Munster humbled by 14 man Stade; Toulon edge Bath
Stade Français ran roughshod over Munster, eventually winning 27-7 and confirming that for the second year in a row, Munster will not play in the latter stages of the European competition. It took 32 minutes for the first score to come for either team, with Paul Williams spotting a gap and galloping over from 25 metres. Stade then had winger Josaia Raisuqe red-carded for gouging, but seemed unfazed by the personnel deficit, scoring two second-half tries through Hugo Bonneval and Sekou Macalou. Ireland scrum half Conor Murray scored a messy consolation try in the last six minutes, but Munster were played off the park for much of the game. Stade meanwhile are now contending with Leicester at the top of Pool 4.
Racing 92 played to their strengths in a 34-10 win against Glasgow Warriors. The French side mauled their way across the line for all four of their tries, securing the bonus point in self-assured style although without their customary flair. Fittingly enough, the Racing front row of Eddy Ben Arous, Dmitri Szarszewski and Ben Tameifuna helped themselves to a try each as did lock Manuel Carrizza with Dan Carter adding 12 points with the boot. Racing claim the full five points and stretch their lead over the rest of Pool 3.
Clermont shook off a persistent Bordeaux Begles side to win 28-10 on Friday evening. Nick Abendanon and Clement Maynadier traded tries in the first half, leading to a 10-10 scoreline just before the break. However, Camille Lopez snuck in for a try before the whistle, and Noa Nakaitaci’s walk-in was supplemented by Morgan Parra’s two penalties to give Clermont a comfortable final scoreline, in what was a good game given the conditions.
Ulster retained some pride for the Irish teams this weekend in dramatic fashion. The Irishmen edged past Oyonnax 24-23 having trailed 23-0 at half-time, staging one of the great comebacks in European rugby history. A Jeremie Marouard try and 11 points from the boot of Nicky Robinson put Oyonnax ahead before Uwa Tawalo’s remarkable 80 metre effort left scorched earth behind him and made the score 23-0. With their European hopes in tatters, Ulster coach Les Kiss brought on Paddy Jackson, Nick Williams Ruan Pienaar at half-back and sparked his team into life. Rory Scholes and Craig Gilroy both finished off wonderful backline moves for their tries, while Kyle McCall burrowed over for the all-important final try. Trailing by two points and with less than three minutes on the clock, Paddy Jackson drilled a 51 metre penalty kick to give his team a frankly miraculous victory.
Bath suffered for their ill-discipline in their 12-9 loss to Toulon at Stade Felix Mayol. Eric Escande and George Ford were in the business of trading three-pointers with Escande kicking three penalties and Ford hitting one penalty and two drop goals. Bath gave away 15 penalties in the game and it was of course one of these lapses that allowed Frederic Michalak the opportunity to put the game away in the 75th minute. The all-time French points leader kicked the goal and gave Toulon the lead for the first time in the game, a lead they held until the final whistle.
In the only Challenge Cup fixture of the weekend, Castres came from behind to beat Pau 30-21. Castres secured a try bonus point after tries from David Smith, Sitiveni Sivivatu, Florian Vialelle and Julien Beziat with Geoffrey Palis contributing 10 points.
Champions Cup Star Man: George Ford
Quins topple Saracens; Irish win the battle of the bottom two
There was a belter of an East Midlands derby at Welford Road that saw the Tigers come out on top of Saints, 30-27. Leicester went ahead early, leading 21-0 after 22 minutes in fact, after tries from Matt Smith, Lachlan McCaffrey and Owen Williams. Sure enough though, Saints fired up the comeback machine and set to work, shoving Teimana Harrison over for their first try. George North latched onto a ricocheting ball to run in unhindered and Jamie Gibson tricked the Leicester pack from a maul to bring Saints to within three points. Stephen Myler brought the scores level at 75 minutes, before Freddie Burns atoned for some earlier drop goal misses and knocked through a last minute penalty to seal the deal.
Exeter Chiefs wound up Thomas the tank engine and rode him to victory over Gloucester, no.8 Waldrom scoring twice on the way to a 19-10 victory. The Chiefs scored all their points within the first 22 minutes and gave Gloucester plenty of time to get back into the game. However, any mettle the Cherry and Whites might have had did not appear until late in the game with Charlie Sharples scoring in the corner, although this was small consolation for David Humphreys’ side who have failed to record back-to-back wins so far this season.
