Magners League can lord it over the Premiership at last
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dannycoyle
dannycoyle
Danny Coyle
Danny Coyle is Deputy Editor of International Rugby News. Before joining IRN he worked for a student magazine, various construction magazines, a mobile phone magazine and a reputable off licence chain. Since joining the magazine full-time he has watched a man race a cheetah, undergone cryotherapy and slept in some of the ropiest hotels in Paris
For years the debate has raged over the merits of the Magners League and the Guinness Premiership, but now there is genuine fact to support those who see the Celtic competition as superior to the English top flight.
Take this season as far back as the November internationals. The only side to register a win in the entire programme for the northern hemisphere sides was
The side who came closest to making it two wins for the north was
Fast forward to the Six Nations.
The silverware was fought over by
The Heineken Cup adds another supporting strut to the argument.
In the quarter finals, Leinster beat Harlequins,
Then came the Lions selection.
Twenty-seven of the thirty-seven names on Ian McGeechan’s list play their rugby in the Magners League.
I watch more Guinness Premiership rugby than I do Magners League. I have always scoffed at phone calls from colleagues in Wales or Ireland who suggest theirs is the better quality rugby, and I laughed earlier this year when Chris Paterson, the Scottish fullback who tried and failed to establish himself in the Premiership with Gloucester, went public with claims that the Magners League offered the better spectacle.
But can Premiership apologists continue to shrug these claims off any longer? Do the facts not speak for themselves this season? And if I actually watched more Magners League rugby, would I be so sure that I was right?
The Premiership has been busy these last few years packing stadiums and producing a brand of rugby that has gone through the roof in terms of entertainment compared to what used to be served up, and I would rank the atmosphere at last season’s Grand Final better than anything I experienced on the last Lions Tour and any home international seen since then.
As a polished product, it could be rightly pleased with itself that the previously -supposedly - superior Super 14 was firmly in its sights. But while we all sat back and admired it, did we realise that the improvement was largely as a result of a considerable number of high class overseas imports?
As a result, the Magners League has tiptoed up on the rails and, as the makeup of the Lions squad shows, now produces the best of British and Irish talent.
Ian McGeechan’s squad suggests one thing: the Lions are going to fight fire with fire in South Africa.
He promised he would pick on form and he has done just that, apart from the omission of the outstanding Tom Croft.
But in comparison to the party he took 12 years ago to South Africa, there seems less variation in the style of player he has taken.
In 1997 the canny Scot went down the route of negating the Springboks’ power by picking smaller props in his Test team that could get underneath their gargantuan opponents and scrummage at all sorts of angles to dilute the brute strength of the home side.
He picked a full back who had never played a test in that position in Neil Jenkins, because he was the world’s best goal kicker, and he added some professional rugby league nous to his side in the form of Alan Bateman, Alan Tait and John Bentley, who had all crossed back over the divide from the 13-man game once union went professional.
It was calculated, it was full of ‘unkowns’ as far as the ‘Boks were concerned and it worked. The Lions ambushed the world champions and stole the series.
This year, it looks like it will be bulk v bulk. Yes, there are the showponies such as Leigh Halfpenny and Shane Williams, but there is also a grand total of 13 front five forwards, and a collection of back row players who have shown themselves able to run through brick walls and tackle themselves to a stupor.
McGeechan knows the South African back row will charge hard and fast all day long, and the likes of Andy Powell, Jamie Heaslip, Joe Worsley and Stephen Ferris have been picked to stop them in their tracks.
His second row picks are also swathed in muscle. Paul O’Connell, Simon Shaw and Nathan Hines are hard as nails and will have no truck with any rough stuff that will come their way.
The problem is that this squad looks like it has been picked to stop the Boks winning, rather than trying to beat them. Martyn Williams is the only truly creative player in the back row, Brian O’Driscoll and Riki Flutey the only centres you wouldn’t classify as bosh merchants and no there is no scrum-half blessed searing pace or an eagle eye for a gap such as Dwayne peel or Danny Care.
