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 World Cup
Spots in France’s World Cup squad up for grabs
The matches between France and England in August will be crucial to determining their final World Cup squads
Analysis: Leone Nakarawa drives Fiji towards World Cup
Forget the Rugby Championship and how the southern hemisphere giants are gearing up. Over the past fortnight, something just as significant in terms of the wider World Cup picture has…
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…
Poll: Who is Australia’s best midfield playmaker?
Australia’s last-gasp victory over South Africa on Saturday was a truly compelling spectacle. A win for the Wallabies, who had been 20-7 down with half an hour to go, opened…
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…
A letter from South Africa – June
Bulls and Sharks cull mercilessly The Bulls and the Sharks did little to persuade seasoned veterans to reconsider offers from overseas clubs after both suffering mediocre Super Rugby campaigns. The…
Analysis: How Nemani Nadolo could wreck the World Cup for England and Wales
According to common consensus among early newspaper reports, the iceberg that submerged the Titanic in 1912 was between 50 and 100 feet high and 200 to 400 feet high. Now, Nemani…
Rugby statistics: Why South Africa may struggle to overlook Jaco Kriel for the World Cup
During the Springboks training camp in May, head coach Heyneke Meyer said that picking the loose forwards for the Rugby World Cup was his biggest worry. Given the limitations of…
France: Guy Noves will do things his way
To nobody’s great surprise Guy Noves was officially unveiled on Sunday as France’s next coach, with Yannick Bru as his forwards’ coach and Jeff Dubois in charge of the backs.…