England rivals may enliven play-offs, Bath keep up bizarre trend and a thrilling final raises exciting questions for women’s gameSale will qualify for the European Champions Cup if they defeat Leicester at home and Gloucester fail to beat Saracens. The results in the latest round of France’s Top 14 mean that Gloucester will be in Europe’s elite club tournament next season having reached the Challenge Cup final and, not having to worry about holding on to sixth place, can rest players ahead of the clash against Cardiff Blues in Bilbao. The Sharks’ director of rugby, Steve Diamond, was bullish about his side’s prospects, saying that he hoped he would be given the means to spend the same on wages next...
Eddie Jones’ side could suffer knock-on effect as Pro14 teams teach wealthier English and French rivals a lesson in the European Rugby Champions CupAmid all the myriad European pool permutations and head-scratching arithmetic it can be easy to lose sight of the bigger picture out on the wintry fields. This has been a Champions Cup season of vivid, gripping contrasts in which the Pro14 sides are teaching their wealthy English and French league counterparts an increasing lesson in humility.Even if the Premiership sides, in particular, stage a last-gasp resurrection they are already scrabbling for quarter-final crumbs. It could be that England has only one representative – or possibly none – in a last eight that could contain five Pro14 sides....
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...
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....