:00:09. > :00:14.the BBC sports centre. Stay with us. Over the next 15 minutes, we have
:00:15. > :00:29.the sports stories to come. This is Saturday Sportsday.
:00:30. > :00:33.Lots to pack in to the show. We are live at the Winter Olympics in
:00:34. > :00:36.Sochi, shortly. In what has been a disappointing morning for Team GB in
:00:37. > :00:41.the Men's Snowboard Slopest. We build up to another exciting weekend
:00:42. > :00:46.of Six Nations action. We are at Murrayfield in Scotland. England are
:00:47. > :00:50.the visitors there for the Calcutta Cup Match. And the Super League
:00:51. > :00:57.season is on us. We assess the teams in the running in 2014 for the Super
:00:58. > :01:04.League crown. Now let's have a look at the stairs making the day's
:01:05. > :01:09.headlines. Snowboard slopestyle delivered the
:01:10. > :01:14.first medals of the games, Sage Kotsenburg taking the Gold Medal at
:01:15. > :01:19.the Winter Olympics. A third construction worker died while
:01:20. > :01:30.working on the stadium in Brazil. The Arena De Amazonia is running
:01:31. > :01:33.several months behind schedule. And league leaders Arsenal are the
:01:34. > :01:36.visitors to Anfield to face Liverpool in the lunchtime kick-off.
:01:37. > :01:40.A win would move the gunners five points clear at the top of the
:01:41. > :01:43.table. But first let's take you Live to Sochi, in what's been a
:01:44. > :01:46.disappointing morning for Team GB. Brits Jamie Nicholls and Billy
:01:47. > :01:49.Morgan both made the snowboard men's slopestyle final, a new event to
:01:50. > :01:52.these games in which competitors have to negotiate a downhill course
:01:53. > :01:57.combining rails, huge jumps, all whilst pulling off a series of
:01:58. > :02:01.tricks. It's not for the feint hearted that's for sure. Let's cross
:02:02. > :02:06.to Andy Swiss who's live in the Olympic Park now. And Andy, It was
:02:07. > :02:13.all looking good for our slopestylers at one stage? It looked
:02:14. > :02:20.like they were on course for a medal? Yes, it was. Two British men
:02:21. > :02:26.into the fines but no medals the Billy Morgan crashed on the run and
:02:27. > :02:30.finish in tenth place, but impressive for Jamie Nicholls. A
:02:31. > :02:33.terrific first run. He is 20 years old. He was in the silver medal
:02:34. > :02:38.position at the halfway stage, but in the second run he made a mistake
:02:39. > :02:43.at the start, never really recovered and ended up finishing in sixth
:02:44. > :02:48.place. It could have been better for him but despite that, Jamie Nicholls
:02:49. > :02:53.was far from disappointed. I am really happy. I can't believe
:02:54. > :02:57.it. I am happy that both of us made it to the finals and we both got a
:02:58. > :03:01.top ten. I can't be more happy than that. If we had the facilities
:03:02. > :03:07.there, maybe even the foam pits in the UK, more opportunities to learn
:03:08. > :03:14.more tricks like that, maybe we we can see British snowboarders on the
:03:15. > :03:18.podium in future events. No medal in the slopestyle. What
:03:19. > :03:26.else do Team GB have a chance of medalling in? There are real hopes
:03:27. > :03:30.in the skeleton, the curling and the bobsleigh. Yesterday Craig Pickering
:03:31. > :03:34.had to pull from the bobsleigh team with injury, but they are confident
:03:35. > :03:40.of winning medals. The men and the women's crews are headed by John
:03:41. > :03:44.Jackson and Paula Walker, they are a couple, but for them getting to the
:03:45. > :03:49.Olympics has been far from straightforward. Nick Hope has this
:03:50. > :03:54.report. A fuelled action of adrenaline and athletes living life
:03:55. > :03:59.on the limit. It means that bobsleigh is a major spectator
:04:00. > :04:02.sport. Jackson and Walker got together in
:04:03. > :04:07.2006. We got into the sport. It was the
:04:08. > :04:12.first year as such. It was love at first sight from that point on.
:04:13. > :04:21.John, you are a romantic. Is he a romantic? No! A fairly conclusive
:04:22. > :04:27.answer there but banter is what is needed in this sport. There are
:04:28. > :04:33.highs and lows. Jackson crashed out of the Games four years ago and
:04:34. > :04:40.there was heartache with injuries and Jackson's ruptured Achilles heel
:04:41. > :04:45.could have cost him the Games. It was an unexpected injury. Paula
:04:46. > :04:53.was a great help to drive me here and there to go training. It was 12
:04:54. > :04:59.weeks training. I could hear him going into the fridge when he was on
:05:00. > :05:05.crutches. I would be like, on the ground -- oi, get out.
