Eddie Jones’s team have the perfect schedule and can take the shackles off against France and Argentina in the pool stageEngland’s priorities against Tonga are simple. Four tries, maximum points, a clean bill of health and move on to Kobe. It may be the start of a World Cup campaign after three months building up to it but in reality it is an extension of their pre-season. No disrespect to Tonga but England will win the match. They are not looking to peak now and if the playbook was restricted in the warm-up matches it still will be on Sunday. Related: Ford, Farrell named as England go strong for World Cup opener Related: Rugby World Cup tactics: Nick Evans on...
Ireland suffered a crushing defeat by England at Twickenham but a bigger concern could be fitness doubts to key playersNo world No 1 ranking for Ireland this week, unless the measurement is injury concerns. With two warm-up games against Wales still to come they are currently down to their third-choice fly-half, saw their experienced loosehead prop Cian Healy hobble off with a painful-looking sprain to his right ankle and were briefly in danger of losing their kingpin scrum-half Conor Murray as well. Related: Manu Tuilagi makes up for lost time to take centre stage against Ireland | Gerard Meagher Related: Joe Cokanasiga scores twice as England turn on power to crush Ireland Continue reading...
The Leicester man turns on the power at Twickenham with an outstanding display in the No 13 shirtIt may seem strange to single out one player after such an imperious England performance across the board but Manu Tuilagi is someone worth making an exception for. There have been countless days over the past five years when a performance such as this seemed beyond the realms of possibility. Just this week he laid bare the extent of his injury struggles and how hiding one of them cost him more than a year of his career. Suffice it to say it is good to see him back and firing like this. Related: Manu Tuilagi admits he hid injury that led to extended...
Wales will replace New Zealand at No 1 in world rankings after a win over England that advances their World Cup credentialsAs the revitalised All Blacks showed against Australia in Auckland the world can change dramatically in the space of a week. Wales further underlined that fact here in Cardiff with a first-half display far removed from their one-paced effort at Twickenham last Sunday. Take them home, country roads, to the place they belong, and everything sounds and feels totally different.It may have been the August holidays, with the sun shining brightly outside, but under the closed roof of the leeky cauldron the final outcome was also a notable one for Warren Gatland’s squad. When the latest world rankings are...
Disjointed display against Wales offered positives but did little to vindicate a decision to name the World Cup squad earlyAll part of the plan? Who can second-guess the workings of Eddie Jones’s mind but certainly, if last weekend England produced one of the more impressive outings by a second team, this was far more the sort of performance these awkward warm-up fixtures tend to elicit.It was not entirely without merit and they were more comfortable than they have been in defence of late, but for all the sporadic flashes in attack, here was a rare thing: 80 minutes from this England vintage without a try. Related: George North try helps Wales bounce back with home win against England Continue reading...