The team heading to Dublin seeking consecutive grand slams for the first time in 25 years ‘could become the best England side ever’, believes Peter WinterbottomBack-to-back grand slams take some winning. The last time England managed the feat was in 1992, the heyday of Will Carling, Peter Winterbottom, Dean Richards, Jeremy Guscott, Rory Underwood et al, which shows the exalted company Dylan Hartley’s team are trying to join. If they do defeat Ireland on Saturday to complete a second successive full house, their achievement will stand history’s definitive test.Even a quarter of a century later, the class of ’92 can still recall every little detail of their fabled campaign. They had great players but, then as now, were bruised by...
The theory was that Eddie Jones’ side would be weighed down by hunting a win milestone but it is Ireland who have so far failed to deal with Six Nations pressureIn the gap between rounds three and four of this Six Nations Championship, the former Ireland centre Gordon D’Arcy put together an interesting column in the Irish Times on the pressure weighing down England. Related: Ireland fail to set up showdown while Wales must convince against France | Paul Rees Related: George Ford says England are in no mood to ease up against Ireland Continue reading...
New Zealand’s superior statistics in their 18-game winning run do not deter England’s Eddie Jones from insisting his team aspire to end up as world No1Back in the early 1980s, there were few more futile things a man could do than try to pursue a career in competitive squash. Because to be the best, you had to beat Jahangir Khan. And between April 1981 and November 1986 Khan won so many consecutive matches that even statisticians lost track of the exact count. Most figure it was around 555, making it the longest winning streak in the history of sport. “It wasn’t my plan to create such a record,” Khan once said. “All I did was put in the effort to...
Under Eddie Jones the defending champions have run away with a tournament that was expected to be the most competitive for yearsIt is easy to forget this was supposed to be the most open Six Nations in years. England, by retaining their title with a week to spare, have already cantered up the hill like a runaway Cheltenham Gold Cup favourite, leaving several notable records in their wake. Another grandstand finish in Dublin and they can enter the special enclosure reserved for the most elite of champions.This was hardly Scottish rugby’s proudest weekend but, by anyone’s standards, the ruthlessness with which England carved up their stricken old rivals to equal their highest Calcutta Cup winning margin was impressive. Challenged to...
Dropped against Italy, the centre returned to deliver stiletto blows to Scotland and earn a standing ovation in England’s Six Nations title triumphThree minutes past the last, England were still playing. They had nothing to gain now, except seven points on top of the 54 they had already scored. But they still had something to prove, to Eddie Jones, who rode them hard in the previous week, and to everyone who watched them against Italy, Wales, and France and wondered whether they were good enough to win this Six Nations, or worthy rivals to the world’s No1 side, New Zealand, whose record of 18 consecutive victories they have now equalled.So they kept running at the Scots, moving the ball back...