Johnny McNicholl has called for artificial pitches to be outlawed after he and a number of his Scarlets team-mates suffered burns and blisters during Friday night’s Guinness Pro14 semi-final in Glasgow and the region’s Scotland captain, John Barclay, ruptured an achilles’ tendon that will keep him out for six months. The following day the Wasps…
USA follow victory over Scotland with six-try beating of Canada
The USA extended their record unbeaten run against Canada to nine Tests in the first rugby Test ever played in Nova Scotia on Saturday, following their historic win over Scotland in Houston with a six-try, 42-17 victory over their struggling northern neighbours. Gary Gold’s blazing Eagles beat Scotland – US rugby has momentum Thanks to…
Schalk Brits has no regrets about ending nine-year Saracens career
Schalk Brits will be celebrating win, lose or draw after Saturday’s Premiership final. The South African hooker brings the curtain down on nine remarkable years with Saracens after yet another final, before beginning another career in finance, starting with a masters degree at Oxford. He admits the doubts of whether he may have a bit…
Mark McCall tells Alex Sanderson to resist England and stay at Saracens
Alex Sanderson has been urged to stay at Saracens and reject any approach to be England’s next defence coach but his current director of rugby, Mark McCall, will not stand in his way if Eddie Jones comes calling. Paul Gustard’s move to Harlequins may hurt England’s World Cup preparations Sanderson has been linked with the…
Exeter’s Alec Hepburn finishes off a six-try victory over Harlequins
Another match meant another horrible defeat for Quins. At home they may have been, with the sun on their backs as they have always liked it, but they could not contain a rampant Exeter who show no signs of faltering in defence of their title. The Chiefs gave run-outs to more of their squad, the…
Eddie Jones’s recipe for England revival: embrace the pain and react
Trains may be off the Eddie Jones travel agenda for the time being but training in the traditional sense is the route to redemption for his England players after last Saturday’s defeat to Scotland. It is eight years since England lost more than one match in a Six Nations and their conquerors then are the…
England play legally insists Eddie Jones in regards to penalty concerns
Eddie Jones has dismissed concerns over England’s discipline and claimed statistical analysis shows “the most successful teams infringe”, a day after remarks from Scotland that questioned the legality of his side’s defence. Jones was discussing England’s penalty count during their 12-6 victory against Wales – they conceded 10 to their opponents’ two – and insisted…
Eddie Jones tells England captain Owen Farrell to get in French faces
Owen Farrell has been urged to bring his confrontational style to the England captaincy and get “in the face” of France by Eddie Jones, but was warned he must curb his aggression when talking to the referee. Farrell will captain England from the start for the first time on Saturday, having escaped punishment for his…
England head to South Africa hoping for no repeat of past nightmares
It is exactly 20 years this week since England kicked off their most embarrassing tour of the professional era. So painful was the 1998 Tour of Hell that almost half the squad’s international careers never recovered and the record margins of defeat still stand. It still seems faintly remarkable that the coach and several of…
Ireland’s Jacob Stockdale in rush to make mark in Ireland record books
Jacob Stockdale remembers well the first time he saw Ireland play live but then it was not so long ago. His father took him to watch a World Cup warmup against England at the Aviva Stadium in August 2011. Ireland were torn apart by Manu Tuilagi and lost 20-9. A lot of the men Stockdale…