England sticking to strengths against Australia; Ireland need to find old form to beat New Zealand; Wales must stop France momentum; South Africa could end Japan’s adventureEddie Jones has picked a team with England’s Six Nations win in Dublin in mind. If Jones has a blueprint for precisely how he wants his team to play, that is the closest they have come to it since he took charge. Related: Ben Youngs urges England to attack from the start against Australia Related: Wales boosted by return of big guns for quarter-final clash with France Continue reading...
England, Ireland and Wales are among the throng pushing to challenge New Zealand as the World Cup enters crunch timeNormal service has been resumed. After the surreal scenes of the All Blacks not being No 1 (Wales were, then Ireland!) they enter the quarter‑finals back at the top of the rankings, rated by the bookies as twice as likely to win the tournament as the second favourites. Don’t be so sure. It goes without saying they remain the best when on form, but that cancelled game might well be more of a hindrance to them than anyone, given that their last meaningful fixture will have been four weeks before their quarter‑final against Ireland. At least Italy would have been semi-meaningful....
Global tournaments should not be dumping fixtures because of inclement weather – the game and its supporters deserve betterLet’s be kind to Jefferson Poirot and say his comments were lost in translation. But it was the France prop’s quote that his team were in the quarter-finals and that was all he cared about that really made me see red as I stared at the wad of 38,000 yen that was to be my spending money in Japan this weekend. Related: Italy’s Parisse hits out at ‘ridiculous’ All Blacks cancellation at Rugby World Cup Related: England’s fallow weekend is not the ideal preparation it may seem Continue reading...
High-class defence and rare stamina make Wales second in the world and leave their Six Nations rivals struggling in their wakeThere is no such thing as an accidental grand slam. Winning five games on the trot in testing conditions against reliably motivated opposition does not merely require skill and nerve but, crucially, rare stamina. Anyone questioning Wales’s status as true five-star champions underestimates the uniquely treacherous climb they have just completed.Yes, Six Nations slam dunks are more frequent than they used to be but this was widely predicted in advance to be the most dog-eat-dog championship of all time. A supposedly impregnable Ireland had just beaten the All Blacks, England began like a bullet train in Dublin and by half-time...
England should finish strongly but Ireland and their rusty half-backs look as if they peaked last yearAs Warren Gatland says, they have forgotten how to lose and it is amazing the way they are able to ramp up their performance levels when they need to. That comes down to the coaching staff and their ability to manipulate their players’ emotions, get them to a point and keep them there. It’s 12 wins a row, they will be absolutely thrilled by that and I think the fallow week comes at the perfect time for them. I know Alun Wyn Jones said they wanted to play this week, they didn’t want to lose the momentum, but my question would be can they...