Arguably the most surprising result of the round came in the London derby that involved Harlequins and Saracens. Quins were able to break Sarries’ unbeaten streak, winning 29-23 in front of The Stoop despite early tries for Neil de Kock and Billy Vunipola. Harlequins’ tries in reply came from a sensationally worked lineout move that put Rob Buchanan in at the corner before Jack Clifford benefitted from a crisp assist from Nick Evans to score Quins’ second. Ben Botica kicked nine quick-fire points in the latter stages before James Horwill, having been sin-binned earlier in the game, landed the killer blow, driving over from close to score the winning try. Botica pushed the conversion, which let Saracens off with a bonus point.
Wasps were somewhat flattered by the scoreline in their clash with Worcester, winning 32-22. The Warriors’ Andy Symons was flawless from the tee, kicking 17 points and keeping his team in touch throughout, with Cooper Vuna also gathering a loose pass and scoring a simple try. Wasps warmed up in the second half, Kearnan Myall, Guy Thompson and Frank Halai all scoring in a forty minute deluge. When Halai’s effort came on 78 minutes it seemed as if Wasps would record an unconvincing 25-22 win. However, with the last play of the game Worcester coughed up possession and Sailosi Tagicakibau was on hand to score Wasps’ fourth try, simultaneously securing the bonus point for Wasps and cruelly denying Worcester any share of the spoils.
London Irish’s important 20-15 win over Newcastle was full of surprises for both sides. Firstly, Topsy Ojo’s try from Shane Geraghty’s crossfield kick was the winger’s first score in two whole years, a bafflingly terrible record for a dangerous back three player. Secondly, Andy Goode appeared for Newcastle having recently come out of retirement to sign a three month deal with the club, only months after retiring due to injury… while on the books at Irish! That was pretty much where the excitement ended though, London Irish grinding out their second win of the season with Ojo and Alex Lewington providing the tries, while Newcastle crossed through Nili Latu and ex-Exile Marcus Watson.
Aviva Premiership Star Man: Thomas Waldrom
Scarlets maintain top spot with win over Connacht
Connacht have been searching for a league win for the last three rounds, and came up short again against Scarlets, 21-19. Steve Shingler sealed the victory with a penalty kick two minutes before full time, but Connacht had held the lead for much of the game with Matt Healy crossing for a try and Craig Ronaldson reliable from the tee. Scarlets’ two tries came from Michael Collins and Steffan Evans before the kicking duel set in, Jack Carty hitting twice before Shingler’s final winning effort. Scarlets retain their spot at the top of the league.
Edinburgh had the biggest winning margin of the abridged Pro12 weekend, but will not have been wholly enthused in beating Treviso 28-13. Damien Hoyland started and ended the game with tries and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne continued his strong kicking form, adding 13 points and bringing his personal season tally up to 60. The Italians are now winless in their last 23 games across all competitions, and new boss Marius Goosen has his work cut out for him.
Leinster meanwhile are on a tear in the Pro12, notching their seventh consecutive league victory with a 22-9 dismantling of Ospreys. Leinster’s performance was calm and clinical as they scored three times, twice through Dave Kearney and once through Noel Reid, while also limiting the Welshmen to pops at goal. Leinster are now second in the table with a game in hand and Scarlets will be feeling Irish breath on their necks during the week.
Guinness Pro12 Star Man: Jonathan Sexton
Try of the Week: Uwa Tawalo’s pacey effort against Ulster, which saw him go the 80 metres in the blink of an eye, was a beloter, while there should also definitely be a mention of Northampton prop Paul Hill and his mad dash to the line that sadly was chalked off; from the same game Matt Smith and Owen Williams both scored corkers. There is only one winner, though, and that is Stade Francais’s Sekou Macalou for his solo effort. While you’re watching, just bear in mind that he plays in the pack.
This is too good. pic.twitter.com/EnXYET950n
— Ben Coles (@bencoles_) January 9, 2016
Hero of the Weekend: Andy Goode! Making his dramatic return to Premiership Rugby, Goodey remains a true anachronism of the modern game with his impressive paunch, Stick Mitts and suspiciously restored hairline. He’s been showing good chops as a sideline pundit but there’s no replacement for his presence on the pitch.
