Danny Care continues to improve for Harlequins (and England), Northampton are on the ropes and Exeter are really hitting the high notesThe rivalry between England’s two leading scrum-halfs, Ben Youngs and Danny Care, is becoming every bit as intense as that between Matt Dawson and Kyran Bracken in the side of the late 90s/early 00s. If that was England’s last great team, the vim of warring No9s is as strategically a valuable a dynamic as any. To date Care has been seen as the sparky game-breaker, with Youngs the game-shaper, but Care’s all-round game continues to develop. “Everyone’s going to remember him as a fantastic rugby player,” said John Kingston, Quins’ director of rugby, “but I’ve talked to him about...
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...
Fly-halves are becoming an endangered species, Matt Toomua’s upswing continues apace and Jim Mallinder has a tough decision to makeIt has taken a series of injuries to highlight it, but there would appear to be a paucity of fly-halves in England at present. Bath have a headache there with Rhys Priestland injured and Freddie Burns almost certainly suspended following his red card in his first start for his home-town club against Worcester. Wasps, meanwhile, had to move Rob Miller in from full-back, with both Jimmy Gopperth and Danny Cipriani injured, and Dai Young admitted that finding anyone available to bring in at short notice would not be easy. The growing injury rate is alarming but if it is indeed down...
Matt O’Connor’s Tigers are evolving fast, Bath’s fledglings offer hope for the country and Quins’ Kyle Sinckler is at the mercy of the law bookThe Tigers are changing their stripes. A side which for years built its foundation on set-pieces, an all-enveloping back row, controlling half-backs and immovable defence has evolved into one that can thrive on less than 50% possession. The midfield partnership of George Ford and Matt Toomua allows Leicester to react quickly in broken play and, after all the upheaval of the last few seasons, continuity has been a theme this season. Five rounds into the Premiership the director of rugby, Matt O’Connor, has made just one change in his back line, and that was enforced when...
It would be a landmark of genuine local significance should Dean Richards’ side beat London Irish on Friday and finish the weekend top of the PremiershipExactly 20 years ago Newcastle Falcons were in the process of revolutionising English rugby. No club was quicker – thanks to Sir John Hall’s chequebook – to embrace the possibilities of professionalism and no side had ever lifted the domestic title within a year of being promoted. It lingers all the more clearly in the memory because the Falcons have achieved nothing like it since. Related: Mark Wilson swoops for Newcastle in thrilling last-gasp victory at Bath Continue reading...