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Continue reading...Stand aside Australia, New Zealand are now England’s No 1 sporting rival | Emma John
Harmonious Kiwi teamwork across various sports should fill us with frustrated envy – if only to annoy some Aussies
Do we talk about England and Australia’s sporting rivalry too much? In the past couple of weeks, we haven’t had much choice. The rugby league Kangaroos have been hopping about between London, Liverpool and Leeds, while the Wallabies grazed on the Twickenham turf. In F1, Bristol-born Lando Norris has been getting booed on track during his relentless comeback against his Melburnian McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri. And that personal battle has reached its climax just in time for the much-hyped men’s Ashes – with England kicking off their tour in Perth to already hysterical headlines.
This weekend brings a pause in hostilities. One Ashes series has ended, another is yet to begin. A gap in the calendar before back-to-back grands prix leaves Lando quietly teetering at the top of the drivers’ table. And into that small air pocket – if the Pom-bashing and Aussie-baiting has left a breath of oxygen – come the Kiwis. On Saturday afternoon, just after three o’clock, New Zealand’s rugby union team will run out against England in west London. And by the time we know the result, the Silver Ferns will be taking to the netball court on the other side of the city, in the first of a three-match series against the Roses.
Continue reading...‘We’re ready for the All Blacks’: Maro Itoje builds belief in improved England
Borthwick’s side chasing 10th straight victory
‘The quality of the playing squad has improved’
England have endured plenty of agonising near misses against New Zealand in recent years but there is no shortage of belief this time around.
The home captain, Maro Itoje, says he believes his side are “ready” to secure a first victory over the All Blacks since 2019 and suggests they now have the rising confidence and mental clarity to extend their winning run to 10 games.
Continue reading...Scott Barrett fit to return and captain All Blacks against England at Twickenham
Barrett missed win against Scotland due to cut
Scott Robertson preparing for aerial contest
Scott Barrett has come back to captain the All Blacks against England at Twickenham this weekend
Barrett had 12 stitches threaded in his leg after he suffered a cut beneath his knee playing against Ireland a fortnight ago, and missed his team’s 25-17 victory against Scotland at Murrayfield last week, but Scott Robertson, the New Zealand head coach, confirmed that he had played a full part in training and will be ready for the England game.
Continue reading...Haskell warns club rugby is heading off a cliff ‘like Thelma and Louise’ as £34m losses revealed
Report says franchise model could save up to £1.9m a year
‘Smaller clubs are spending way above their means’
James Haskell, the former England international, has likened English rugby to “Thelma and Louise heading off a cliff” after an independent report found that Prem clubs made a combined loss of £34m last season.
The report by a leading UK corporate recovery and insolvency firm, Leonard Curtis, suggests the game should consider adopting a franchise model, which it says would help Prem clubs to save between £1.1m and 1.9m a year.
Continue reading...Advantage England? Emma Raducanu gives tips to squad for All Blacks clash
Tennis star visits training camp to share experiences
Steve Borthwick’s side take on New Zealand on Saturday
England’s preparations for their clash with the All Blacks on Saturday have been boosted by some words of wisdom from the former US Open tennis champion Emma Raducanu, who visited their Bagshot training base on Tuesday.
Raducanu took to the training field with Steve Borthwick’s squad, taking part in lineout practice and kicking drills with Marcus Smith before sharing insights with the captain, Maro Itoje. Borthwick also invited the Brighton manager, Fabian Hürzeler, to address the squad this week.
Continue reading...England play Generation Game against All Blacks with overhaul of traditional order of selection | Robert Kitson
Steve Borthwick has picked six British & Irish Lions on his bench with a further nod to the growing importance of the endgame
Selecting your best XV to start a big rugby match feels increasingly quaint these days, as redolent of a different era as the Generation Game or Starsky & Hutch. To the point where you half expect to find the home teamsheet to face New Zealand this weekend has D‑N‑A‑L‑G‑N‑E printed at the top of it. Even with the All Blacks in town, the traditional order of selection no longer applies.
Instead it is all about the endgame. On this occasion Steve Borthwick has picked six British & Irish Lions on his bench compared with only four in his starting lineup. At some point around the 50th minute on Saturday there will be a mass discarding of XXL tracksuits and a fresh set of white orcs will rumble on. As South Africa’s “Bomb Squad” have long since shown, it can be mighty hard to combat.
Continue reading...Steve Borthwick warns England to prepare for pain in All Blacks clash
Head coach urges side ‘to give absolutely everything’
Ford returns at fly-half with Itoje back to captain side
Steve Borthwick has called on his side to prepare for “pain and suffering” if they are to end their losing run against the All Blacks, demanding the most selfless England team in history in the showdown on Saturday.
Predicting an aerial bombardment from New Zealand, Borthwick has recalled George Ford, insisting his fly‑half general “will be an England coach in the future”, and again loaded his bench with the “Pom Squad”, including six British & Irish Lions among his replacements.
Continue reading...England fell short in the rugby league Ashes. How can they improve?
