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Just spent a week in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh staying at the Meribel Park Hotel which was perfect for families with its water slides, various swimming pools and plenty of sun beds and shaded areas – no matter what time you got up you could find a sun bed to chill out on. For an all inclusive package it was excellent value and I made sure of not repeating our first “all inclusive” experience where we were ordering room service and eating all the various restaurants etc, on checking out was landed with a huge bill which doubled our holiday cost!

Since retiring from rugby one of the best forms of relaxation and enjoyable pastime for me has been learning to dive. It opens up a whole new world. Last time we went  diving in Sharm we saw loads of Hammerhead Sharks which was awesome but seeing a baby whale shark last week far outshone the above. What a beautiful creature which playfully swam around for a few minutes before disappearing into the deep blue.

I am seriously looking at introducing diving trips to our portfolio – do let me know if you are keen to receive info when available.

From Sharm to Paris for the Heineken European Cup Final at the magnificent Stade de France and an all French final between Toulouse and Biarritz. It was strange seeing so many fans from other clubs wearing their club rugby shirts which is a testament to the popularity of this tournament that so many book in advance irrespective of whether their clubs will make it to the final. The game itself didn’t really come alive as the players looked tense throughout the game. I was, however, quite glad to see a member of the front row union, William Servat of Toulouse, winning the man of the match award – a usual preserve of the girlie backs! Games are, of course, won upfront.

So the week started well.  Spent Tuesday at Hampton Court Palace Golf Club in the wonderful company of two retired ladies. I was won as an auction prize for the Combat Stress charity by these lovely ladies. I have to confess to feeling ridiculously confident as I felt that even though I may lack some golfing expertise, I was in the unusual position of having age on my side. I looked forward to spending the day with these lovely ladies, and possibly show off some golfing prowess. But no prowess was apparent by me, and lots of prowess was VERY apparent with the ladies.  They literally whipped my arse!

Whilst on the golf course with no link to the blackberry, I had no idea that the ash was on the move again and causing chaos for many airports.  For I had my bag packed, my boarding card printed and I was ready to fly on Wednesday to Dublin.  I was looking forward to 24 hours in Dublin, doing a recce for hotels and venues for the forthcoming Ireland v England game taking place on March 19^th– the final game in the 2011 RBS Six Nations Rugby Championships.

So, no Guinness for me.  Off to the office.  But at least I was in the UK and didn’t miss out on the SPARKS Tribute Dinner on Friday night at the Grosvenor House Hotel.  An inspiring night where HRH Princess Michael of Kent, Patron of SPARKS,  and many other celebrities came together to pay tribute to individual supporters, businesses and pioneers of medical science.  I have supported SPARKS for many years and time and time again I am moved by their extraordinary work.  By Saturday morning, I had celebrated far too much and found myself limping back to Bath, sipping water and in need of carbs!

I recovered enough to thoroughly enjoy the Bath v Leeds match.  What an incredible performance by Bath! Met our new Bath owner very briefly – the charming Bruce Craig.  Great afternoon.  Great to see Bath coming back from the doldrums, great to see them rise them scale the heights of the Premiership ladder.  Bring on Leicester!

It's Sunday and I find myself at Bristol Airport, trying once again to make it to Dublin. There is no ash affecting the airport, Bristol and Dublin are open, but there appears to be no Ryan Air plane to take us to Dublin. So I sit here, sipping a cup of tea. There is still no Guinness for me!

Going to Paris last weekend, I wanted England to really do well and was optimistic that they might spoil the party for the French. England put on their best performance this season though lost to a well drilled french team who truly deserved their Grandslam.

Post match drowned my sorrows at VIP Room with Mark Regan, Steve Ojomoh and other friends with Simon Shaw the only player surprisingly out in town - the french team were there en masse! I am sure the other England players would have enioyed the ambience and fat Joe rapping live on stage. A night cap at Poussey Creme with the french players still in full flow ended my night out!

We're delighted to announce the winner of our October draw competition as Richard Turpin. Richard wins a fantastic weekend away in Paris for France vs England. Some great rugby hospitality!

For November we have two tickets to the highly anticipated six nations clash of England vs Wales. All you have to do is make your booking one for any of the events listed on VU's calendar before the end of November.

England themselves are hoping for some luck as Martin Johnson finds that eleven players in his original squad are on the injured list. He will therefore hold of announcing the final 22 until mid-week. Players like Richard Blaze and Mike Tindall look doubtful leaving Johnson with a squad headache.

However Johnson still believes he can put a squad together that can challenge the Wallabies and with a fully fit Jonny Wilkinson to use we can still give Australia a run for their money.

After the excitement of the Heineken Cup last weekend it's back to the Guinness Premiership and this weekend sees Saracens holding on to the top spot with only one point between themselves and the London Irish. The second place team find themselves hosting the fifth placed Leicester tomorrow afternoon.

Wasps and Northampton continue to remain in contention in third and fourth respectively, while Bath languish in eighth.

The question remains how long the ambitious Saracens can stay at the top. Back row Michael Owen has now ruled himself out of the rest of the season with a knee ligament injury picked up in the European Challenge Cup. The pressure will undoubtedly be on for Saracens as they face Leeds Carnegie, who, despite being twelfth will arguably have nothing to lose.

Remember you can drop us a line if you fancy attending a Guinness Premiership game in style, we offer the best in rugby hospitality and in our anniversary year the best got better with our special offers!