:05:06. > :05:11.I am not renowned for patience but I think have I done a good job. We
:05:12. > :05:16.have good results. Jackson got back and last month his
:05:17. > :05:19.four-man team claimed a first European medal.
:05:20. > :05:24.To have a couple of silver medals is great, but it does not counterpart,
:05:25. > :05:30.the Olympics is separate. I will not say I will be a defendant medal -- a
:05:31. > :05:34.definite medal hope but the Winter Olympics is such a specialty event.
:05:35. > :05:40.We will do our best. If we get the medal, we do, if we don't, we don't,
:05:41. > :05:45.but we will give Team GB our best performance that we can do.
:05:46. > :05:50.Good luck to the bobsleigh team. Lots of interest today. The figure
:05:51. > :05:54.skaters in the teem event and Lee Jackson is in the men's biathlon.
:05:55. > :05:59.Back to you, John. Thank you very much from Andy Swiss.
:06:00. > :06:07.And to let you know how it is going in the football, Liverpool are
:06:08. > :06:10.leading 1-0 against Arsenal. And coverage from Sochi continues on
:06:11. > :06:14.BBC Two from 2:30pm this afternoon. At the same time over on BBC One the
:06:15. > :06:17.Six Nations will be kicking off. Wales continue in their bid to win
:06:18. > :06:20.an unprecedented third successive Six Nations title, as they take on
:06:21. > :06:24.Dublin in Ireland today. England are hoping to avenge their opening day
:06:25. > :06:27.defeat to France, with victory over Scotland at Murrayfield. With a look
:06:28. > :06:30.ahead to today's action here's Patrick Gearey. The old classic
:06:31. > :06:36.taking place here later is in one sense a battle of the losers, but
:06:37. > :06:41.both responded to defeat in different ways. England have an
:06:42. > :06:44.unchanged team, Scotland have dropped Kelly Brown after the defeat
:06:45. > :06:49.to Ireland. They found success difficult to come by, so I have
:06:50. > :06:57.spent the week asking if the Flower of Scotland has wilted slightly.
:06:58. > :07:02.Gavin Hastings kicking through. It could be there... In an HD age, the
:07:03. > :07:08.pictures are beginning to look dated. The colour is faded slightly,
:07:09. > :07:13.no wonder. This is 1990, it's the last time Scotland won a Grand Slam
:07:14. > :07:19.by beating England. They have won the title once since, 15 years ago.
:07:20. > :07:24.In the focus of 2014, Scottish rugby is not shown in a flattering light.
:07:25. > :07:31.Defeat to Ireland last week, bringing a blow to morale.
:07:32. > :07:37.Scotland has two professional clubs, the Warriors based in Glasgow and
:07:38. > :07:42.Edinburgh. Both have to compete with football for interest and recruits.
:07:43. > :07:46.So should the expectation levels be lower? Not if you are the Scottish
:07:47. > :07:52.rugby union. They published a plan in which they targeted Scotland
:07:53. > :07:58.reaching sixth in the IR B world rankings and a sixth nakes's title
:07:59. > :08:02.in the same year but before that, victory in the World Cup. Can they
:08:03. > :08:06.justify such ambition. We review the targets all of the
:08:07. > :08:10.time. Of course we do. We are excited about the World Cup coming
:08:11. > :08:14.up, we are excited by the Six Nations but we have a rablt to
:08:15. > :08:20.inspire the nation, that means making sure that the teams win as
:08:21. > :08:24.oft en they can on a regular basis across the period. So working hard
:08:25. > :08:28.with the coaches to deliver success. There is promise, a growth in the
:08:29. > :08:35.number of people playing the sport, and some exciting upcoming talent
:08:36. > :08:42.such as Stuart Hogg, the youngest man on the Lion's Tour and Johnny
:08:43. > :08:47.Grey. Peter Wright a former Scotland prop has been involved with the S
:08:48. > :08:52.ruchlt, coaching some of the next generation of players. He says that
:08:53. > :08:56.the problem is not the talent but the opportunity.
:08:57. > :09:00.The numbers are small but it is the players coming through. It is giving
:09:01. > :09:05.them an opportunity. There are two pro teams, where do they go? If
:09:06. > :09:09.there were four we could put the young guys in one of them. The
:09:10. > :09:13.pro-coaches are not keen on playing young guys without the experience.
:09:14. > :09:17.Change in Scottish rugby is not likely in the short-term. If there
:09:18. > :09:21.is gloom surrounding the game in Scotland now, then victory over
:09:22. > :09:25.England has had a way of things looking suddenly brighter.
