A play-off final involving the winner of the Rugby Europe Championship could help to bring new fans to the sportLate on Saturday night in Edinburgh’s Old Town as we walked back to our hotel, the strains of a familiar tune floated past on the chill, gusty breeze. In the pub around the corner they were still having a grand old time and a loud rendition of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” was in full swing. Travelling revellers, fellowship, simple pleasures: if you were to bottle the essence of the Six Nations it was right there.The opening weekend of rugby was enjoyable, too, give or take the inclement weather. The grounds were sold out and the singing of the anthems was...
The quality may never have been higher and revenues dwarf those of the World Cup – no wonder South Africa wants to joinHuman beings have a troublesome relationship with statistics. Them and damned lies. The wise treat them with caution, but only a fool, alas, dismisses these numbers as worthless. The hysterical, meanwhile, react extravagantly to whatever they find at the end of their nose and co-opt whichever statistics support their hysteria.This Six Nations has been hailed already as the most competitive and deliciously anticipated in the history of the world, ever. “It says behind me: ‘Rugby’s Greatest Championship,’” said Eddie Jones last week, in front of the mandatory branding, “and I think it is that now by a country...
With the Twickenham crowd screaming at the end of a helter-skelter game, the England fly-half was the calmest man around to slot the match-winning penaltyAnd Eddie said it wasn’t about revenge. You could have fooled me in the final hectic moments of this helter-skelter game, when all the Twickenham crowd was up on its feet and screaming, while the players down below set about each other, pushing and shoving in the rush of blood, everyone desperate to stake their claim on the game. There were two points in it then, and less than a minute left to play. And from the middle of all this chaos, out stepped Marcus Smith, to line up the match-winning kick. It was only 25...
The Springboks fought hard but were unable to dominate the contest in the way they did two years ago in the World Cup finalSo much of the buildup this week recalled the events of 2 November 2019 in Yokohama. Back then, the Springbok pack scrummed England off the park, laying an indomitable foundation from which they controlled the game. When England’s backs got a sniff of the ball the South Africa defenders held the line like Spartans at Thermopylae.For the first 20 minutes of Saturday’s contest the opposite was true. England’s outside backs regularly outmanoeuvred the Springbok rush defence, scoring tries in either corner by sucking in the peripheral wing. Kyle Sinckler, so cruelly injured in the opening exchanges of...
England’s bullish head coach has dipped into his pick ‘n’ mix in a bid to handle the world champions’ heavy-duty forward packMuch has changed since Eddie Jones last named a team to face South Africa. Back in 2019 he was in a packed hotel ballroom in Tokyo awaiting a Rugby World Cup final that, ultimately, did not remotely pan out the way he planned. Two Covid-disrupted years on he is stuck on Zoom and admits he still awakes in the morning reflecting on the Springboks’ convincing 32-12 triumph in Japan.Which is perhaps why, before Saturday’s Twickenham Test, Jones chose to lay down as bullish a pre-match challenge to an opposing side as he has for some time. “Post the World...