The Six Nations this year was not a classic, with more players playing themselves out of contention than putting their hands up.
Ryan Jones got stuck in reverse gear and went from captaincy favourite to tour outsider, Steve Borthwick made less yardage than a ramshackle dustcart and Mike Blair played like anything but a contender for the previous year’s world player of the year award.
None of them made the cut in a squad only eight players shy of Clive Woodward’s much pilloried 45-man party.
McGeechan has pinned his colours to the mast much earlier than he did in 1997. He is sending a side out to stand toe to toe with the most physical side on the planet.
Lose that battle, and there could be no Plan B to fall back on.
He promised he would pick on form and he has done just that, apart from the omission of the outstanding Tom Croft.
But in comparison to the party he took 12 years ago to South Africa, there seems less variation in the style of player he has taken.
In 1997 the canny Scot went down the route of negating the Springboks’ power by picking smaller props in his Test team that could get underneath their gargantuan opponents and scrummage at all sorts of angles to dilute the brute strength of the home side.
He picked a full back who had never played a test in that position in Neil Jenkins, because he was the world’s best goal kicker, and he added some professional rugby league nous to his side in the form of Alan Bateman, Alan Tait and John Bentley, who had all crossed back over the divide from the 13-man game once union went professional.
It was calculated, it was full of ‘unkowns’ as far as the ‘Boks were concerned and it worked. The Lions ambushed the world champions and stole the series.
This year, it looks like it will be bulk v bulk. Yes, there are the showponies such as Leigh Halfpenny and Shane Williams, but there is also a grand total of 13 front five forwards, and a collection of back row players who have shown themselves able to run through brick walls and tackle themselves to a stupor.
McGeechan knows the South African back row will charge hard and fast all day long, and the likes of Andy Powell, Jamie Heaslip, Joe Worsley and Stephen Ferris have been picked to stop them in their tracks.
His second row picks are also swathed in muscle. Paul O’Connell, Simon Shaw and Nathan Hines are hard as nails and will have no truck with any rough stuff that will come their way.
The problem is that this squad looks like it has been picked to stop the Boks winning, rather than trying to beat them. Martyn Williams is the only truly creative player in the back row, Brian O’Driscoll and Riki Flutey the only centres you wouldn’t classify as bosh merchants and no there is no scrum-half blessed searing pace or an eagle eye for a gap such as Dwayne peel or Danny Care.
The Six Nations this year was not a classic, with more players playing themselves out of contention than putting their hands up.
Ryan Jones got stuck in reverse gear and went from captaincy favourite to tour outsider, Steve Borthwick made less yardage than a ramshackle dustcart and Mike Blair played like anything but a contender for the previous year’s world player of the year award.
None of them made the cut in a squad only eight players shy of Clive Woodward’s much pilloried 45-man party.
McGeechan has pinned his colours to the mast much earlier than he did in 1997. He is sending a side out to stand toe to toe with the most physical side on the planet.
Lose that battle, and there could be no Plan B to fall back on.
It would have been easy to get swept up in the euphoria that swamped Twickenham on Sunday as the tries poured in from England.
This was the epitome of modern rugby: pray on turnovers, gobble up the territory as soon as you win the ball and capitalise with batches of five points. It’s what New Zealand have been doing for years.
The game, for the first time since Martin Johnson was trundling about the turf, looked easy. It always does when your pack is producing quick ball of their own and robbing the opposition’s from them
From these two facets sprung the cause for such delirium on a sunny Sunday afternoon. They gave players like Riki Flutey time to lift his head and spot that there were flat-footed giants in his way, and that there was space in between them for him to dart. It gave Harry Ellis time to assess his options and, being a decent scrum-half, choose the right one.
By half-time, the question was being asked about record England victories over France.
But without Toby Flood, departed with a momentarily dislocated shoulder, England, as Johnson said, went ‘off plan’.