Villain of the Weekend: As much as Stade Francais’ Josaia Raisque probably deserves this award for gouging Munster’s CJ Stander, I’d like to keep the proceedings upbeat and so instead will give it to Bordeaux Begles forward Julien Le Devedec who was red-carded for a headbutt less than a minute after coming on to the field. His efficiency and apparent eagerness to get back to the bench is unquestionable.
By Fraser Kay (@fraserkay)
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
Very ugly for Ospreys and Munster over the weekend. Ospreys looked devoid of ideas in the backline, I don’t like how Dirksen seems to have turned into a contact seeking missile. He used to have a bit of guile about him before his injury. It’s worrying how poor Ospreys look right now.
Munster were shameful for 20mins in that 2nd half – powder puff tackling attempts. Zebo – I’m bored of hearing about how amazing he is due to one flukey juggle of a ball against Wales. He tackled like a bad Paris street mime and had the go forward intelligence of Norton Knight. I would imagine there will be some sig. personnel changes at Munster soon.
Pat Lam must be close to just wandering down to the Pro12 referees committee and slamming the lot. I didn’t see the match, so can’t comment on the right/wrong of the decisions, but there always seems to be some controversy in tight Connaught matches.
Can’t say I’m too surprised at Ospreys lack of backline guile – I’ve being saying for a long time that Biggar offers so little with his passing game that is hinders Wales. Great tactical kicking game and unbeliebable at catching his own up and unders – but significantly overrated after his performance against England. Almost spat my drink out when I saw Sky Sports touting the Ospreys vs Leinster game as a battle between two of the worlds best 10s.
Sexton also offered very little – Leinster succeeded through tactical kicking and cross kicks. It’ll be interesting to see what Ireland do this year – their narrow game was found out last year and I’d (well, I would) argue that it was Wales who started that. Defend hard, defend wide, have a couple of guys excellent under the high ball and they’re neutered and so it turned out to be in the WC (despite all of the talk of the tactical genius Schmidt keeping “his cards close to his chest” it turned out that it was more that he didn’t have any other cards to play). Will they stick with that? Come to that, will Gats stick with his gameplan? It’s a tough question to answer because both teams are capable of winning the 6Ns with the current plan. Put it this way – I’m not confident we’ll see the on fire Tom James in the 6Ns squad so that’s what I think about what Gats is going to do this year.
Ospreys need some proper top end tactical coaches, not old boys. I think one thing the Pro12 is showing is that giving jobs to the old boys is often a pretty disastrous thing to do.
I do still think Biggar is one of the world’s best 10s but that’s a bit of an indictment over the status of 10 at the mo. Tactical controlling 10s OR inconsistent, flaky, match losing/winning 10s. Biggar or Cooper? Sexton or Ford? Only Dan Carter seems able to combine the two aspects at the moment, hence Racing’s surging form. Biggar deserves to be feted because of his sublime execution of basic 10 skills – his current problem at the Os is that he is severely missing Rhys Webb (or a Gareth Davies would do) to run more plays. The Os centres are, to be frank, shite so there isn’t a lot outside him.
Do think Sexton looks to be half the player he was a couple of years ago. I do agree that there appears to be a real lack of top class 10s around. NZ probably had three of the best in Cruden, Carter and Barrett at their disposal.
Personally I think Finn Russell is someone that is absolute class – he can combine the two.
On the Wales/Ireland tactical gameplans, I really hope Wales do more. Their back line has the potential to be so good, and I’ve maintained for a long time that Gatland is simply not getting the best out of it.
Ireland I’m not so sure. Without BOD, or Sexton in form, I’m not sure they have much choice? Bowe looks a bit past it, Zebo is all over the place, Dave Kearney is very average and Trimble is quite one dimensional. Jared Payne isn’t a 13. What do they do? Probably aren’t many other options that to play the game they are now. There’s Gary Ringrose playing well at 13 for Leinster from what I’ve seen, but still very raw.
Agree on Russel and would add Ruaridh Jackson as well – who among us would have thought we’d be lauding Scottish 10s?
For Wales this is a big selection time for Gats as this will be it now – is he going to stick with the plan or does he have the sense to make required changes? Two key selections for me – Matthew Morgan and Tom James. If neither make the squad then it’s clear what the plan will be. I have to be careful – although changes are needed I’m not a “sack Gats” man given the success he has brought us (I’m glass half full on Welsh rugby so I always imagine we’re 1 season away from the 90s) but would love to see some recognition of the new talent and an ability to think outside the current systems.
