Financial woes and player welfare concerns abound but rugby union remains a compelling spectacle when everything clicksEvery now and again on social media a video clip will emerge of a lonely surfer trying to catch a skyscraper-high wave off the coast of Portugal. Time it right and the long ride down is truly epic. Get it slightly wrong and the consequences of that misjudgment do not bear thinking about.In many ways the 2022-23 Premiership season feels broadly similar. Increasingly there are jagged financial rocks everywhere and the game’s physicality continues to make it unsuitable for the faint of heart. Continue reading...
Gloucester and Wales wing suffered during the Six Nations but is determined to get back to his best at his clubDuring this year’s Six Nations, lightning did not strike twice. Whereas Louis Rees-Zammit blazed his way through his debut championship in 2021, he failed to score a try and was axed for Wales’s key match against England. His Gloucester director of rugby, George Skivington, sums up nicely the predicament the 21-year-old winger found himself in: “When you’re one of the poster boys of the game, everybody knows when you’ve been dropped.”It represented a first major setback for Rees-Zammit, the youngest member of last year’s British & Irish Lions squad, but one that he dwelled on for all of five minutes....
It was a difficult weekend for English clubs, with Irish provinces picking up a triple crown of victories over Premiership sidesIreland look like going into the Six Nations Larmour-plated. Joe Schmidt, who stood down as the national side’s head coach after the World Cup, never seemed to trust Jordan Larmour fully, certainly at full-back, but the 22-year old showed in Leinster’s emphatic victory over Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens that he is ready to take over from Rob Kearney, who was among the province’s replacements on Saturday. Larmour was the architect of Leinster’s first two tries, showing how deadly he can be in broken play if given just a trace of time and space, and he was part of a defensive...
Billy Vunipola needs Farrell’s ruthless focus, Cipriani’s patience boosts Gloucester and Saints reaping rewards of faith in youthOne topic did rather dominate the conversation at Ashton Gate. And the booing. This looks as if it will be a new reality for Billy Vunipola, which may or may not come to affect his game over the coming weeks. He has always come across as something of a happy-go-lucky guy but the No 8 will need the ruthless focus of his England teammate Owen Farrell if recent events and any future repercussions are not to distract him from his day job. One other point did muscle its way into the talking – and that was the kicking. As if chastened by their...
Bath’s Jonathan Joseph did his England chances no harm at all, Exeter had the look of Premiership champions against Leicester and things are starting to get serious at the bottomJonathan Joseph has been back from his long injury layoff for a while but judging by his performance against Bristol, and in his previous outing against Exeter, he is nearing a return to his best form. In the past it has been a criticism that, because he is so naturally talented, Joseph has a tendency to coast because things come so easy. He has a World Cup place to chase, however, and he is clearly in Eddie Jones’s thoughts considering he was called into the wider England squad just 50-odd minutes...