If you took the Saracens players out of their national sides and put the team in the Six Nations, their hammering of Northampton suggests they could win itAwaiting its UK cinema release next month is the Battle of the Sexes, the film based around the famous 1970s tennis duel between Billie Jean King and her male opponent, Bobby Riggs. It is a game, set and match tale of casual assumptions and punctured egos that should also serve as a reminder to all sports that traditional supremacy is neither a God-given prerogative nor a permanent state.Billie Jean has not been spotted at many Saracens fixtures but she would have appreciated the debate that has surfaced in the wake of Sunday’s Champions...
The serialisation of a new book by Rob Andrew has taken discussions back a few years but England need to be looking to the futureOn Monday, the day before the second anniversary of his final match as England’s head coach, Stuart Lancaster was still dealing with the fallout from the failed World Cup campaign as he responded to comments about his four years in charge made in a serialisation of a new book by Rob Andrew, the Rugby Football Union’s former director of professional rugby.Lancaster is now based in Ireland, along with one of his former England coaches, Andy Farrell, but there is nowhere far enough away to escape from references to the 2015 World Cup and, in particular, the...
The financial benefits of stadiums having a sponsor are clear and the old cabbage patch has no divine right to remain sacred, but the RFU has the means to not follow the trendHere are two lists, purely for purposes of comparison. The first is an evocative Who’s Who of instantly recognisable rugby arenas: Ellis Park, Ravenhill, Lansdowne Road, Murrayfield, Newlands. Now here is the second: Coca-Cola Park, Kingspan Stadium, Aviva Stadium, BT Murrayfield, DHL Newlands. Same stretch of turf, a far less romantic feel.Do people’s sensitivities over such issues still count for anything? The Rugby Football Union clearly does not think so, judging by its apparent interest in flogging the naming rights to Twickenham. Welcome, one and all, to Hooters...
National coach has named a slimmed-down training squad and omitted Joseph, Haskell and Sinckler, three of the summer’s British & Irish LionsFor every England rugby coach there are three steps to heaven: identify the best players, decide how to harness their collective talents and then pursue every available avenue to ensure they peak when it really matters. With 19 wins in his first 20 games in charge, Eddie Jones has made a confident start on the rocky ascent towards 2019, and his 33-man training squad for next week’s camp in Oxford represents the next phase of that climb. Related: Marcus Smith of Quins can be our X-factor rookie, says England’s Eddie Jones Related: Eddie Jones to name most of his...
Our first power rankings since the 2015 World Cup mark two years to go until Japan 2019. England lead the chasing pack while Australia and Wales struggleBefore the All Blacks’ record 57-0 victory over South Africa, Steve Hansen felt the need to defend his side’s uneven performances in 2017. The response was emphatic. It used to be the case that the All Blacks peaked at this stage of the World Cup cycle but Hansen is adamant they will improve in the next two years. Twelve months ago they struggled to maintain their remarkable form through the autumn and as they have crammed five matches into their schedule this year, an upset is not out of the question. But if New...