Rugby has much to build on after a thrilling year but clarity on calendars and wages is needed plus more attacking gameplans1. At the very top of my agenda for the new year is a commitment to everyone involved in the game in this country to build on the excellent work done by England at the World Cup. We saw a spike in terms of welcoming more people into the game after 2003 but what I really want to see is a greater diversity of people coming into rugby. I’ve said it plenty of times before because it is something I’m really passionate about but a third of the England squad in Japan were from BAME backgrounds. On the back...
Ben Stokes produced two match-winning innings but Dina Asher-Smith made history and Lewis Hamilton got title No 6Stride by stride, second by second, Dina Asher-Smith had a 2019 for the ages. To win one world athletics medal would have been staggering enough. To become the first Briton to leave with three from the same championships was a monumental statement of intent. Best of all was her 200m gold in 21.88sec, a time so fast it smashed her national record and made her the first British woman to win a global sprint title. Further silvers in the 100m and 4x100m highlighted the potential for more glory at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. No wonder Sebastian Coe has predicted she will be the...
Gavin Hensons indignation at the New Zealand-born centres call-up is understandable, but Wales are doing nothing different to what they and other top nations have practised for yearsThis week should have been one of the high points in Willis Halaholos career having been named in Wales squad to face the Barbarians in Cardiff on Saturday. Instead it is one of the lowest after the centre was ruled out for probably the rest of the season by a knee injury sustained during Cardiff Blues defeat by Leicester in the Challenge Cup at the Arms Park, a dismal match on a dank night.Halaholo, like the Scarlets full-back Johnny McNicholl, qualifies for Wales on residency having joined the Blues in 2016 from the...
England will rely on Owen Farrell’s pragmatism to topple Beauden Barrett’s New Zealand while Wales flanker Justin Tipuric will be out to stop flying Bok wing Makazole MapimpiIt can all be cart before the horse in the days preceding such big games as we await the World Cup semi-finals in Japan. Coaches take to front and centre – some by choice, others by the path of convention and process. Perhaps it’s mindgames to distract their opponents or perhaps to allow players the shelter before the show. However, if those coaches have got their planning and peaking right then they will slowly step back into the shadows and it will be their players that step into the limelight. Related: South Africa’s...
England sticking to strengths against Australia; Ireland need to find old form to beat New Zealand; Wales must stop France momentum; South Africa could end Japan’s adventureEddie Jones has picked a team with England’s Six Nations win in Dublin in mind. If Jones has a blueprint for precisely how he wants his team to play, that is the closest they have come to it since he took charge. Related: Ben Youngs urges England to attack from the start against Australia Related: Wales boosted by return of big guns for quarter-final clash with France Continue reading...