The Six Nations trophy is a prize almost without equal. Every team is striving to take home the title, while the coveted Grand Slam whitewash remains one of the ultimate rewards in European rugby. Besting each of your five opponents across a gruelling set of international tests without suffering a single loss is far easier …
Six Nations 2022 Team Ratings – Phenomenal France and Inspirational Italy Read More »
Another year, another Six Nations over for Scotland. While Rugby’s Greatest Championship has provided fans with the usual host of thrills, spills and upsets to once more defy prediction, this was, in many ways, a tournament that pretty closely followed the expected script. One didn’t need Nostradamus’ powers of prognostication to posit that France, head …
Scotland’s Six Nations Review: Are Brave Scots Being Left Behind? Read More »
The Six Nations has finally arrived, and unless you’re Welsh, Italian or English, it’s been a great start to what could be a tournament for the ages. Ireland brushed aside a depleted Welsh side to set up an epic clash with a French team coming off the back of a clinical victory against Italy, while …
Six Nations Round 1 – What Can We Learn From An Intriguing Opening Round of Tests? Read More »
It’s hard to think of many players who have been dominating recent rugby headlines as much as Leicester’s George Ford. After being dropped from Eddie Jones’ England side for the Autumn Internationals and not having featured for England since March of 2021, Ford has been in the form of his life for domestic club side …
There’s a reason they call it ‘Rugby’s Greatest Championship’. Other tournaments might accommodate more teams, boast more prestige or even, say it quietly, exhibit a more attractive style of rugby, but there’s something intangibly special about The Six Nations. A combination of the balance of five well-matched sides (and Italy), the proximity of the participants …
Six Nations 2022: The Key Clashes From This Year’s Tournament Read More »
The Six Nations is nearly here, thank the rugby gods, and that means it’s time for most international sides to start naming their 36-man sides for the coming tournament. France and Ireland with likely go into this year’s competition as joint-favourites having both bested the All Blacks and enjoyed sparkling form in the Autumn Internationals, …
Six Nations 2022 – Understanding England’s Bold Squad Selection Read More »
Autumn internationals are hardly the be-all and end-all of international rugby, but what they do provide is a great way of assessing exactly where a team is when heading into, or coming off the back of, more illustrious competitions. While the northern sides face off annually to compete for the Six Nations, the four big …
Rating (Almost) Every National Side’s 2021 Autumn Nations Series Read More »
There are bad starts to a season. There are teams that perform below expectations. And then there are Bath. For a team with such supreme strength-in-depth, such enviable star quality, such a wealth of players capable of performing at the highest level of both club and international rugby, it seems almost unfathomable that the Somerset …
Planning for a World Cup is a tricky, tricky business. Fail to strategise properly and you’ll be compelled to include players wilting rather than peaking for the big event, or else fading a year out and forcing you to scramble for an internationally undercooked replacement. Scrap too many players, however, and you’ll be left with …
This has not, by almost any quantifiable measure, been one of the ‘Great’ modern Lions test series. Brilliant as it has been to see that resplendent jersey once again donned by the pride of the northern hemisphere’s rugby personnel, it has not been one for the ages. In four years’ time, memories of ‘Lions 2021’ …
What Can We Learn From The Agonising Final Lions Test? Read More »