These are grim times for Australia. Outfought and outthought at the fag-end of a trying season, their annus horribilis ended in dismal fashion. The numbers tell the story – six straight defeats by England, nine losses in 2018 and their worst calendar year for more than half a century. Michael Cheika had called for some…
Author: THEJOHNANTONIOBLOG
London Irish to leave Madejski and share with Brentford at new stadium
London Irish will play their home games at the new Brentford Community Stadium from 2020. The Championship leaders have reached an agreement with Brentford Football Club to play at the west London stadium, which is currently under construction and will have a capacity of 17,250. It is due to open in 2020. ‘He doesn’t play…
Katy Daley-Mclean helps England over line after Canada revival
England’s women, who had blown the USA away in a gale nine days earlier, were forced to dig deeper in the sunshine in Doncaster on Sunday. The Red Roses left the white rose county with a second victory of their three-match autumn series but Canada, ranked fourth in the world, threatened an upset on the…
George North try sparks Wales victory over Scotland in Doddie Weir Cup
Another Wales-Scotland match in Cardiff, another Wales win. This, the 10th such victory in a row, will resonate least of the recent run, sneaked in at an unfamiliar time of year, the selections compromised, the motives suspect. The really important matter lay beyond rugby. The match will be remembered for the inauguration of the Doddie…
Ireland’s Jordan Larmour overwhelms Italy with Chicago hat-trick
The Ireland full-back Jordan Larmour scored a hat-trick of tries and the lock Tadhg Beirne two as Joe Schmidt’s side hammered Italy 54-7 in Chicago. Schmidt omitted many of the players who won the Six Nations grand slam this year and the Italians made it tough in the opening period, despite Beirne scoring in the…
Handré Pollard’s 18 points guide South Africa to narrow victory over Scotland
Scotland’s hopes of a first win against the Springboks in eight years were alive right until the last seconds of an engrossing encounter but in the end South African power and precision prevailed. The teams scored two tries apiece but the visiting side were never behind, and in Handré Pollard they had the game’s dominant…
Katy Daley-Mclean: ‘It’s cool to have 100 caps – women’s rugby has changed so much’
For Katy Daley-Mclean the wheel really has turned the full circle. Eleven years ago England’s fly-half made her first international appearance against Scotland in St Albans, coming off the bench where she had been sitting with another player about to make her debut, Sarah Hunter, her friend since they met as aspiring 14-year-old rugby league…
Jake Polledri: ‘Being rejected by Bristol spurred me on even more’
Talent-spotting is not an exact science, particularly in rugby. Some players develop late or fail to tick the obvious physical boxes, others are crowded out, not least in England, by the sheer weight of numbers. How many hidden gems might have worn the red rose had they not been injured at the wrong moment, been…
Bedroom coffee shop helps Manu Tuilagi gear up for England return
As and when Manu Tuilagi comes off the England bench on Saturday you can be sure of two things: first, that his arrival is greeted by the loudest cheer of the match; second, that the first time he gets his hands on the ball there will be 80,000 people holding their collective breath. ‘I was…
Weakened Scotland bidding to expose self-belief of unpredictable France
Having failed to win in Paris so far this century, Scotland will attempt to end that trend on Saturday with something akin to a second-string side. Of the team’s key quartet, only the captain, Greig Laidlaw, is in the squad, Finn Russell having joined Stuart Hogg and Willem Nel on the injury list this week….