15 Antony Watson; Worked hard in an attempt to get involved in a dire first half performance from England. Watson was eventually rewarded with a try, hitting a clever line on the 74 minute mark. 6.5 14 Ruaridh McConnochie; Defensively sound. Didn’t get enough ball in space to really test the Italian defence. Solid debut. Read More …
Mako Vunipola will join England’s World Cup training camp having discarded his crutches and will tell head coach Eddie Jones he is confident of appearing in at least two of the warm up internationals before the squad heads to Japan. Vunipola revealed to RugbyPass the severity of the injury he suffered helping Saracens beat Leinster Read More …
Alex King, the Montpellier backs coach, believes an England team based around the Saracens “machine” will nullify World Cup pool arch-rivals France despite the attacking firepower on show in Saturday’s Top 14 final between Toulouse and Clermont Auvergne in Paris. Both teams carry potent attacking options for French coach Jacques Brunel who has yet to Read More …
World Cup winning captain Martin Johnson is backing Dylan Hartley to be included in Eddie Jones’s England squad for this year’s tournament in Japan despite the Northampton hooker having been side-lined since December by a knee injury. Johnson knows what it’s like to triumph at the World Cup and also the problems associated with a Read More …
All Black Nick Evans believes Mike Brown has turned himself into an attacking force Eddie Jones must include in England’s World Cup squad in Japan despite the Harlequins full back having missed out on Six Nations action. Brown is stuck on 72 caps having been dropped for England’s November tests with Elliot Daly at No15 Read More …
Alex Goode, the European Player of the Year, believes the constant criticism and claims of salary cap breaches has helped turn Saracens into triple Heineken Cup champions. Saracens defeated Leinster 20-10 in Newcastle, a win that confirmed their status as the best club team in Europe and Goode’s personal award only increased questions about why Read More …
England head coach Eddie Jones has finally accepted that Maro Itoje needs to be allowed to fully recover from the knee injury that has ruled him out of all but one of England’s Six Nations matches with the Saracens lock sent back to his club in the build up to Saturday’s clash with Scotland at Read More …
For 51 minutes England inflicted what must have felt like death by a thousands kicks for France. Every time England put boot to ball it exposed the French defence and brought yet more points in what was a clinical application of a simple but highly effective game plan. The French turned up at Twickenham with Read More …
Courtney Lawes has admitted that “maybe I need to take a step” after being controversially penalised for offside which ruled out Sam Underhill’s solo try that would have given England victory over New Zealand. Instead, television match official Marius Jonker ruled Lawes had come up too quickly on New Zealand scrum half TJ Perenara to Read More …
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has revealed his close relationship with England opposite number Eddie Jones and says the pair speak “probably every second week”. England will face New Zealand for the first time in four years at Twickenham on Saturday, with Hansen dismissing suggestions Jones is under severe pressure in his head coach role. Read More …
