Head coach draws on Rumble in the Jungle tactics to ease England to long overdue victory against the Springboks and extend his winning run to 10 gamesThis being Remembrance weekend, the match began with a minute’s silence and England’s players wore red poppies as well as red roses. But this past week marked another, far more trivial, anniversary too, one that went unlamented. Saturday was a year and a day since Stuart Lancaster quit as England’s head coach after the debacle of the World Cup. In terms of personnel, this England XV was not all that different from some that Lancaster fielded during his four years in charge. The pack was pretty much exactly the same as the one he...
The Springboks came to bully England but the scars inflicted by All Blacks thrashing were brutally exposed by a moment of slapstick at TwickenhamSo, South Africa remained unbeaten against England for a week shy of 10 years, a run of 12 matches. It was an impressive record. It is something to cling to. And they will take anything just now.This was a dispiriting prick of the balloon – and balloon-thick is South Africa’s confidence at the moment. Now they must add the 37 points conceded here to the 57 they shipped last time out a month ago to the All Blacks – at home in Durban. Lob in a host of other indignities over the last couple of years –...
The threat of a crushing defeat to South Africa lurks on Saturday, so the England coach is forced to continuously find new ways of ensuring his players never stop improvingAside from the first pictures of Donald Trump inside the White House there was no disputing the week’s most terrifying image. Those cold-hearted racer snakes lying in wait for young marine iguanas on Sir David Attenborough’s wonderful new BBC natural history series also happened to be an ideal allegory for the treacherous landscape of professional sport. To elude crushing disappointment requires determination and, above all, resourcefulness when it matters.In many ways that is Eddie Jones’s key attribute; it takes more than a pack of biro-wielding snakes to deter the wily, fast-talking...
Ireland emphatically had the measure of the All Blacks in all the key areas in Chicago and, with more preparation and fine-tuning, could make it two in a row when they meet again on 19 NovemberWhen the close-to-capacity crowd at Soldier Field were subjected to the caterwauling version of Ireland’s Call, played with a bit of blarney on a violin, the day seemed to be heading only south. Moments later it was yanked back and pointed upwards, with the Ireland players facing the haka by forming a perfect figure of eight in memory of Anthony Foley. It was one of the great rescue acts. And not the last on a remarkable day.What followed was a classic Test match, not for...
Rob Howley defends his team after 32-8 rout by Australia but it was not until the final 15 minutes that they showed real creativityWales identified the need to work on the athleticism and dexterity of their tight five after their summer whitewash by New Zealand. They involved their four regions to raise the general skill level of the national squad but a 12th successive reverse to Australia, and their second heaviest home defeat by the Wallabies, showed they remain more comfortable manhandling than ball-handling.Wales used nine tight-five forwards on Saturday and they carried the ball between them for a total of eight metres compared with their opponents’ 76. They have won only three of their last 12 internationals and in...