With three of the four top-ranked teams in action and Japan 2019 looming, focus and intrigue will be at fever pitchIn January spring still feels far away, never mind the summer beyond it. But the start of the Six Nations, like the first green shoots, is a sign they are on their way. The tournament starts with the first snowdrops and finishes with the first swallows. When this year’s edition is over, the World Cup will be only six months and six days away, and the six teams, their players and coaches, will have a handful of August warm-ups left to finish getting ready for the tournament they have been working towards these last four years and which, if they...
Saracens regained their place as England’s leading club but Australia and Leicester will be glad to see the back of this yearThis was the year of the Irish, if not London Irish, who plunged back into the Championship at the first attempt. Ireland won the grand slam and beat New Zealand at home for the first time and Leinster secured the Pro14 and European Champions Cup double.Ireland were named team of the year at World Rugby’s awards bash last month and Joe Schmidt and Johnny Sexton won the coach and player categories. It was the cleanest of sweeps and the question to be answered is whether it came a year too early. Related: Jimmy Peters: race pioneer of English rugby...
Now that the autumn internationals have been completed we take a look at the prospects for the opening stage in JapanIreland, Scotland, Japan, Russia, Samoa Related: Jacob Stockdale scores only try as Ireland earn historic win over All Blacks Related: England denied by All Blacks and late decision in Twickenham thriller Related: England overwhelm careless Australia with Kyle Sinckler power game Related: Liam Williams leads Wales to South Africa win and first clean sweep Continue reading...
Ireland’s fly-half is in pole position to break the run of six successive New Zealand world players of the yearWorld Rugby will be announcing its male and female players of 2018 in Monaco on Sunday. When the shortlists were first published there was still a faint element of doubt about the men’s winner. Not any more. If Johnny Sexton, the sole European contender, is somehow edged out there will be uproar in both hemispheres.No disrespect to Beauden Barrett and Rieko Ioane of New Zealand, or the Springboks duo Faf de Klerk and Malcom Marx, but Sexton has pulled so far ahead of the field he is now practically in a league of his own. Much as Ireland’s win over New...
Here was a delirious and genuinely historic Dublin evening to sweep away a century of hard-luck stories against the All BlacksIn the minutes before kick-off, the All Blacks’ Steve Hansen handed over a wodge of notes to Ireland’s coach, Joe Schmidt. What was it Steve? A card? A letter? A contract? No, Hansen explained later, it was €760. He had needed a few extra tickets for the game and the only way to do it was to ask Schmidt to buy them for him. This game was such a hot ticket that even Hansen had to pull strings to get people in. But then the Irish had been waiting 113 years for this, ever since they first played, and first...