I fear that instead of Tom James it’ll be Cuthbert – diff wings I know but seeing James and Cuthbert on the same pitch right now is chalk&cheese so it’ll be unreal obstinacy to pick one but not the other. In fact I’d say right now Tom James is the best Welsh winger around.
Madigan seems to be Ireland’s big other hope at 10 but I’ve never been that impressed with him. No idea why he was so feted for that win against a hapless France in the WC. Ringrose is doomed as he’s already being called “the next BOD”. No pressure then.
Ruaridh Jackson is a strange one. I see a lot of him and he seems to lack confidence, he sometimes grabs the game by the scruff of the neck and looks brilliant. Sometimes he just looks a like a passenger in the game. Shipping the ball on with no real intent to do anything with it.
Agree on Wales. Matthew Morgan looks to be an unbelievable talent, but can he be a top class 10? Not sure. I certainly wouldn’t write Biggar off, I just think right now he is limited. Farrell certainly was, but has worked on it and this season looks to have improved his passing and running game significantly.
Madigan just doesn’t look like a 10 to me. Bit flaky and can’t control games well. Personally always though he looked a better 12, that second playmaker role suited him more.
Morgan is pretty much now a 15. He’s had chats with Howley and Danny Wilson about this and it sounds like it’s been made clear to him that his best option for a Wales place is at 15. Cardiff have signed him as a 15 (yet another excellent announcement for Cardiff).
Ah ok, I always saw him more as a 10. Not sure how he is under a high ball? Surely Halfpenny and Williams are far ahead of him at the moment for the 15 shirt?
I thought he was Cardiff’s replacement for Patchell at 10?
Nah, it’s in the press interviews that it’s clear he’s in at 15 and maybe a backup 10 option. We’ve got Anscombe as probably 1st choice 10 with Jarret as a very exciting looking young backup. We’re still light there as that only leaves us with 1 proper 10 during Wales callups but we don’t have a lot of 15 options either which is why Patch has mostly been playing there for the last few months.
The Welsh selection will be interesting. Williams is injured. Biggar is kicking superbly. Halfpenny … he’s not the attacking force of a a few years ago. Could we go Morgan at FB, Williams on one wing and leave the kicking to Biggar? It worked well in the Fiji game, might be time to try it, at least as a bench option, for the future.
There is also the whole “Gatlands Law” saga which may come into this but nobody outside Gats has a clue how this applies to Halfpenny, Priestland, etc.
Bit of relief from a Wasps perspective. Sounds as though we were awful but somehow scraped 5 points. Much needed – didn’t realise we were as low as 9th going into the weekend! Expect us to be challenging for the top 4 this year, not down that end.
Great result for Quins. They started with an extremely mobile back row of Clifford, Wallace and Robshaw – secret to beating Sarries maybe?
Surprised to see Ford as top player in the Champions Cup considering the game sounded fairly dull (didn’t actually watch it). But coming out on the losing side is a 12-9 game hardly sounds like a great game from a 10?
I watched the Bath game, the scoreline doesn’t really do it justice, it was great viewing and Ford probably had the best game i’ve seen him play, tactically he was superb.
Bath have clearly missed Hooper who seemed to be everywhere but more interestingly, having written him off, I thought Eastmond has played himself right back into England contention. Anyone who says he’s too small needs to watch him keep two of the biggest centres in world rugby quiet for 80mins and his distribution is up there with the best in the league.
Thought the Saints Leicester game was very good as well, good to see Tuilagi back playing well and thought McCaffrey was just phenominal!
I wasn’t impressed with Ford at all. Couple of great drop goals but some woeful decision making on when to go wide/step/inside-pass. It seemed like he always inside-passed when it was the worst thing to do. Bath overall were full of endeavour but never really looked like pulling away by a few points. Backline moves mostly ended up too wide to do much other than get the ball recycled or go into touch. Seems they’re getting a lot of plaudits because it was Toulon in Toulon.
Bath threw that away – Toulon have been exceedingly ordinary in the Champs Cup this year, especially creatively. They were missing a little bit of their pack depth (only the 2 world XV 8s to pick from instead of the usual 3) and Giteau so it was pretty stilted stuff from them. Nonu and Bastareaud together don’t make a balanced centre pairing imo. I’ll be amazed if someone creative doesn’t unpick them in the knock out rounds.
