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...
The World Cup finalists suffocated Ireland but the challenge is to develop their attack to match a defence with few peersSeventeen years have now elapsed since England won their first – and so far only – Rugby World Cup on an unforgettable night in Sydney. All the social media flashbacks remind us of the “white orcs on steroids” who, universally popular or not, were definitely ahead of the game in their era. Every subsequent English team, unfairly or not, is fated to be measured up against them. Related: Jonny May's magical try makes you realise why you fell in love with game | Andy Bull Related: Eddie Jones credits Liverpool's role in Jonny May's wonder try for England Continue reading...
England wing had the length of the pitch in front of him but a sidestep past Chris Farrell set him on his way to a memorable try – if only there had been a crowd at Twickenham to see itOh, but Jonny May scored a lovely try, one of the best anyone has seen here in years. It was a full‑tilt sprint from one end of the pitch to the other, the sort you dream about scoring when you’re a little kid with a head full of wild ideas. It had everything except a crowd to cheer it.And what a shame, because it would have been a tonic for everyone who saw it. It was one of those moments that...
Problems with scrum and lineout were punished ruthlessly by Jonny May as Ireland were manhandled out of the gameA first glimpse of a future without Ireland’s longstanding think tank at half-back, a first glimpse of a side that cannot quite summon the fury of recent times – and it reveals a work in progress with much still to accomplish. This England team were in the World Cup final a year ago and are Six Nations champions, but if that is the standard to which Ireland aspire, which it must be, Andy Farrell found much to ponder at Twickenham, his team manhandled out of this contest to a degree surely inconceivable to recent iterations in green.Much was familiar. Ireland made England...
A one-sided encounter on a cold, wet afternoon illustrated just how much international rugby is missing fansThere is an old story about a rugby correspondent at a local paper who began his report of a particularly dull game by giving the score and mentioning there were a couple of hundred people at the match, then went on to list them all by name until he had filled the space on the page.Sadly, there were so few people here on Saturday that it would be a struggle to make it halfway down this particular page if we tried it again. Related: Jamie George makes history with hat-trick in England demolition of Georgia Related: England 40-0 Georgia: Autumn Nations Cup – as...