Ireland are the favourites to win the 2017 tournament but face competition from England, with Scotland an outside betRobert Kitson Ireland. Hard to see them folding at home to England on the final weekend with a potential title and Lions tour berths up for grabs. Related: Eddie Jones has match fitness problems in England pack for France opener Related: Wales ask to play all Six Nations home games under closed Cardiff roof Continue reading...
Rugby union has always evolved but with many problems and questions unresolved it feels unsettled at present. The sport is changing but into what?On Friday 13 January, Ian Ritchie, the chief executive of the Rugby Football Union, met the press in the Members Lounge in the West Stand at Twickenham. Ritchie wanted in particular to talk about the three artificial grass pitches the RFU paid to have laid in Aylesbury, Preston, and Weston-super-Mare, the first of a hundred such around the country.In the end he fielded questions about the negotiations over the new international calendar and whether the RFU wanted to reduce the number of games professionals are playing, concussion protocols; the injury to George North and the decision not...
When Les Bleus face England at Twickenham, imagine a pack with terrifying power and a clever set of midfield backs, running instinctively brilliant linesHere are some names to conjure with: Serge Blanco, Denis Charvet, Philippe Sella, Didier Codorniou, Jean-Baptiste Lafond. Here are some more: Jean-Pierre Rives, Walter Spanghero, Gérard Cholley, Robert Paparemborde, Jean-Pierre Bastiat. All retired players from a distant era, perhaps, but simply writing them down is enough to make you want to rise instantly from your desk, sing La Marseillaise at full volume and launch a hunt for a live cockerel.For those of us from the opposite side of the Channel there was never any doubt about the most breathless fixture in the old Five Nations. True, whenever...
The Wales openside is set to relinquish the captaincy to Alun Wyn Jones and is under increasing pressure to justify his place in the side for the Six Nations. But a perception that his powers have diminished is not necessarily fairThe announcement of Wales’s Six Nations squad on Tuesday has been overshadowed by speculation that Sam Warburton, who has led the side since 2011, would be relinquishing the position before it was snatched away. The armband is set to be given to the second row Alun Wyn Jones, a 31-year old warrior whose relish for battle is undimmed by time.The captaincy issue sums up the transitional period Wales are going through. It is more to do with style than personnel...
The hooker can have no complaint at his six-week ban given his poor disciplinary record and the fact that rugby is cracking down on tackles to the headRugby has always been a game of sliding doors. What if Dylan Hartley had started for Northampton in the Champions’ Cup game against Leinster last Friday night, rather than steaming in off the bench with a point to prove? Would he have administered a swinging arm to the head of Sean O’Brien in a Test-match arena, where his recent disciplinary record is good? Would there have been as much fuss if he was not the current England captain and a potential contender for Lions captain?Questions, questions. What we do know is that Hartley...