Andy Goode tried a few too many cross field punts but his boot had the subtlety of a sledge hammer when the precision of a scalpel was required. The right options, wrongly executed, and the tale of the rest of England Six Nations campaign returned.
Forty minutes then, in which this England team showed what they are capable of, followed by 40 minutes in which the deficiencies came back to the extent that they lost the second half.
The margins between things going right and things falling apart has been a fine one for England throughout this championship, even when they have hamstrung themselves with yellow cards.
They came close to the yellow peril again, conceding 13 penalties in all, to France’s 12, but tiptoed on the tightrope without ever falling off.
But it was a victory well worth savouring even if it was secured with a 40-minute performance and it is a platform, at long last for Johnson to build on.
Tom Croft played so well that James Haskell could play his rugby in Johnson’s back garden and he still wouldn’t replace the Leicester man. Delon Armitage blossomed in the wide open spaces and suggested that Lee Byrne’s claim to the Lions No.15 shirt is anything but a fait accomplis and Flutey looked once more like the player voted the best of the lot by his peers last season.
But in its proper context, this was a job well done against a French team that won’t play so poorly again this side of the next century and, pleasing though it was, it was a start for Johnson and nothing more.
That it has been met with such a rousing reception is perhaps a sign of how far England have fallen.
At least now there is evidence that their slump may have bottomed out.
This was the epitome of modern rugby: pray on turnovers, gobble up the territory as soon as you win the ball and capitalise with batches of five points. It’s what New Zealand have been doing for years.
The game, for the first time since Martin Johnson was trundling about the turf, looked easy. It always does when your pack is producing quick ball of their own and robbing the opposition’s from them
From these two facets sprung the cause for such delirium on a sunny Sunday afternoon. They gave players like Riki Flutey time to lift his head and spot that there were flat-footed giants in his way, and that there was space in between them for him to dart. It gave Harry Ellis time to assess his options and, being a decent scrum-half, choose the right one.
By half-time, the question was being asked about record England victories over France.
But without Toby Flood, departed with a momentarily dislocated shoulder, England, as Johnson said, went ‘off plan’.
Andy Goode tried a few too many cross field punts but his boot had the subtlety of a sledge hammer when the precision of a scalpel was required. The right options, wrongly executed, and the tale of the rest of England Six Nations campaign returned.
Forty minutes then, in which this England team showed what they are capable of, followed by 40 minutes in which the deficiencies came back to the extent that they lost the second half.
The margins between things going right and things falling apart has been a fine one for England throughout this championship, even when they have hamstrung themselves with yellow cards.
They came close to the yellow peril again, conceding 13 penalties in all, to France’s 12, but tiptoed on the tightrope without ever falling off.
But it was a victory well worth savouring even if it was secured with a 40-minute performance and it is a platform, at long last for Johnson to build on.
Tom Croft played so well that James Haskell could play his rugby in Johnson’s back garden and he still wouldn’t replace the Leicester man. Delon Armitage blossomed in the wide open spaces and suggested that Lee Byrne’s claim to the Lions No.15 shirt is anything but a fait accomplis and Flutey looked once more like the player voted the best of the lot by his peers last season.
But in its proper context, this was a job well done against a French team that won’t play so poorly again this side of the next century and, pleasing though it was, it was a start for Johnson and nothing more.
That it has been met with such a rousing reception is perhaps a sign of how far England have fallen.
At least now there is evidence that their slump may have bottomed out.
It has been the scourge of footballers' interviews for years.
How many times do David Beckham, Jermain Defoe and countless others prefix a reply to a question with the phrase "y'know"?
If you haven't noticed it, keep an eye out next time they get a microphone shoved under their chins.
Now the disease seems to have spread to rugby.
Read the below interview given by Jon Skurr, Ireland's Rugby Sevens coach, following his side's defeat to Portugal at the World Cup in Dubai, and see if you can spot the two-word combo he just can't stop throwing in.
