From potential ‘new coach bounce’ to the power of Ireland and France, championship can raise interest before the World CupIt was hard to put your finger on it but there was a different feel to this year’s Six Nations launch. Perhaps it was the Netflix cameras around every corner seeking to project rugby to a wider global audience. Maybe it had something to do with Eddie Jones no longer being around to stir the media pot. There was even a solo acoustic guitarist serenading the hacks as they munched their lunch, which was unquestionably a first.Or maybe, just maybe, it was a sign of a professional sport making a concerted effort to raise its game. One by one the head...
The coaching trio have no time to experiment as the race towards this year’s Rugby World Cup enters its final stagesIt used to be said that preparing for the 2023 Rugby World Cup was a gradual process. People liked to paint it as a painstaking four-year project, with an emphasis on steady incremental gains. Then everyone panicked. England, Wales and Australia have new head coaches with blank (ish) sheets of paper and there is an Old Testament feel to what happened just weeks ago.Because, suddenly, the marathon is a flat-out mass sprint. The three unions in question are banking on the ability of, respectively, Steve Borthwick, Warren Gatland and Eddie Jones to accelerate their teams from 0-60 mph quicker than...
Steve Borthwick must take one of a series of tricky options – perhaps acknowledging it is a messy situation would be best Steve Borthwick is about to learn fast that invidious positions come with the territory as England head coach. The mess that surrounds Owen Farrell’s participation in England’s Six Nations opener against Scotland – and their preparations beforehand – is not one of his making but one he is likely to have to clear up.To recap, Farrell is banned for three matches – all Saracens fixtures because the disciplinary panel decided not to consider England games before Borthwick has announced his squad. One of those, the Premiership game against Bristol on 28 January, was one he would never play...
Beating the All Blacks in 2019, losing the final and his untimely dismissal leave Eddie Jones wondering what might have beenOf all the things Eddie Jones said during his seven years as England coach, and there were plenty of them, one particular idea seemed to strike a jarring note.It was in the immediate aftermath of England’s masterful victory over the All Blacks in the 2019 World Cup semi-final, when they were one second-half defensive error away from “nilling” the greatest rugby team on the planet. Jones was bubbling, quite rightly, after witnessing the plan he had lovingly constructed transformed into reality in such dominant fashion. Continue reading...
Six Nations is just around the corner and new head coach will need time to grasp the nettle and make a statementTime is short. England’s next game is on 4 February against Scotland and, once Christmas and new year are over, the Six Nations will come lurching around the corner. Between now and the England squad coming together there are four tough weekends of Heineken Cup rugby and three Premiership rounds to be negotiated. Winter break? Not a chance. Continue reading...