You’re a cricket captain and you win the toss. The pitch and conditions are neutral, so do you bat first and set a target – or back yourself to chase…
Blogs
Six Nations: Vern Cotter and Joe Schmidt are Friends Reunited
It will be a case of fingers and toes at the ready on Saturday, as everyone tries to calculate the points-difference totals of England, Wales and Ireland to determine who…
The Craig Chalmers Column
RESULTS AREN’T coming for Scotland but head coach Vern Cotter has got my backing. Even after four successive Six Nations defeats, I can see that things are moving forward. The…
Six Nations analysis: How Wales resisted Ireland for 49 phases
On Saturday in Cardiff, the media sniping – margarine comparisons and everything – subsided for 80 minutes and some rugby broke out. Incredibly, an emotionally draining Test match lived up…
Aviva Premiership: we go on the road with the BT Sport team
Two weekends ago I attended the Aviva Premiership games at Bath, Gloucester and Wasps without setting foot in a stadium. Instead, I was in a van in the car park…
Six Nations: Five things Wales learnt against Ireland
Wales unravel the third-best team in the World Wales’ 23 – 16 victory over Ireland will rightly draw rapturous applause. Against any Irish team, in the modern era, this would…
Six Nations player analysis: Courtney Lawes, England
It is futile and immature to add imaginary points onto a scoreboard, but sometimes the exercise helps emphasise a message – so here goes. England were four passes away from…
Six Nations: five key clashes in round four
After what seemed a lifetime, but was merely a two week break, the Six Nations is finally ready to get back under way with a number of questions to be…
Rugby Statistics: The role of Ireland’s kicking in the Six Nations
After Ireland’s 19-9 win over England, Stuart Lancaster made reference to the amount of Irish kicking in the match saying: “I think 44 kicks in open play tells a story.…
What’s in the latest Rugby World?
Find out what's featured in the new issue of Rugby World magazine