"I think we just tired out a bit. Our Sevens experience is obviously not great, we haven't got a lot of it.
"We just got caught up a few times, we didn't utilise (possession) and we probably wasted a bit too much ball than we would like to.
"But all credit to the guys. These guys have never played Sevens before and we have given a couple of teams on the (IRB World) circuit great games and we proved these boys can play at this level."
An exciting 24-21 victory over Australia, earlier in the day, was only Ireland's 12th win across five Rugby World Cup Sevens tournaments.
Skurr was very happy to see his squad play to their potential and shock one of the Sevens game's bigger hitters.
"(The win) was fantastic for the guys. The guys were absolutely devastated by the performance yesterday against Samoa. They let themselves down and they know that.
"We picked it up against Australia and played some really good Sevens. They didn't have the ball for the first four or five minutes and we went 17-0 up.
"It's a learning curve for the guys. They are learning quickly but it is a harsh process."
A weird day down at Wasps
Posted by dannycoyle
dannycoyle
On the face of it, the announcement that a club has just extended the stay of a clutch of world class players and retained a good few more of a decent quality would be nothing but a good news story.
But at Wasps these days, nothing seems to be as straightforward as it might be.
To begin with, Danny Cipriani is staying – good. Danny Cipriani is staying only for one more year – less good.
Far from ending the incessant media questioning over his future, Wasps have merely set themselves up for round two of this ‘will he, won’t he’ saga that will last for the whole of next season.
The question of whether Cipriani would only sign a one year deal or whether that was all that was put on the table by the club was one that the Wasps media machine torpedoed before it could reach its intended target.
The problem is, you see, when you arrange a press conference specifically about contracts, you are bound to expect the odd query as to the whys and wherefores of who has signed and for how long.
For my money, Cipriani has been quite shrewd. His star is not as high in the stratosphere as it was pre his ankle injury. Another season of full fitness and he could be worth more than he is now.
Then there is the farce of announcing 13 all in one go when it is common knowledge that many of those, including Phil Vickery, signed his contract months ago.
The excuse of Wasps executive chairman Mark Rigby that Wasps ‘wanted to make an impact’ held little water. Especially considering the names Sackey, Lewsey and Worsley were conspicuous by their absence from the list of newly contracted names.
Perhaps they still have more than a year to run. Perhaps they are next out the door and on the ferry.
We’ll never know, because at a press conference arranged to talk about contracts, Wasps weren’t in the mood to talk about contracts.
DELON ARMITAGE
He was rejected by the French as a youngster, now, in March’s International Rugby News,
“That was really hard to take,” says Armitage of his rejection as a teenager after being told he was too skinny to make it.
“I almost gave up rugby over it. Rather than say I needed to work on this or that, they just said, ‘Look mate, there’s no room for you in the French set-up.
And the
“Any
MAX GUAZZINI
Guazzini has sold out the Stade de France for domestic league and Heineken Cup matches with his unique brand of marketing but admits even he was unsure whether his gamble would pay off in the beginning.
“When the authorities called us and asked us to play there, I thought it was a crazy idea,” he admits.
“I was in the car going to the ground that first night thinking ‘We are crazy’” But we did it!”
Never one to shy away from controversy, in March’s International Rugby News, Austin Healey pulls no punches in his assessment of the current
“The current
“Previous
“Now we have Steve Borthwick, Phil Vickery and Nick Easter – workhorse players who concentrate on their own performances and are not about speaking.”
TACKLING THE CREDIT CRUNCH
In this month’s issue, we examine how the sport is going to keep fans gripped and attendances on an upward trend as the financial crisis deepens.
We talk to Mark McCafferty, chief executive of Premier Rugby, who is confident that rugby will ride the current rocky waters.
