Posts Tagged ‘stuart lancaster’
Posted 13 days ago
in Blogs, Countries, England, France, New Zealand, News / Comments Off
HERE’S A curious stat for you. In the professional age, every Six Nations championship following a Lions tour has been won by the French. In 1998 they clinched the Grand Slam while the home nations were still basking in the glory of beating the Springboks the previous summer; four years later France repeated the feat nine months after the Lions trip Down Under. A clean sweep eluded Les Bleus in 2006 – a shock 20-16 defeat to Scotland on the opening weekend their only reverse in winning the title) but in 2010 France had another Grand Slam to celebrate.
Posted 76 days ago
in Blogs, Heineken Cup, News, Tournaments / Comments Off
GIVEN THE intelligent, unfussy rugby instincts that characterise his game, it comes as no surprise that Alex Goode also possesses a pretty precise memory.
Describing a short sequence an hour into his first Test start at Port Elizabeth 10 months ago – the last time he faced Springbok scrum half Ruan Pienaar – the Saracens and England full-back offers a razor-sharp recollection.
Posted 100 days ago
in Blogs, England, Six Nations / Comments Off
WHERE DID it go wrong for England on Sunday? Where did it go right?
Posted 103 days ago
in England, News, Six Nations / Comments Off
WITH THE naming of the England squad it became easy to take the return of Tom Croft to international rugby as the headline. Of course, his comeback from a broken neck is a brave tale of a professional gritting their teeth and inching back into contention whether his body wanted to or not.
Posted 114 days ago
in Blogs, Countries, England, France, News, Six Nations, Tournaments / Comments Off
ENGLAND TOOK a giant step towards their first Grand Slam in a decade with a 23-13 victory over France. The most important statistic is that Stuart Lancaster’s men found a way to win. They are getting very good at that. But it was a far from perfect performance. There will be much for the England management to address over the next fortnight.
Posted 160 days ago
in Blogs, England, France, News / Comments Off
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 198 days ago
in Blogs, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales / Comments Off
With results and incidental occurrences varying throughout the autumn Internationals, it is not a case of saying that there were winners and losers. There is a cost for the smallest of efforts and a reward for the most taxing of endeavours. The key is to look at the whole picture and ask what is next for those who were fiercely cross-examined.
Posted 212 days ago
in Australia, Blogs, England / Comments Off
STUART LANCASTER had described this autumn as “production time” for England. The Fiji Test was a nice dress rehearsal but Australia was the big opening night. And England fluffed their lines badly.
Posted 214 days ago
in Australia, England, News / Comments Off
AUSTRALIA HAVE made the short hop over the channel after their heavy loss to France still talking the talk, yet negativity seems to follow them like a bad odour at present with legendary Wallaby wing David Campese wading in earlier this week with some typically acerbic quotes saying ‘Deans had destroyed Australian rugby and I want him to go’.
