Good week, bad week.

The luck of the Irish.

It may not have been plain sailing, but the Republic of Ireland last night secured another vital 3 points in their World Cup 2010 qualifying group, thanks to a debateable (at best) penalty. The Irish are now joint top of the group with Italy, and the World Champions will, most certainly, be looking over their shoulders.

Next up for Ireland is Bulgaria at Croke Park at the end of March. When this group was drawn, many Irish fans looked at this fixture as a must-win if they were to finish second in the group and secure a play-off place. Now, however, beat Bulgaria and Ireland can travel to the south-eastern city of Bari knowing that a point would almost make them favourites to win the group outright and book their (economy class) seats on the plane to South Africa.

It's still a big ask of Trappatoni's men, but after their best ever start to a World Cup qualifying campaign, expectations are beginning to soar. One thing is sure, though - Ireland need to stop conceding silly early or needless late goals, particularly the latter. With a world-class goalkeeper, a potentially solid back four, and ten points out of twelve in the bank, Irish fans can at least begin to dream.

Bad week for England.

Whilst the Irish have enjoyed a great sporting week, the same can not be applied to England. The win over Italy in the Six Nations has been heavily criticised by many, although that performance was as good as a World Cup win in relation to the cricketers' embarassing collapse against the West Indies. The footballers didn't fare much better, with a comprehensive defeat at the hands of European Champions, Spain. On the bright side, the cricket and rugby teams have the opportunity to begin rectifying things this weekend.

First up are the cricketers, who begin their second Test Match tomorrow in Antigua. With the possible exceptions of Andrew Flintoff and the somewhat imperious Kevin Pietersen, England seem to be lacking any sort of inspiration. It will be interesting to see whether Ian Bell keeps his place at number three, with Owais Shah (rightly) breathing down his neck. Since falling one short of a maiden double-century against South Africa at Lord's last summer, Bell has failed spectacularly on a number of occasions. I won't be overly surprised if Bell is named in the team tomorrow, but at least one change will be needed, and it could (perhaps should) be Ian Bell.

On Saturday, England's rugby team travel to Cardiff's Millennium Stadium to take on an impressive Wales team. England won't be heavily fancied for this one, and Martin Johnson said earlier in the week that not much will be expected of them. Try telling that to the tens of thousands who got sucked into World Cup fever in 2003, and again in 2007, Martin. In case Mr. Johnson hasn't realised yet (I'm sure he has, really), England fans are always expectant. After Saturday, England travel to Croke Park two weeks later. With Ireland expected to beat Italy on Sunday, lose against Wales and England's Six Nations campaign for 2009 may well be over.

Not much can really be said about England's footballers' performance last night. They played well in patches, and David Beckham's second-half showing may give England fans belief that he is still capable of performing at the very top level. Quite simply, England were taught a lesson by an admittedly brilliant Spanish team. While England struggle to find a permanent goalkeeper, for example, the Spanish boast Jose Reina, as backup to Iker Casillas. Fabio Capello won't be too worried about last night's defeat, but for the English sporting all-rounder, it brought to an end a frustrating week.

Nadal slams doping rules.

Finally, a word on Rafael Nadal's rant about the stringent anti-doping rules in tennis. For those of you unaware of the process, each player must state where they will be for one hour of every day, so they can be selected for random tests. If a player misses three of these tests in 18 months, they may face a suspension. You may agree with Nadal that these rules are over the top, but with career earnings already surpassing $22 million, and approaching $1.5 million for the year, surely he should be privileged to be in the position that he is. You are a professional Rafa, start acting like it.