Tag: France

England’s Lights Shine Brightly In France

You need to experience at first hand the scary moments when the French rugby touchpaper is lit and attackers seem to come at you from all sides with bewildering speed. I remember this when England played France in 1992 in the gladiatorial Parc de Princes, French backs and forwards poured through imaginary gaps in the […]

Chalk and Cheese in thrilling Six Nations weekend

We can safely say that the Rugby World Cup will be epic. Enough teams have worked out that high intensity attacking rugby will be the only way to win. Some sides are fine-tuning their approach and we saw that this weekend. One or two others are yet to start…

Dark Clouds in Cardiff overshadow Six Nations onfield dramas

There have been some truly great moments in the Six Nations to date but sadly overshadowed by the off-field mismanagement we have known for a while would come to hurt the game. 

A week for Sporting Champions and questions of leadership

What a week for Champions in two of our major sports – and a prelude for an unprecedented summer of sport after two years of Pandemic-driven abstinence.

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England’s Rugby Realities (2)

Just as we are all ruminating on the right structures to give England rugby success, some fascinating takes have appeared in the press on the England coaching job by Rob Baxter and then Mark McCall.

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England’s Rugby Realities

I said it was complicated and in a whole generation of English rugby, only three groups have ever been really successful and all three had the same characteristics.

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Six Nations – a (dis)passionate look back.

Rugby romance, drama and crass stupidity at the close in Cardiff was a stunning feature of an ultimately predictable Six Nations as France and Ireland were streets ahead of the rest. I am not one for shouting at the television, and hardly when Wales is playing Italy.

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Ambition on show as a cold wind blows from North to South

This year of all years has been incredibly tough on professional rugby. All the touring teams from the Southern Hemisphere have been in ‘ bubbles ‘ for months and must be mentally and physically exhausted.

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Eastern Promise From A Dramatic Rugby Fortnight

As if the drama of England’s near miss over the All Blacks two weekends ago wasn’t enough, the Springbok’s two tries (one disallowed) in overtime eventually killed off a valiant French challenge in Paris. But more was to come as Ireland finally lived up to a favourite’s billing by downing the men in Black last Saturday evening and installed themselves as the team to beat next year in Japan.

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Rugby Wings Take Centre Stage As Beach Beckons

The bad news for England over the weekend comes from an unusual source and will not get any headlines. For the first time in recent memory France showed their true rugby colours and offered a glimpse of what my generation of rugby players experienced every time we saw them take the field.

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