1: Avoid a mauling in Dragons’ lair

I suppose a perfect weekend would involve the England rugby union team playing like a cross between the Harlem Globetrotters and a Sherman tank and the Welsh humbly admitting the superiority of all things English, but perhaps the notion of perfection had better be anchored to some form of reality.

If an English person chooses to look for attainable goals rather than utter perfection, then not going to Wales this weekend would be a good start. The Welsh have serious ambitions of winning the grand slam this season, England have serious ambitions of maybe giving Scotland a decent game before the tournament is finished.

The chances of England repeating last week’s, er, triumph depend on whether or not Wales select a scrum half. Italy declined to do any such thing and gave England a three-try start. My sources suggest that the Welsh will not go that route. England’s attainable — at least I hope it’s attainable — goal, therefore, is to avoid humiliation.

It has come to a pretty pass when the world champions of half a dozen years ago, and the finalists of 18 months back, are going into a match against the perennial World Cup quarter-finalists hoping not to lose by too many points.

2: Unforgiven resolves not to be forgotten

The unsnubbale Dwain Chambers turns up again today at the Aviva European Trials and UK Championships and I am bound to say that I hope he runs like the wind. While just about everyone who has anything to do with athletics wishes he would go away, so Chambers pops up yet again, running hard and testing clean.

He was caught, served his time and came back. He has said that he regrets everything, that taking drugs is a bad thing. But no one will forgive him; everyone thinks he should do the decent thing and disappear.

But he doesn’t. With a strange kind of heroism, Chambers continues to put himself through it, while everyone around him acts as if he stood for everything that was wrong in sport. It seems that in this instance, sport doesn’t do rehabilitation. In the same way, Christine Ohuruogu is for ever hounded and she didn’t even test positive, just made a mess of the testing procedure. Both made errors but still both are pursued with vindictive thoroughness. Both are extremely dark of skin and non-European of feature. Chambers: a hate-opportunity. I hope he makes the haters sick.

3: Family drama with high stakes

Lampard family dramas must always be played out in public, it seems. Last year Frank Lampard Jr played and scored for Chelsea shortly after the death of his mother, Pat, an inspiring and courageous effort. Now he must seek to do down his dad.

Frank Sr — I have never felt quite at ease with the idea of calling your son after yourself — is on the coaching staff of Watford, and Chelsea play Watford today in the FA Cup fifth round. There is strange beauty in this, a sort of non-lethal oedipal drama to be played out in front of us.

But the fact is that defeat would be a disaster for Chelsea, especially after their panicked sacking of their manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, in the week. For Lampard Jr at least, this match will be played for very high stakes. I have no strong preferences for the outcome, just a hope that the strong meat in the match’s agenda creates an occasion of intensity and inspiration.