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Something From The Weekend: Northampton; Frankie Dettori;

The Good, the Bad and the Odd

Michael Butler
Monday 02 May 2011 00:00 BST
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The Good

Northampton

English beat the French to play the Irish in Wales – Northampton have booked their Heineken Cup final place at the Millennium Stadium after trouncing Perpignan 23-9. Led by England's favourite Kiwi, Dylan Hartley, they remain on course to be the first side to claim the European crown and go unbeaten in the process – but to do so will have to beat Leinster in three weeks' time.

Frankie Dettori

The veteran jockey won the 1,000 Guineas aboard Blue Bunting at Newmarket yesterday. Now 40, there appears to be no danger of him giving up the reins any time soon. "Look at Ryan Giggs, he goes out there and plays like a 20-year-old" he said. "And not just him, Kevin Phillips is the same."

The Bad

Heurelho Gomes – yet again

"He's a great goalkeeper," Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp maintained after the Brazilian's latest howler at Chelsea, but with every new slip or fumble less and less Spurs fans find themselves inclined to agree, whether or not the ball may have crossed the line on Saturday. The Stamford Bridge horror show followed hot on the heels of a similar bar-of-soap routine from Gomes against Real Madrid in the Champions League.

The Odd

Coloccini and Suarez

In light of Andy Carroll's move to Merseyside in January, you might have expected the Newcastle defence to give Liverpool's front line a bit of a kicking on their visit to Anfield yesterday. Instead Fabricio Coloccini probably went a little bit too far the other way, handing his shirt to Liverpool's other big signing, Luis Suarez, who in turn gave the Argentine his own, as the two South Americans were coming off the field at half-time. This caused commentator Jon Champion to nearly lose it completely: "They're swapping shirts! At half-time! I don't know..." As if Coloccini's charity during the interval wasn't enough, Newcastle later went on to gift Liverpool a penalty and Suarez a goal. What generous Geordies.

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