England showed pride and resilience after Charlie Ewels’ early red card to push Ireland all the way before falling to a 32-15 lossSo it wasn’t one of the great victories. But it may just go down as one of the great defeats. The game should have been as good as over before it had even really started, cut short by a red card after Charlie Ewels’ reckless tackle on James Ryan.The crowd didn’t like it, and booed long and loudly after Mathieu Raynal made the decision. But of course the referee was right. The fans’ frustration overwhelmed everything they’ve learned in the last few years about the long-term consequences of those kinds of collisions. But really, all that knowledge about...
The Six Nations leaders were pushed all the way by Wales’s rejigged pack and their bitterest enemies will have taken noteAnother step negotiated by New France, as they progress to their own World Cup next year – and, before that, a date with their bitterest enemy, everyone’s bitterest enemy in rugby’s small world, England in Paris next weekend.Another successful step there, and a grand slam will be theirs, a first since 2010, a first title since 2010, a dozen years, long and barren. That said, this notion that France are in a different class to les autres suffered a few cracks. Continue reading...
The danger of head injuries is clear, but enforcing regulations can lead to a farce such as that seen in Ireland v ItalyEveryone who enjoys rugby union will have winced at some stage over the weekend. For many it will have been the moment when Italy’s admirable captain, Michele Lamaro, discovered his team would, by the dispiriting letter of the law, have to soldier on with 13 men for an hour against one of the world’s top sides. Alternatively, it might have been the footage of a staggering Tomas Francis rejoining the fray at Twickenham having exhibited precisely the kind of ataxia symptoms that should see players permanently removed.Or maybe it was the frequent long stoppages in both games. Or...
Eddie Jones’s side managed to hold on for the win against Wales without the powerful centre but whether they can continue to do so in the Six Nations and beyond is uncertainNot for the first time this Six Nations, Eddie Jones was left lamenting a lack of ruthlessness from his side following a nail-biting victory against Wales. It is a word he has used often of late – clinical being another – but so far England have not been able to display enough of a cutting edge in attack to suggest they will finish top of the pile. They remain in the hunt for the title after keeping Wales’s second‑half fightback at bay but it seems clear that improvements must...
Eddie Jones’s side are a perpetual work in progress but remain in title contention with two games left – at least on paperIt used to be painting the Forth Bridge which was considered the ultimate in never-ending jobs. These days it is the England rugby team, a work in progress for so long that people have almost forgotten what the original timescale was meant to be. There are some weekends, and this was another of them, when it also feels as if Tracey Emin’s unmade bed might be the secret artistic inspiration for Eddie Jones’s still-ongoing project.Nothing is ever finished with Jones, regardless of the evidence available. “It’s got no ceiling,” he insisted on Saturday night on the subject of...