France engineered a 20-18 victory in Paris but at what price when considering the livid bite mark on the left arm of Wales’ George North?We could have another bloodgate on our hands. Whether one believes Dean Richards’s misdemeanour was the vilest crime perpetrated against a trusting world or just another storm in a teacup, the fact is it came with a three-year ban – and there is little to distinguish it from the manoeuvre France appear to have engineered in Paris. What is more, unlike Harlequins’ fast one, France’s worked in the most dramatic of circumstances.Damien Chouly’s try, at the end of the 100th minute of a game that seemed as if it would never end, secured France the win...
Billy Vunipola’s return should boost England, while Ireland are likely to struggle without Conor Murray and France may be distracted by domestic mattersThe significance of Billy Vunipola’s return for England cannot be overstated. Not only does he lift those around him, he also brings formidable carrying that Eddie Jones’s side lacked in the early stages of the competition. As the Championship has worn on, however, Maro Itoje has grown into his role at blindside flanker and Courtney Lawes now finds himself in his best ever international form. Itoje and Lawes swap at scrum time and so you could argue Lawes is effectively playing at No6, regardless of the number on his back. His carrying was relentless against Scotland and while...
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...
Robbie Henshaw’s blunder leaves Ireland hoping to merely be killjoys in Dublin, but despite their win Wales still have plenty to prove in ParisAfter suffering successive championship defeats to Wales in Cardiff for the first time in 34 years, Ireland go into the final round of matches next Saturday in the position they were in 2011 – out to stop England winning the grand slam rather than tilting for the title.There will be no winner-takes-all showdown at the Aviva Stadium between the two sides expected to dominate the Lions squad this summer as a season that started with the loudest of statements as the All Blacks were beaten in Chicago threatens to end in mute disappointment. Related: George North’s two...
England’s replacements may prove key, while Wales are grappling with problems of their own making as Italy scent an upsetRob Howley increasingly cuts the figure of a man damned if he does and in a similar predicament if he does not. His team selection – Wales are unchanged from their defeat in Scotland – has been widely criticised but he does not have a huge amount of options at his disposal. That, however, is the crux of the problem. Wales are fearful of finishing the tournament with two defeats that could well mean they slip out of the top eight in the world and face another treacherous World Cup pool. Hence Howley’s refusal to experiment against Ireland. That then raises...