:09:26. > :09:31.COMMENTATOR: The scenes here, well, just look at them! The words of the
:09:32. > :09:37.late Bill McLaren. They have been dealing with a pitch invasion of
:09:38. > :09:43.different kinds recently, an fesation of worms. They claim to
:09:44. > :09:47.have the better of it. There will be a synthetic pitch soon.
:09:48. > :09:51.Confirmation then you can catch see both of those matches here on BBC1
:09:52. > :09:56.later. Ireland face Wales at 2:30pm, and Scotland face England at
:09:57. > :09:59.Murrayfield, Kick Off is at 5:00pm. Now, Kevin Pietersen will continue
:10:00. > :10:01.to dominate the headlines over the next week with the Indian Premier
:10:02. > :10:05.League auction taking place on Wednesday. England's record-scoring
:10:06. > :10:08.batsman could be bought for as much as ?3 million according to the
:10:09. > :10:12.commissioner of the world's richest Twenty20 league, Lalit Modi.
:10:13. > :10:15.Pietersen's sacking from England's national side hasn't been explained,
:10:16. > :10:20.with the ECB only saying they want to rebuild the team ethic and
:10:21. > :10:23.philosophy without him. His first county cricket captain Jason Gallian
:10:24. > :10:27.famously threw KP's bat over the balcony after growing frustrated
:10:28. > :10:29.with his attitude. Gallian is now a schoolteacher, but he feels KP's
:10:30. > :10:38.character-of-old stayed with him until his international end. At that
:10:39. > :10:43.time when obviously we had our incident, I was very happy to keep
:10:44. > :10:47.him. I knew he was a match winner. Whether I could manage him was
:10:48. > :10:51.another situation. It was well-documented, that was me
:10:52. > :10:55.throwing his bat from the balcony. He would speak his mind. I don't
:10:56. > :10:59.think it has changed. That has gotten him into trouble in the past.
:11:00. > :11:03.Maybe also here. It is hard to say. All I can talk about is how it was
:11:04. > :11:08.when I was in charge of hip. Cricket is an individual sport. As a
:11:09. > :11:15.batsman, a bowler, you are there as an individual. To take wickets,
:11:16. > :11:19.score runs. Kevin could win games. Everyone supporting him would like
:11:20. > :11:23.him to win more games, to win games each time he goes to bat, but I
:11:24. > :11:29.suppose it is the way he gets out, that is part of the enigma of him.
:11:30. > :11:34.People will pay money to see him play wherever that is. You never
:11:35. > :11:41.know what could go on in the future if he is scoring heavily. If he is
:11:42. > :11:49.hungry enough to play. For Kevin, it is probably never say never.
:11:50. > :12:04.And that was KP's former captain, Jason Gallian. Now the Super League
:12:05. > :12:07.season got underway last night. Wigan Warriors lost to Huddersfield.
:12:08. > :12:10.Between them these two teams won all the domestic trophies up for grabs
:12:11. > :12:13.last season. Wigan winning the Superleague Crown and the Challenge
:12:14. > :12:16.Cup, whilst the League Leaders' Shield winners Huddersfield came out
:12:17. > :12:19.on top at the DW last night, 24-8. Rugby League reporter George Riley
:12:20. > :12:23.joins me now. George what have we learnt from Wigan's defeat to
:12:24. > :12:27.Huddersfield last night? Huddersfield will be strong. Wigan
:12:28. > :12:33.are flying to Auckland. To be there for two weeks. They had the captain
:12:34. > :12:35.missing. The top try scorer too. They will get better. They will
:12:36. > :12:40.improve. I would not read a lot into Wigan
:12:41. > :12:46.but Huddersfield will be good again. It is a season with spice, as after
:12:47. > :12:50.seven years there is relegation to bring the league back from 14 to 12
:12:51. > :12:59.teams. So changes in the structure of the
:13:00. > :13:04.league. So, Brett Seymour, formerly of Hull, he has joined Castleford.
:13:05. > :13:08.Tell us about that. He is a fascinating story. He is a
:13:09. > :13:13.brilliant character, but had problems. There were problems in
:13:14. > :13:18.Australia. Alcohol-related incidents. Hull FC gave him a
:13:19. > :13:24.chance, but he was depressed of after a bad game he took some pills
:13:25. > :13:31.and alcohol and failed to commit suicide by driving off a bridge. The
:13:32. > :13:36.night that happened I don't remember too much of it with all that
:13:37. > :13:40.happened, but I have been put on to people at Sporting Chance. They have
:13:41. > :13:45.been tremendous. Without them I would not be here.
:13:46. > :13:51.More on that interview in Saturday Sportsday next week. For the moment,
:13:52. > :14:00.though, from myself, John Watson and the rest of the team, goodbye.