Jon Holmes builds up to England's second fixture at the European Under-21 Championship, against Norway, and gives us a behind-the-scenes look into his time in Israel in his latest blog.
Saturday 8 June 2013 14:15, UK
Danny Rose gets a scare in the Roman ruins as Jon Holmes provides his latest blog from the U21 Euros.
Public torture used to be one of the main attractions at the ampitheatre in Caesarea Harbour, where Sky Sports were filming an interview with England Under-21 defender Danny Rose. Appropriately, Rose had a look of terror on his face when our reporter Pat Davison threw him an initial question about the history of the ruins and what the Romans achieved here. After quickly reassuring the left-back that he was not there to be filmed for a documentary on classical civilisation, Pat moved on to Danny's specialist subject - how England can regroup and hopefully conquer Norway at the European Under-21 Championship on Saturday evening. The archaeological site and picturesque port area provided a dramatic backdrop as Rose spoke confidently about England's next challenge. Between the occasional break in filming to satisfy the snapshot demands of local Israelis, Pat and his cameraman Andrew were able to get some superb footage that should allow the viewers to see a side of this beautiful, historic country that often gets overlooked. The England team hotel is a little further inland, and was a hive of activity later in the evening, as Pat, Andrew and the Sky Sports crew got to work on the rushes in their SatLink truck and selected the choice cuts from the interview for the editing process. Meanwhile, inside, England coach Stuart Pearce was busy in the England video suite with the FA TV team, working on pre-match analysis ahead of the Norway game. With the players, Phil Neville, Sir Trevor Brooking and others in the England U21 set-up milling around before dinner, we finished up and headed out again for our evening meal. We ate in an outstanding restaurant overlooking the harbour; bread and the delicious hummus (forget about your supermarket stuff, this is the real deal) for starters, and a wide choice of fresh fish for our main meals. Pat and Alan Smith decided to share a seafood platter - despite the potential for infighting due to the uneven allocation of mussels, calamari etc, a solution was agreed upon and respected on both sides. A relief no doubt for Caesarea, whose history has been turbulent enough without us adding to it...