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...
Research finds players who perform war dances reach elevated heart rates before their rivals. Is it an unsporting advantage?Should the Haka be scrapped from rugby? Let’s ask a different, less inflammatory question. If the New Zealand Haka and equivalents like the Fijian Cibi and the Tonga Sipi Tau provides an unfair advantage to those teams that perform it before kick off, should there be a limit on when and where those teams can do so?Research conducted this year at the University of Queensland’s School of Human Movement found that players who performed these war dances reached elevated heart rate levels moments before the start of the match. Those squats and lunges are the equivalent of undergoing a warm-up while the...
An American tournament will be innovative and diverse and is just what the sport needs to take it to a new levelThank you, World Rugby! Call me biased, as a current member of the national squad, but inviting the United States to host the 2031 and 2033 men’s and women’s Rugby World Cups is exactly what our sport needs. They know how to host a good party in the US and I believe both tournaments will be gamechangers.As I’ve previously stated a World Cup in America is imperative if we want to propel rugby into a new stratosphere. With Major League Rugby (MLR) now adding to the excitement, interest in the sport is already growing. A Rugby World Cup here...
Squad strength in depth and open-minded coaches have led to the grand slam and now the biggest prize awaitsLet’s start with Ange Capuozzo’s break, one step, two steps, a swerve, a curve, a burst, 10, 20, 30, 40m and more past one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine flailing Welsh defenders. You knew Capuozzo must be good just from the look of him when he came off the bench to make his debut against Scotland the previous week –a man that small and pretty must have something about him to get ahead in Test rugby – but it’s been startling to watch him this past fortnight, when he has scored two tries and set up one of the...
Administrators need to realise that the way rugby is marketed needs to change beginning with a calendar that works for allThe truth can be elusive in rugby union. Even in exceptionally unstable times there will always be those who dismiss it as simply a bit of light turbulence. So things must be serious when those with extensive knowledge of the game’s economics publicly query its future as a global professional sport unless its administrators wake up to the onrushing reality.Over in Japan some believe it may already be too late, regardless of the post-coronavirus landscape. With 30 years of experience in sports marketing worldwide, Robert Maes knows his subject and says rugby union’s rulers need to wise up.“The players are...