SHOCK AND AWE ON THE SEVERN

FRANKIE Gianoncelli’s social media ‘live’ reports from the Home International on the Severn at Shrewsbury were a taste of things to come.

I was a bit surprised to hear that Mark Downes wanted him to stop filming as some anglers, including one of Mark’s fellow international managers, swore loudly and unnecessarily.

Another surprise for me was the weigh-in, conducted with handheld dial scales that I believe are unreliable compared to digitals.

Yet another surprise was Matt Godfrey’s 2lb 7oz 8dr roach from a stretch of river that, just three years ago, we were told was birdplundered and devoid of fish.

The only unsurprising thing was England absolutely ripping the competition apart. In fact, given our talent pool, we could probably have fielded four or five teams that would have done just as well – no disrespect to the other nations, just a simple fact.

The roach of a lifetime for England’s Matt Godfrey in his River Severn haul.