Rugby Union | Blogs | Paper Round

February 9, 2010

Scotland trudge from the field against France © Getty Images

Stauart Bathgate talks to Scotland legend Tony Stanger about the current dearth of attacking quality in The Scotsman.

“There is no easy solution to the try drought which Scotland are experiencing, according to the country's joint leading all-time scorer of touchdowns, Tony Stanger, who along with Ian Smith tops the list with 24, believes that even if Andy Robinson's team score several tries in Wales on Saturday the problem will not have gone away.
“Now Talent Manager with the Sportscotland Institute of Sport, Stanger has an optimistic outlook, and is convinced that certain members of the Scottish team, who have now failed to score a try in three successive home Tests, do have the talent to make a difference. He believes, however, that the difference between merely creating chances and finishing them off is an extremely difficult gap to bridge.

"We can't ignore the improvements in physicality and in defence that have been made since rugby went professional," said Stanger, whose try in the 1990 Grand Slam game against England is the most celebrated individual score in the history of Scottish rugby. "It's chalk and cheese compared to my day. Organising a group of players to defend, or to work in the gym, is easier than trying to do the right thing under pressure. "We've got players who can make line breaks, like Johnnie Beattie and Sean Lamont did on Sunday. But if you don't score from the break, how do you organise from there? We have got creative players – the question is what happens next."

No margin for error

Posted 5 hours, 12 minutes ago

Mick Cleary previews a vital weekend for the England management as their squad prepare to take on Italy at the Stadio Flaminio in The Daily Telegraph.

"On such small margins might Martin Johnson be musing as his England squad shake off their post-victory celebrations to get themselves in the right frame of mind to protect their unblemished record over the Azzurri.
"Johnson's job was never really in jeopardy. Only a calamitous run of results, on the scale of a wipeout in the tournament, could have triggered such a turn of events. There has never been any desire at Twickenham for regime change, no whispers of discontent the like of which precipitated the demise of Ashton and Andy Robinson before him.

"Yet Johnson's reputation as a manager of substance has yet to be forged. Concerns persist and questions are raised. Johnson himself accepts that state of affairs. There is little doubt, though, that Saturday's win was a significant step. Anxiety has been quelled, time has been bought. England cannot afford to slip up at the Stadio Flaminio, and certainly need more vibrancy and polish."

Sit down

Posted 5 hours, 16 minutes ago

Richard Williams evaluates the link in rugby and other sports between player power and success in The Guardian.

"Every now and then we need to be reminded that sport is about the people who play it, not those who design the way it is played. This may not be the most appropriate thought in the immediate aftermath of the Super Bowl, the pinnacle of a sport that introduced us to coaches with earpieces absorbing information from spotters seated high up in the stands, but it was reassuring to hear that a degree of player power was apparently exercised in the run-up to England's victory over Wales at Twickenham on Saturday.
"It may have been not much more than a healthy and perfectly natural exchange of opinions, slightly exaggerated in the retelling. But it was interesting that, in the days leading up to the match, several England players put their heads above the parapet to observe that something had to change about the way Martin Johnson's team were performing. And although the team's aura of stolidity was not dispelled overnight, at least there was a bit more of a sense that the players were being allowed to express themselves.

"Whatever it was that took place, it seems to work for England. Back in 2003, after a series of turgid victories had taken Clive Woodward's side to the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup, the senior players – Johnson among them – quietly exerted a greater degree of control as they faced the closing stages of the tournament. Not surprisingly, perhaps, "player power" appears nowhere in the index to the book Woodward subsequently wrote to explain his techniques for getting players to do as they are told."

Up Ireland!

Posted 5 hours, 20 minutes ago

David Kelly revisits Ireland's thrilling victory over France in 2000 in The Irish Independent.

"On the morning of March 19, 2000, France presumed there was only one star in Irish rugby. According to the match programme, at least, Keith Wood was he. How wrong. Several hours later, a new star would be born.
"Paris in the spring had never wrought so much romance for the Irish.Fast forward a bit later, to the self-same Wood - standing astride the green sward where, for the first time in 28 years, Irish blood, sweat and tears were at last spilled for due reward - regaling the Irish hordes who are, disbelievingly, singing 'The Fields' in true celebration.

"Très content!" roars Wood into a French TV microphone. "Très fatigué! Up Ireland!"

February 8, 2010

Paris, je t'aime

Posted 1 day, 4 hours ago

James Haskell excelled for England © Getty Images

Richard Williams talks Top 14 with James Haskell in the wake of his star turn for England in The Guardian.

"James Haskell is hardly the first young man to go to Paris to find himself, but the city's magic seems to be working as well for him as it has for generations of artists and writers. With a brace of tries that shunted England towards a pressure-relieving victory over Wales, the 24-year-old flanker vindicated his much criticised decision to leave London Wasps and cross the Channel to join Stade Français last summer.
"Needing this win perhaps as much as any in their history, England had their opponents to thank for the errors that will allow Martin Johnson and his squad to spend the next week working in an atmosphere of relative tranquillity. Had Alun Wyn Jones not tripped Dylan Hartley five minutes before the interval or Stephen Jones not thrown an intercepted pass five minutes before full time, the criticisms of recent months would have intensified.