“Unlike a lot of businesses, we can see what our long-term revenue streams are… We know we have to manage the ship very tightly over the next couple of years but our clubs understand the risks…there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
In March’s mag, Andy Goode talks to Matt Hampson about life in
LIONS WATCH
This month the focus falls on the half-back positions as we look at the contenders for the No.9 and No.10 shirts in
THE BISHOP WHO COULD BE KING
Ospreys’ Andrew Bishop tells IRN about his plans to deprive Gavin Henson of the No.12 shirt for both region and country - for good.
FORD SLIPPING INTO TOP GEAR
A NEW CRUSADE
As the 2009 Super 14 gets under way, we look at the changes that could see the champion Crusaders knocked off top spot.
MEET THE SUPER MEN
Don’t miss our Super 14 team-by-team guide including all the players, the shirts, the coaches, the new faces and the chances of every side in the southern hemisphere showpiece.
The Sevens World Cup is about to get underway in the United Arab Emirates, but will the tournament do enough to convince the Olympic authorities that rugby is worth a place in 2016?
There have been numerous decisions in the last 14 years that have come close to wrecking rugby’s progress from amateur pastime to billion-dollar business, but never has the transfer of a player from one club to another managed to achieve it.
The wailing and gnashing of teeth over the departure of Wasps trio James Haskell, Tom palmer and Riki Flutey to French clubs suggests that English rugby is in danger of being plunged into the depths of despair, about to be pillaged of its internationals from the club scene as they follow the reddies on offer across La Manche.
Rubbish.
They are three players, they are doing what countless others have done before them and when their contracts are up in just two years’ time, at least one of them will likely find his way back to the Guinness Premiership, a wiser, better player for the experience no doubt.
It won’t ruin English rugby, it won’t hamper the international side and it won’t spark a dash for the ferry by all and sundry desperate to get their share of the uncapped spending power enjoyed by a handful of well-to-do French sides.
Market forces being what they are, player movement is a fact of professional sport, and when – because this will happen – the Euro begins to look less attractive once again, France will no longer be painted as the land of milk and honey.
A decision far more likely to damage the game will be the one that means many of those of a Welsh persuasion who look forward to their biannual jaunt to
A Six Nations weekend should be exactly that, not a dash to an evening kick-off from the office. How many supporters in the current climate feel able to squeeze an extra day off work to travel without jeopardising their job?
The sad truth is that the clout of the TV networks has robbed genuine supporters of one of the highlights of their rugby calendar.
As blights on the game go, that is much bigger than any player transfer.
Shane Williams loses his head
Posted by dannycoyle
dannycoyle
It would appear there has been a worrying omen for Shane Williams in his bid for fitness this Saturday. The life-size pie constructed in his image lost its head yesterday
Has Johnson been bold enough?
Posted by dannycoyle
dannycoyle
The saying much popularised by sports coaches, marketing men and amateur philosophers is that if you keep doing the same thing, you’ll keep getting the same result.
The question following Martin Johnson’s selection for England’s second game of the Six nations, is whether he has done enough different to expect a different performance from his players in Cardiff.
If you think that some of the criticism following the debacle at Twickenham last Saturday was over the top, it wasn’t.
England were desperately poor and would not have won so handsomely had Italy’s coach not had a brain malfunction in his scrum-half selection.
James Haskell aside, England had no one in the forwards who looked remotely like breaking the gain line and in the backs they combined well just once to execute a move properly that lead to Mark Cueto’s try
Johnson has acted to rectify the line-breaking problem by picking two stronger runners. Mike Tindall is not only better at getting behind defenders than Jamie Noon. His skill set as a No.13 is far advanced and he is an improvement in that area.
Joe Worsley, the marmite of English rugby, at least provides more bulk at openside flanker than Steffon Armitage who wasn’t trusted to carry the ball as he is at his club.
When he did get the chance, he struggled to impose himself physically against the likes of Sergio Parisse. You can hardly blame Johnson for cringing at the thought of what Andy Powell might have done to him. Worsley should not be so pliable.
