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...
Once again England – Jonny May apart – could not respond in adversity and the feeling that they are being over-managed and natural talent suppressed is never far awayIt’s a new chapter for France and the goal is 2023. They are going to have some growing pains along the way but at the start of a difficult voyage you often get off to a good start. It gives you confidence for the journey to follow.In his book, The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho calls it the principle of favourability or, in simpler terms, beginner’s luck. Maybe because I believe in that, it came so readily to my mind as I watched on at the Stade de France and saw the game unfold....
Eddie Jones made a selection mistake, Ireland count the cost of their bruising win and Wales start the post-Gatland era brightlyHowever Eddie Jones hoped England’s back row was going to go, it didn’t. The decision to pick Tom Curry out of position to cover for Billy Vunipola cost them twice over, because it meant they didn’t get the best out of their star flanker and also lacked a real ball-carrying threat at No 8. He has options, since Ben Earl and Lewis Ludlam are both in the squad and can cover the position, but given that he could have had one of Alex Dombrandt, Sam Simmonds, or Nathan Hughes playing there instead it might be time to admit he got...