Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2020 i Rugby World

“Is Six Nations about results or development?” CHRIS BOYD described Saints’ recent performance against Benetton as “disgustingly dreadful”. Northampton won 33-20 but their director of rugby was dismayed by how they played. It throws up an interesting question as we head into the Six Nations: results or performances? Post-World Cup, every team is in a rebuilding phase to some extent, but how much focus they put on RWC 2023 could be key to their approach. Look at France. Fabien Galthié has not so much opted for the ‘new broom’ but a snow plough given the amount of fresh faces in his squad. He doesn’t have one eye on 2023 but both. He clearly feels blooding players now will give them the necessary experience for a tilt at the Webb Ellis…

FRI 31 JAN U20 Six Nations Ireland v Scotland (7.15pm, Irish Independent Park) Wales v Italy (7.35pm, Parc Eirias) Super Rugby Blues v Chiefs (6.05am) Brumbies v Reds (8.15am) Sharks v Bulls (5.10pm) TV All live on Sky Sports Greene King IPA Championship Yorkshire Carnegie v Nottingham Indigo Group Premiership Llanelli v Llandovery Newport v Ebbw Vale WEEKEND 1-2 FEB World Sevens Series (Men & Women, Sydney) SAT 1 FEB Guinness Six Nations Wales v Italy (2.15pm, Principality Stadium) TV Live on BBC/S4C/Virgin One Ireland v Scotland (4.45pm, Aviva Stadium) TV Live on ITV/Virgin One U20 Six Nations France v England (8pm, Stade des Alpes) Guinness Pro14 Cheetahs v Southern Kings TV Live on Premier Sports Super Rugby Sunwolves v Rebels (3.45am) Crusaders v Waratahs (6.05am) Stormers v Hurricanes (1.05pm)…

1 Italy France (below) will open the defence of their U20 World Cup title against Japan in Calvisano on 28 June. The back-to-back champions will also play Argentina and Ireland in Pool A. Last year’s runners-up Australia are grouped with Georgia, New Zealand and Wales in Pool B while England, Fiji, Italy and South Africa make up Pool C. As well as Calvisano, matches will be played in Verona, Viadana and Parma. Pool matches take place on 28 June, 3 July and 8 July, with the semi-finals on 13 July and the final five days later. 2 England Dave Alred (above) is on the hunt to find the best U18 kicker in the UK and Ireland. The former England kicking coach will bring together 30 players – male and female…

ROB ROBERTSON RUGBY CORRESPONDENT FOR THE SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL The pathway to the top for young amateur players in Scotland is far too narrow with just two pro teams. Too many have to leave the country for the lower leagues in France or England to find a higher standard. Sadly, some stop playing in their teens due to the lack of opportunities. Geographically, it is a disgrace that Scotland’s only two teams are based in Glasgow and Edinburgh – cities just 47 miles apart. There is huge interest in other parts of Scotland, such as Aberdeen and Dundee. Either one needs to be the base for a third club. The SRU claim to not have the money for a third pro team and as a halfway house have set up…

WHEN NEWS drops of a player under 30 retiring, it’s inevitably because of a career-ending injury. Not so with Sam Harrison. The Leicester scrum-half does not hit the milestone birthday until April and is still fit to play, but we need to add the word ‘former’ to his title because he has called time on his professional career to move to Australia with his family. “I always wanted to finish rugby on my terms and now is a good time,” says Harrison, who spent more than a decade at Welford Road. “I’ve taken my destiny into my own hands.” Moving Down Under had long been something Harrison and wife Brodie discussed. She had been thinking of heading to Australia to travel in her late teens while the outdoor lifestyle there…

MIKE PHILLIPS, the former Wales scrum-half, would sometimes walk hunched over. If anyone asked what was the matter, he would say he had a bad back from carrying the team for so long. Many think George Ford has carried Leicester Tigers for the past 18 months, and England too at times, although Ford himself would rubbish that idea. A more loyal and committed team man you will not find, and it’s why there is an unmistakable vehemence to Ford’s reply when you ask him the question that everyone wants to know: what did you think of Eddie Jones saying he shouldn’t have started you in the World Cup final? “It doesn’t bother me at all. I spoke to Eddie. Let me tell you, Eddie’s a lot more experienced than I…

