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...
A climate in which flair is seen as too risky bodes ill for England v France, and the game cannot afford another turkey Common ground is hard to find these days. Whether it be politics, the climate crisis or sport, there is generally a hardcore prepared to argue that, actually, black is white or down is up, even if overwhelming evidence exists to the contrary. The exception is rugby union, where creeping unease about the game as an uplifting spectacle is now virtually universal.Take the Autumn Nations Cup, conceived as a means of cheering everyone up in the absence of the usual November Test schedule. From the Covid cancellations to the stultifying defence-obsessed “action” it has largely had the opposite...
England’s No 7 showed flair with the ball in hand as Eddie Jones’s men mixed brawn and skill to overcome WalesBy day Parc y Scarlets doesn’t look much. And on an endless stretch of a dull grey day like Saturday, it looks even less, an empty, unprepossessing stadium tucked around the back of a deserted shopping centre, surrounded by baleful roundabouts.It felt a strange situation for a game like this and right up to kick-off everything about the occasion felt a little underwhelming. A lot of the Test rugby we have seen this autumn has been. Even those famous Welsh songs don’t sound half so rousing when they are being played over a public address to empty grandstands. And then...
Despite defeat to England in the Autumn Nations Cup, Wayne Pivac can be cheered by his side’s gutsy displayBefore kick-off, Wales would probably have settled for the final scoreline back in 1887, when England first played an international match in Llanelli. Given recent results, last week’s win over a limited Georgia excepted, even a 0-0 stalemate would have felt like relative progress and a respite from the gloomy muttering about the immediate future for Wayne Pivac’s squad.Instead the home side should, in some respects, feel quietly encouraged. By the end they were beaten, yes, but their defensive spirit and appetite for the fray against strong, confident opposition was definitely a cause for optimism. While the scrums were an issue, this...