Wales have case for moral victory in loss to England, Scotland prepare for ‘Big One’ and Ellie Kildunne’s stock continues to riseOne minute Eddie Jones is using the media to put pressure on opposition captains and fly-halves, the next he is criticising those whom he perceives are giving insufficient credit to himself and some of his players. “You guys tell me Mike Brown can’t play Test rugby … you guys are unbelievable!” he told his BBC 5 Live’s Chris Jones after Saturday’s narrow 12-6 win over Wales. “You’re always criticising him and now he has a good game you’re all on the bandwagon. You guys are better selectors than we are, that’s what you think you are.” Given England have...
Italy need a pack to complement their impressive youngsters, Scarlets and Wales combine and Johnny Sexton finds a wayOne of the most striking elements of England’s seven-try victory in Rome was the wraparound tactic that set the visitors on the way to their 46-15 success. It has been Johnny Sexton’s signature move for years and George Ford and Owen Farrell have now taken a leaf out of the Irish playbook. Both England’s opening two tries by Anthony Watson involved Ford looping round and helping to create a midfield mismatch with Jonny May also coming at pace off his wing to confuse the defending side still further. Ford may find teams will now be lying in wait for him in future...
France have a back-row who makes even Maro Itoje appear sluggish, while another brilliant Leinster product can shineSekou Macalou (France): Pretty much everyone has given up on French rugby. Even when they are not sacking their national coach or having their national training centre raided by police investigating the alleged activities of Bernard Laporte, president of the French Federation, Les Bleus are still widely seen as a shambles. And yet, when it comes to promising young players, France possess two of the most dazzling diamonds in the tournament in the form of Matthieu Jalibert, their new 19-year-old whiz-kid of a fly-half, and Sekou Macalou, a 22-year-old back-row who makes even Maro Itoje appear sluggish. The gifted Jalibert has the full...
Eddie Jones’s side are well placed to chase down a third successive title, despite missing a number of LionsThe Six Nations launch was a story of the sick nations. Between them they had 57 players either doubtful or unavailable for at least the opening round, a figure that was added to the following day when the Wales scrum-half Rhys Webb was ruled out of the tournament with a knee injury.England led the way with 14 absentees, followed by Ireland on 11 and Wales, together with Scotland, on 10. The new France coach, Jacques Brunel, is without nine players, although such is his rush to airbrush out his predecessor, Guy Novès, that he would probably have overlooked most of them, and...
With one international to go this autumn New Zealand and Scotland will be delighted, while Australia’s tour nosedived and South Africa are in a sorry stateThey have definitely got a rock under their towels when it comes to their holidays now. The red card against Scotland did make a difference but, as New Zealand showed against the Lions, you can make yourselves difficult to beat when that is the case. Australia’s autumn has been a mixed bag. It started off with an impressive win in Cardiff and things could have panned out a bit differently against England, but then they were thrashed in Scotland. The thing for Australia is that they need their strongest XV against the big boys or...