The crowds flocking to Twickenham and Wembley for Bath v Leicester and Saracens v Harlequins will be cited as proof of the game’s growth but they mask concerns ranging from fixture congestion to financial uncertaintyHere is a quick quiz question: name the sport rivalling the Premier League and the Grand National for popularity in the UK this weekend? The answer is Premiership rugby union, with as many as 125,000 people set to attend games at Wembley and Twickenham. The “What time can you get here?” gags have gone the way of jockstraps, duckboards and half-time oranges.These are not finals either, but regular league fixtures, albeit jazzed-up editions. While Bath and Saracens are hardly Manchester United and Arsenal, there is a...
Welford Road club find themselves in Arsenal’s position in the Premier League’s post-Abramovich era, qualifying for Europe while living within their means“Happy new year to you all,” wrote Richard Cockerill in what turned out to be his final programme notes as Leicester’s director of rugby on Sunday. Less than 24 hours later, the club announced he had been sacked following the defeat by the Premiership club who have become as dominant this decade as the Tigers were in the 2000s, Saracens.Cockerill became the second director of rugby of a Premiership club to lose his job this season following Andy Robinson’s dismissal by Bristol and five sides are now under different management from last season, as are the relegated London Irish....
With the George North saga, Dylan Hartley’s suspension and a poor run of results, there is not a lot of jaunty, jazzy marching in at Franklin’s GardensFor a grand old club with an enviable, newly enlarged stadium, the modern history of Northampton Saints RFC is strangely fraught. Every team has its highs and lows but the Saints are currently besieged on all sides, trapped by unhappy accidents and assorted misjudgments of their own making. The George North saga, Dylan Hartley’s suspension, looming European oblivion: there is not a lot of jaunty, jazzy marching in at Franklin’s Gardens right now.These have been particularly testing days since their 37-10 home drubbing to Leinster last Friday. Their England captain Hartley has been banned...
Against Leicester the Northampton wing hit his head hard, went limp, and lay motionless – so why was he allowed to play on in the match?George North never much liked to talk about concussion. In 2015 he was ordered to take a four-week lay-off because he had taken four bad blows to the head in five months. In the end it was nine weeks before North could say he felt OK and almost six months before he was able to play. In one of the few in-depth interviews he did give on this topic, to Rugby World, North explained that he considered quitting for good. “I thought: ‘I don’t deserve this, I don’t need this hassle in my life.’” At...
Owen Williams struggled at outside-half for Leicester, Exeter have picked up Bath’s old habit of losing close games and the outlook is grim for Gavin Henson“Three weeks,” was Richard Cockerill’s reply when asked when Manu Tuilagi would be back from his latest injury. It has become a stock answer, but the England centre may actually be back on 20 November. Leicester need him as they try to inject consistency into a campaign of highs and lows and overcome the loss of the Australian midfielder Matt Toomua to a knee ligament injury. They played Jack Roberts and Peter Betham in the centre at Saracens with Owen Williams at outside-half, but there was little sense of direction and too many of Leicester’s...