Rugby
Weekend TV sport
With no Premiership or Championship soccer taking place you might have thought some of the internationals between European titans (e.g. Netherlands v Spain or Italy v Germany) might be broadcast, but the powers that be apparently imagine that we prefer women’s football or Scotland or Wales [...]
Six Nations/all considered
With staggered kick-offs three countries led the table but most wiseacres thought France would win it – as indeed they did, beating a spirited Scotland. I did not watch Italy v Ireland but, though the latter did not live up to their “favourites” billing, they will supply the bulk [...]
The Six Nations
Ireland are not as good as they think they are, England not as bad as the critics make out and France think they are good … and they are. Les Bleus ran out easy winners in Dublin even though Antoine Dupont was badly injured and could play no further part after 30 minutes. Although Sam [...]
Bath Rugby 39 Harlequins 28 (Premiership Cup)
Normally it’s Quins who mount a second half revival but this time Bath, who were in the first half 21 points down, who dominated the second half to win comfortably. This was principally due to bringing on a fresh from row (Ben Obana, Tom Dunn and Phil de Toit) who totally overpowered Quins who [...]
Harlequins 29 Saracens 30 (Premiership Cup)
iI always enjoy watching both the youth of Quins – and beating Sarries – but only the first materialised on Saturday. Quins Marcus Smith, Caden Murley and Fin Baxter were with England, as were Sarries’ Jamie George, Theo Dann, Ben Earl and Eliot Daly. Young Cassius Cleaves, so [...]
England 26 France 25 (Six Nations)
England confounded the negativity of the Press in the build-up by not collapsing in the final quarter but by winning in the dying embers. In truth it was not a great game of rugby. France dominated the first half but made some dreadful errors. Marcus Smith’s kicking was not reliable off the [...]
Reflections upon Ireland 27 England 22 (Six Nations)
Yesterday I tuned into ITV’s coverage of the Six Nations clash at Croke Park between last year’s champions Ireland and England – under the captaincy of decade-long “FEC” (future England captain) Maro Itoje (now 30) for the first time – which resulted in a 27-22 victory for the [...]
France 44 Wales 0 (Six Nations)
France opened the Six Nations with a resounding victory over Wales. The only negative in an impressive performance was the upgraded red card given to Romain Ntamack which might put the fly half – only recently returned from a long injury lay-off – out for a sizeable part of the rest of [...]