Emphasis on physicality and defensive kicking unlikely to provide much relief for viewers of this year’s championship
International rugby, as Danny Cipriani reflected last week, has become a war of attrition and territory, a physical grind that repudiates risk and makes for dull viewing. All that threatens to be unpredictable about the looming Six Nations is whether it will go ahead in its entirety, with the French government concerned about exposing its citizens to the Covid-19 variant that has boosted transmission rates in the UK and Ireland.
The championship will be mentally and physically demanding for players who for eight weeks will largely remain with their squads, housed in a bubble and unable to leave their hotel without permission, even for a stroll in the grounds. The confinement will be even stricter than it was for the Autumn Nations Cup and if head coaches do not feel a duty to make sure that rugby is not dull on the field, they will need to provide stimulation off it.
Related: Sinckler and injured Mako Vunipola out of England's Six Nations squad
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