Australia won in London, Liverpool and Leeds without being at their best. Shaun Wane needs to make changes
Shaun Wane said England needed to take advantage of everything they could to beat Australia but he made a series of decisions that seemed to do the opposite. Taken individually, Wane’s choices could be justified. As a whole they spoke of an inability to read the room and possibly even an outdated approach to international sport. While the Kangaroos embraced the adventure of an Ashes series, Wane pushed England into a bunker. In the end they lost all three Tests.
After a wave of publicity and public engagement, the England players disappeared once the series began. Everything changed from the day before the first Test at Wembley, when England didn’t turn up for the captain’s run. Where was the community engagement? Where were the key players in the media? While the exuberant Kangaroos made hay on and off the field, England spent most of the series in Worsley and Wigan.
Continue reading...The Breakdown | New Zealand stars Barrett and McKenzie show how skill and vision can flourish
The veteran All Black duo both grew up on dairy farms and may not have flourished in English rugby’s rigid system
This week’s column is being compiled slightly differently. It’s not easy to type while looking upwards and smiling warmly at the bookshelf but, hey, that’s the price to be paid for method sportswriting. When you’re putting together a piece on Damian McKenzie, the All Blacks’ so-called “smiling assassin”, it’s important to try to get into character.
The head bandage took time to apply as well, as did the fake-blood drizzle of ketchup down the cheek. Anyone who watched the later stages of New Zealand’s win against Scotland on television on Saturday, however, will appreciate why the extra touches felt appropriate. It is not every day a player preparing to kick the clinching points in a major Test resembles a happy, beaten prizefighter.
Continue reading...Chessum and Freeman serious doubts to face All Blacks in blow to England
Steve Borthwick faces major headache before showdown
Alex Coles expected to partner Maro Itoje at second row
Ollie Chessum and Tommy Freeman are serious injury doubts for England’s clash with New Zealand, handing Steve Borthwick a major headache before the showdown at Twickenham on Saturday.
The two British & Irish Lions players sat out training on Monday and their participation against the All Blacks is in jeopardy. Chessum is struggling with a foot injury and was seen on crutches at England’s training base in Bagshot. He was replaced after 70 minutes of the 38-18 victory against Fiji last weekend and, in the likely event he is ruled out, Maro Itoje’s expected second-row partner would be Alex Coles.
Continue reading...Erasmus’s coaching scholarship takes South Africa to a higher plain | Robert Kitson
Victory in Paris with 14 men showed what the world champions can still do, leaving New Zealand and others playing catchup
Some wins count double in terms of the message they send. And amid the blizzard of weekend Test matches it was Saturday night’s result in Paris that will resonate the longest in both hemispheres. Not only the outcome, either, but the manner of it. To say South Africa exploded a few cosy theories would be the understatement of the rugby year.
So much for the idea, for example, that France would avenge the injustice of their World Cup quarter-final defeat to the Springboks. That entering the final quarter with a narrow lead and an extra man would translate into inevitable glory. That even without their talisman Antoine Dupont they still had more than enough tranquiliser darts to keep the big beasts safely at bay.
Continue reading...Jamie George warns England not to sit back in awe at New Zealand’s aura
‘We need a clear gameplan to put them under pressure’
All Blacks have not lost at Twickenham for 13 years
Jamie George has warned that England must not be seduced by the All Blacks’ mystique if they are to clinch a first Twickenham victory over New Zealand in 13 years on Saturday.
Steve Borthwick has been boosted before the toughest assignment of England’s autumn campaign with the return to fitness of Elliot Daly, who could make his first appearance since fracturing an arm on British & Irish Lions duty, while Freddie Steward and Tom Roebuck were also named in Sunday night’s 37-man squad.
Continue reading...Julia Robinson flies again as Jillaroos dominate New Zealand to win Pacific Cup
Australia defend crown with 40-8 win against Kiwi Ferns at CommBank Stadium
High-flying Robinson scores spectacular try as Jillaroos showcase class
The Jillaroos have sent another reminder of the gap between them and the rest of the world, defending their Pacific Cup crown with a 40-8 win over New Zealand.
One year out from a home World Cup and after a season that began with a 90-4 drubbing of England in Las Vegas, Australia again showed their class on Sunday afternoon.
Continue reading...Is it better to be occasionally brilliant or consistently good? Ask the Wallabies | Daniel Gallan
Australia show flashes of greatness, but costly lapses challenge the idea of a revival. They need to find their rhythm
Is it better to be a consistently good team or an occasionally brilliant one? We’ll find out by the end of Australia’s European tour. But now, after a 26–19 loss to Italy in Udine – their second defeat in as many matches on this crucial trip – the answer seems obvious. Because despite the Wallabies’ flashes of brilliance throughout the Joe Schmidt era, their inability to deliver steadily could yet prove costly.
At present, the Wallabies are ranked seventh on World Rugby’s charts. If that doesn’t change, the hosts of the 2027 World Cup will be drawn alongside one of the top six teams in the group phase. Even if they progress, Australia would likely face another stiff challenge at the first knockout stage. That’s not the kind of jeopardy a rugby nation of this pedigree should be flirting with.
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