Bristol’s first season back in the Premiership is likely to have a significant bearing on whether the top flight is ring-fenced, according to the Rugby Football Union. The big-spending Bears begin their campaign against Bath on Friday and the RFU’s director of professional rugby, Nigel Melville, believes an immediate return to the Championship would push…
Month: March 2019
Eddie Jones’s England formula looking good despite All Blacks defeat
Eagerly awaited Tests do not always live up to their billing. This was different: a belter from start to (another) contentious finish, a sporting event to nourish the soul. Both sides deserved credit for rising above the sodden conditions and contributing to an occasion as rich, in every sense, as any the old cabbage patch…
No limit to height Ireland can reach after historic win against All Blacks
Officially the rankings say otherwise but right now Irish rugby is on top of the world. Even more impressive than Saturday night’s historic first home win over New Zealand in 113 years was the manner of it: tactically brilliant, precision engineered and physically relentless. It is hard to think of a more complete performance by…
Andy Farrell can make England wince when Schmidt’s era ends for Ireland
For the Rugby Football Union every syllable of the press release announcing Andy Farrell as Ireland’s next head coach will sting indefinitely. Had England not crashed out of their home Rugby World Cup in the 2015 pool stages, Farrell would probably still be at Twickenham and modern rugby history might look very different. Talk about…
Christian Wade’s exit hints at a future where only bulk will matter
Click:Pyramid tea bag machine People love rugby union for different reasons. Some relish the contact, the physical challenge, the survival-of-the-fittest mentality. Others cherish the ethos of unselfishness, the camaraderie and the dressing‑room humour. Spending an entire 80 minutes with one’s head, for example, wedged between two large pairs of buttocks encourages a perspective about fellowship…
Co-captain Owen Farrell helps navigate England through choppy waters
Eddie Jones recently explained that Owen Farrell is not the kind of player to be wrapped in cotton wool. He may want to think again. If this victory, ultimately comprehensive but anything but comfortable, told us anything it is that England’s reliance on Farrell remains almost total; going into next year’s World Cup without him…
Premiership will not move play-off final to accommodate Lions’ training
Premiership Rugby will not bring its play-off final in 2021 forward to allow the British & Irish Lions to train for a week before flying out to South Africa, but its chief executive, Mark McCafferty, says English clubs were not trying to squeeze the tourists out of the fixture schedule. Future Lions tours will be…
Wales will hit emotional peak for England game, says Ken Owens
Click:minimalist fashion Wales’s experienced players will ensure Warren Gatland’s Six Nations pacesetters reach their emotional peak at the start of Saturday’s crunch match against England in Cardiff, not days before, says their 60-cap, veteran hooker, Ken Owens. Wales are looking for a record 12th consecutive victory but they have not beaten England in the Six…
Warren Gatland full of confidence while Brunel tries to engineer French revival
As Warren Gatland was using the Six Nations launch to make a case for Wales winning the title, France’s head coach shrugged his shoulders when asked what his side’s prospects were for a first title since 2010. When the two sides open the tournament at the Stade de France on Friday night, in one corner…
Sports quiz of the week: a birthday present, a record and a whiskey cup
People listened to the radio instead as Barack Obama was doing guest commentary Fans boycotted because a dubious refereeing decision ruled out their team Only 98.2 million people watched the Super Bowl, the smallest TV audience in a decade. Donald Trump was in the city so people were out protesting The main broadcast company mistakenly…