Harlequins’ sick list grows, Wasps’ Thomas Young looks to land of his father’s, Rob Baxter’s Exeter side pass ‘character test’ and Gloucester get one over BathJohn Kingston paused as he mulled over whether to put a precise figure on the list of unavailable Harlequins players for this match. Twenty-eight. How many of those would be anywhere near the first team is difficult to discern but, regardless, it feels an astonishing number. The guy subbing the report that included the figure had to ring to double-check it was not a mistake. Whether this tells us anything new about the nature of rugby today will be debated long and hard. As will whether Marland Yarde was included in the 28. It looks...
If you took the Saracens players out of their national sides and put the team in the Six Nations, their hammering of Northampton suggests they could win itAwaiting its UK cinema release next month is the Battle of the Sexes, the film based around the famous 1970s tennis duel between Billie Jean King and her male opponent, Bobby Riggs. It is a game, set and match tale of casual assumptions and punctured egos that should also serve as a reminder to all sports that traditional supremacy is neither a God-given prerogative nor a permanent state.Billie Jean has not been spotted at many Saracens fixtures but she would have appreciated the debate that has surfaced in the wake of Sunday’s Champions...
If they claim a Champions Cup hat-trick then Saracens will be among the greatest club sides ever but, as the campaign starts, Scarlets could also prove dangerousThere is a fresh feel to this year’s European Champions Cup as the continent’s gladiators strap on their body armour. First and foremost, the final will be staged in Spain next May, with Bilbao’s San Mamés stadium and Guggenheim museum promising a very different cultural experience. And why not? Endlessly doing the same old things is not the way ahead for an ambitious professional sport.From the Basque country to Bath, this is a campaign full of other enticing possibilities. Not so long ago it was widely felt that digging in for the odd losing...
Sarries, who are chasing a third successive European title, know the value of a fast start and it has not been lost on the Premiership champions, the ChiefsThere is no debate over Europe in rugby union. Everyone wants to be in and for the British teams who fail to make the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup, the tournament will end in Brexit tears. The debate over exit strategies will revolve around how to get out of trouble against Saracens, who are aiming to emulate Toulon by winning the tournament for a third successive season. Mark McCall’s side start next Sunday against Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens, a ground where they have not lost in the Premiership since 2013, and they will...
Matt O’Connor’s Tigers are evolving fast, Bath’s fledglings offer hope for the country and Quins’ Kyle Sinckler is at the mercy of the law bookThe Tigers are changing their stripes. A side which for years built its foundation on set-pieces, an all-enveloping back row, controlling half-backs and immovable defence has evolved into one that can thrive on less than 50% possession. The midfield partnership of George Ford and Matt Toomua allows Leicester to react quickly in broken play and, after all the upheaval of the last few seasons, continuity has been a theme this season. Five rounds into the Premiership the director of rugby, Matt O’Connor, has made just one change in his back line, and that was enforced when...