2018 TAKING STOCK Jacob Stockdale helps to secure Ireland a Grand Slam by scoring in the win at Twickenham – and sets a new Six Nations record with seven tries in a single championship 2018 CROSS CHECK Sean Maitland gets a try as Scotland lift the Calcutta Cup for the first time since 2008 2000 TRICK SHOT Brian O’Driscoll breaks clear for his third try in a famous Ireland win in Paris 2002 SHARP CUT Jason Robinson uses footwork and pace to scythe through the French defence 2013 LONG RANGE Stuart Hogg leaves Italian defenders in his wake as he breaks from his own 22 to run the length. His score followed an interception and helped Scotland to a 34-10 victory 2016 TIME TO REFLECT Sergio Parisse gets emotional after…

DAMIAN PENAUD doesn’t like doing interviews but fortunately there are enough anecdotes around to flesh out the most exciting young threequarter in French rugby. What’s clear is that were the 23-year-old French wing any more laid-back he’d be horizontal. One of his early mentors at Clermont, Aurélien Rougerie, recalled his first impressions of Penaud: “He would arrive late to training, wearing flip-flops and with one eye still closed. He was ridiculously talented but he wasn’t making the most of his opportunity.” Another Clermont team-mate, Yohan Beheregaray, diplomatically described Penaud as “not a morning person”. He recalls how he would “saunter into training in his flip-flops, in the nick of time”. Once on the pitch Penaud would come into conflict with Camille Lopez for forgetting the calls for backs’ moves. Was…

WORLD CHAMPIONS! “This makes me want to cry a little bit. So much went on that year – beaten by France away, staff changes, Sophie Hemming got a nasty injury, the stress of sorting the sevens contracts, so World Cup preparation wasn’t ideal. But if you could bottle success it would be that moment. “As for the final against Canada, it was close, then Scaz (Emily Scarratt) scored. I remember looking at the scoreboard with 78 minutes on the clock and knew we’d done it even if we conceded. “I’d done so many interviews about being bridesmaids, could England ever lift the trophy, did we have the mentality to win etc, so to do it was amazing. “We had a good night, too. After the function, we went to a…

Promotion potential has oozed from Titans in the ten years since their rise to Two South. Nick Mason, the club’s commercial co-ordinator and first-team centre, said: “We hope this will be the season we make the jump to National One. Five years ago, we took 30 league points from the final six games and finished a close third behind Bishop’s Stortford – the closest we’ve been.” Mason, 26, is in his 19th year at the club while head coach Tony Yapp scored 331 points in 67 games. Julian Salvi looks after the forwards and backs coach Gary Kingdom has amassed 2,000-plus points in 250 matches and counting. Titans, a seven-day week operation, have a new ‘naming partner’ in an insurance company and play at the Towergate Stadium that was originally…

Few clubs achieve successive league titles and are in the mix for a third but North Tawton are an exception. Chairman James Miller said: “Most teams promoted from Devon One get relegated almost instantly. We’ve been competitive nearly every game and are well away from the drop zone.” Tawton settled into the top half of Cornwall-Devon with nine wins, testimony to the input of Craig Dennis, last season’s captain, who scored 30 tries from the wing while inspiring them to the top of the table. After being reappointed to lead the side, he was paralysed from his waist down when falling off a roof at work in pre-season. At the last count, £43,000 had been raised towards a target of £75,000 to assist him. Miller said: “Craig is continuing to…

NEW COACHES, new captains, new players – there’s certainly a fresh feel to this year’s Six Nations, which is hugely exciting. The end of a World Cup cycle brings inevitable change, but this time there appears to be more than usual. Fabien Galthié has certainly gone for the ‘new look’ approach with an incredible 19 prospective debutants in his championship squad, while the buzz surrounding Welsh teenager Louis Rees-Zammit (P17) grows by the day. There are so many changes that it’s incredibly hard to predict what this Six Nations will deliver, but that is what makes it so enthralling. Can Galthié’s youngsters upset World Cup finalists England on the opening weekend? Will Wayne Pivac inspire a new attacking intent from Wales? How will Johnny Sexton and Stuart Hogg fare with…

