Denny Solomona’s rugby union career is only 18 months old but it has, to put it mildly, been eventful. He has scored 21 tries in 28 Premiership matches for Sale after terminating his contract with rugby league’s Castleford, which cost the Sharks a reported £300,000 in compensation and legal fees, marked his debut for England…
Author: THEJOHNANTONIOBLOG
Saracens head to Exeter with more than just revenge on their minds
For Jackson Wray and his Saracens team-mates, Sunday’s trip to Exeter could be viewed as an opportunity for payback against the team that knocked them out in May’s play-off semi-finals with a last-minute try. But after last Sunday’s 28-20 defeat by Leicester at Allianz Park, the team’s focus is more in the moment. “We were…
Ireland to face Italy at Soldier Field as part of Chicago November triple-header
Ireland will return to Soldier Field in Chicago, the scene of their first and only win over the All Blacks, to face Italy on 3 November. Washington DC team to enter Major League Rugby ‘no later’ than 2020 The game will be part of a triple-header at the same venue, supported by a women’s international…
Johnny Sexton hails Ireland’s ‘incredible’ defence under Andy Farrell
Ireland were forced to cancel their planned homecoming in Dublin on Sunday because of the adverse weather but it will take more than that to dampen the celebrations after securing only a third grand slam in their history. For the defence coach, Andy Farrell, the manner in which it was achieved makes it all the sweeter….
Dan Biggar’s oxygen chamber regime to breathe new life into Wales
Dan Biggar has clambered out of an oxygen chamber to try to breathe life into Wales’s Six Nations title challenge. The Northampton-bound fly-half has made an earlier than expected return from a shoulder injury to face Ireland in Dublin on Saturday. Biggar will be up against Johnny Sexton, his Lions colleague in New Zealand last…
Springboks rejuvenated before England tour after Rassie Erasmus shake-up
The Springboks’ 2007 World Cup winning coach, Jake White, wrote a recent column in which his optimism over South Africa’s series at home to England was clear. He concluded: “Now the braai talk is: ‘Why didn’t Adriaan Strauss get picked?’ which is a big change from: ‘Why did we pick Adriaan Strauss!?’” It may seem…
Jonny May reveals England change in training for France
England have reacted to the unfamiliar taste of defeat by changing their routine in training to reward outstanding performances rather than highlight failure in the lead-up to the match against France in Paris on Saturday. Jonny May revealed that England’s analysts have changed the way they measure the performances of players in training, focusing on…
Danny Cipriani could make his England comeback in full-back role
Danny Cipriani could make his first England appearance under Eddie Jones in the No 15 jersey after he was named among the full-backs in the squad to face the Barbarians on Sunday. Nathan Hughes will also get the chance to stake a claim for the South Africa tour after he and Cipriani were among six losing…
Cardiff v Gloucester final throws up memories of mud and punches
Retro is in for football’s World Cup this summer. A number of kits pay homage to the past and, if rugby union is not getting nostalgic for a time when the game tended to be played on dilapidated mudflats, this Friday night will see the resumption of one of the game’s most historic fixtures. Cardiff…
Jefferson Poirot: ‘We were optimistic even before Scotland beat England’
With the surname Poirot it was perhaps inevitable that France’s loose-head prop would develop a heightened interest in using “the little grey cells”. Front-rows have definitely changed. While it is 36 years since the England prop Colin Smart was infamously tricked into swilling aftershave at the post-match banquet in Paris, the thoughtful Jefferson Poirot explains…