Lockdown decluttering has led me down a path to the fascinating, well-lived life of a larrikin named Aubrey HodgsonA recent lockdown clear-out prompted the discovery of a semi-skimmed and long-forgotten letter forwarded to me by my mother some years ago; a piece of correspondence she had chanced upon while doing some domestic decluttering of her own. It had been written by my uncle, a former professor of anatomy at the University of Galway, during his days doing the rounds at a Sydney hospital way back in 1978.Writing to my father on the flimsiest of airmail notepaper, with a neatness of hand that belied his profession, he revealed that he had been lucky enough to get talking to “a very interesting...
For all England’s skilful touches, it was Eddie Jones’s Kamikaze Kids who dominated Australia with 36 hard-hitting tacklesEddie Jones calls them his Kamikaze Kids, which fits – because the way Tom Curry and Sam Underhill play is right out of a comic book. You could picture it in Roy Lichtenstein prints. Pop! Pow! Whaam! Boom! They made 36 tackles between them against Australia, none better than the one Underhill put in on their strapping No 8 Isi Naisarani early in the first half, which was one of those blows that seem to reverse the entire flow of a game. It was in the 15th minute, or thereabouts, and Australia had made a hot start, thinking that they would catch England...
England sticking to strengths against Australia; Ireland need to find old form to beat New Zealand; Wales must stop France momentum; South Africa could end Japan’s adventureEddie Jones has picked a team with England’s Six Nations win in Dublin in mind. If Jones has a blueprint for precisely how he wants his team to play, that is the closest they have come to it since he took charge. Related: Ben Youngs urges England to attack from the start against Australia Related: Wales boosted by return of big guns for quarter-final clash with France Continue reading...
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....
Eddie Jones’s team had few problems at start of tournament but quarter-final provides new challengeThe last time the All Blacks lost a World Cup match was in 2007. It was a match I do not have fond memories of, having played in it, but incredibly valuable lessons were learned considering New Zealand’s record in the tournament since. Two things stand out when looking at why we lost that match against France. Firstly, we tinkered with our game plan throughout the pool stages and we just didn’t quite get it right in the quarter-final. Secondly, we had not been tested at all in the pool stages and we came up against a team on a completely different level to anything we...