Financial woes and player welfare concerns abound but rugby union remains a compelling spectacle when everything clicksEvery now and again on social media a video clip will emerge of a lonely surfer trying to catch a skyscraper-high wave off the coast of Portugal. Time it right and the long ride down is truly epic. Get it slightly wrong and the consequences of that misjudgment do not bear thinking about.In many ways the 2022-23 Premiership season feels broadly similar. Increasingly there are jagged financial rocks everywhere and the game’s physicality continues to make it unsuitable for the faint of heart. Continue reading...
Sale v Worcester should have been off when Covid-19 outbreak was confirmed. Instead the title race was put before healthAnyone visiting Sale’s training ground in Carrington last Thursday, the day when coronavirus tests were conducted, would have had to isolate when the results came back the following day and showed the club had a Covid-19 outbreak, with 16 players and three staff testing positive.They would have had to isolate, that is, if contacted by the NHS Test and Trace service which, given what is happening throughout the country, was not that likely to happen. And yet the Sale players who tested negative, and who had been mingling and training with those who were found to have the virus, were not...
It was a difficult weekend for English clubs, with Irish provinces picking up a triple crown of victories over Premiership sidesIreland look like going into the Six Nations Larmour-plated. Joe Schmidt, who stood down as the national side’s head coach after the World Cup, never seemed to trust Jordan Larmour fully, certainly at full-back, but the 22-year old showed in Leinster’s emphatic victory over Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens that he is ready to take over from Rob Kearney, who was among the province’s replacements on Saturday. Larmour was the architect of Leinster’s first two tries, showing how deadly he can be in broken play if given just a trace of time and space, and he was part of a defensive...
There is no better time to convert casual rugby spectators into lifelong fans, but the game risks missing its cueIn weeks such as this promoting rugby union should be the easiest job in the world. An eventful World Cup is still fresh in the memory and the first two rounds of Europes flagship club tournament have just been played. As anyone who saw Finn Russells fabulous piece of try-scoring skill for Racing 92 at Thomond Park can testify, there are also box-office players out there.Add in Joe Marler impersonating an Irish horse a video which has now been seen by almost as many people who are watching James Haskell in the Celebrity jungle and awareness of rugby amongst the general...
Billy Vunipola needs Farrell’s ruthless focus, Cipriani’s patience boosts Gloucester and Saints reaping rewards of faith in youthOne topic did rather dominate the conversation at Ashton Gate. And the booing. This looks as if it will be a new reality for Billy Vunipola, which may or may not come to affect his game over the coming weeks. He has always come across as something of a happy-go-lucky guy but the No 8 will need the ruthless focus of his England teammate Owen Farrell if recent events and any future repercussions are not to distract him from his day job. One other point did muscle its way into the talking – and that was the kicking. As if chastened by their...