Category: Rugby Union

Rugby Union News

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I feel for Marcus Smith: Borthwick was never prepared to build team around him | Ugo Monye

Marcus’s style of play is in complete conflict with how the England head coach sees the game

I have a great deal of sympathy for Marcus Smith. I really feel for him because these past few weeks will have been really mentally tough to deal with. It’s patently obvious that his preferred position is fly-half but he has been asked to do a job for the greater good of the team and has done so willingly. You can dress it up however you like but going from starting No 10, to playing out of position, to the bench is a demotion and that will be tough to take.

Marcus would be forgiven for looking at the team that Steve Borthwick has picked to face Italy and wondering why he was never given that backing. Fin Smith has performed superbly well in the No 10 jersey and after two games there, Borthwick has surrounded him with Northampton players with five in the backline. It’s a credit to Saints, their style of play, their players and coaches, and it gives Fin the perfect framework in which to to operate. I’m not sure, though, if Borthwick ever built a team around Marcus in the same way.

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Maro Itoje urges England to prioritise victory over big points haul against Italy

  • England retain slim hope of winning Six Nations
  • Itoje: ‘It’s not going to be a straightforward game’

Maro Itoje has called on his England side to put Italy to the sword on Sunday before worrying about a bumper points haul that could boost their hopes of clinching the Six Nations title.

England go in search of a third straight victory of this year’s championship and are hot favourites to do so, having never lost to the Azzurri. Both their recent victories, against France and Scotland, were secured by a solitary point, however, with question marks raised over their clunky attack.

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Anger, spit and sawdust: Ireland says farewell to three gritty heroes

With France in town, Healy, Murray and O’Mahony play final game in Dublin with third straight Six Nations in their sights

No one in Ireland needed another reason to be up for this Saturday’s match against France, not with the title on the line, and the grand slam, and the promise beyond it of a shot at becoming the first team in history to win the Six Nations back-to-back-to-back. All that, and the prospect of a spot on the British & Irish Lions tour down the line in the back of the mind. But they got three more good ones last week regardless when Cian Healy, Conor Murray, and Peter O’Mahony announced that they were going to retire, together, at the end of the championship, and that this would be the very last home game for all three of them.

Healy, Murray and O’Mahony have won 372 caps between them, which is more than you might find in a green Test XV. They have been ever-present through the era in which Irish rugby was transformed. Healy, who is the oldest of the three, won his first call-up in the spring of 2008 when they were still hopeful triers chasing their first grand slam in more than 50 years. It finally came a year later. Healy won his first cap that autumn in Brian O’Driscoll’s 100th match, a 20-20 draw against Australia.

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Scotland and Wales stick with what they know in search of better fortunes

Both Gregor Townsend and Matt Sherratt have shown faith in the XVs who performed well in their most recent defeats

Neither of these two are where they want to be after three rounds. In the case of Wales, rock bottom cannot be worse than where they feared they might be; in the case of Scotland, fourth must be so much worse than they had hoped. And some might say deserve.

Eyebrows may rise, then, at the news that both coaches will more or less send out the same teams that featured in their respective defeats in round three. But Six Nations tend to have narratives more nuanced than those supplied by the table at any given moment.

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Hopkins and Richards return to boost Gwalia in final round

Gwennan Hopkins

Having seen their hopes of challenging for the Celtic Challenge title go up in smoke with a 48-17 home defeat to the champions elect the Wolfhounds last weekend, Gwalia Lightning face another tough Irish test against the second placed Clovers in the final round. It has been another solid campaign from Catrina Nicholas-McLaughlin squad and […]

The post Hopkins and Richards return to boost Gwalia in final round appeared first on Welsh Rugby Union | Wales & Regions.

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Brython targeting Glasgow double to end on a high

Brython Thunder will be seeking a repeat of their 33-17 win last weekend over Glasgow Warriors as they look to end their second Celtic Challenge campaign on a high. The fact they are playing the same opponents, albeit at home this time, should fill them with confidence and Ashley Beck will no doubt be hoping […]

The post Brython targeting Glasgow double to end on a high appeared first on Welsh Rugby Union | Wales & Regions.

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Six Nations proves a beacon of light, hope and escapism amid global moral surrender | Emma John

In a world run by bullies, with sports subsumed by greed, England v Italy – never mind Ireland v France – offers comfort

I recently caught myself telling someone I couldn’t wait for England’s Six Nations match against Italy on Sunday, which seemed a bit, well, enthusiastic. Clearly, rugby fans of all stripes will be salivating at Saturday’s key clash between Ireland and France. It’s a bit less usual to get excited at the kind of historical mismatch which, in the past, I might have watched as highlights, late in the evening, when I already knew the result.

Is it because I expect the action to be good? Uncertain. Italy pushed England close last year and dominated Wales in Rome last month, which salts the dish. The home team need a sizeable win – four tries for the bonus point – to stay in the title hunt, which raises the question of whether Steve Borthwick’s reformatted backline can finally cut loose and run in a cricket score. Or will Italy bounce back from a drubbing at the hands of the French and provide a last-minute Twickenham thriller for the third game running?

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Wales end 66-game streak as Sherratt sticks with same team for Scotland

  • Matt Sherratt ‘keen to let them go again’ away to Scotland
  • Darcy Graham returns for home side after concussion

Wales will field an unchanged XV for the first time in 66 Tests on Saturday when they take on Scotland at Murrayfield after Matt Sherratt stuck with the starting lineup that gave a scare to the Six Nations title favourites, Ireland, in the last round.

The interim head coach, Sherratt, said he was “keen to let them go again” and the game will mark the first time since 2019 that Wales have put out the same XV.

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Faletau still firing bullets alongside Wales’ young guns

Taulupe Faletau

Taulupe Faletau is loving being back out on the pitch for both club and country. That is certainly good news for Cardiff and Wales and is likely to cause increasing problems for their opponents. When the 106-times capped No 8 starts really enjoying himself on the pitch then good things happen for the team he […]

The post Faletau still firing bullets alongside Wales’ young guns appeared first on Welsh Rugby Union | Wales & Regions.

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England attack under pressure to deliver as Smith falls victim to revamp | Robert Kitson

While dropping Marcus Smith to the bench makes a sort of sense, Steve Borthwick’s selections still feel largely reactive

It was a beautiful day in Bagshot. The kind of afternoon made for chucking a ball around and contemplating a calculated risk or two. Slightly firmer pitches, the sun shining, a licence to thrill … if ever there was a week made for a player like Marcus Smith to go out and express himself from the start against an apprehensive Italy this was probably it.

So let’s just say the England teamsheet will have landed with a heavy thump in the Smith household and the offices of his agents, Roc Nation. It is only a few weeks since Netflix was projecting the 26-year-old as the poster boy – “the best hair in world rugby” – for their latest fly-on-the-wall documentary, with a shiny new Mercedes G-Wagon to reinforce his profile.

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Williams boost for Dragons as he signs on for more

Wales scrum half Rhodri Williams has signed a new contract that will keep him at the Dragons beyond this season. The 31-year-old breached a near 11-year gap between Welsh appearances when he came ont to face Australia in the Autumn Nations Series earlier in the season. His previous cap had come against Tonga in November […]

The post Williams boost for Dragons as he signs on for more appeared first on Welsh Rugby Union | Wales & Regions.