A New Season.

A new season has been under way, and a cracking season for the BRFC this year.  After 8 games we are undefeated and are sitting 2nd on the table.  This is compared to last year when we managed 4 wins over the whole season. 
As with every year in the BRFC there has been a big turnover of players from the previous year.  In some years this is a problem, but this year it has seen an influx of talented players who have made a good impact on the team.  But crucially they fit in well with the team as a whole, making for good times on the field and off. 

With the Coupe du Monde nearly on us I thought I would put together my top 5 players who I think will have a big influence on taking their sides to the (near) end of the tournament. Sometimes 1 or 2 players from a team garner all the attention (Mr SBW) because we all know the media just want to sell their product and don't care about balanced stories so some of these other players don't get the recognition that they deserve. But we love you just the same. Note: in no particular order.

Australia - Radiko Samo

All great teams have a great back row and this years Cup will be no exception. Look at NZ (McCaw, Kaino, Read), S.Africa (Spiers, Burger, Brussouw) or France (Dusautoir, Harinordoquy and that other fella). Australia has managed to live off Pocock and a sometimes firing Elsom for a couple of years but now have a genuine match winner at #8. And the other great thing is that if he drives the team bus to the ground he can park nice and close in the pensioner parking spots.

France - Francois Trinh-Duc

We all know and love the French flair, unpredictability and annoying habit of beating the All Blacks (not really) but they've often struggled to find a way of matching their strong pack with some exciting outside backs. Hasn't helped that they continue to pick Damien Traille (doesn't rhyme with braille unless you come from outside France, but would be kind of ironic if it did). But Trinh-Duc, who still needs a signed slip from his parents to travel to away games, has shown the ability to set the outsides up and control the game.

The UN - Courtnay Lawes

I'm sure this guy must come from the South Pacific. Dark skin, covered in Polynesian tattoos…and he plays like it too. Strong in the tackle he's also all round the park helping the UN (or England if you prefer) look more like a real rugby team and not like a soccer team (ie 10 men playing up front and 1 at the back to clean up). If the UN are going to continue their much improved 13 man rugby (cause lets not get carried away and gloss over the fact that their centres don’t know what a rugby ball is for) then they will need Lawes. At a pinch he could slot into #12 and be a better distributer than Tindall.

Samoa - Kahn Fotuali'i

Could have been an All Black? Thank God he went with Samoa and he will be huge in curbing their over-exuberance at times and adding some structure to what will be an exciting game plan. He has a good all round game, a strong passer and natural runner (NZ take note, it is possible to have a half-back who can do it all). Next to Will Genia he will be the best #9 at the Cup and fingers crossed we can see Manu Samoa toppling a few teams on the way to the quarters. But not into the semi's cause that would upset my BRFC match predictions.

Wales - Sam Warburton

Was tempted to go with James Hook here as if it means keeping Stephen Jones out of the team that's got to increase Wales' chances of doing well. But then I realised that they are a Northern hemisphere team that likes to play with the ball therefore it stands to reason that they will need someone to fetch for them and this kid is very good. Just look at the game he had against England. Wales are my pick for the anti-anti-dark horse trophy, or, the team that should do well as a power of the game, but has played poorly for a couple of seasons, but in a twist are actually looking ok and could play well…still with me? I had to fit them in here anyway otherwise I would never hear the end of it from Milk-boy and I'm definitely NOT talking about Gav @#$% Henson!!!

So to round up, there will be some exciting new players and some not so new. Will be a great tourny, can't wait! My place for the NZ-Tonga slug-fest if you are keen.

I've just spent an interesting week in Senegal, looking at some more ground that we might get involved in. After arriving back in Mali on the Monday, I had a night in our new villa (thanks Dom) and then flew out on Tuesday morning bound for Dakar, the capital of Senegal. I didn't know too much about it, just remembering that we wanted to visit while on Taina.

The 1:30min flight on Air Senegal was nice, basic but comfortable. Then arrived in the airport which is basically on the water front so we get a nice view of the coast as we came in. Not a bad way to arrive! We staying in the Hotel de la Mer, just 1 block back from the sea. Was so nice to be based there, with the smells and sounds of the Atlantic wafting though. Not even the noise of the generator (Senegal has a major problem with power outages) could take away from the nice location. Even there is a lot of semi-built buildings due to poor repair and the booming market I think, the city strikes me much more favourable than Bamako. Just seems cleaner and more prosperous.

After meeting up with Dom who had spent the weekend here with Andea, we headed out to site some 850km away and close to the Mali border. Seems a little crazy that we had flown to Dakar, then driven nearly 12 hours to site as it is only 6-8 hrs from Bamako but we were not sure of the access across the border so went with this long route. Plus it allowed us to see Dakar, meet the head office people of the company, and get a feel for the city. The drive was worth it anyway to have a look at the landscape and get a feel for the country. A bit dryer than southern Mali, it is well cultivated and eagerly waiting for the rains to come. We spent a couple of days at the exploration site, then headed back for Dakar and Bamako. Part of the operation there is an alluvial mine, with the processing plant pictured here.

