Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2021 i Rugby World

“Who will make the 2021 Lions squad?” DESTINATION KNOWN! The British & Irish Lions have confirmed that they plan to tour South Africa this summer as planned, but who will be flying south at the end of June? With the Six Nations completed and Warren Gatland due to name his squad at the start of next month, the selection debate has intensified. Some players have timed their runs impeccably. Ireland prop Tadhg Furlong returned from injury in fine fettle; his quick-step in Scotland was a reminder of his skills in the loose and a week later against England he emphasised his power in the tight. You’d expect he and Kyle Sinckler to be the top two Lions tightheads, but what of a third? And the situation on the other side…

FRIDAY 2 APRIL Champions Cup Round of 16 Leinster v Toulon (5.30pm) TV Live on BT Sport Gloucester v La Rochelle (8pm) TV Live on BT Sport Challenge Cup Round of 16 Zebre v Bath (3pm) TV Live on BT Sport London Irish v Cardiff Blues (5.30) TV Live on BT Sport Montpellier v Glasgow (8pm) TV Live on BT Sport Super Rugby Aotearoa Crusaders v Highlanders (7.05am) TV Live on rugbypass.com Super Rugby AU Waratahs v Brumbies (9.45am) TV Live on world.rugby SATURDAY 3 APRIL Women’s Six Nations England v Scotland (3pm, Castle Park) TV Live BBC iPlayer/RTÉ Player France v Wales (8pm, Stade de la Rabine) TV Live BBC iPlayer/RTÉ Player Champions Cup Round of 16 Wasps v Clermont (12.30pm) TV Live on BT/Ch 4/Virgin Media Munster v…

BERNARD JACKMAN Ex-Ireland hooker, now RTÉ analyst WHY SHOULD the team finishing bottom of the Six Nations be guaranteed re-entry the following year? Money and stability are nice – the CVC deal means status quo for now – but I don’t see the current situation as being healthy for the competition… Or Italy, who have become perennial wooden spooners. They’ve not won a game since beating Scotland in 2015 and it seems a foregone conclusion their opponent will win with a try bonus. Despite hope that Benetton would become competitive in the Pro14, that proved a false dawn and both Italian sides play Challenge Cup rugby next season. There should be a play-off with the bottom side and the winner of the Rugby Europe Championship. I’m open to the Six…

A FEW MONTHS ago I had a conversation with one of the rugby coaches at Warwick School. Shorn of full-contact training due to coronavirus restrictions, he told me that they had turned to minimal contact in training, playing with a variety of rules to hone the youngsters’ core skills. Not the full Ready4Rugby or structured six-a-side touch with 7m offsides and turnovers whenever the ball hits the deck, but with rules designed to hone whatever skill the coaches wanted to work on that day. The lack of contact during the pandemic has taken away the essence of rugby, it could be argued. But what if it has, in fact, opened up the delights of oval-ball sport to youngsters who don’t find it enjoyable to be the smallest player stuck on…

THE new global tournament launched by World Rugby, WXV, is not only about having more women’s Tests but more meaningful women’s Tests, writes Sarah Mockford. When it kicks off in 2023 (it was due to start in 2022 but has been delayed because of the postponement of the World Cup), there will be a significance to where teams finish in the Six Nations table and how countries perform in other regional competitions; something will be riding on practically every Test. World Rugby is investing £6.4m into the first two years of WXV and chairman Sir Bill Beaumont described the announcement, both of the tournament and the aligned global season, as “a landmark moment”. He added: “By establishing a unified international 15s calendar and introducing WXV, we are creating a platform…

STATISTICS ARE part and parcel of modern rugby. Numbers pop up on screen when watching matches on television. Newspapers print graphs and tables to illustrate how teams and players are performing. We love a graphic at Rugby World too. It can be hard to keep track of all the facts and figures. People know the major records and, indeed, we’re recognising some of those players in this issue – rugby’s most-capped player Alun Wyn Jones, top Test point-scorer Dan Carter and top international try-scorer Daisuke Ohata are three who feature. Yet there are many unusual records in the game too, some celebrated and others unwanted. Over the following pages are 25 rugby records – perfect tidbits of information to drop into conversation with your mates down the pub, when permitted…

THE LAST rugby match St John’s School in Leatherhead played was when their U15s beat St Lawrence College in the semi-final of the England Rugby National Vase competition on 3 March 2020. It was a tough, gritty victory, St John’s scraping through 10-3, and one can picture the joy of the boys as they looked forward to the final at Twickenham. Little did they, or St John’s director of rugby Craig Newby, imagine what lay in store. For Newby, the former Leicester and New Zealand loose forward, the cessation of school sport has been hard to bear. He had arrived at St John’s (the alma mater of George Kruis) in 2017 and swiftly started to achieve results among the school’s 23 teams. As well as the U15s’ success, the school’s…

