Steve Borthwick’s selection of scrum-half is fascinating – and a recognition that England need to move the dial on their gameAlex Mitchell’s selection at scrum-half fascinates me. Has he really improved so much in the space of a month in Steve Borthwick’s eyes that he has managed to go from outside the World Cup squad looking in to starting England’s crucial pool stage match? Or is his selection a recognition that his style of play runs in tandem with what brings out the best in this England? I believe it is the latter and Borthwick needs to be given his fair share of credit for that.There’s an opinion that Borthwick is quite set in his ways. It was very clear...
Wins for Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland have set up the prospect of some history-making in the southern hemisphereOne weekend of eye-raising rugby results does not necessarily change the world. Equally, there has never been a day to compare with Saturday. A clean sweep of wins for Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland against the southern hemisphere’s top four teams is unique in the game’s history, despite the south hosting all four of the fixtures.No Irish or Welsh team had previously won in, respectively, New Zealand and South Africa. Now here they both are, just one final push away from winning a best-of-three series. The same is true of England and Scotland, who also bounced back from first Test disappointment to...
The wider issue for South Africa and Argentina is where their future lies in the professional gameThe format for next season’s European Champions Cup seems so complicated in its design that it could be an offshoot of the Duckworth-Lewis method. Two pools of 12 teams, who will each play four matches, will be layered by tiers with no two clubs from the same country facing each other.An earlier plan divided the 24 teams into eight groups of three with the sides playing each other home and away. It was more straightforward than the one that has now been decided on, but with the coronavirus restrictions on travel, distancing and gathering looking as if they will remain in place well into...
England, Ireland and Wales are among the throng pushing to challenge New Zealand as the World Cup enters crunch timeNormal service has been resumed. After the surreal scenes of the All Blacks not being No 1 (Wales were, then Ireland!) they enter the quarter‑finals back at the top of the rankings, rated by the bookies as twice as likely to win the tournament as the second favourites. Don’t be so sure. It goes without saying they remain the best when on form, but that cancelled game might well be more of a hindrance to them than anyone, given that their last meaningful fixture will have been four weeks before their quarter‑final against Ireland. At least Italy would have been semi-meaningful....
England sapped the life out of Argentina and their clinical performance bodes well for the rest of the tournamentFull marks to England for a clinical performance against Argentina. It is never easy playing against a team down to 14 men and I thought that England were patient and ruthless in equal measure. I’ve heard a lot of talk about how it wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t, but it was effective and being pretty does not win you World Cups. Related: France survive Tonga scare and set up England game to decide Pool C winner Related: Owen Farrell puts his head where it hurts but the pain is all Argentina’s | Andy Bull Continue reading...