They are champions, but the real business awaits at Twickenham. Ireland went through that curious half-climax on Saturday of winning a title dressed in suits in a stadium, willing on others to secure them the booty. It is not quite the experience red of tooth and claw that sportsmen crave, in the moment and on…
Month: March 2019
Leinster’s Devin Toner primed to take advantage in Saracens combat zone
Saracens, who retained the Champions Cup last season, face Leinster in Dublin on Sunday cast in the unfamiliar role of underdogs, having crawled into the last eight through the cat flap after results went for them in the final pool matches. Of the eight matches between English and Irish teams in the 2015-16 Champions Cup…
Welsh rugby league has a remarkable past – and a promising future
It is not often a documentary about rugby league gets major coverage in our national newspapers and a primetime slot on BBC One on a Sunday evening. The Rugby Codebreakers deserved to be watched by a national audience. It was up there with ESPN’s feted 30 for 30 series. This was brilliant television, about rugby…
Paul Gustard’s move to Harlequins may hurt England’s World Cup preparations
Click: England’s World Cup preparations have been thrown into turmoil with their defence coach, Paul Gustard, leaving Eddie Jones’s coaching staff to become Harlequins’ head of rugby. It is believed Gustard will see out his duties on next month’s tour of South Africa before vacating his role as one of Jones’s key assistants only 15…
London Sevens offered a perfect template for rugby league nines
Around 50,000 people went to a rugby event last Saturday. They all seemed to have a ball, cheering, singing, drinking and eating. It would be a surprise if a thousand knew more than a couple of the players and many would have been hard pushed by the end to tell you any of the scores….
Pressure mounts on England’s Eddie Jones to rediscover his touch
Losing the odd game of rugby is an occupational hazard but, as Eddie Jones knows all too well, it can become a habit. Thirteen years ago Jones led Australia to eight defeats in nine games, including two in eight days at altitude against the Springboks, and duly lost his job. England’s barren stretch has yet…
Owen Watkin swaggers into Warren Gatland’s free-running Wales reboot
Mum has not been the word in the Wales camp in the build-up to Sunday’s Mother’s Day match against Italy at the Principality Stadium, a sideshow involving the also-rans or, in the case of the Azzurri so far, nonstarters. “I would like to think we could win quite comfortably,” says the Wales centre Owen Watkin,…
Pressure increases on Australian women’s sevens team after 46-0 hammering by Kiwis
Click:cnc shops near me Leaders Australia face major soul searching ahead of the women’s Sevens World Series finale after being on the end of a record 46-0 thrashing from arch-rivals New Zealand in Canada. Both teams went into the final on Vancouver Island unbeaten but the Kiwis ran riot, scoring eight tries and scarcely allowing…
State of the rugby nations: Guardian writers’ verdicts on the June Tests
(World rankings as of Mon 25 June; ups and downs calculated from Mon 28 May) 1 New Zealand ◀ ▶ Lethal in the second halves of the first and third Test but on the surface hard to gauge considering the hands France were dealt. Julian Savea’s confirmed move to Toulon (he is out of favour…
Dylan Hartley the latest doubt as injury-hit England prepare to face France
England have been hit by multiple injury problems before their Six Nations match against France on Saturday with doubts over Dylan Hartley’s fitness chief among them. The captain has a tight calf and will be continually assessed before Eddie Jones names his team on Thursday but his absence would be a considerable blow for England,…