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…
Author: THEJOHNANTONIOBLOG
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…
England’s Six Nations squad has tools to be hard, direct and ruthless
Given the option of beating Ireland in a fortnight’s time or winning the Rugby World Cup there is absolutely no doubt which Eddie Jones would choose. The more interesting question is to what extent will England’s prospects in Japan be shaped by the 2019 Six Nations? Forecasting imminent world domination is tougher if your team…
Premiership: Newcastle rob Saints late on, Gloucester climb to third
Dean Richards conceded Newcastle had pulled off “a robbery” after their last-gasp 16-14 win at Northampton, while Johan Ackermann called for more from his Gloucester players, despite a convincing 36-16 home victory against Worcester. At Franklin’s Gardens, Mark Wilson scored in the 86th minute to level the game at 14-14, with Toby Flood converting the…
Eddie Jones: ‘New Zealand will always expect to win. It’s in their blood’
As Eddie Jones was keen to stress, there is a big difference between knowing how to beat New Zealand and actually doing it. “It’s not like Pythagoras’s theorem,” he said on Monday. “I don’t think there’s any magic formula.” True, but never before have England had so much inside information on the All Blacks at…
Pat Lam moved by ‘vision’ to deliver on Bristol’s ambitious spending
At this time of year the action on the field cannot begin quickly enough. The word is that the coming season will be slicker, shinier and in higher definition than the last – more vibrant, more exciting, more competitive than ever – new sponsors, same spiel but, as Pat Lam prepares to begin his Premiership…