Joe Cokanasiga will bring bulk to England’s backline and Billy Vunipola does the game a good turnAlready it seems likely Joe Cokanasiga will win his first England cap this autumn and the smart money would be on him doing so against Japan in the third match of the series. He has impressed since his move to Bath and Eddie Jones has been eager to add size to his backline for a while now, taking Cokanasiga on the 2017 summer tour of Argentina. Against Exeter on Friday, Cokanasiga showed how devastating he can be when finishing a second‑half try, albeit ruled out, but the 20-year-old’s inexperience was also exposed by Exeter, particularly for Don Armand’s try. England do not want for...
The Premiership’s aim at the start of the decade was to rival English football’s second tier for gates. It is some way from thatSome years ago at Cardiff Arms Park, a man was considering a question from a young boy about the difference between the two codes of rugby. Eventually he replied: “It’s like comparing chess and draughts.”Union resembled chess in its greater complexity and tactical variation. League was more like draughts with its desire to get on with play: fewer components meant the referee was involved less. As simplifications go it was not outrageous, although it reflected the disdain in which league was held in a part of the country where many players had received a one-way ticket to...
The high-scoring extravaganzas should be enjoyed while they last but it seems nobody will get anywhere near the top twoWe know it will not last once the winter bites, but this has been quite the September if a points frenzy is your thing. This match was the highest scoring yet, although its 85 points register as only joint 24th on the chart of highest-scoring Premiership games. If we count only those that finish within a score, it comes in at fourth. Even the Kiwis seem impressed. Todd Blackadder the other week was resigned to the need just to score more than the opposition. This week Chris Boyd bemoaned the defence but accepted that when players look for space they are...
Agustín Pichot’s plan for a World League would reinvigorate an international scene under threat as the clubs wield their powerNot for the first time the world of international rugby union is holding its breath. As outlined to the Guardian a fortnight ago, World Rugby’s vice-chairman Agustín Pichot believes significant change is required for the global game to flourish financially and his proposed solution will be debated in Sydney this Wednesday. Should he gain sufficient support, it will spell the end of the traditional matrix of June and November tour fixtures.Pichot and his supporters want to see a new “World League” run along similar lines to European football’s new Nations League, rather than the current succession of (so-called) “friendlies”. The top...
Kiwi coaches deliver a very British contest, Joe Marler left to count his blessings, and the amazing jet-set Willie le RouxTwo New Zealand coaches presided over an old-school British game in which the set pieces shaped the outcome. Todd Blackadder is in his third season in charge at Bath while Chris Boyd moved to Northampton in the summer. Bath’s supremacy up front plus their lineout mastery gave them the platform for victory. Boyd noted how the scrum, a means of launching attacks in New Zealand, is more a means of establishing control in England. Blackadder said he could detect subtle changes in Northampton’s style under Boyd, but after slipping to 10th in the table the basics will be the Saints’...