AN EXPERIMENTAL Ireland XV convincingly swept aside Fiji 53-0 on a damp, and blustery Saturday evening in Limerick. So far, so good, yet the game lacked Test match intensity. This…

SOMETHING WAS wrong. It did not sit right. Scotland were heading into a game off the back of a colossal All Black drubbing and they were...confident. While South Africa sent…

ENGLAND WENT into this Test against a supposedly dispirited Wallaby squad full of confidence. Sadly, when the whistle went, the roles had been reversed, with England, not so regal, in…

jamie roberts wales

I READ a lot of stat sheets prior to writing these articles. But the reason for Samoa’s win against Wales won’t be found on any of them. You can’t measure…

ireland xv v fiji

IN WHAT turned out to be nothing more than a training ground run around, Ireland ran in eight unanswered tries in this non-cap match at Thomond Park. Fiji laboured in…

Joe Launchbury

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…

David Denton

Two things counted against Scotland in the final analysis. They allowed South Africa to build up a 21-3 lead in the first 45 minutes thanks to a few crucial errors…

Leigh Halfpenny

DEMOLITION DERBY. Those are the two words that spring to mind after this game. The hits were fearsome, the tackle contest was ferocious and Samoa so effectively shut Wales down…

TWO YEARS ago, Scotland went into a Murrayfield Test against South Africa on the back of a 46-point defeat by New Zealand and upset the odds to win 21-17. Last…

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…