There was no thrilling Twickenham comeback this time as savvy Springboks come out on top in attritional battleAll the talk before the match was about what a tough Test this would be, England’s players and coaches spoke about how they wanted to “front up”, “take them on physically”, and “match them up front”, as the assistant coach Richard Cockerill put it: “You know what’s coming with the Springboks.” All of which was true enough. It was a nasty Test, played on a nasty evening, when winter seemed to have come rushing in all of a sudden on a stiff, swirling wind, and with a lick of drizzle. It was a game of scrums, thumps, slips, smashes, and penalties, played under...
Three England tries in seven late minutes salvaged a 25-25 draw with New Zealand in a match that had appeared lostIt seemed to start raining in the final minutes at Twickenham, a shower of fat drops of beer from the clear night sky. They fell as the fans up in the gods leapt to their feet and threw their pints above them. Given what they charge for the stuff around these parts, it is probably not something you would do unless you had lost the run of yourself. But then it has been a long time since Twickenham has seen anything like those crazily helter-skelter final minutes, when England peeled off one, two, three tries in the space of seven...
The No 15s for England and New Zealand offer contrasting but important skills and can make the difference at TwickenhamThere are mouthwatering matchups all over the pitch at Twickenham on Saturday but the contest that most catches my eye is between the two full-backs. Freddie Steward, England’s Mr Reliable, against one of the All Blacks’ most lethal weapons in Beauden Barrett. Two completely different players but both are integral to their teams this on Saturday.Steward has looked comfortable at full-back for England since his very first cap. He has 15 now and I can honestly say he has not had a bad performance for the national side. The baseline requirements for a full-back are positional sense, providing security at the...
The Bristol strongman was at the heart of everything his side did and showed why Eddie Jones puts so much faith in himYou might talk about Marcus Smith’s kicking or his deft finishing, about Guy Porter’s happy knack of being in the right place at the right time, twice, or Freddie Steward’s strength in the air and his punishing runs from the deep. But really in years ahead, long after all that and the rest of this 52-13 victory has been forgotten about, it will be Ellis Genge’s performance that people are still talking about. Japanese coaches, at least, will still be telling the little kids they are teaching spook stories about him, and how Genge will come for them...
Defeat by Argentina means another campaign begins on the wrong foot as coach’s charges struggle to find cohesionFor all of England’s faults against Argentina on Sunday, perhaps it is the sense they are doing the same things over again and expecting different results which most maddens. Dim penalties conceded, little penetration in attack, a sluggishness that left Twickenham in a soggy stupor – all are criticisms aimed at Eddie Jones’s side before but England look no closer to fixing them with next year’s World Cup looming into view.Indeed, beginning campaigns slowly has become a worrying trend. On top of the Argentina defeat, they lost their opening summer Test against Australia and to Scotland in round one of the Six Nations....