The threat of a crushing defeat to South Africa lurks on Saturday, so the England coach is forced to continuously find new ways of ensuring his players never stop improvingAside from the first pictures of Donald Trump inside the White House there was no disputing the week’s most terrifying image. Those cold-hearted racer snakes lying in wait for young marine iguanas on Sir David Attenborough’s wonderful new BBC natural history series also happened to be an ideal allegory for the treacherous landscape of professional sport. To elude crushing disappointment requires determination and, above all, resourcefulness when it matters.In many ways that is Eddie Jones’s key attribute; it takes more than a pack of biro-wielding snakes to deter the wily, fast-talking...
One year on from the Rugby World Cup, Robert Kitson ranks the top tier sides, with the All Blacks showing no sign of losing their dominanceEighteen wins on the spin and counting. The All Blacks will not stay unbeaten forever but sometimes it feels that way. Over the next month they will face Ireland (twice), Italy and France and, barring accidents, it should be 22 straight victories by the time they fly home. The head coach, Steve Hansen, and his lieutenants deserve credit for the impressive manner in which the team has refocused and developed since retaining the Webb Ellis Cup last year. Who said Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Ma’a Nonu et al were irreplaceable? In the shape of Aaron...
Is it any wonder that players from northern clubs are a rarity in the England team when the national side sticks to Twickenham?Welcome to the month of November when half the world’s planes seem to be stuffed with rugby players. Most have no choice if they wish to pursue their chosen trade. Ireland and New Zealand are in Chicago this week while Australia and South Africa are in London. Fiji are training in Toulouse, with England opting for a short warm-weather break in Portugal. There are almost as many gumshields passing through departure lounges as giant Toblerones.There is good reason for this hyperactivity. The game is increasingly global and spreading the gospel can be lucrative. The All Blacks are not...
The Australian Jason Ryles has been hired to ‘crank up intensity’ at the training camp where Jones must evaluate Courtney Lawes’ and Dylan Hartley’s fitnessThe last time England’s rugby players came out to Portugal to prepare for a big game against South Africa was in 2007 during the brief reign as head coach of Brian Ashton. It was an odd period with varying opinions on the best way forward, not least from within the dressing room. England, then as now, had injury concerns and ended up losing 36-0 to the Springboks in Paris.They did, admittedly, bounce back to face the same opponents in the World Cup final but Eddie Jones, as he made clear in the Algarve sunshine on Monday,...
New Zealand are in imperious form but the gap between the northern and southern hemisphere teams, All Blacks excepting, may not be as great as beforeNovember is a month when the clocks have just gone back and darkness descends on the home unions in the form of the major southern hemisphere nations. This year there is some light to tickle the green shoots of hope: the All Blacks are not venturing into Britain, the Wallabies are wobbling and the Boks have lost their spring.Australia start their five-match tour in Cardiff on Saturday5 November. Given the combustibility of their head coach, Michael Cheika, in recent months – he raged in his media conference after the Auckland defeat to New Zealand last...