Dave Rennie made 12 changes from the narrow loss in France but the head coach would have expected more from his sideDave Rennie embarked on this five Test European tour with some key questions that needed answering. One, perhaps the most important one, concerned the depth of his squad. Winning would always be a key performance indicator, but bolstering a team capable of mixing it with the best at next year’s World Cup would always loom largest in the Wallabies coach’s in-tray.They were second best for much of their match against Italy in Florence and rightly ended on the losing side. Debutant Ben Donaldson, who had only been on the pitch for five minutes, had the chance to change the...
The Bristol strongman was at the heart of everything his side did and showed why Eddie Jones puts so much faith in himYou might talk about Marcus Smith’s kicking or his deft finishing, about Guy Porter’s happy knack of being in the right place at the right time, twice, or Freddie Steward’s strength in the air and his punishing runs from the deep. But really in years ahead, long after all that and the rest of this 52-13 victory has been forgotten about, it will be Ellis Genge’s performance that people are still talking about. Japanese coaches, at least, will still be telling the little kids they are teaching spook stories about him, and how Genge will come for them...
Defeat by Argentina means another campaign begins on the wrong foot as coach’s charges struggle to find cohesionFor all of England’s faults against Argentina on Sunday, perhaps it is the sense they are doing the same things over again and expecting different results which most maddens. Dim penalties conceded, little penetration in attack, a sluggishness that left Twickenham in a soggy stupor – all are criticisms aimed at Eddie Jones’s side before but England look no closer to fixing them with next year’s World Cup looming into view.Indeed, beginning campaigns slowly has become a worrying trend. On top of the Argentina defeat, they lost their opening summer Test against Australia and to Scotland in round one of the Six Nations....
Win or lose, the match in Paris offers added value for Australia – it is a benchmark before next year’s World CupWhen Australia play France there are always fireworks. The tempo was set in the very first Test in 1928 when French prop Jean Morere headbutted Jim Tancred and was left-hooked by NSW flanker Bluey Greatorex. After their next encounter in 1948, “one hundred infuriated spectators rushed on the field, hit the referee and threw mud at him”. In 1967, captain John Thornett told the referee his side would walk-off “if you don’t stop the Frenchmen kicking us”. In 1997, No 8 Troy Coker was asked why he punched Fabian Pelous. “What are you supposed to do when a guy...
The latest conference, dominated by sceptics of recent research, will do nothing to bring clarity to the CTE debateAnother week, another conference. This one was organised by World Rugby and, like the last, which was organised by the Concussion in Sport Group, it was held in Amsterdam. World Rugby’s chief medical officer, Dr Éanna Falvey, explained that the aim was “to evaluate the latest research and focus on where we might need to focus funding to continue to fill the gaps in our collective knowledge”. There was a lot on the agenda: a session on instrumented mouth guards, a workshop on laws and player welfare, and, first thing in the morning, a series of talks on brain health and chronic...