With two weeks left to impress the coach, which players have put their hands up in the Six Nations and who might miss out on the tour to New Zealand?Leigh Halfpenny looked the Test full-back from the start in 2013, not least because of his goal-kicking, but with Owen Farrell able to fill that role it is more open this year. Stuart Hogg offers the most in attack but his defence is suspect while the reverse is true of Halfpenny, whose threat with the ball in hand seems to diminish every year. Mike Brown’s “they don’t like it up ’em” approach is not likely to be enough in New Zealand while pace is an issue for Rob Kearney. Full-back may...
The trip to New Zealand, despite the schedule, can restore faith and the Six Nations is shaping up nicely but with the professional era now more than 20 years old, the sport’s administrators must show conviction in the next 12 monthsThe most pertinent rugby quote of 2016, inevitably, came from Eddie Jones. “There’s only pressure when you don’t know what you’re doing,” murmured England’s head coach shortly before guiding his adopted country to their 13th Test victory of a perfect calendar year. As a short, sharp Twitter-friendly summation of how and why the Australian guru has turned English fortunes around, it was inch-perfect.What would England’s national cricket and football teams do for a milligram of Jones’s self-assurance right now? Maybe...
Lions coach named Andy Farrell, Steve Borthwick and Rob Howley in his backroom team but also has a few fascinating elements in place for the New Zealand tourThe beauty of every British & Irish Lions tour is the delicious uncertainty, despite the rather limited shock factor created by the announcement of Warren Gatland’s three assistant coaches.Gatland continues to believe the odds can be overturned in New Zealand and, together with his lieutenants Andy Farrell, Rob Howley and Steve Borthwick, has been busy incorporating some fascinating elements into his plan for next summer. Related: Warren Gatland names Steve Borthwick and Andy Farrell in Lions coaching team Continue reading...
Famous victories combined with the improvement of England and Scotland will have Warren Gatland believing a historic series win is not impossibleEngland still have one game to go but for the rest of the home nations the autumn internationals are done. Regardless of Saturday’s Twickenham outcome it will be remembered as one of the more intriguing periods of recent times, particularly in relation to the British and Irish Lions tour next year. Suddenly there are glimmers of realistic hope where once there was only dense black nothingness.For this Ireland, above all, deserve immense credit. As well as defeating New Zealand for the first time in 111 years they saw off Australia and South Africa as well, breathing encouraging fresh Gaelic...
The relentless treadmill of the professional game is leaving a trail of battered bodies and a sport in need of a streamlined Test scheduleThe perfect global rugby season will never exist. Well, maybe it does on paper but not in reality. There are competing hemispheres, unions and clubs to pacify, not to mention different financial imperatives, audiences, time-zones and ambitions. Sticking half-a-dozen adolescent ferrets down your trousers simultaneously is slightly less problematic.Now imagine all six ferrets arriving with their own legal advisers and you begin to grasp the unenviable situation facing World Rugby as it attempts to broker a schedule that suits everyone. Small wonder the initial proposals to have emerged from negotiations have fallen short of jaw-dropping. A suspension...