Powell has set the benchmark in the championship for the way a back row forward should carry. The Welsh No.8 ran hard, from deep and made dents in everyone he came into contact with, as did centre Jamie Roberts.
The rest of the England side has been retained, probably wisely in most cases given the paucity of his options elsewhere, but from one to fifteen, the man most in need of a big performance is Steve Borthwick.
He needs to find that same depth and angle to his running that used to make his manager such an effective runner in amongst the muck and bullets, he needs to burst through someone on the fringes of a ruck and plant his flag beyond the Welsh rearguard. Do that, and others will follow him.
If there is one thing Johnson and his coaches need to focus on in training this week it is rediscovering that hard, brutal edge that has been lacking from their carrying since he arrived.
Find it not, and a hammering awaits.
The question following Martin Johnson’s selection for England’s second game of the Six nations, is whether he has done enough different to expect a different performance from his players in Cardiff.
If you think that some of the criticism following the debacle at Twickenham last Saturday was over the top, it wasn’t.
England were desperately poor and would not have won so handsomely had Italy’s coach not had a brain malfunction in his scrum-half selection.
James Haskell aside, England had no one in the forwards who looked remotely like breaking the gain line and in the backs they combined well just once to execute a move properly that lead to Mark Cueto’s try
Johnson has acted to rectify the line-breaking problem by picking two stronger runners. Mike Tindall is not only better at getting behind defenders than Jamie Noon. His skill set as a No.13 is far advanced and he is an improvement in that area.
Joe Worsley, the marmite of English rugby, at least provides more bulk at openside flanker than Steffon Armitage who wasn’t trusted to carry the ball as he is at his club.
When he did get the chance, he struggled to impose himself physically against the likes of Sergio Parisse. You can hardly blame Johnson for cringing at the thought of what Andy Powell might have done to him. Worsley should not be so pliable.
Powell has set the benchmark in the championship for the way a back row forward should carry. The Welsh No.8 ran hard, from deep and made dents in everyone he came into contact with, as did centre Jamie Roberts.
The rest of the England side has been retained, probably wisely in most cases given the paucity of his options elsewhere, but from one to fifteen, the man most in need of a big performance is Steve Borthwick.
He needs to find that same depth and angle to his running that used to make his manager such an effective runner in amongst the muck and bullets, he needs to burst through someone on the fringes of a ruck and plant his flag beyond the Welsh rearguard. Do that, and others will follow him.
If there is one thing Johnson and his coaches need to focus on in training this week it is rediscovering that hard, brutal edge that has been lacking from their carrying since he arrived.
Find it not, and a hammering awaits.
Our Lions XV after round one
Posted by dannycoyle
dannycoyle
We've selected the fifteen men on their form last weekend who would start against the Springboks in the first test if it was tomorrow , have a look here and let us know what you think.
13
Penalties conceded by
2
Penalties conceded by
1
Half of rugby - the length of Mauro Bergamasco’s career as
4 minutes 23 seconds
Spent on the field by Shane Geraghty before being sin binned for his illegal tackle on the airborne Luke McLean
13
Tackles made by Luke Fitzgerald for
Best of the rest:
12 Dafydd Jones,
11 Thierry Dusautoir, France
10 Steffon Armitage,
42
The number of times
A text from a friend midway through the first half at Twickenham on Saturday could, you felt, succinctly sum up the feeling of the entire crowd at England HQ.
“I’m speechless,” he began, before going on with such ferocity that suggested he was anything but. “This is the most unsatisfying game I’ve ever watched because the game is being determined by one man. How can you rate England on this? Mallett wants shooting for picking Bergamasco at No.9.”
This much was hard to argue with come the half-time whistle. Bergamasco had a hand – or not, in all three of England’s first half scores either by his wayward passing or simple lack of scrum-half nous.
With the Stade Francais man mercifully removed at half-time, we could at least expect a second half whereby England could be assessed on their own merits.
