England players’ £25,000 match fees may take a hit in the future, according to the Rugby Football Union’s departing chief executive, Steve Brown, after the governing body announced a loss of £30.9m on Monday. Brown also admitted that an overspend on the England squad, largely as a result of a high turnover of players rather…
Month: March 2019
Shaun Edwards says defenders should be given more breakdown protection
Wales’ defence coach, Shaun Edwards, wants players who compete for turnovers at the breakdown to be given equal protection from referees as attacking players in the tackle. Edwards, who is rejoining Wigan in rugby league after next year’s World Cup, fears the move to a more open and attacking game has come at a cost…
England’s Eddie Jones admits spying on rivals in past – but has no use for it now
Eddie Jones has admitted spying on opponents in the past, but says he stopped doing so a decade ago because it had become a waste of time. Stuart Lancaster: ‘I haven’t decided if I’ll go to watch England play Ireland’ The England coach was speaking after listening to the Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa reveal…
Wales 21-13 England: Six Nations player ratings from Cardiff
Wales Liam Williams A dangerous runner from deep but made effective contributions in defence too, not least in the air. Wales’s best back. 9 George North We take a collective breath when he is on the ball but struggled to escape shackles. No weaknesses exposed by England though. 7 Jonathan Davies A classy operator. Plays…
England’s Owen Farrell and his gang of enforcers steamroller France
This Six Nations is starting to feel like a slasher flick, with England ticking off their victims one by one. They are taking bloody revenge on everyone who beat them in 2018, Ireland last weekend and now France. This was another pitiless performance. The idea France might surprise them, and everyone else, was shattered in…
Billy Vunipola faces three-month absence after surgery on broken left arm
Billy Vunipola, who has started only three of England’s past 19 Tests, will miss the four-match series at Twickenham next month after breaking his left arm at Glasgow on Sunday. The Saracens No 8 will have surgery on Tuesday and is expected to be out of action for 12 weeks. Last January he fractured his…
Owen Farrell escapes being cited over André Esterhuizen tackle
Owen Farrell has been cleared to face New Zealand on Saturday after escaping punishment for his controversial tackle in England’s dramatic victory over South Africa, handing Eddie Jones a major boost before his side’s long-awaited Twickenham showdown with the All Blacks. World Rugby confirmed on Sunday night Farrell has not been cited for his tackle…
‘Doing a Freddie’ is the sure way to make yourself a pantomime villain
At least Freddie Burns is in good company. Virtually every sport, at some stage, has produced a fall guy whose ill-advised showboating has gone viral and reminded us all of the value of humility. For Burns read Leon Lett of the Dallas Cowboys, guilty of a similar error in the 1993 Super Bowl, or the…
Ireland Women ready to tackle England’s professionals in Six Nations
Ireland women’s team will not be overawed by England when they face them in their Six Nations opener in Dublin on Friday, coach Adam Griggs has said. England, who won seven successive Six Nations titles from 2006, gave 28 players contracts this month but Griggs said his players cannot be worried about the disparity and…
Rugby union: talking points from the European Champions Cup
Pool 1: Leinster facing competition from resurgent Toulouse The two most successful sides in the tournament’s history are in charge of the pool. Much is made of the regular rest given to Ireland’s leading players but it seemed to contribute to Leinster’s slow start at a pumped-up Bath. Outmanoeuvred at the breakdown and with Johnny…