A clean-up job awaits John Kingston’s heir, Gary Graham shines again and Kitchener’s tumble leaves Gopperth the fall-guyHarlequins have been linked with so many coaches since the announcement last week that John Kingston will leave after the season that they could they could set up a sideline transporting supporters. After their recent tie-up with New Zealand, names such as Tana Umaga and Scott Robertson have been mentioned and if Quins take that route it would mean that only three clubs would be headed by an Englishman next season – Exeter, Newcastle and Sale – compared with six at the start of this one. Whoever takes over has a salvage operation: Quins slumped to another defeat, three Gloucester tries in the...
Bath are facing catastrophe, Ellis Genge offers grounds for English optimism and Josh McNally makes a poignant returnAnother home defeat in the Premiership for Bath, whose season is now in grave danger of unravelling. It may have taken a late Joe Simmonds penalty for Exeter but after a bright start to the campaign Bath’s inconsistency has been their downfall and they occupy eighth place in the table. They will most likely have to win all four of their remaining matches to reach the play-offs and failure to qualify for the Champions Cup would be an unmitigated disaster. Bath have not been helped by injuries but there have been times this season when Todd Blackadder’s frustration at his players’ inability to...
Manu Tuilagi needs more time to recapture his best form while Wales’s Josh Adams is at the top of his game and will deserve a first Six Nations call-upBecause it is Manu Tuilagi, the question had to be asked, but if he were picked for England now it would be more on faith than form, notwithstanding the cheeky and acrobatic manner in which he leapt over a writhing mass of bodies to score Leicester’s third try in their victory against London Irish at Welford Road on Saturday. Tuilagi had also played a part in their second try, but that was more in the vein of a Keystone Cop. “We need to have a realistic view of Manu,” said Matt O’Connor,...
He transformed the fortunes of the lowly Lions in South Africa, and the early signs have been positive for the latest man in charge at KingsholmGloucester and Bath played before a full house at the Recreation Ground on Sunday. The only two full-time clubs in the Premiership who have never won it keep packing them in even though they have been shedding tears at Kingsholm this decade and Bath’s home has been one of wrecked dreams.Gloucester, as is customary for a side that has spent the last few seasons wallowing in the wrong end of the league table, have a new head coach this season, the South African Johan Ackermann, who at the start of the decade was working for...
Harlequins’ sick list grows, Wasps’ Thomas Young looks to land of his father’s, Rob Baxter’s Exeter side pass ‘character test’ and Gloucester get one over BathJohn Kingston paused as he mulled over whether to put a precise figure on the list of unavailable Harlequins players for this match. Twenty-eight. How many of those would be anywhere near the first team is difficult to discern but, regardless, it feels an astonishing number. The guy subbing the report that included the figure had to ring to double-check it was not a mistake. Whether this tells us anything new about the nature of rugby today will be debated long and hard. As will whether Marland Yarde was included in the 28. It looks...