The national coach says the Championship is ‘something I don’t really worry about’, but the state of a league that helps to shape tomorrow’s stars should be a concernPeople often wrongly assume rugby union is defined by weeks such as this. England v France, all the “le Crunch” hoopla, the wider Six Nations equation, the millions watching on television. It matters, of course it does, but – as any French supporter will tell you – it barely scratches the surface of what the game is truly about.It is a bit like announcing the only wine worth drinking is the stuff they pour (or used to) in Paris’s fancier restaurants. If, on the other hand, you hail from a small southern...
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...
Rugby’s rich history reaches down the decades but was the wing’s spectacular score against Ireland the best by an Englishman at Twickenham? Er, discussClose your eyes and the shape of it should start to come back to you, even if the details are a little hazy after all these years. It was Fabien Galthié’s kick, a chip into New Zealand’s half. And it was Andrew Mehrtens who came running across to cover it, while Taine Randall tracked back from the front. Christophe Dominici started five yards behind, but was gaining all the time. The bounce was loopy and awkward and for a split second everything slowed down while the ball hung in mid-air between the three of them. Then Dominici...
A year on from England’s World Cup win against New Zealand, the head coach has picked a squad for a sport that is changing rapidly Exactly a year ago this week Eddie Jones was basking in a World Cup semi-final victory against New Zealand in Yokohama, among the most triumphant moments of his coaching career. The final turned out less brilliantly for him but it was still easy to imagine England returning from Japan and enjoying themselves in the 2020 Six Nations championship.Sport, and life, is rarely so predictable. Even so, no one envisaged England would still be waiting in late October to conclude their Six Nations campaign in Rome, with nine of the 23-man squad who beat New Zealand...
England’s coach has his favourites and one of his foibles is not always trusting Premiership form as a barometer When Andy Farrell named his Ireland squad last week, attention focused not on who had been selected but on the scrum-half, John Cooney, who had been omitted after being on the bench for Ireland’s three Six Nations matches this year.It was the same when Eddie Jones reshuffled the group of players he had assembled before Sunday’s match against the Barbarians at Twickenham. Rather than the call-up for two young players, Tom de Granville and Ollie Lawrence, the headlines were on Ben Spencer, another scrum-half who had been overlooked. Related: Daly out with mystery leg injury but Youngs in line for England...