Sport

Goode times ahead despite Saracens ending with defeat

The fly-half-come-full-back has flourished, even though his first full-term in the Saracens senior side culminated in disappointment.

Paul Radley
Paul Radley
Dubai

May 30, 2010

  • English
  • Arabic

When Eddie Jones was told his services would no longer be required at Saracens with a couple of months of the 2008/09 season still to run, he was not the only one who wondered what the future was going to hold. Evolution under the celebrated former Australia coach had been too slow. The club's hierarchy wanted a revolution, and it was to have a distinctly South Africa flavour under the former Springbok, Brendan Venter. Jones had set his stall out to build a homegrown soul at a club that had hitherto been famous for being a retirement home for foreign greats. He instilled faith in a crop of young English graduates from the club's academy, giving them their chance in the first team. When the Australian went, it was not just the senior players who wondered whether they would be surplus to the requirements of the new regime. "It is always the case that you worry what you have done the year before will be forgotten about," recalls Alex Goode, the fly-half-come-full-back who Jones believed was marked for greater honours. "You can keep worrying and worrying and worrying, but eventually you just have to get on with it and prove yourself to anyone," the 22-year-old says. "You have to back yourself, and I knew that if I played well I would get my chance with Brendan. And I did." Goode has flourished, even though his first full-term in the Saracens senior side culminated in disappointment, with defeat in Saturday's Premiership final to Leicester. He has excelled to the extent he earned a place in the second string England Saxons in the Churchill Cup this summer. Many observers believe he has been placed below his merits. Stuart Barnes, a former England fly-half of distinction who has become a prominent commentator on the game, is sure he has glimpsed the future. "This is a man born to play at the highest level of rugby union," Barnes wrote in his newspaper column. Goode, a Manchester United fan who excelled in a variety of sports as a schoolboy and played football for Ipswich's academy, has not forgotten what brought him to this point. "Eddie was a massive mentor for me," adds Goode, who idolised Christian Cullen when he was growing up. "He gave me a chance and I couldn't be more thankful for what he did. When he said I was a bit like [the former All Black full-back] Leon MacDonald, that was one of the biggest compliments I have ever received. "Other people have said I'm a little like James Hook in some ways. For me, I just think I'm someone who is quite an instinctive rugby player - not the biggest or the quickest, but someone who reads the game well and just loves playing rugby."

Player of the season: Chris Ashton (Northampton) The former rugby league winger's try haul of 16 was five better than the next best in the league. Ashton even thrived before the laws were re-interpreted to favour attackers halfway through the season Also considered: Schalk Brits (Saracens) Discovery of the season: Alex Goode (Saracens) The new James Hook or Leon MacDonald, depending on what hemisphere you come from. Goode's first full season in the Premiership ultimately ended in disappointment, but the future is bright. Also considered: Dan Cole (Leicester) The storm in a teacup award for best rant: Brendan Venter (Saracens) Abrasive Venter has been no stranger to controversy in the past. Being banned for eating biscuits at his disciplinary hearing after being charged with abusing supporters is a new one for even him. Also considered: Richard Cockerill (Leicester)

Heineken Cup - Toulouse Amlin Challenge Cup - Cardiff Blues Guinness Premiership - Leicester Tigers Magners League - Ospreys Super 14 - The Bulls

pradley@thenational.ae

What drives subscription retailing?

Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.

The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.

The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.

The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.

UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.

That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.

Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

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