WHAT DID you make of Italy when you first moved over? It’s a beautiful setting in Treviso and obviously the lifestyle’s very good, the food and wine. When I first came over here I didn’t know what to expect because back in New Zealand I didn’t know Italy played rugby, as narrow-minded as it sounds. It wasn’t until I started doing my research, looking into it, that I saw they’re a proud rugby nation. With the cuisine, is it hard staying in decent nick? I’m pretty lucky in that department – I can pretty much eat what I want and it doesn’t go anywhere. I’ve got a fast metabolism. My wife is a lovely cook and she keeps me in shape. Who is your funniest team-mate? The Honey Badger, Nick…

“Clubs spending CVC money on salaries hasten their own demise” THE INTRODUCTION of CVC into European rugby has resulted in a good deal of conjecture, but very little in the way of indicative proposals. The private equity firm has been noticeably tight-lipped in terms of public pronouncements. This may not necessarily be a bad thing. Presumably they are still assembling all the pieces of the jigsaw they feel will be required to maximise their chances of a decent return on their investment. Regardless of this softly-softly approach, if they are able to add a stake in the Six Nations to go alongside their equity positions in the Gallagher Premiership and Guinness Pro14, then they will be a key player within the game in Europe over the next decade. Although the…

“If Exeter can rise to become English champions, why not Cornish Pirates one day?” IT TOOK only a few hours for my New Year jollity to disappear after reading yet another story about Premiership ring-fencing. Ugo Monye suggested the combination of a ‘big hitter’ finishing bottom, and Newcastle winning the second-tier Championship, could see promotion and relegation scrapped this season. Such a move would not only display contemptible arrogance and disrespect for the game’s various stakeholders but plunge the Premiership down an abyss. When you remove the core principle of sport – the element of competition and consequence of outcome – you have only an empty shell. Or in this case, weeks and weeks of dead rubbers as some teams play out a season with nothing meaningful to play for.…

“I’ve felt the power he has – it’s incredible” EVERY WEEK Northampton coaches Phil Dowson and Sam Vesty team up to tackle – or at least try to – Taqele Naiyaravoro. The two-on-one drill is designed to help the Fiji-born wing improve his decision-making in terms of when to offload and when to go to ground, yet sometimes he simply gets past both of them. “It takes two of us to do it,” says attack coach Vesty. “Sometimes we manage to hold him up, sometimes we make the tackle, sometimes he offloads, sometimes we get bumped off. I don’t give him the luxury of a run-up – a couple of yards at most! And I’ve felt the power he has – it’s awesome, incredible.” Danny Care is another in awe…

JORDAN LARMOUR’S pace and footwork is celebrated in a YouTube video entitled The Irish Dancer. It’s a compilation of clips of him stepping around defenders, sometimes flummoxing them with a swift change of direction from less than half a metre away, and sprinting clear to score tries. Yet the Leinster and Ireland full-back would probably find the title somewhat ironic given that he says: “I’ve got no rhythm.” A place in Michael Flatley’s next dance troupe may not be in Larmour’s future but his ability to move his feet in different directions so quickly would no doubt be admired by the Riverdance supremo, just as it is by rugby fans. Northampton Saints are acutely aware of Larmour’s talents after their back-to-back European Champions Cup matches against Leinster this season. The…

TOM CURRY starts with an apology. “I’ve been very busy,” he says when we finally nail him down for a chat. It’s something of an understatement by the Sale man. In the past 12 months he has played 14 Tests, including all but 39 minutes of the 2019 Six Nations and World Cup combined, and metamorphosed from a promising tyro to World Rugby Player of the Year nominee. We regard him as one of the first names on the team sheet, yet forget how new he is to it all. England visit Paris, Edinburgh and Rome in the coming weeks and all will be virgin Test territory for the 21-year-old flanker. He sounds jaded, distracted even, while we talk. And unless it’s our imagination, his performances have dipped a little…

THIS MARKS the last year of Super Rugby in its current format as Sunwolves will drop out at the end of the season and it will revert to 14 teams. Crusaders have ruled in recent years but there are myriad changes across the franchises as players start anew overseas after RWC 2019. SA Rugby magazine have compiled this team-by-team guide for Super Rugby 2020, which runs in one block leading up to the July Test window. BLUES Last year 13th (W5 D1 L10) Overview While they have tended to have exciting attacking players, a lack of forward grunt has seen the team finish bottom of the New Zealand conference seven times in the past nine years. Yet the Auckland side will go into 2020 with lofty ambitions. Unlike their New…

