France caved under pressure from kicking but Eddie Jones may mix it up with Tuilagi and the Vunipolas against WalesFrance’s death by a thousand kicks at Twickenham started the week before in Paris. England have been extremely well coached in both matches so far and so George North’s first try for Wales against France on the opening night will not have gone unnoticed by Eddie Jones and his assistants. They will have seen that Hadleigh Parkes’s kick forward found space, it put Yoann Huget in a position he did not want to be in and then a bit of pressure from North brought the mistake. England took that and seized on it. Related: England’s Mako Vunipola faces ankle scan in...
Player welfare versus flow of the game, Ireland’s own Beauden Barrett and England kicking on with an All Blacks tacticEarly this season officials were hard on players whose acts risked causing a head injury. It led to a flurry of cards and bans but then came a World Rugby directive that the TMO should be used sparingly so games did not become addled by hold-ups. As a result, when Stuart Hogg was taken out by Peter O’Mahony and Rory Best, no penalty was awarded and there was no review; nor was there for any of the thumping challenges on Johnny Sexton. Hogg lasted 16 minutes and Sexton 23. Player welfare has been relegated below the flow of a game. Paul...
Taking revenge on teams who beat them in 2018, England have shown no mercy against Ireland and FranceThis Six Nations is starting to feel like a slasher flick, with England ticking off their victims one by one. They are taking bloody revenge on everyone who beat them in 2018, Ireland last weekend and now France. This was another pitiless performance.The idea France might surprise them, and everyone else, was shattered in the opening 60 seconds with a couple of nightmare tackles. Yoann Huget ran smack into both Vunipolas. He may as well have burst in on the Krays in the back room of the Blind Beggar. Then Guilhem Guirado was splattered by Courtney Lawes. Guirado coughed up the ball like...
France may shrug and move on, but at Twickenham their senior players let the side down allowing England to dominate proceedings from the startThe temptation is to throw arms skywards, to pronounce the death of a once-mighty rugby nation, but the truth is this feels all too familiar. Only France among rugby’s top nations are capable of this sort of implosion, just as they can on occasion come back from the dead.France are no more dead than they ever have been. They will shrug and move on to Paris to welcome Scotland but they are no closer either to giving us a sense of who they are. We thought there might be grounds for optimism in their recent outings, intermingling...
Specialist selected to leave Jack Nowell sitting on the sidelines after being trusted by Eddie Jones for the big one in DublinEddie Jones is the ultimate tinkerman. He does not make major changes when England lose but at the same time he always keeps things fresh, even when they have a performance like they did against Ireland. I can’t think of a single time he has named an unchanged team and so it comes as no surprise he has tweaked his side more than expected to play France.You have to feel for Jack Nowell. He was given a golden ticket against Ireland and anyone who is trusted like that must be extremely valuable. Now he has effectively got a match...