Injury-plagued centre’s fresh scrape will reveal how much effort national coach is prepared to take with only player he believes can ‘rip apart’ All BlacksAt the end of a mediocre autumn Test series that caused no little concern considering it came less than a year before the 2015 World Cup, Stuart Lancaster was asked what could improve his England side. His answer, as so often the case with Lancaster, was to the point: “Manu”.Last week Eddie Jones was more effusive with his praise for the only England player capable of “ripping New Zealand apart” – a pointed remark considering the British & Irish Lions’ second Test victory against the All Blacks on 1 July. Jones described Manu Tuilagi as “worth...
Are the All Blacks, who are used to flattening every team they face, actually starting to flatline, as England close in on them at the top of the global rankings?The players voted Jonathan Davies the Lion of the tour after the third and final Test on Saturday. The recognition for the Wales centre was notable for at least two reasons: he was a back on a trip when they were expected to do little more than chase kicks, and he was not from the country with the largest single representation. His defence in the second half at Eden Park on Saturday made it hard for New Zealand to achieve width and it was a series when the loss of so many experienced players...
Eddie Jones is looking for young players to force their way into his England team and Tom Curry impressed, as did the abrasive Ellis GengeConsidering that Eddie Jones has admitted to feeling “filthy” for more than a month after England’s defeat by Ireland, this stilted if spirited victory can at least be viewed as the start of the cleansing process.It was not the grand unveiling to the second phase of his master plan – eight uncapped starters and a feisty Barbarians side made sure it was never going to be – but winning is an addictive habit for Jones and he will care little that there was barely a sparkle in an exhibition match that tends to offer the promise...
After the draw in Kyoto there are tantalising opportunities available to Scotland, Ireland and Wales if they get to Japan in good shape come late 2019There are two years and four months still to go until Japan’s 2019 Rugby World Cup kicks off but at least one leading nation is already doomed to catch the bullet train to premature oblivion. While some tough early pool games can occasionally prove to be helpful in the later stages, England will be fooling no one if they insist a grouping with France and Argentina is exactly what they always wanted.Bill Beaumont, the former England captain who pulled his own country’s name out of the pot, can expect precious few congratulatory messages from home. England...
Warren Gatland and the rest of the rugby union world will be in Kyoto on Wednesday when the groupings are determined for the 2019 tournamentEven Phileas Fogg would have struggled had he been involved in modern-day rugby union. One day Warren Gatland is in London talking up the Lions, the next he is en route to Japan for the 2019 Rugby World Cup draw. Next week he has to be back in Wales, the week after it is Ireland followed by a long wintry trek around New Zealand. If it is Wednesday, it must be Kyoto, in theory at least.There will be precious little relaxation at 39,000 feet either, if the pool draw takes on a deathly complexion once more....