Billy Vunipola’s hopes of an injury‑free end to the season have suffered another setback after the Saracens No 8 pulled up with a hamstring problem at training on Wednesday, having only just returned to action after a broken arm ruled him out of the Six Nations. Sale deny interest in signing trial pair Paddy Jackson…
Author: THEJOHNANTONIOBLOG
Dave Attwood: ‘Compulsory counselling for long-term injuries would remove stigma’
Dave Attwood felt like a fraud. He has given nearly seven years of service to Bath and is aware he was not thinking rationally, but day-to-day involvement without the release at weekends – and a series of aborted comebacks – left him emotionally exhausted by his chronic knee injury. “You feel like you’ve got a…
HR McMaster on rugby: ‘The warrior ethos is what a good team has’
“I didn’t get to see much of the Six Nations,” HR McMaster says with a dry laugh. “I was kinda busy.” He today that sheds his blood with me: when West Point rugby went to war Until 22 March, five days after Ireland beat England to win a grand slam, McMaster was Donald Trump’s national…
Scotland snatch Six Nations victory over Italy with late Greig Laidlaw penalty
Italy must be starting to wonder what they need to do to beat Scotland. They played most of the better rugby and were leading with less than two minutes to go but, just as they have done before against the Scots, surrendered a late kick. Greig Laidlaw’s penalty cost the Italians the game this time….
Indecision, spats and flogged players – England crumble under Eddie Jones
The Eddie Jones era has been nothing if not educational for the Rugby Football Union. The idea was to hire the world’s most experienced coach, shower him in cash and then sit back and watch him reel in the 2019 World Cup. The only thing Jones will be catching between now and Christmas, at this…
Ellis Genge: ‘I was a lot angrier when I was 18 than I am now’
Ellis Genge wants to set the record straight. The Leicester and England prop does not care for statistics but one in particular has caught his eye. Genge often treads the line between confrontational and combustible – “He’s more bark than bite,” said his head coach, Matt O’Connor, recently – but the 23-year-old feels his reputation…
Joe Schmidt sets sights on grand slam after Ireland secure Six Nations title
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…
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…