England must rediscover mojo while coach acknowledges tension before visit of unbeaten Ireland in Six NationsThe Guinness Six Nations championship, to use its full title, badly needs an uplifting, glass-full type of weekend. To date the weather has bee…
England coach has Manu Tuilagi and Henry Slade back among his options after a less-than-glorious start to the Six NationsIn contrast to Ireland, with their unchanged team and more relaxed managerial regime, things are less serene in the England camp. S…
Catherine Spencer says the women’s game still operates ‘in shadows of the men’ and a radical makeover is neededEven now there are days when Catherine Spencer looks back with a mixture of incredulity and anger. “I felt like a second-class citizen for mo…
The decision to slash the funding to Championship clubs has been poorly thought out, poorly delivered and poorly received in a week rugby may always rememberWas this the week English rugby changed for ever? It felt like it, and not in the positive way …
England duty offers relief from club’s troubles for hooker and Maro Itoje amid uncertainty over their Championship futureFor the first time a fuller picture is emerging of the anguish, the collective uncertainty and the other tangled emotions felt by t…
Six Nations sees respect jettisoned for ill-feeling, as evidenced by Eddie Jones’s name-calling and fans jeering goalkickersFew sports tread the fine line between love and hate as precariously as rugby union. It is part of its attraction: beauty and th…
Head coach was pleased with the way his players adapted to treacherous conditions to beat Scotland at MurrayfieldSometimes the most forgettable of games leave the most indelible of impressions. Not for 20 years has a Calcutta Cup fixture been played in…
Defeat at Murrayfield by Gregor Townsend’s side would all but end World Cup finalists’ hopes of winning Six Nations titleIt is the stark contrast in backdrops that makes the Six Nations so compelling. One minute England are surrounded by French accents…
Eddie Jones’s men need to pull together quickly at Murrayfield or they may find the weather is the least of their worriesIt could well be that the chief influence on Saturday’s Calcutta Cup encounter will not feature on the team sheet. Storm Ciara is g…
• Jones can’t resist jibes at rivals before Six Nations match• ‘They’re a niggly side – they’ve done that through the ages’One day England will arrive in Scotland for a Calcutta Cup match having talked up the host nation’s beautiful scenery, wondrously…
Coach heads to Murrayfield on Saturday having lost five of his past seven Six Nations games away from TwickenhamFirst, the good news. The Six Nations has already been jolted spectacularly into life and the reawakening of France rates among the more pos…
Their World Cup final disappointment still hangs over the team and England’s reaction in the Six Nations will be tellingAnd so we enter the third act of Eddie Jones’s stint as English rugby’s impresario. For the first couple of years it was all about r…
England have to recover from the World Cup but new coaches at Ireland, France and Wales will hope for an instant impactThese are changing times – politically, environmentally, societally – but some things remain resolutely the same. Come rain or shine,…
The Northampton flanker did not unpack his kit bag after the World Cup to remind him of his England goals, and his enthusiasm could be rewarded with a starting role in ParisThe Six Nations is fast approaching and, for someone, so is a massive opportuni…
Lord Dyson’s report lays bare the antipathy between Saracens and the Premiership in a blame game that invites more questions and is set to run and runWe are often told that rugby union, at its heart, is a simple game. Run straight, tackle hard, score m…
Four of the six sides under new management struck an upbeat note at launch while England grapple with Saracens falloutFive of the teams at the Six Nations launch at a chilly Tobacco Dock in London’s Wapping could be heard talking an upbeat game. Irelan…
• ‘Why wouldn’t they want it published? It’s a question for them’ • CEO Darren Childs insists no other clubs are breaking salary capPremiership Rugby has rejected any suggestion that other leading clubs may be breaching the salary cap following Saracen…
Steve Lansdown: Saracens ‘committed a sin’RFU CEO Sweeney insists there will be no independent inquiryThe decision to allow Saracens to complete the current Premiership season having accepted relegation to the Championship has been strongly criticised …
• Coach wants club rivalries quashed ahead of Six Nations• ‘We need everything on the table. If players are angry, say’Eddie Jones will hold clear-the-air talks with his England squad to try and reduce the impact of the Saracens salary cap furore on th…
• Saracens scandal sure to leave mark on Six Nations• Jones can pick England players from Championship ClubsEngland are poised to kick off the Six Nations without Billy Vunipola after the No 8 sustained a suspected broken forearm in the opening minute…