The post from Brighty sounds more like the George Ford I know to be honest. Personally I’ve never been a big fan of his at all. Brilliant one second and a disaster the next.
A fly half has the largest amount of control over the outcome of the game imo, so I struggle with a 10 on the losing side being named the best player of the weekend; that’s all.
Toulon look significantly poorer this season. Do wonder how much better they’ll be come the end of the season. If they scrape through and then get players fit, this backlibe should fire: Tillous-Borde, Cooper, Mitchell, Giteau, Nonu, O’Connor, Halfpenny
I thought Ford had a good game. Perhaps not player of the weekend level good, but certainly much better than anything I’ve seen from him so far this season. Good news too – to have him, Farrell and Cipriani all fit and firing will be great for England.
As far as Biggar is concerned the choice is him..Mr Reliable or No10s who lose games because of the errors that they make
1: Hook..sometimes been great for Wales (long ago in a galaxy far away 2007 v Engand, 2008 in the 6n but then lost the game in Autumn v SA by an INTERCEPTION as usual. Too often Hook has been awful….
2: P+sshand..regular readers of this blog know exactly what I think of him!
3: Matthew Morgan…the World’s smallest 10 and tallest Diddman …..who has great gas but is a defensive disaster waiting to happen.
I’d go for Biggar every single time.
Most international coaches never pick the mercurial No. 10
Wales ignored Arwel Thomas ifo Neil Jenkins in the 90s and 2000s as Arwel was a 1970s outside half playing in the last few years of the 20th century.
England went with Son of Farewell and rejected Ford at RWC 2015.
Australia went with Foley and left Cooper out of the side for RWC 2015 and got to the final.
Wales picked Hook for the RWC 2011 semi and lost due to a bucket of missed kicks
Cannot think of many SA No10s who were great backline movers since they came back in the 1990s. Joel Stransky……Jannie De Beer….Morne Steyne…..backline movers???
The ABS lost the 2003 semi v Australia due to mercurial Carlos Spencer and so went with dependable guys ever since and were lucky to have Carter as they almost lost in 2011 without him.
So History shows that teams go for Mr Reliable not Mr Magic.
No-one will ever play like Barry John did…. so for those of you too young to see it first time round you’ll just have to get the ‘Crowning Years of Welsh Rugby’ dvd and see what a genius he was and even he finished international rugby years before he should have.
“Wales picked Hook for the RWC 2011 semi and lost due to a bucket of missed kicks”
And there was me thinking it was the experienced and reliable Stephen Jones who bottled the match winning drop goal in the last few minutes.
“England went with Son of Farewell and rejected Ford at RWC 2015”
That certainly worked well for England.
“Australia went with Foley and left Cooper out of the side for RWC 2015 and got to the final”
But only because they recalled Giteau at 12 – ano “failed” mercurial talent. Likewise Argentina playing Hernandez at 12.
The other semi finalist 10s were Carter and Pollard. Hardly boring kicking 10s.
My reading of the last world cup was that sides who attacked and scored tries were more successful than those sides that sought to play a more limited game plan and win via penalties. True that has not always been the case with World cups, but it appears as if the tide has turned and I for one would be happy to forgo short term success in this 6n for the long term aim of developing a coherent attacking strategy. If Gatland and Schmidt had any sense they would do likewise, but I suspect they will be happy to king of a mediocre pile, hope for a good seeding in the world cup and be a hero for getting to a semi final.
Benjit
Ha ha ha ..the usual tripe from an England fan who denies the facts even if they are right in front of his face.
‘Farewell worked well for England’….did you watch the RWC 2015 pool games or not????
My reading of the last World cup was the hosts went out in R1 7 days before the Pool stage ended.
To claim that Wales fans should feel less satisfied with their team’s 6n silverware over the last 10 years than England fans.
‘
I for one would be happy to forgo short term success in this 6n for the long term aim of developing a coherent attacking strategy’
Really????? Which success have England had in the last 10 years on the international stage…..Oh that’s right…None at all.
Despite having the largest player pool, the most numerous professional clubs in 1 country, the richest union.
But the team and 4 past coaches have delivered nothing of any worth sustained throughout 1 single 6n campaign since 2003.
2011-2015 …the new dawn …again……oh perhaps not.
This was the much heralded 4-year rebuilding plan that House of Lancaste ‘ had put in place to rebuild English rugby for RWC 2015.