A POWERPOINT presentation last June was the catalyst to Stamford’s arresting form of this season, the Lincolnshire side rattling up 11 wins from their first 13 games to lead Midlands Three East (South) ahead of Oakham and Bourne. Austin Schwarz, 36, making the transition from centre threequarter to head coach, has applied the sales techniques from his day job to instil a more inclusive squad culture. “The new ethos is driven by the boys and what they want from their club,” he says. “One was to mix up training venues. Another was to have buses to away games. They put in ideas and we started to deliver. “For example, we’ve partnered with a local gym, Fusion 3, and train there each Tuesday. During winter, people can start to have things…

THE MEMORY still makes Eimear Considine cringe, writes Sarah Mockford. Playing for Ireland in a sevens match against the USA in San Diego, she gave away a penalty and remained standing close to her opponent, trying to put her off. “She started giving out to me,” says Considine. “I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t understand I had to be ten metres back.” It may sound strange for someone to be playing international rugby and not be familiar with the laws, but this was Considine’s first-ever game. A talented Gaelic Football and camogie player, she was 23 when approached by the Ireland Sevens set-up in 2014 – via a LinkedIn email – to see if she would take part in a trial. The IRFU were recruiting players from…

DURING HER sporting childhood, it was not sevens rugby players that Charity Williams idolised. In her wildest dreams, she wanted to be just like US gymnast Shawn Johnson on the Olympic stage. “I was a gymnast for like my entire life, pretty much,” Williams tells Rugby World. “But I realised at a young age that it wasn’t going to take me to the Olympics, which had always been my dream. So I was at a crossroads.” When the athletic Toronto native took up rugby in Grade Ten, she could not possibly have known that she would go on to win a bronze medal at the Olympic Games, in Rio in 2016 – by her own admission, she didn’t even know rugby was a sport prior to joining high school. Fittingly,…

DoR and backs coach Sandy Robertson admits to liking his Hove captains to have a minimum term of three years in the role and this could be a memorable one for No 8 Martin Macdonald, who is completing that time span. Founded in 1933, the club were relegated to Two South-East last April but eight wins in their first dozen games lifted them to third place in the New Year. Robertson said: “Changing our style of play and tactics has put us on the front foot. Our second team, who are in Sussex One, train with the first XV which creates an easy transition.” Hove’s coaching panel features forwards specialist Ryan Storer, ex-Harlequins, Cornish Pirates, Ealing and Worthing, who first played as a Hove junior. Kieron Robertson looks after defence,…

MIXED FORTUNES would be a good way to describe how the home nations fared in last year’s U20 tournaments. Take Ireland; after winning a Grand Slam in the U20 Six Nations – their first clean sweep at that age grade – they went to the Junior World Cup in Argentina with high hopes but ultimately finished eighth. Now they will be hoping to challenge for the Six Nations title again and home advantage in their opening games against Scotland and Wales should help their cause. Tighthead Thomas Clarkson, who started all five of their Six Nations games last year, captained the side in a comfortable warm-up victory over Munster Development ahead of this year’s tournament, with Andrew Smith and Jack Crowley particularly impressive in that win. Their opponents at Irish…

IT CAN be a tricky business, buying presents. What’s the perfect Christmas gift for your dad when he’s embarking on a new job? Matthew Pivac obviously felt a little advice from the predecessor would go down well. “He got me Warren Gatland’s book,” says new Wales coach Wayne Pivac with a wry smile. “That’s his sense of humour.” There’s nothing like a reminder of the size of the shoes you’re filling as you prepare for your first Six Nations campaign. Pivac is all too aware of how successful Gatland’s 12-year Wales reign was – three Grand Slams the standout achievements – but he is also excited by the challenge of building on such successful foundations. The 57-year-old has included a wealth of international experience in his back-room team, with four…

HE’S STARTED Tests for Wales on five continents but Dillon Lewis has yet to don the No 3 shirt in the Six Nations. With Tomas Francis sidelined, is that about to change? We caught up with the Blues prop, himself just back from injury… Apparently I’m a quick healer. I was due to have a 12-week rehab for a torn hammy, grade three. It was a miracle, I got it rescanned after two weeks and the tear had completely rehealed. So I ended up going from 12 weeks to four. It’s a credit to the physio team. Blues are playing a very positive style of rugby. We have a good bunch of boys coming through, so there’s nothing stopping us from making the Pro14 play-offs. Ben Thomas has been fantastic…