ACROSS 1 Leicester Tigers forward angers Welsh Larry (5,5) 8 - - - Craig, Bath Rugby’s owner since 2010 (5) 9 - - - Leiua, Samoa centre enjoying life at Ashton Gate (7) 10 Lloyd Williams came from - - - to reclaim the Wales scrum-half jersey last autumn, said WalesOnline (7) 11 GB women’s sevens players posed - - - to promote body confidence in 2016 (5) 12 Jack - - -, Cornish hooker impressing at Exeter Chiefs (6) 14 Back-row who made 28 tackles in Argentina’s historic win against the All Blacks last year (6) 17 Bath-born Ulster fly-half playing for Ireland (5) 19 Wales No 8 Taulupe Faletau lacks a - - - edge, Zinzan Brooke wrote contentiously in 2017 (7) 21 Mattia - - -, Zebre and Italy wing…

SPORT SO often comes down to fine margins. The Six Nations is a prime example – look at the title race! And that’s before you consider moments like the Louis Rees-Zammit try that wasn’t, Maro Itoje’s late score against France, Owen Watkin’s tap tackle on Duhan van der Merwe… There are also fine margins when it comes to dangerous tackles; a second here or a centimetre there can make all the difference in terms of whether a hit is late or high. Yet player welfare must remain at the forefront of all our minds. Yes, similar tackles in the past weren’t penalised. Yes, some red cards may be considered harsh. But strict sanctions around dangerous tackles are designed to make the game safer. The fact that some big names in…

What’s the funniest thing you’ve seen on the pitch? Playing for Saxons against South Africa, Alec Hepburn tried a kick that was charged down. Then against Bristol this year, he tried another kick and again it was charged down. Hailing from Australia, he backs his AFL-style kicking and I’ve not seen one work yet! It wasn’t funny at the time but after the game you can have a laugh about it. Who would you like to be stuck in a lift with? Stu Townsend. Just for morale. You can bank on him having a pack of cards, or some sort of game. He’s a guy who whenever you’re in his company you’re having a good time. What really annoys you? I’m quite a big gamer and losing on FIFA is…

“There’s definitely a case for Carter as the GOAT” MY FIRST year playing Super Rugby was for the Highlanders in 2004 – I was a late bloomer so didn’t get into professional rugby until I was 21. I played against Dan Carter that year and saw first-hand what he was capable of. Even in those early games when he was playing 12, before he moved to ten, you could see he was one of those guys who has time – time to see pictures and time to make decisions, and he’d generally make good decisions. He just had this feel for the game – natural depth perception, vision. What sets apart great players from good players is how they perform under pressure. There’s external pressure and internal pressure, but when…

ALUN WYN JONES launches himself into the air. The Principality Stadium clock has ticked beyond 80 minutes and the match is won. A late try wouldn’t even give England a losing bonus point, such is Wales’ advantage at 40-24. Yet still there is that determination, that focus, from Jones to win the restart, to secure possession so that his side can close out the victory on their terms. He rises higher than Maro Itoje and gets both hands on the ball. Game over. It’s a moment from the Six Nations that epitomises Jones, as are his three tackles in 30 seconds in the 78th minute of the crazy Test in Paris that ultimately ended hopes of another Grand Slam. Relentless, consistent, driven… These are all words that have been used…

IT WAS watching her dad and brother play at Gravesend every week that made Fran Holmes fall in love with rugby. She yearned to play too. When Gary Theobald created a girls’ team, about 15 years ago, she was too old to join in. Was she not tempted to play elsewhere? “No, I’m Gravesend through and through.” The girls’ team ran its course. Theobald died suddenly in 2015. Then, in 2019, Miles Tempan, who’d coached women’s teams at Maidstone and Lordswood, asked Gravesend if he could form a side there. Despite some resistance, the answer was yes. Gravesend Gremlins, replicating the name of the original girls’ side, was born and Holmes finally had a chance to lace up her boots. “I was apprehensive because you’re not sure if it will…

IT WASN’T until he reached 100 tries on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series that England’s Dan Norton realised he might be alright at finishing. “It was never part of the goal from the start,” says Norton, the all-time leading men’s try-scorer on the series with 354. “When I saw Ben Gollings the first few years (that Norton played) chasing Santiago Gómez Cora, that brought to light the whole goal. But it didn’t really kick in until I got to 100 tries, around 2013 or 2014. Gómez Cora wasn’t the biggest but he had amazing feet, he was quick and he had this finishing ability. “In my first or second season, Ben Ryan said, ‘Watch this guy, he’s amazing.’ It was not only the way he beat players but the…

1 Romania Florin Vlaicu became the seventh player to score 1,000 Test points, during Romania’s 28-27 win against Portugal. The fly-half/centre joins Dan Carter, Jonny Wilkinson, Neil Jenkins, Ronan O’Gara, Owen Farrell and Diego Domínguez in passing the milestone. The 34-year-old (below) said: “It is very nice to have my name there, with the big guys. I’ve been waiting since last year when we didn’t play many games.” 2 Fiji Fijian Drua (above) and Moana Pasifika are set to compete in Super Rugby from next year thanks to support from World Rugby. The governing body will provide £1.2m annually for three years to support the two franchises, which will also receive funding from their unions and private equity. The sides’ involvement is subject to NZ Rugby Board approval but Pacific Rugby…