And that is the problem. When they were asked to create their own fortune, rather than profit from the errors of their opponents, England were awful.
Six to watch in the Six Nations
Posted by dannycoyle
dannycoyle
Some of the best YouTube moments from six players who could light up the 2009 Championship, even if Riki Flutey may only do it with his singing.
Clive Woodward was often known as a maverick innovator, but even he never thought of this.
Before England face Italy at Twickenham on Saturday, the RFU's 'official betting partner' has recruited a gang of opera singers who will be cunningly planted around the stadium to galvanise the singing of Swing Low Sweet Chariot and other notable England anthems.
"Italy, the home of opera the opposition, won’t know what’s hit them when they hear the opera singers belting out the most beautiful chants Twickenham has ever experienced,” said smug marketing man of aforementioned betting firm.
Neither will the poor bloke in the barbour jacket in row 52 when he has his eardrums detonated as he tucks into his pre-match pie.
Before England face Italy at Twickenham on Saturday, the RFU's 'official betting partner' has recruited a gang of opera singers who will be cunningly planted around the stadium to galvanise the singing of Swing Low Sweet Chariot and other notable England anthems.
"Italy, the home of opera the opposition, won’t know what’s hit them when they hear the opera singers belting out the most beautiful chants Twickenham has ever experienced,” said smug marketing man of aforementioned betting firm.
Neither will the poor bloke in the barbour jacket in row 52 when he has his eardrums detonated as he tucks into his pre-match pie.
Never let it be said that Wales' favourite son is not getting the recognition he deserves.
Having only made it to seventh in our poll of the world's best 50 rugby players, the IRB player of the year can take a crumb (sorry) of comfort in the news that a Welsh pie maker has created a life size pie of the Lions wing, set to be unveiled on Monday by the current Miss Wales, who, presumably given her current occupation, won't be tucking in.
No news as yet on the filling.
NEWS FLASH - The filling will be Steak and Ale. Lovely.
Having only made it to seventh in our poll of the world's best 50 rugby players, the IRB player of the year can take a crumb (sorry) of comfort in the news that a Welsh pie maker has created a life size pie of the Lions wing, set to be unveiled on Monday by the current Miss Wales, who, presumably given her current occupation, won't be tucking in.
No news as yet on the filling.
NEWS FLASH - The filling will be Steak and Ale. Lovely.
In the time-honoured traditions of journalistic hubris we have selected a team to take on all comers in the Indpendent's Six Nations Fantasy Rugby competition.
If you want to challenge the IRN XV, pick your team then join our mini league.
League name: Challenge the pros
Password: intrugbynews
Here's our side for the opening weekend
1. Marcus Horan
2. Dimitri Szarzewski
3. Lee Mears
4. Jason White
5. Santiago Dellape
6. Steffon Armitage
7. Martyn Williams
8. Andy Powell
9. Tomas O'Leary
10 Ronan O'Gara
11. Shane Williams
12. Rob Kearney
13. Maxime Medard
14. Lee Byrne
15. Delon Armitage
If you want to challenge the IRN XV, pick your team then join our mini league.
League name: Challenge the pros
Password: intrugbynews
Here's our side for the opening weekend
1. Marcus Horan
2. Dimitri Szarzewski
3. Lee Mears
4. Jason White
5. Santiago Dellape
6. Steffon Armitage
7. Martyn Williams
8. Andy Powell
9. Tomas O'Leary
10 Ronan O'Gara
11. Shane Williams
12. Rob Kearney
13. Maxime Medard
14. Lee Byrne
15. Delon Armitage
In contrast to the selections of the autumn, Martin Johnson’s first Six Nations side looks much more like a team picked on form rather than in the hope that it would click.
Andy Goode’s selection at fly-half will grab most of the headlines, not all of them positive given the ever-present grumblings about a Leicester old-boys influence in the set-up and considering the facts that he has nine caps to his name, was never a first choice pick in his heyday and can be maddeningly erratic.
