HIA’s in the limelight again, Saracens suffer injuries, Jonathan Joseph facing Ben Te’o challenge for England place, and Eddie Jones has a back-row dilemmaFor the second Friday night in a row, a team has been reduced to 14 players after incurring a head injury, having already emptied their bench. Ten days ago it was Bath then it was Gloucester this time and while the Cherry & Whites claimed a second win of the season, they had to withstand considerable pressure from Worcester to do so. The issue was that Tom Savage suffered a head blow deemed serious enough that he had to be taken off permanently rather than for a head injury assessment and as a result, Ed Slater could...
This weekend’s Premiership match in Pennsylvania and Pro14 games in South Africa have more costs, fewer fans and a huge carbon bootprintBefore this week the most absurd away fixture in European club rugby history was probably Connacht’s 12,000-mile round trip to Siberia in November 2015. The Irish province did manage to beat their Challenge Cup opponents Enisei-STM in temperatures as low as -18C but a technical fault with a charter plane caused such travel chaos some players were stranded for days. “Energy levels at all time low … BO levels at an all-time high,” read the memorable tweet from the Connacht back-rower John Muldoon.Once upon a time crossing the Severn Bridge was the most exotic cross-border club rugby experience available....
Bath should give England’s Eddie Jones food for thought, Northampton respond after being labelled soft and Newcastle command attentionThe Premiership is an unforgiving place for teams who start slowly. Bottom-placed Worcester have lost their opening two games and injuries are already beginning to bite. Losing their strongest scrummager, Nick Schonert, to a suspected broken ankle is a major blow and the Warriors are down to two fit fly-halves with the league season barely a fortnight old. To compound matters, England’s Ben Te’o has an ongoing arm problem which has forced him off prematurely in both his team’s games to date. “He’s got a plate in it and it’s sore,” said Gary Gold, Worcester’s director of rugby. “Every time he gets...
The modern first-class player is the cleanest incarnation of the breed and yet by far the most punished by the referee. The sanctification of the airborne player is especially ludicrousRugby is brilliant these days. There are more than a few out there who feel it always has been, who have stuck with it since it was little more than a curious, esoteric ritual for those in thrall to mud, pain and lawlessness, but they have long since been joined by many others. Now rugby is glamorous, exciting, in multi-angle HD slo-mo and watched by an ever-growing audience of thousands, sometimes millions. And yet there remain a minority in the sport who are more ill-treated than they ever have been, who...
Player tiredness and availability could be key; there are six new laws to consider and Warren Gatland does battle with Steve Hansen againIreland broke the mould in 2014 but before that, as sure as death and taxes, France would win the first Six Nations championship after a Lions tour, often with a grand slam to boot. Related: Rob Baxter challenges Exeter to play like Premiership champions | Robert Kitson Related: Premiership 2017-18: team-by-team preview of England’s rugby union season Related: Ambitious Pro14 looks at Germany, Spain and Canada for further expansion | Paul Rees Related: New Zealand begin to suffer from player exodus to the wealthy north | Paul Rees Continue reading...