I'm now back in Paris having finished another stint and waiting on AME to decide on what the futures holds. They have hired a new Exploration manager who will direct the work in the way that he likes. Hopefully there will be more work down there for me, but we never know.

Em had a great idea while I was away. We were both hankering for a view and taste of the ocean, so a trip to Honfleur and Etretat was put onto the menu. We headed down to Dourdan to borrow the car...again...and headed off on Saturday morning.
Honfleur was the first stop. The outlet of the Seine, it's no Port Waikato! There's a beautiful little harbour and lots of cute restaurants and shops to enjoy, even with all the tourists there. The day was hot and clear as we walked around to get a view onto the water and the cite of Le Harve.
After a night spent in a very forgetable hotel we headed to the coast and up to Etretat. Pretty much the French equivalent of Dover the limestone cliffs are spectacular and the village is friendly and cute. We wandered around the cliffs to get a view back onto the main beach, then down to take a brief (and very brief it was too!) dip in the water.

June is nearly passed and I can't believe it's half way through the year! Another 4 weeks have been spent down in Mali, mostly in Bamako this time, and I have just the 1 more trip down there before the end of my contract. It's certainly a different life in Bamako, not needing to get up at 5:30 to get out to the drill rig, no rice and goat stew for lunch. We've been staying at The Sleeping Camel, a nice little hostel run by an Australian guy. I've not seen so much rugby since I left NZ...awesome!

Work has been ticking along, this month with a couple of trips into Guinea to check out the ground there. Although it has been a little behind the rest of West Africa when it comes to mineral development it is starting to get it's act together. There are 3 gold mines in the northern part, plus diamond mines closer down to the Sierra Leone border, and still has plenty left to offer I'm sure.

Close to the Mali border the ground is much the same as Mali, dry and dusty at this time of the year. The people are the same also, coming from the Maliki tribe. Further south the landscape changes, getting higher and with a change in climate to a tropical one. The temp dropped 10deg from Mali and the humidity increased by heaps! Made it nice when doing nothing, but as soon as we started walking the sweats started. And we had a good walk around. Looked at a few local alluvial workings and geology in general, was great to get a good look at another area. The people here are (like Mali) really friendly and loved to have their photo taken, standing completely still when you produce a camera. The little kids get so excited when they see their image on the screen, so cute.

There are plenty of workings all around.
Market day
Robin (geo) and Yacoub (worker)
There still is plenty of water around
...and plenty of dust

This last month has seen me head to new pastures and start a short contracting job with African Mining & Exploration in Mali. I didn't know much about Mali before I arrived but have found it to be a beautiful country, with lovely people always ready with a smile. Especially the children who get a kick out of a return wave from a tubabu (white person). It's a pretty funny sight and sound to have a group of kids running around waving at you all the while shouting out "tubabu, tubabu".
We are based in a village 75km south-west of Bamako with a beautiful backdrop of sandstone cliffs (sorry no pictures as yet) and we work another 40min further on. The lanscape is different to the places in Cote d'Ivoire I worked, being a little dryer and therefore dustier. La saison de chaleur has arrived now bringing with it days of +40deg and a hot dry wind, but luckily for me I like the heat so while it's not comfortable it is bearable. The worst thing is the sweat flys that enjoy the little nooks and crannys of your face, and now that I am getting old (and qualifing for the vets team I'm told) I seem to have a few more of these than I used to have!
I haven't been very good with photos so far, but here are a few to give you an idea.

Before I forget a big congrats to the BRFC lads who topped the table this year, gaining automatic promotion for next year.

Xmas and New Years celebrations have come and gone and a good time was had by all. Xmas was spent in Dourdan with Em's family and the in-laws of her brother. Jill was away in NZ so the bulk of the cooking fell on Em's shoulders, and she cooked up a storm! Luckily for me I got a virus the week before which saw me off to hospital for tests with malaria like symptoms and over the course of a couple of days lost some weight. So the excess food we ate on the 24th and 25th just filled me out again.

We had a couple of days of snow so Dourdan looked lovely, from inside looking out!

We came back to Paris on the 31st and spent the night at Em's buddies place, Geraldine and Emeric. Was a lovely evening of snacks, wine and dancing and a nice way to see in the new year.

Now we are back into the routine week. Em's back at work and I'm looking for work. A friend, Juliet, is here this week so we are getting around the sites also. Up the Eiffel Tower yesterday and off to the Musee D'Orsay to look at some paintings today. It's still freezing cold, but summer is not far away now.