But if you want to deal in yet more facts, he is also the top points scorer in the French Top14, a league not bereft of fine No.10s, and he has achieved that playing in one of its mediocre teams.
Shane Geraghty is on the bench and has the ability to come on and ignite the game as he did in 2006 against
Goode may not have trod the Twickenham turf in an England shirt for over two years, but he his far more worldly when it comes to handling the pressures of intense media scrutiny from now ‘til kick-off and has more experience at dealing with the brickbats when it goes wrong – not that it should against Italy.
( Read more... )
Eddie Jones backs Lamb for England
Posted by dannycoyle
dannycoyle
The Saracens Director of Rugby is never shy of a thing or two to say, and in a Q&A with International Rugby News, he tells us why Ryan Lamb should be wearing the England No.10 shirt ahead of Danny Cipriani
Read the full interview here
Read the full interview here
It looks like Coventry Saracens' 194-3 defeat has been expunged from the record books after the Rugby Football Union decreed that they had infringed the rules by taking the field with only eight players.
Their opponents, Alcester will now just take the two league points from the game rather than the avalanche of tries they racked up.
That sort of scoreline is usually described by a side's coach as 'character building'.
"We learn more about ourselves from games like that than we do when we hammer teams", you can imagine coaches saying up and down the land after watching their team smashed to smithereens.
There has to be a point where that kind of philosophy begins to sound as hollow as an empty packet of Pringles. Whatever your sport, how many tries/goals/sets/legs/wickets/frames can you lose before your character is 'built' to buggery?
During my own short and uneventful rugby career I was only ever on the end of one heavy beating, although the 87-7 defeat my university side suffered that day still looks small beer in comparison to Coventry's effort.
What rubbed it in was that our opposition's coach was so enraged that we had even managed to score a try against his side of gym-fuelled wrecking machines that he forced them to perform some sort of elaborate sprint session as a punishment, ordering them to criss-cross the field from corner to corner after the final whistle, as we limped back to the changing rooms like the wounded leaving the Somme.
Quite what it all taught us that day I am still at a loss to explain, so perhaps some of you can post your tales of spirit-crushing sporting failure, and enlighten me as to what you learned.
Their opponents, Alcester will now just take the two league points from the game rather than the avalanche of tries they racked up.
That sort of scoreline is usually described by a side's coach as 'character building'.
"We learn more about ourselves from games like that than we do when we hammer teams", you can imagine coaches saying up and down the land after watching their team smashed to smithereens.
There has to be a point where that kind of philosophy begins to sound as hollow as an empty packet of Pringles. Whatever your sport, how many tries/goals/sets/legs/wickets/frames can you lose before your character is 'built' to buggery?
During my own short and uneventful rugby career I was only ever on the end of one heavy beating, although the 87-7 defeat my university side suffered that day still looks small beer in comparison to Coventry's effort.
What rubbed it in was that our opposition's coach was so enraged that we had even managed to score a try against his side of gym-fuelled wrecking machines that he forced them to perform some sort of elaborate sprint session as a punishment, ordering them to criss-cross the field from corner to corner after the final whistle, as we limped back to the changing rooms like the wounded leaving the Somme.
Quite what it all taught us that day I am still at a loss to explain, so perhaps some of you can post your tales of spirit-crushing sporting failure, and enlighten me as to what you learned.
Gutted at Andy Murray's five-set exit in Melbourne?
Crushed that Wasps have crashed out of Europe?
In tears that FA Cup holders Pompey went out to lower league opposition?
Then imagine what it feels like to be a fan, player or member of Covenrty Saracens RFC, who set a new record for defeat last weekend.
Crushed that Wasps have crashed out of Europe?
In tears that FA Cup holders Pompey went out to lower league opposition?
Then imagine what it feels like to be a fan, player or member of Covenrty Saracens RFC, who set a new record for defeat last weekend.
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