"Haskell's first try, on the stroke of half-time, came with a plunge for the line at the end of several minutes of English siege. The second found the flanker ready to make the final thrust as England swarmed through the tattered Welsh cover. These moments were, he claimed, prime examples of the squad's new spirit."

All about the breakdown

Posted 1 day, 5 hours ago

Richard Loe has one focus ahead of the new Super 14 season and it's unsurprisingly the breakdown in The New Zealand Herald.

"The main point of interest for many in this year's Super 14 will be the new Sanzar rules at the breakdown.
"I think these could be good but there are two potential problems - interpretations and the fact they are not binding on other international sides; so the All Blacks have to revert to the old rules when they play Northern Hemisphere sides.

"That's because the IRB have decided there will be no more rules changes before the World Cup. Well, okay, but Sanzar have at least realised the game of rugby has a problem and are moving to fix it. I have always said that, for every rule change the IRB approve, they should tear out two old ones that aren't used any more. Rugby has got so complicated that many players, fans and even referees don't understand it."

England can build

Posted 1 day, 5 hours ago

Brian Moore finds things to applaud and lament in England's opening Six Nations victory in The Daily Telegraph.

"Whether it is a reflection of the general trend towards the immediate or a lack of understanding of the game, the Twickenham crowd is becoming increasingly simplistic, with the mundane cheered as heartily as the good; perhaps it was simply relief that they had something to cheer about in England's victory over Wales at Twickenham.
"Their mood was heartened by the sight of their team running out in something resembling rugby shirts and not something favoured by the ASBO-clans that haunt the nation's shopping malls at the weekends. They also had the promise of pace and creativity in the back line, although the late withdrawal of Riki Flutey put a dent in the manager Martin Johnson's quest to find a settled centre partnership.

"For all the promise of the first 10 minutes, they must have begun resigning themselves to another betrayal of optimism as the game tightened perceptibly with only six points being shared between the sides. In fact, this was a typical Six Nations opening; nervy, imprecise and mistake-ridden and produced a lull in the atmosphere that felt almost preternatural and eerie. There was no lack of effort, but when neither side could make ground the inevitable kick-tennis threatened to take hold and several must have considered reaching for their brandy bottles and revolvers."

The state of your rugby soul

Posted 1 day, 5 hours ago

Owen Slot gauges the value of an intercept in the wake of England's victory over Wales in The Times.

"The period when England nearly threw away their season may be the one that saves them. In the wake of their 30-17 victory over Wales at Twickenham on Saturday, ambitious Englishmen are thus entitled to ponder the value of a single intercepted pass.
"England head for their second game of the Six Nations Championship, against Italy on Sunday, with confidence and spirits raised. And Rome is a splendid place to be a visitor at any time, let alone when it is a rugby weekend and that is the state of your rugby soul.

"But they travel thus uplifted in large part because of the 75th minute and the game-changing, though otherwise disappointing, Delon Armitage. The England full back’s reading of a pass by Stephen Jones, the Wales No 10, was the moment that saved England. It set in motion a move in which the ball passed through a number of hands and was finally delivered to James Haskell, who completed the score."

February 7, 2010

Ireland's sluggish start

Posted 2 days, 7 hours ago

Ireland got their defence of the Grand Slam and Championship off to a sluggish but successful start in perfect conditions at Croke Park yesterday. Peter O'Reilly writes in the Sunday Times.

"This had all the ingredients for a yawnathon — Ireland, perennial slow starters to the Six Nations, facing opponents whose one virtue is their ability to make life awkward, and a pompous, fussy, interfering referee. And how we yawned, especially during a second half that must rate as one of the worst periods of 40 minutes in championship history.
"Nearly 80,000 spectators sat patiently as Ireland, having built up a 20-point lead inside 35 minutes with a reasonably effective dismantling of the azzurri, then sat back and waited for the Italians to roll over — which, of course, they never do. Once Ireland let standards slip, it couldn’t end quickly enough — zero suspense, zero quality."

Haskell's forward thinking punishes slack Wales

Posted 2 days, 7 hours ago

Relief, not rapture, greeted England's win against Wales at Twickenham, writes Stephen Jones in the Sunday Times.

"James Haskell was the signature of their victory, with two tries and once again he put to shame the fools who believe he is a playboy. Haskell’s second try with only five minutes remaining was desperately needed to calm English nerves after Wales had come back to within three points with eight minutes remaining.
"The Haskell lieutenants were the Harlequins duo of Danny Care and Nick Easter, who injected what pace there was in the England game. England’s scrum was battered but held on, their lineout was excellent, they had composure even when they dipped alarmingly in terms of performance in the final quarter, and they had enough. They also had the ideal opposition against whom to start a revival. Wales were disastrous in the first half, so bad in so many areas that they betrayed their own strengths."