Rugby union has always evolved but with many problems and questions unresolved it feels unsettled at present. The sport is changing but into what?On Friday 13 January, Ian Ritchie, the chief executive of the Rugby Football Union, met the press in the Members Lounge in the West Stand at Twickenham. Ritchie wanted in particular to talk about the three artificial grass pitches the RFU paid to have laid in Aylesbury, Preston, and Weston-super-Mare, the first of a hundred such around the country.In the end he fielded questions about the negotiations over the new international calendar and whether the RFU wanted to reduce the number of games professionals are playing, concussion protocols; the injury to George North and the decision not...
Nicole Cooke’s evidence to parliament underlines how ruling bodies like the RFU would be unwise to believe their testing reveals the full extent of dopingYou know the most remarkable thing about Nicole Cooke’s eviscerating evidence to parliament last week, which detailed staggering cases of institutional sexism by British Cycling, lax responses by the authorities when she reported doping violations and poor governance by some of the most august UK sporting bodies? Nobody denied it. Not one person. Not one authority. No one.I saw MPs shake their heads several times while they heard Cooke, an Olympic, world and Commonwealth road race champion, tell her story. Some of them looked incredulous when Cooke explained that, as a 19-year-old, she had gone to...
England wing admits ‘there have been some dark days’ but his club form has the outlook looking bright for the Six NationsNot long ago international rugby players had time-consuming day jobs. England’s grand-slam winning side of the early 90s contained an RAF pilot, Rory Underwood, on the wing and a surgeon, Jonathan Webb, operating, so to speak, at full-back. In the professional era, as the England wing Jack Nowell is honest enough to admit, it is a slightly different story.In common with many modern pros, Nowell has to endure his share of lengthy injury layoffs and ended up filling his idle days last autumn constructing elaborate Lego models. Among his favourites are a VW camper van with working lights, a...
Academy director Tony Diprose led a delegation from south-west London to San Francisco as part of an investment in the burgeoning if unsettled US gameLast weekend in California, the former England and Lions No8 Tony Diprose and other Harlequins staff attended the finals of the Cal Cup, at the home of the San Francisco Golden Gate club. Related: US PRO Rugby league insists it will not close over clash with governing body Related: USA third place at Dubai Sevens gives notice of growing stake in global game | Martin Pengelly Related: US union voices support for PRO Rugby league in light of foreign interest Continue reading...
When Les Bleus face England at Twickenham, imagine a pack with terrifying power and a clever set of midfield backs, running instinctively brilliant linesHere are some names to conjure with: Serge Blanco, Denis Charvet, Philippe Sella, Didier Codorniou, Jean-Baptiste Lafond. Here are some more: Jean-Pierre Rives, Walter Spanghero, Gérard Cholley, Robert Paparemborde, Jean-Pierre Bastiat. All retired players from a distant era, perhaps, but simply writing them down is enough to make you want to rise instantly from your desk, sing La Marseillaise at full volume and launch a hunt for a live cockerel.For those of us from the opposite side of the Channel there was never any doubt about the most breathless fixture in the old Five Nations. True, whenever...