Fiji are now full of players central to their clubs, and Sunday’s match can show their sevens stars’ skills are transferable Around this time of year and at Rugby World Cup time, I’ll get some emails or calls from journalists all pretty much saying the same thing: “So Fiji, they always get a short straw etc, etc. Players in other teams, no training time, no money, no resources.” It’s always the same.There was a time not very long ago that those statements held true. Pacific teams were on the back foot all the time. Tonga and Samoa are still in need of serious help but for Fiji, who play Wales on Sunday, life is very different now. Continue reading...
There are plenty of reasons why the rugby was less than dazzling but even while securing two trophies the lack of vision is alarmingAnd so ends perhaps the least auspicious year in professional Test rugby history. You know it has been bad when the northern hemisphere’s champion team are openly jeered on their home turf, when the creative element of their game virtually disappears and when the England coach dismisses any criticism of his team’s style as “childish”. The curse of Covid-19 has, to some extent, been the least of it.Clearly, there is a risk of conflating two different things. Eddie Jones and England do not draw up or adjudicate the laws that have led the sport down a tactical...
The Six Nations champions found a way to win but must now focus on expanding their game to deal with stiffer challengesIt was a beautiful day, a glorious game, and a great occasion. After a long, torpid sort of autumn when Test rugby has seemed, at times, pretty dull and bloodless, here was a glimpse of the best of the game, and in it there was the promise of better, brighter days ahead. Related: Boring rugby? Wait and see: the sport deserves a break after a difficult year | Ugo Monye Continue reading...
Despite talk that international rugby is dull, judgment should be delayed until the next Six NationsFor all the talk that international rugby is boring, I prefer to hold judgment until next year’s Six Nations at the earliest. Given everything that has happened in 2020 I do not think it is fair to be critiquing and assessing the landscape and to be probing Test rugby for all its flaws. Related: England's Mako Vunipola ruled out of Autumn Nations Cup final Related: Weakened France will try to stay strong in face of cap-heavy England Continue reading...
Lack of clarity about what will happen at the end of the season is unfair to clubs, players and spectatorsAnyone who watched the Premiership game between London Irish and Leicester on Sunday would have been struck by a few things. The first was the venue: how good it is to see the Exiles in their brand new home in Brentford, playing with a renewed sense of purpose. Even their snazzy green kit felt like progress, in contrast to Leicester’s away strip, which has prompted fans to ask if it was designed by a child with a set of crayons.Equally uneasy on the eye was Leicester’s modus operandi. Even in the closing moments, with possession in their own 22 and the...