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Last Friday the world held its breath as the teams were drawn for the FIFA World Cup being held in South Africa in 2010. At first glance England seems to have been placed in a group with little resistance (or E-A-S-Y - England - Algeria - Slovenia - Yanks as the Sun put it on Saturday morning).

However there's plenty of teams out there that could still prove to be dangerous and lots of fantastic matches even at the group stage such as Portugal vs Brazil and Netherlands vs Holland.

Whatever the outcomes VU will be there and you can contact us now for bespoke packages and get involved in the action!

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!

I am just back from Dubai where the VU Ltd party saw some fantastic 7s action- and what a great weekend. In fact it was a bit like the World Cup. There was plenty of drinking, meeting up with old rugby pals and some great rugby. There was even a disputed England try which was disallowed and stopped us progressing to the finals. The only difference was that New Zealand decided they might as well win this tournament.

This was the first time I have take a VU trip to the Dubai tournament and we will certainly be doing it again. Austin Healey, Will Greenwood, Scott and Gavin Hastings, Jason Leonard and Chris Sheasby were just some of the names out there. A few of them played in an invitational tournament which runs alongside the main event, and the former England boys won it. I must say they would not persuade me to pull the shirt on again for 7s - I think I would last about 45 seconds now.

 You know it has been a good trip when happy clients say they want to book straight away for next year. I have always loved the Hong Kong 7s and it is great to have Dubai on our calendar now as well. The great thing about Dubai is that the bars do shut at 3am, unlike Hong Kong which is 24/7. The early closing (believe me that does feel early compared to some of our trips) gives us a bit of time to prepare for the next day!

I have really been clocking up the air miles recently. You may remember that my last blog was about a few problems getting to South Africa. I had a few problems getting back too because of delays so in the end I went directly to Dubai without coming back home. Luckily I had packed a few extra pairs of pants.

I am only back in the UK for a couple of days and then it is off to Las Vegas for the Hatton fight. I can't wait to take a VU Limited party out there - I love the city and I am sure our group will be up for a party. There are 60 of us, I would hope at least one of us has a bit of luck on the tables.

Because I have been a bit out of the loop I have only just heard that Ronnie Regan had a few problems with his club Bristol over his insistence to play for the Barbarians on Saturday. I think it is great that he stuck to his guns and said he wanted to play for the Baa Baas. It is a great rugby institution and even though I was a bit busy in Dubai to watch the game I heard it was a fantastic occasion.

After the Las Vegas trip we have got a bit of a Christmas break and then it is busy preparing for the Six Nations. Interest is greater than ever thanks to England's return to form.

I will try and update you from Las Vegas, keep your fingers crossed for Hatton and for my luck on the tables!

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

At last, my post Rugby World Cup blog. I needed a few days to recover after an incredible six weeks. Now it is a couple of weeks of unwinding before getting back  in a Bristol shirt for the Heineken Cup clash against Cardiff.

After Saturday’s defeat I feel disappointed but certainly not disgraced. We can take heart in the fact that we gave the final our very best shot. It came down to a few millimetres which meant a try was disallowed. That decision would have changed the whole game and I have not seen any conclusive evidence that it was not a try. However there are no bad feelings. South Africa are a great side who deserve to be crowned World Champions.

It was about the 79^th minute when I had to admit we were not going to do it. Our campaign has been built on belief, hard work and amazing team spirit. To fall at the last hurdle is not a nice feeling, but I really do feel proud about the way we turned it around.

After the game Wills and Harry popped in to say hello. I have met their Granny a couple of times and I asked them to tell her that I would not be popping around to her house this time because we had not won.

After the disappointment of picking up losers medals it was back to the bar in the hotel and then on to a nightclub. Considering we had lost the spirit (and spirits) was good. We had had the most amazing adventure and we wanted to finish it together by having a decent social. Jonny can no longer be called the Olympic Torch (he never goes out) as he joined us in the bar and then went on to the nightclub.

The RFU had splashed a bit of cash on a decent do. Just by looking at me you could tell it was a free bar because I was walking around with 10 bottles of beer. I usually only do that when Victor is paying.

On Sunday it was a bit of a painful head but then back in to Paris for a few more pints and a look at the F1 and football on the TV. I failed to catch up with Vic although I did hear he was feeling a bit tired the poor babs.

Being back home with the family I have had time to reflect – and fix my Jacuzzi which was not bubbling properly.

Firstly I can categorically say that I am not retiring from International rugby and am available for selection if required, quite simply I am still enjoying it so why would I choose to quit.  I retired once and did not particularly enjoy that so I am aiming to stick around this time if I am wanted. I might be 35 but I feel fit and healthy and ready for any new challenges there might be. There have been comments that the experienced heads should step aside for the youngsters, but I think a mix is important if the older ones are playing well enough. I think the younger guys really benefited from our experience, especially after such as poor start, and it would be good to keep a bit of that going. The 6 Nations is set up for a great contest. The Celtic nations will have something to prove, Italy are improving all the time and the French will be out for revenge.

I am also fully supportive of Brian Ashton and the rest of his coaching staff. You can’t argue with the fact that they did a fantastic job in this campaign. The clear-the-air meeting after the South African pool game was important and Brian really took a central role in that – his management skills were A1. He is the man who makes the decisions and he really got the squad to pull together. He has only been in the job for a few months and I think he should be given a run at it.

So it is now time to relax in the Jacuzzi and focus my efforts on Bristol’s campaign. Thanks for taking the time to read the blog and I hope to bring you more instalments soon.