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Posted 135 days ago
SPORTING CLICHES are often abused. Every tournament has a Group of Death and every player is weighed and measured to see if they will be found inferior or capable of cutting huge swathes through the mustard. Of course, same old sayings and hilarious malapropisms from colourful commentators aside, it’s hard to avoid something simple and obvious about the Heineken Cup.
Posted 136 days ago
FOR ALL the talk in recent weeks about Jonny Wilkinson, and will-he-or-won’t-he sign on for another stint at Toulon, there’s another Englishman in the south of France in a similar situation. In fact the similarities don’t stop there. Iain Balshaw and Jonny Wilkinson first played in the same team in 1997, the all-conquering England schoolboys’ side that also featured Mike Tindall.
Posted 137 days ago
NO ONE has called him a school teacher since Best Team in the World™ was sent back over the equator, but England’s headmaster Stuart Lancaster now has the responsibility for caning Europe’s best. Today his Elite Player Squad (EPS) was announced. Today his shape for the Six Nations became apparent.
Posted 142 days ago
WITH NEXT Wednesday’s announcement of England squad announcement looming, Rugby World looks ahead to five head-to-head clashes in this weekend’s Aviva Premiership
Posted 142 days ago
GET THE chopping block ready. Remove the ceremonial stretching-rings. It’s time to put my neck on the line. The season has, so far, provided very few genuine shocks. However, as all competitions enter the business end in a few months time, the increased impact of collisions and desperation in the faces of season-wearied professionals will ensure the edge of our seats will be as worn out as Emeli Sandé after her Olympics sing-athon.
Posted 143 days ago
COMING OUT from the festive fog, carried on the breath of several days of heartily enjoyed time off work chimes that familiar phrase, ‘Happy New Year’. And happy it may be. Yes, you may be back at work quicker than an Alka-Seltzer shot, and yes, you may be aching from all the shop-smashing, bargain-hunting and carol-murdering of the festive period, but it’s time for a fresh start.
Posted 154 days ago
The England centre has an off-the-wall chat with Sarah Mockford
RUGBY WORLD: Do you have any nicknames?
BRAD BARRITT: My family call me ‘Dub’ as I was the double of my dad when I was young. The England guys call me ‘Shovel Face’, which isn’t very nice. I’m not too fond of it, but if it raises the spirits of other players…
Posted 165 days ago
RUGBY IS a subjective old sport. When it comes to talk of who is top of the pile, it’s hard to come to a definitive answer, with pub-know-it-alls basing opinions on one performance, one eye-catching run or one cobbled cliché. It is true that statistics can be used to say whatever you want, torn out of context and pasted into whatever scheme you would like to champion.
Posted 167 days ago
EUROPEAN RUGBY sometimes feels like a school dance. Some nervous sorts can feel flashes of panic and exhilaration as they stand, seemingly alone on the big stage, while celebrated individuals dance round and in front of them.
Posted 174 days ago
HOSTS ENGLAND have been drawn with Australia and Wales in Pool A of the 2015 Rugby World Cup. With just over 1000 days to go till England 2015, the rugby world as we know it descended on London’s trendy Southbank for the pool allocation draw.
The tournament kicks off on 18 September 2015, with the final to be held at Twickenham…
