Misbehaving Wallabies, innovative All Blacks and the importance of Samson Lee for Wales are all topics addressed in this July review
New Zealand
Can you win a Rugby World Cup without kicking a ball?
SOMETHING SHOULD have been jarred loose as New Zealand met France in the 2011 Rugby World Cup final, 24 years after the pair had last faced off at Eden Park…
Rugby Statistics: Does World Cup form matter?
How much attention should be given to form going into a World Cup? Significance may well be attached to ‘building momentum’ in competitions such as the Rugby Championship beforehand, but…
Rugby Championship Talking points – Round 1
The first weekend of Rugby Championship action gave rugby watchers their first chance to see what sort of shape four of the world’s top 10 sides were in with the…
Analysis – Why New Zealand still need Richie McCaw and Dan Carter
Every year, without fail, the vast Super 15 talent pool infatuates onlookers from the northern hemisphere. Bleary-eyed from a schedule of early morning alarms, they fall head over heels through…
Dan Cole’s Top 5 tightheads
They’ll be the first to tell you, but the tighthead is one of the most important positions on the pitch. The anchor of the pack and a crucial cog at…
Lions fixtures for 2017 New Zealand tour
The Lions have announced their 10-match fixture list for 2017 tour. Unlike 2013, where they stopped off in Hong Kong for a sponsor-led fixture against the Barbarians, there will be…
Analysis: Five reasons the Highlanders won the Super 15 final
“Nobody said we could” – that was the rabid rallying cry issued by fly-half Lima Sopoaga as the Highlanders took to the pitch for the second period of Saturday’s phenomenal Super 15…
Super Rugby: Hurricanes and Highlanders set to thrill in all-Kiwi final
As if any more ballast was required to reinforce New Zealand’s World Cup credentials, it comes in the shape of this Saturday’s Super Rugby final – the first all-Kiwi affair…
Five things we learned about rugby – June
Sonny Bill Williams needs to stop switching. June saw speculation that Sonny Bill Williams will once again make another career change. The ‘Mr Ben’ (gratuitous Eighties reference) of Southern Hemisphere…