Former All Blacks Dan Carter and Joe Rokocoko gave drug tests which showed “anomalies” before this year’s Top 14 final, according to the French newspaper L’Equipe. But the pair’s manager,…
New Zealand
How to attack the All Blacks way from set-piece: New Zealand v Argentina analysis
They say you cannot score tries from set-piece at the highest level any more. They are wrong. Over the past few years, New Zealand has steadily taken over from Australia…
Eddie Jones: Do New Zealand run world rugby?
Eddie Jones rarely resists the chance to have a crack at opposition, or anybody else, and this week he was in typically combative mood in the gym at England’s base…
Lions 2017: Why Warren Gatland is ready to take on Mission Impossible
Back in January, when the Six Nations was being launched at the oh-so-posh Hurlingham Club, Warren Gatland was asked about the itinerary for the British & Irish Lions tour to…
England advance while the spectre of the All Blacks lurk in the background
Napoleon famously said he would rather have lucky generals in his ranks than good ones and Eddie Jones definitely both falls into both categories in a rugby sense. He is…
Five talking points in rugby from August
The cross kick is no longer a risk A decade ago the ‘cross kick’ was deemed a last resort in rugby union. A risky play from the cross pollination of…
Can Argentina break into the world’s ‘top three’?
Times, they may be a changing. The traditional triumvirate of power in the Southern Hemisphere – New Zealand, Australia and South Africa – is no longer the all-powerful force it…
Analysis: New Zealand blindside Australia for Bledisloe victory
August 16, 2014 – precisely two years and two weeks ago – saw Australia hold New Zealand to a 12-12 draw at a sopping wet ANZ Stadium in Sydney. Neither…
Round One: The Rugby Championship highlights
The Rugby Championship got off to a thrilling start. Just hours after a bugging device was said to have been found at the InterContinental hotel on Sydney’s picturesque waterfront, the…
The phoney war is over, as the Rugby Championship prepares for lift off
By Alex Shaw The Rugby Championship kicks off this weekend, with Australia hosting New Zealand and Argentina travelling to South Africa, and the phoney wars that are part and parcel…