A vicious wind and a howling reception greeted Murrayfield’s visitors but they will feel stronger for coming through bothThe forecast was that bad that on the trains north on Saturday morning they were warning passengers to abandon any plans to travel back that way on Sunday. By the time the service reached Peterborough they were promising free passage back to London for anyone who wanted to turn tail already. A couple of England fans on a corporate freebie sitting near me made it as far as York before they gave up. Even the England team rearranged their schedule so they could fly out later Saturday night, as soon as they had done what they had to do. It was one...
Classic Scottish weather should have given the home side an edge but they showed a distinct inability to make their chances count allowing England to snatch victory late onIt was 28 degrees in Cape Town on Saturday just as Stuart Hogg kicked proceedings off with the rain all but horizontal. The possibility of South Africa joining the Six Nations is an idea that clearly polarises opinion but it can be said with certainty that it presents an altogether different proposition to this.“Classic Scottish weather,” said Hogg on the eve of the match. “We’ll have a few tricks up our sleeve,” he continued. For the second week running, he and his coach, Gregor Townsend, will lament an inability to make one...
Ireland will head to Twickenham in two weeks full of confidence after defeating Wales 24-14 in DublinThree games into the new era, and Andy Farrell’s Ireland are playing for a Triple Crown. They will travel to Twickenham in a fortnight, where Farrell will send out his boys in search of the prize against his homeland, his former employers – against his son. The narrative is delicious.In the end, Storm Ciara did the right thing, holding off for just long enough to allow the home team to whip up enough turbulence themselves. In so doing, they saw off a Wales team embarking on new journeys of their own. Ciara’s stiffening winds could only assail the high south walls of the Aviva....
Eddie Jones does not have the players to simply blast through Scotland, so guile and speed will have to be to the foreEngland arrive at Murrayfield a wounded animal. There will be some bruised bodies from last weekend and no doubt some emotional scars having failed to do what they set out to do in their previous two matches. Add in the number of changes made by Eddie Jones, plus the six-day turnaround, and England’s challenge becomes all the more difficult.We have plenty of soundbites about the passion and the mutual hatred with these sides. We have heard how Eddie wants to unleash his very own “Bomb Squad” on Scotland and take them on up front but I desperately hope...
Desperation to keep games off pay-TV is holding up £300m CVC deal and there is a danger rugby union could be left behindWhen an advisory panel reviewed in 2009 the list of sporting events that had to be broadcast on terrestrial television, the Welsh Assembly submitted a proposal that the Group A list, made up of matches or tournaments that could not be sold to pay TV for live coverage, should include Wales’s home matches in the Six Nations.It argued that as the television audience for those games amounted to 65% of the population, the national interest demanded that they be kept free for all. The panel agreed and amended the Group A list accordingly in their report for the...