England, Ireland and Wales are among the throng pushing to challenge New Zealand as the World Cup enters crunch timeNormal service has been resumed. After the surreal scenes of the All Blacks not being No 1 (Wales were, then Ireland!) they enter the quarter‑finals back at the top of the rankings, rated by the bookies as twice as likely to win the tournament as the second favourites. Don’t be so sure. It goes without saying they remain the best when on form, but that cancelled game might well be more of a hindrance to them than anyone, given that their last meaningful fixture will have been four weeks before their quarter‑final against Ireland. At least Italy would have been semi-meaningful....
Brave Blossoms proved their ability in the most difficult circumstances with a ferocious performance against ScotlandIt was a short silence, scarcely a minute, but there was so much in it. All the swirling, clashing, contradictory emotions of a match unlike any other that’s ever been played, just hours after Typhoon Hagabis had blown through Japan, while the floodwaters were still high around the ground, the rescue work not finished, the repair work not even begun. No one was even sure exactly who, or how many, the silence was for. They were still counting the victims, and had been all day. At dawn the tally was four, then it climbed to nine. By the time they started the game it was...
We do need to keep games of rugby in perspective but if Sunday’s Pool A decider goes the way of England v France then the knockout stage will be underminedFirstly, some perspective. There are people living in the suburbs of Tokyo who still do not have electricity due to the typhoon that hit a month ago. Lives were lost and houses were destroyed. Hagibis, which has caused so much disruption to the World Cup schedule, is more than three times the size of the last one.Let’s put rugby to one side for a second. We’re all here living in this micro-bubble of the Rugby World Cup but in three or four weeks we pack our bags and go home. There...
England may have lost the plot at Twickenham but grand slam winners could write another happy endingHow quickly modern rugby’s wheel of fortune spins. A few weeks ago Ireland were an irresistible force, enjoying such critical acclaim that back-to-back Six Nations grand slams seemed possible. Early last month it was England who were basking in the light, to borrow Billy Bragg’s classic line, of the 15 fame-filled minutes of the fanzine writer. And now? The 2019 Six Nations music is stopping with Wales gloriously on top. Related: No doubting that Warren Gatland’s Wales deserve their grand slam | Robert Kitson Related: Eddie Jones puts pressure on ‘tired’ Wales in push for Six Nations title Related: Alun Wyn Jones the pain-defying...
High-class defence and rare stamina make Wales second in the world and leave their Six Nations rivals struggling in their wakeThere is no such thing as an accidental grand slam. Winning five games on the trot in testing conditions against reliably motivated opposition does not merely require skill and nerve but, crucially, rare stamina. Anyone questioning Wales’s status as true five-star champions underestimates the uniquely treacherous climb they have just completed.Yes, Six Nations slam dunks are more frequent than they used to be but this was widely predicted in advance to be the most dog-eat-dog championship of all time. A supposedly impregnable Ireland had just beaten the All Blacks, England began like a bullet train in Dublin and by half-time...