NEARLY 50 years have passed since the world abandoned Gustavo Zerbino and his Old Christians team-mates in the Valley of Tears, 12,000ft up in the Andes. The team had been travelling from Montevideo in Uruguay to Santiago de Chile to face Old Grangonians (Old Boys). After a grave navigational error, the pilots began their descent over what they believed to be Chile’s Central Valley. They were, in fact, descending into the Andes mountain range. It was 72 days after the plane crash that they were rescued; two players had trekked for days to find help, with their team-mates trapped on the mountains. Their story has been told many times, surviving by doing the unthinkable and finding sustenance on the remains of those lost in the crash. “Those who died on…

“He was truly a legend on and off the field. He was a model professional for two decades” DESPITE RUGBY’S growing popularity in Japan, it’s fair to say that for those who don’t follow the oval ball Daisuke Ohata is simply a ‘tarento’ thanks to regular appearances on Nippon TV’s morning news show Sukkiri rather than the man who still holds the world record for Test tries. The Japanese word is used to describe celebrities who appear in mass media in Japan, especially as panellists on variety and current affairs shows. It derives from Hollywood’s golden age when bankable stars were described as ‘talents’ and distinguished from production crew members, who were seen as having more technical than charismatic skills. While many celebrities on Japanese TV have lots of charisma…

“The current structure is holding the game back” IT HAS taken some time but the CVC deal for a minority stake in the commercial rights of the Six Nations (including women’s, U20 and autumn International matches) has now been concluded. Following on from the stakes acquired in the English Premiership and Pro14, it puts the private equity firm in a powerful position to influence the future of the sport. It’s not just a rugby thing. Sport in general is very ‘hot’ at the moment, with numerous funds and groups seeking out opportunities, driven for the most part by technological change and the chance to connect with fans globally through digitally-based platforms. This trend pre-dated Covid, but the financial pressure faced by all clubs and unions since the spring of 2020…

EARLY ON a midweek afternoon in April 1991, the locals at The Mayflower in South-East London were growing increasingly weary. Three American tourists, clutching pints and singing, had commandeered the jukebox and were playing Queen’s We Are The Champions on repeat. But, as Freddie Mercury’s voice sailed through the historic pub for what seemed like the thousandth time, a barman appeared and cut short their fun. “It’s supposedly where the Mayflower ship set sail from, where the pilgrims went off and found America,” ex-USA women’s lock Tara Flanagan says. “The bartender guy, after we probably played it ten times, unplugged the jukebox. He was like, ‘That’s enough, we can’t take it anymore. Who are you?’ We were like, ‘We’re the world champions, of course!’” Flanagan, Tam Breckenridge and Chris Harju…

THE CHAMPIONSHIP came out of lockdown with a bang when Cornish Pirates turned over three-times European champions Saracens on the opening day. That 25-17 win left Pirates flanker John Stevens with a broken nose, generated more headlines than any other game that weekend and threw the debate over the Championship’s status into the mix once again. The Cornish side were forced to pull down the shutters after their 30-13 win at Ampthill on 14 March 2020, with no inkling of when they could be raised again. And it was nearly a year’s wait for their next match, a pre-season friendly against Jersey in February. In between there had been furlough, socially-distanced training and several false dawns when players prepared for games that might never happen, plus the interminable wait for…

MASONIC TONIC It’s welcome to Warwickshire Masonic, a new club based at Spartans RFC, north of Birmingham. Secretary Rab Cooper said: “It’s designed primarily for existing Freemasons to play charity games against local clubs and similar masonic teams. But we’re fully inclusive and many non-Freemasons have joined us. We’re aiming to have six to eight matches each year and are recruiting adult male players. Anyone who comes to us with a positive have-a-go attitude will be guaranteed game time.” Broader plans are afoot. Other masonic clubs in existence are West Lancashire, Buckinghamshire, London Mark, Wales and Leicestershire & Rutland. Cooper said: “We’ll be playing one-off fixtures but hope to set up a friendly county championship next year with an England-Wales match as the finale.” GRAND DESIGN It’s also onwards and…

“At player level we have eyes on the record boards in the gym” ALUN WYN JONES clearly cares about how many caps he has. Saying it’s all about the team and tidying up the pitch is all an image thing, but that’s what makes him a good rugby player and captain – he’s a driven individual who’s striving to be the best. That is inevitably rewarded and recognised. Any player who joins an academy dreams of getting game time with the first team, or even just to train with them as much as you can. When you get in there properly, you then want as many minutes as possible. Then it all comes down to stats. How many ball carries? Are you impressing with your tackling? How quickly can you…