A Six Nations spin-off that would see the home nations play in the United States could be in the pipeline, according to the tournament’s chief executive, John Feehan. The American broadcaster NBC will show all 15 matches of this year’s competition live after a historic agreement was announced in October, and while Feehan ruled out…
Category: Rugby
Richard Wigglesworth shows benefit of age with focus on England future
The last time Richard Wigglesworth won a cap for England it coincided with “one of the worst weeks of my life”. Several of the squad preparing to face Uruguay in Manchester in the autumn of 2015 knew their team’s premature World Cup exit might abruptly curtail their international careers and the scrum-half was among the…
‘The day we almost outfoxed England’: an oral history of Italy’s cunning ruse
It was Brendan Venter’s idea, to begin with. In the early spring of 2017, Venter was Italy’s defence coach and like his boss, Conor O’Shea, this was his first Six Nations in the job. They had already been beaten 33-7 by Wales and 63-10 by Ireland. Now they had a fortnight before they played England,…
Six Nations to review HIA protocol from France versus Ireland match
Another Six Nations match in Paris, another breathtaking finish. And another game overshadowed by controversy regarding head injury assessment protocol. In March last year France snatched a dramatic victory against Wales under suspicion of the most cynical abuse of the HIA system; this time they succumbed to Ireland. To describe Johnny Sexton’s 45-metre drop goal…
Johnny Sexton’s stunning drop goal snatches win for Ireland over France
The sheer nerve. If Ireland were wanting to brandish their championship credentials, they did so with an extraordinary win at the death. For 70 minutes in the Parisian drizzle the game seemed to be meandering to a drab victory for Irish composure over French indiscipline, when suddenly France struck with a brilliant counterattacking try by…
Cheika’s intent to resign begins race to replace Wallabies coach
Michael Cheika has always been a gypsy. That is why it was not surprising to see him flag his intention to resign as Wallabies coach if Australia does not win the 2019 World Cup in Japan. “The way I see it is like this – we came second in the last one and you have…
Maro Itoje puts friendship on ice in heat of battle with Alun Wyn Jones
Last summer’s Lions tour to New Zealand is history but the unlikely friendships it forged endure. The partnership of Alun Wyn Jones and Maro Itoje in the second row for the final two Tests, neither of which the All Blacks managed to win, was a conspicuous success and the Wales captain was even memorably caught…
Wales eager to make England’s ‘Jones the Gob’ rue his trash talk
For hundreds of thousands of noisy neighbours on either side of the Severn Bridge this remains the most eagerly anticipated weekend of the year. It hardly needed Eddie Jones’s vigorous pre-match cauldron-stirring to raise expectation levels for a fixture which requires no artificial enhancement. When even the Welsh first minister is discussing class war in…
Eddie Jones pushes England fitness to the limit in quest for supremacy
When Conor O’Shea walked up the driveway of the hotel for a dinner on the eve of the Six Nations’ launch last month, a fox ran out in front of him. The immediate thought of the Italy head coach, which sums up the suspicion that swirls in an era when stories of spying and surveillance…
Milestone for Warren Gatland but Wales need a Six Nations reboot
Warren Gatland will on Saturday equal Bernard Laporte’s 98 Tests in charge of one country for a Six Nations coach and by the summer should have eclipsed Sir Graham Henry’s all-time record of 103 with New Zealand. One day after the 10th anniversary of his first match in charge of Wales, the New Zealander is…