England must improvise, France and Scotland can thrill, Ireland need drive, Wales will focus on results and Italy look to youthThe champions are the favourites despite being without five leading forwards for part or all of the tournament, but the last time England won in Cardiff and Dublin in the same campaign was in 2003, when Eddie Jones was coaching that year’s World Cup hosts, Australia. Continue reading...
Former England full-back is backing the Sporting Memories Foundation that helps those with dementia by talking about sport with themThe Six Nations approaches and, with it, the annual rip tide of memories. Can it really be 50 years ago this weekend, for example, since Wales beat Scotland at Murrayfield courtesy of “the greatest conversion since St Paul” by a bushy haired, bearded John Taylor? Or 45 years since JPR Williams’s old-school shoulder charge on the French wing Jean-François Gourdon that helped yield another Welsh grand slam? Unforgettable moments.They are also the foundation stones upon which today’s tournament rests. It can sometimes be easier to remember Taylor’s finest hour – the highlights of that 1971 game are as evocative as the...
After the sterile Autumn Nations Cup, low-risk rugby union has to be ditched in order to win over fresh convertsThe Six Nations starts less than two months after the conclusion of the kick-and-chase festival that called itself the Autumn Nations Cup. The sterile environments in empty stadiums stripped heat and passion from matches, but the general unwillingness to run from deep was not a symptom of Covid-19 but the continuation of a trend towards defence and low risk.Even the Scotland head coach, Gregor Townsend, who as a player was known for his daring and invention, said he did not think style was important and that the best way to give supporters a lift was to win. He felt the lack...
Emphasis on physicality and defensive kicking unlikely to provide much relief for viewers of this year’s championship International rugby, as Danny Cipriani reflected last week, has become a war of attrition and territory, a physical grind that repudiates risk and makes for dull viewing. All that threatens to be unpredictable about the looming Six Nations is whether it will go ahead in its entirety, with the French government concerned about exposing its citizens to the Covid-19 variant that has boosted transmission rates in the UK and Ireland.The championship will be mentally and physically demanding for players who for eight weeks will largely remain with their squads, housed in a bubble and unable to leave their hotel without permission, even for...
The Rugby Football Union celebrates its 150th birthday and the Six Nations champions will want to deliver a fitting tributeCandle manufacturers in the Twickenham area have never had it so good. The Rugby Football Union, the oldest international rugby body in the world, is celebrating the 150th anniversary of its formation this year and the big birthday will be marked by the wearing of a special-edition vintage kit against Scotland early next month.It was the Scots who provided the opposition for the first international fixture ever played, on the cricket field at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh on 27 March 1871, which also produced England’s first defeat. In those days games were played on a Monday and the teams consisted of...