is awesome and will add another dimension to England's attack - an area that needs an injection of life! More on selection and 6 Nations once the team is announced.

I am looking forward to next couple of months with weekends in Rome, Edinburgh and Paris and hopefully see someone of you there!

Sorry about the wait since the last blog. After the World Cup I have been walking around like a zombie. What an amazing six weeks, but since then I don’t think I have made it past 9pm at night.

I am trying out a new font for the post-World Cup blog so I hope you like it. There will be more updates before during and after events like the Mayweather and Hatton fight in Las Vegas and the Dubai Sevens as the end of November. Then there is the RBS 6 Nations and even the Lions in South Africa in 2009 – so plenty to talk about.

For someone who was said to be like a rabbit caught in the headlights he did a good job getting a team labelled as a bunch of no-hopers within inches of winning a Rugby World Cup (maybe it was a try). I am sure there are coaches in Australia, New Zealand, Wales and Scotland who would have been prepared to be called any names if they got their team to a World Cup final. I suspect not many of them have had to put up with the sort of comments levelled at Ashton since the tournament.

Since the World Cup other than sleeping I have been doing a bit of catching up. I sorted out Ronnie and Matt Dawson to appear at a function for those nice people at Nationwide. I have also been putting the finishing touches to my new newspaper. It will be going out to my clients, but if you want a copy drop me a line with your name and address to info@vultd.co.uk