Captain’s likely absence from start of World Cup highlights a weary familiarity hanging over team showing no sense of momentumSo here we go again. Owen Farrell in high shoulder charge trouble? Tick. England flattering mostly only to deceive? Tick. Injuries and unavailability threatening to disrupt their World Cup? Tick. Tick. They may have finally won a match but, in truth, an air of weary Groundhog Day familiarity hangs over English rugby that extends well beyond the length of ban awaiting their national captain before next month’s global tournament.Farrell will certainly be experiencing a powerful sense of deja vu as he awaits the verdict on Tuesday, which is almost certain to sideline him from his team’s keynote opening pool game in...
The Australia coach has stayed true to his word by rewarding form regardless of age or status in his 33-man squad for the tournament in FranceRuthless and risky, maybe even slightly deranged. The Wallabies 2023 World Cup squad, announced on Thursday night for the “smash and grab” mission on rugby’s greatest prize starting next month in France, shows all the diverse moods of its maverick head coach Eddie Jones.Foremost is the ruthlessness. Six weeks after being named co-captain of Jones’s team, 125-Test talisman and spiritual leader Michael Hooper, 31, has been denied a farewell tour in France after failing to recover from a calf niggle. Similarly, flawed genius fly-half Quade Cooper, 35, has been cast back into the wilderness after...
The pressure is growing on Steve Borthwick to get more out of the crowd-pleasing talents that undoubtedly exist with his squadWith four weeks to go until the Rugby World Cup kicks off, the pressure is starting to ratchet up. Not in terms of warm-up results per se, but in how teams are looking to attack. This tournament is unlikely to be won by sides simply content to sit back and wait for opponents to make mistakes. On firm, dry pitches a cutting edge of some description, from first phase as well as turnover ball, is going to be essential.In Australia Eddie Jones has clearly decided his Wallabies need further sharpening. Having dropped the experienced Quade Cooper and Michael Hooper, he...
Smashed in the Rugby Championship opener, the Wallabies have hit early trouble in their 2023 World Cup quest. Yet their coach says it won’t take much to get his side ‘back in the money’Eddie Jones said he wanted a “robust performance” from his new-look Wallabies. He got an insipid debacle. He told media he had coached his men to play like “mongrel dogs”. He delivered a mob of mewling pussycats. He promised fans this week was the first step toward a “smash and grab” on rugby’s greatest prize. Instead, 62-days out from the World Cup, a season that promised so much has kicked off with disaster.After all the hoopla about Jones returning as the saviour of Australian rugby, his Wallabies...
Six Nations opponents will feature with South Africa in a daunting pool in France but this jeopardy is no bad thingWith Ireland potentially able to clinch the Six Nations title and Scotland targeting the triple crown, there is enough riding on next weekend’s fixture at Murrayfield without the need to add to the narrative. Still, the subsequent meeting between the two sides on the horizon – in Pool B of the 2023 World Cup in October – is unmissable.Given Scotland’s upward trajectory, Ireland’s unerring consistency and South Africa’s enduring pedigree, not to mention Tonga’s ability to ruffle feathers, that particular pool is increasingly looking shark-infested. As this Six Nations has worn on, there have been numerous suggestions that it is...