Sports Journalist · 64 articles
Momentum in elite Test rugby is unforgiving: the moment a kicking game loses its accuracy, the game plan built around it collapses within minutes. Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies discovered that the hard way at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday, and the outgoing coach did not try to dress it up afterwards. Australia led France 21-12 at halftime […]
Depth wins tournaments. It is a lesson every great international side eventually has to prove under pressure, and Rassie Erasmus chose the most testing possible night to prove it again. The Springboks head coach made ten changes to the side that beat England a week earlier, handed his 55th Test in charge to a heavily […]
Confidence in Test rugby can vanish in eighty minutes and return just as fast. A week after Steve Borthwick’s side were taken apart by the world champions in Johannesburg, England produced the biggest score of his tenure, brushing aside Fiji 73-8 at Hill Dickinson Stadium to end a five-match losing run in emphatic fashion. According […]
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Rassie Erasmus will take charge of the Springboks for a record 55th Test as head coach when South Africa face Scotland at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, surpassing the 54-match mark Jake White has held since 2007. According to SA Rugby magazine, Erasmus has reached the milestone across two spells in charge, from 2018 to 2019 […]
England have recalled Henry Slade to their starting XV and named three uncapped players on the bench for Saturday’s must-win Nations Championship Test against Fiji at Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool (kick-off 14:10 BST). According to team news confirmed by Sky Sports and Rugby365, head coach Steve Borthwick announced his side on Thursday with two […]
New Zealand rugby is on the brink of a landmark moment. Will Jordan, the Crusaders flyer who has redefined finishing in the black jersey, stands just two tries away from equalling the most storied attacking record in the All Blacks’ history: Doug Howlett’s mark of 49 Test tries. On Saturday 11 July, against Italy in […]
New Zealand Rugby have confirmed five starting changes for Saturday’s Nations Championship Test against Italy in Wellington, with prop Tyrel Lomax set to win his 50th cap and two uncapped players named on the bench. According to the official team announcement from New Zealand Rugby, Lomax is joined in the starting XV by lock Tupou […]
Nothing in Test rugby is ever settled for long, and the world rugby rankings are about to be shaken for the second week running. Saturday’s round two of the Nations Championship serves up six Tests in a single day, and several of them carry direct consequences at the top of the global standings. The opening […]
Standing toe to toe with the world champions demands a plan as bold as the occasion. Scotland rugby has rarely faced a sterner examination than the one waiting at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, when Gregor Townsend’s in-form side meet South Africa at Loftus Versfeld for the first time, in round two of the Nations Championship. […]
The France team vs Australia carries one selection that nobody saw coming: Matthieu Jalibert at full-back. Fabien Galthié has made seven changes for Saturday’s Nations Championship clash with the Wallabies at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, and the boldest of them shifts the Bordeaux playmaker into a position he has never started in for his country. […]
The Scotland team vs South Africa is out, and Finn Russell is back. Gregor Townsend has made three changes for Saturday’s Nations Championship meeting with the world champions at Loftus Versfeld, and the fly-half’s return from a calf injury is the one that reshapes everything about how Scotland can approach the hardest fixture in the […]