An inability to maintain their highest standard gives them plenty to improve upon as they seek to overtake New ZealandThree minutes from full time, the crowd roused itself for one last blast of Swing Low. Not in exhortation, now, but celebration. England were leading by 16 points, and Australia, a man down after Dane Haylett-Petty had been sent to the sin-bin, were scrambling to escape from underneath their own posts. The only question left was how many England were going to win by. Soon enough, the final whistle went and the international year was over. England finish it undefeated, with 13 wins out of 13, through the Six Nations, the summer tour and the autumn series. It is the first...
As England seek to match their record of 14 straight victories, the industry and attitude of Eddie Jones’s side are increasingly resembling Sir Clive Woodward’s team of 2003It does not feel like 13 years ago that Dorian West was sitting in Aix-en-Provence discussing his surprise at being named captain of England for the first – and, as it turned out, only – time. Clive Woodward’s side had not lost in 18 months and, even with a few reserves playing, there was no expectation of his squad’s 14-game unbeaten run approaching its end.If England could have their time again, would they have taken that distant 2003 game in Marseille more seriously? In many ways France’s 17-16 win did not matter hugely,...
The Australia fly-half was below par for much of the year but is back in form and is set to be a key player on Saturday at Twickenham – where he has run rings round England beforeOf all the enduring images from England’s 20-point thrashing by Australia at last year’s World Cup – and there were a fair few – perhaps Joe Launchbury’s misery when collecting a thoroughly undeserved man-of-the-match award best sums up the stark humiliation of it all.There were numerous better performers that night, all wearing green and gold, and none more so than Bernard Foley, scorer of two tries – the first of which left Launchbury with a face full of grass - and 28 points in...
Next year’s Six Nations will promote more open play but the number of tries is increasing across the board as several top countries look to change their styleThe Six Nations has for years resisted the bonus point system, citing various reasons including tradition and the possibility of a team winning the grand slam but not the championship, but next year’s tournament will trial a system that is used in every major professional tournament in the world in a bid to encourage more open play.This year’s Six Nations would not have been affected by bonus points, with England still going into the final round as champions, but its 15 matches produced an average of 4.7 tries. Take away the matches that...
Rewarding attacking play, even in an otherwise lost cause, can bring relevance to mid-table encounters and shows rare and welcome flexibility from the organisersChange in rugby union rarely happens quickly. It is more than two decades since try bonus points were first introduced in New Zealand provincial rugby and 13 years since they first featured at a Rugby World Cup. The Six Nations committee’s decision to break belatedly with tradition and give them a whirl in 2017 is a bit like your grandfather joining Twitter. Related: Six Nations to trial bonus points in 2017 competition for first time Related: Mike Brown plays minder to England’s maverick wing Jonny May Continue reading...