It was a tournament to savour, with the standard of play and level of ferocity increasing, but unfortunately the Italians are being left behindCome Monday morning the players will be back at work with their clubs, getting ready for the next round of league fixtures.Their schedules leave them precious little time to heal their wounds, even less to rest and reflect on what has gone on these past few weeks. Rugby has never been an easy living but in this Six Nations some of the Tests, especially the three between England, Ireland and Wales, were so ferocious that watching them felt a guilty pleasure. Related: New Zealand media on England loss: ‘Stuffed plastic bags in need of a trolley’ Related:...
Billy Vunipola’s return should boost England, while Ireland are likely to struggle without Conor Murray and France may be distracted by domestic mattersThe significance of Billy Vunipola’s return for England cannot be overstated. Not only does he lift those around him, he also brings formidable carrying that Eddie Jones’s side lacked in the early stages of the competition. As the Championship has worn on, however, Maro Itoje has grown into his role at blindside flanker and Courtney Lawes now finds himself in his best ever international form. Itoje and Lawes swap at scrum time and so you could argue Lawes is effectively playing at No6, regardless of the number on his back. His carrying was relentless against Scotland and while...
New Zealand’s superior statistics in their 18-game winning run do not deter England’s Eddie Jones from insisting his team aspire to end up as world No1Back in the early 1980s, there were few more futile things a man could do than try to pursue a career in competitive squash. Because to be the best, you had to beat Jahangir Khan. And between April 1981 and November 1986 Khan won so many consecutive matches that even statisticians lost track of the exact count. Most figure it was around 555, making it the longest winning streak in the history of sport. “It wasn’t my plan to create such a record,” Khan once said. “All I did was put in the effort to...
England’s replacements may prove key, while Wales are grappling with problems of their own making as Italy scent an upsetRob Howley increasingly cuts the figure of a man damned if he does and in a similar predicament if he does not. His team selection – Wales are unchanged from their defeat in Scotland – has been widely criticised but he does not have a huge amount of options at his disposal. That, however, is the crux of the problem. Wales are fearful of finishing the tournament with two defeats that could well mean they slip out of the top eight in the world and face another treacherous World Cup pool. Hence Howley’s refusal to experiment against Ireland. That then raises...
The Six Nations champions were confounded by a legitimate plan to avoid rucks by not committing to the breakdown after tacklesBack when Eddie Jones was coaching in Japan he complained that his players spent too much time learning to play the game by rote, running through the same old drills without trying anything new. Always ready with a quote, he said that “everyone drives 10,000 hours but few of us become better drivers”.A good rugby player, Jones explained, has to be able think on his feet. “A lack of creativity,” he said, “means we have fewer players with the decision-making skills needed to win games of rugby.” Well, against England Italy showed plenty of creativity and Jones’s players were presented...