St Wilfried

Wilfrid (originally spelled Wilfrith)^[3] (c. 633 – c. 709) was an English bishop and saint. Born a Northumbrian noble, he entered the religious life as a teenager and studied at Lindisfarne, at Canterbury, in Gaul, and at Rome; he returned to Northumbria in about 660, and became the abbot of a newly founded monastery at Ripon. In 664 Wilfrid acted as spokesman for the Roman "party" at the Council of Whitby, and became famous for his speech advocating that the Roman method for calculating the date of Easter should be adopted. His success prompted the king's son, Alhfrith, to appoint him Bishop of Northumbria. Wilfrid chose to be consecrated in Gaul because of the lack of what he considered to be validly consecrated bishops in England at that time. During Wilfrid's absence Alhfrith seems to have led an unsuccessful revolt against his father, Oswiu, leaving a question mark over Wilfrid's appointment as bishop. Before Wilfrid's return Oswiu had appointed Ceadda in his place, resulting in Wilfrid's retirement to Ripon for a few years following his arrival back in Northumbria.........Read more

So why the photo of USAP (Perpignan). It is amazing how things change so quickly, even down here in sunny Pyrenees Orientales.. About this time last year, as the Heineken Cup got underway, we went to watch USAP against Leicester and had the privilege of watch Dan Carter steer the team to success. One week later and Dan was out for the season.....Somehow, this seemed to bolster the rest of the team and later on in 2009 USAP were champions of France!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

So now the new season has started, the team are lying about 4th in the Top 14 table and Heineken Cup Fever has started all over again. STOP. Benetton Treviso 9 USAP 8.

Allez les champions