Well that turned out well didn’t it?
Its not like the RFU have spend any money in the last 10 years trying to win something of note.
Does it not bother you how incredibly stupid you make yourself look with these posts.
You can always rely on Brighty for the “anything but Wales is poor” comments.
Jonny Sexton = poor player (Man of match friday)
George Ford = poor player
Ian Madigan= poor player
Joe Schmidt= poor coach
Gary Ringrose= poor player
Dan Bigger….best in the world
You can always rely on some reactionary fool to make ill informed and reductive comments that only serve to show how the author can’t read.
Ringrose = looks excellent, I merely pointed out the pressure on the young lad by calling him the next BOD.
Madigan = unconvincing at 10, a view shared by others here.
Ford = had a poor match, has had excellent and poor matches for England. Did not say he was a poor player, I said he was inconsistent and didn’t look very good to me yesterday.
Sexton = bettered Biggar on Friday. Deserves to be called one of the worlds best 10s. In no way did I say Biggar was better than him. I said both had limited games. Sexton’s was worth noting because it was classic Sexton/Ireland i.e. up/unders and cross kicks.
Biggar = umm, I can’t actually find where I said he was the best in the world…
I understand that nuance and a subtlety of view is difficult to grasp when you’re dull but please do try and understand that someone can be excellent, still have have flaws in their game and/or bad matches.
Paddy Jackson looked pretty good at the weekend.
Jonny Sexton = Excellent player, great kicking game but has been out of sorts last 6 months or so. Periods of lost focus and several games where he seemed unable to bring others into the game
George Ford = Mercurial player (bit like Hooky), in that he will do something masterful one minute and plain stupid another. Seems to struggle when the pressure is on him
Ian Madigan= Better at running and bringing others into the game than Sexton but doesn’t seem to have a very tactical game so often makes wrong decisions
Joe Schmidt= Very good coach but not the tactical messiah he is sometimes touted to be
Gary Ringrose= Not seen him play but heard good things. Don’t let media/expectation get the better of him he is not the next BOD he is the first Ringrose.
Dan Bigger = Very good individual talent but not a great team player, in that you tend to rave about his kicking and running not his passing and bringing others into the game
Its ok brighty!!!
I have looked at comments you have made in the past and to me, the came across as quite negative! Just wanted to see if I could provoke a more positive response which I think I did!
Ha, ha. I stopped reading anything entitled “Brighty” years ago
The most ignorant are always those who won’t read what they’ve already decided they won’t agree with.
Seems a tad harsh unless that was a poorly conceived joke, I’d rather read comments by someone who makes reasoned and thought through arguments even if I don’t agree with them than over generalisations that have been penned without any consideration of a sensible argument…
Can any of the Welsh contingent here shed some light on Sam Underhill? Mentioned by David Flatman at the end of the ITV highlights as being a 7 that EJ should be looking at, but playing for Ospreys.
He’s not someone I know anything about
He was brilliant, really stood out as the best player for the Os. All over the Leinster ball, abrasive against whiner SOB such that he successfully got a cheap pop out of him, challenged well in the lineout, a few turnovers.
Lots of us were checking on his eligibility – I believe he’s been in Wales for a year (studying at Cardiff), initially signed with Bridgend (semi-pro team) but impressed so much he’s gone up to the Os. Fully Eng qual’d, would need to be in Wales for another 2 years I think as has no Welsh lineage. Excellent looking player – if I was EJ I’d be ensuring his eligibility was nailed down with a cap but not sure he’s ready for full on senior competitions yet.
Actually – is he allowed to pick him? Is it an “outside the prem” rule not an overseas rule?
Thanks Brighty. Just had a quick google and he’s only 19, so probably has some development to do.
I think Flatman is one of the best commentators around and if he thinks there’s something there, then EJ should probably get him committed to England as soon as possible!
Good point though over whether or not he can select him. Everything I’ve read has said ‘overseas’ but I don’t know if that’s a catch all term that is meant to include other UK nations. I guess it would depend on what access England would get to him.
My googling has just lead me to read that both Richard Hill who’s now in charge of youth development at the RFU and Joe Lydon who has some other role at the RFU that I’m not aware of, were at the match, so it looks likes England are aware of his abilities
Whiner SOB? Is there any need to be so inflammatory about a great player.
Agreed…a needless dig at a great player!