Click:Complex part machining Talk of revolutions and guillotines is always tempting when a teamsheet is significantly rejigged on the eve of a big game in Paris. A new captain, a new starting hooker, fresh faces at full-back, centre and on the bench? Leaving aside the calf injury that has sidelined England’s regular leader Dylan Hartley,…
Category: Rugby
Injuries report reveals toll from Eddie Jones’ England training camps
Eddie Jones’s training sessions are likely to come under scrutiny after a report published on Monday revealed that the severity of injuries sustained during England camps in his first full season in charge drastically rose. The Professional Rugby Injury Surveillance Project, jointly commissioned by the Rugby Football Union and Premiership Rugby, reported injury data for…
Saracens’ problems reflect those of England with Irish shadow looming
Last May, English rugby celebrated a double double. Saracens retained the European Champions Cup a couple of months after England had held on to the Six Nations title. In two years, they had lost one match between them in the tournaments, the international against Ireland in Dublin that March. Five Saracens were involved in England’s…
Danny Cipriani in England frame for South Africa with Jones set to roll dice
Eddie Jones will on Thursday roll the dice and name an England squad missing 20 frontline players – including a number of British & Irish Test Lions – for the summer tour of South Africa. Dylan Hartley, Jonathan Joseph and Anthony Watson are among those already ruled out through injury – but including those Jones…
Racing 92 confident French core will bring home Champions Cup
If England’s selection of Brad Shields and the accompanying controversy is a case study into the strained relationship between availability, eligibility and nationality in the modern game, spare a thought for the France full-back Scott Spedding. The South Africa-born Spedding has 23 caps, he holds a French passport, has played in the country for a…
Italy told to grasp chance in France as Six Nations enters new territory
Conor O’Shea wants Italy to learn from their mistakes when the Six Nations enters new territory on Friday as the Azzurri head to Marseille’s Stade Vélodrome to take on France, who are playing their first championship home game outside Paris. Both sides lost their opening two fixtures – France by a combined total of eight…
England must finish on a high to spoil Irish finale, says Dylan Hartley
Dylan Hartley has admitted stopping Ireland clinching the grand slam is acting as part of his side’s motivation on Saturday but the returning captain has claimed he is more concerned with proving England still belong at the top table. Back-to-back defeats by Scotland and France have led to England relinquishing their Six Nations title and…
Relegation becomes live issue as Premiership Rugby plots next course
The Saracens chairman, Nigel Wray, reflected in his programme notes for the Premiership match against Harlequins at the Olympic Stadium last weekend that he had been involved in professional rugby since its inception in 1995. “We are still facing the same problems we were 23 years ago,” he wrote. “England and the Premiership clubs are…
Warren Gatland shrugs off Eddie Jones’ remarks and tells him to focus on results
Warren Gatland believes Eddie Jones’s insulting remarks about Ireland and Wales should not hamper his chances of taking the Lions to South Africa in 2021 but feels the England coach’s main concern is ending a losing run against Ireland on Saturday before the summer tour to South Africa. “The pressure for England is not the…
Jack Nowell caps return with two tries to help Exeter dismantle Gloucester
Way back on the opening night of the season, Exeter began the defence of their Premiership title with a narrow injury-time defeat against Gloucester at Kingsholm. Those who took it as a sign the Chiefs might not hit the same lofty heights this season have been proved spectacularly wrong and here was yet more evidence…