AMIDST THE buzz before the 2019 World Cup final, a Springbok legend took the chance to laud an avenue for South African talent. “To have so many players from the FNB Varsity Cup and FNB Varsity Shield in the Springbok squad is the dream I envisioned when I started the Varsity Cup in 2009,” said Francois Pienaar, the 1995 World Cup-winning captain. He went on: “Players like Bongi Mbonambi, Handré Pollard and Damian De Allende have stood out in this team and what’s really special is having Varsity Shield players Sbu Nkosi and Herschel Jantjies playing their role in getting the Springboks to the final. “Considering the competitiveness we’ve seen in the last two years in the Varsity Cup, I think we can expect many more Varsity Cup and Varsity…

THERE’S A curious mixture of players in the Greene King IPA Championship. There are the semi-pros putting in the hours in vocations that do not demand the recurrent clashes of 100kg-framed men. There are the spritely youngsters on loan from Gallagher Premiership clubs enjoying playing minutes. For some, playing professionally at Championship level is all they’ve ever known, regular faces a coach can build a team around. But of all the demographics you’ll find in this league, it is the individuals once seen at Premiership and even Test level now plying their trade in the league below who draw the most eyes. Coventry’s Henry Purdy falls into this category. Initially a product of the Leicester Tigers Academy, the Oxford-born winger/full-back traded green for cherry and white in 2014 at the…

President Angus Shaw sums up the ‘One Club – One Family’ ethos of Grantham-based Three North (East) side Kesteven. He said: “Our mini-junior-youth section has 329 members. Historically, they win trophies by the sackload but, more importantly, are packed with enthusiastic girls and boys.” The family theme goes on with Leicester and England centre Manu Tuilagi, brother of Kesteven DoR Fereti ‘Freddie’, inspiring the next generation. Manu made a surprise visit to Woodnook to meet 100 mini-juniors at a Sunday session and had ‘selfies’ taken with everyone. Prop Gavin Purvis is in his fourth season as first-team captain at a club that runs 20 sides and hosts ‘Didi Rugby’ sessions in the clubhouse. Freddie said: “We have something special here.” Coach Nathan Smith works in the RFU Rugby Development team…

Momentum is gathering for the Pythons, not only because their two league teams – the Pirates are the other – had their best league finishes last season. The club has added a third XV, the Panthers, also field a vets’ side and hope to launch a women’s section in September. Pythons have settled into fourth place, one behind their final position last April in Yorkshire Three. No 8 Hugh Tatlow, son of chairman Julian, leads the side. Tatlow Snr credits head coach Dan Bird, a Leeds schoolteacher, as their driving force. He said: “Dan brings structure to us and has been instrumental in turning around our playing fortunes. His success has attracted players from other clubs. Most are former Harrogate GS players who came via Harrogate RFC’s junior section.” Dale…

SCOTLAND’S inconsistency has been a source of frustration for their fans. For a team that can produce so much flair and attacking ability under head coach Gregor Townsend, the wins are too few and far between – as their RWC 2019 pool exit demonstrated. There has been some shuffling of coaches in the Scottish ranks. In particular with their forwards as Jonathan Humphreys left for Glasgow following Vern Cotter’s departure to be replaced by Danny Wilson, who in turn will soon join the Warriors after barely a year in the international position. That is as a result of Dave Rennie heading to Australia – and he takes with him Scotland’s long-serving defence coach Matt Taylor, to be replaced by Steve Tandy, formerly of the Ospreys and more recently the Waratahs.…

THE WORLD CUP ‘cycle’ is over (see, I’m down with the jargon) and various coaches have awkwardly shuffled off into the sunset, their tenures – like all politicians – ending in failure. Thus, various squads are now getting used to a new voice banging on for ten meetings a week. There aren’t many jobs where every couple of years you get a brand-new boss and have to start the buttering-up process again… Or maybe there are. What the hell do I know, I’ve never been near a proper job in my life. Anyway, burly men across the Six Nations will have been nervous as schoolboys over the past few months, eager to impress the new headmaster. To reach any sort of level, you have to have a massive chunk of…