Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2023 i Rugby World

IN A clever act of rebranding, it’s already being billed as a Clash of Hemispheres. If recent reports are to be believed, the World League concept is back – but beefed up and well-backed. The power play to move us all onto a global calendar should see the top sides in the world enter into pools for a two-year competition starting in 2026, it’s reported. Gone will be classic Test series in one country, and instead summers will be spent going around a few pool mates in the southern hemisphere. And at the end of the year, they do a mini rotation in the North. Get ready to boo – there is talk of no promotion-relegation until 2030. And the Six Nations will remain, untouched as it is right now; forget…

I RELAND DIDN’T play at this season’s World Cup in New Zealand, but they’ve headed into the 2023 TikTok Women’s Six Nations hoping to improve on last year’s fourth-place finish. Second-row Nichola Fryday captains the side and has said that Ireland’s women want to emulate the Grand Slam-winning men’s and U20s sides, saying of the senior men’s team: “They are inspiring a nation and we have always said that we want to bring that to the women’s game.” Fryday has been in great form at domestic level herself, helping the Exeter Chiefs guarantee their place in the Allianz Premier 15s semi-finals that take place in June. We had a chat with the experienced lock to find out a bit more about what makes her and team-mates tick… What’s the funniest…

“The product will be better if players are involved in discussions” IT’S NOT so much that we want to be making the decisions, but often players are seen more as employees than assets. And yes we are employed, but rugby is very different to other businesses. We are the product. The way the game is developing, by including the players in the decision-making process you get more buy-in. For example, in Wales recently, the Professional Rugby Board and Rugby Management Board have been discussing how to cut their cloth according to financial issues. Rightly so. They are looking at salaries and how to keep the game going in a cost-effective way. And it would be naive to think there are no financial struggles in the game. But if players are…

“We’re getting lost in the weeds of who should play fly-half” A LOT OF time has been spent asking “Who should be England fly-half?” And I understand because there are two or three types of fly-half in the current England environment. And when Marcus Smith started against France, everyone thought it was great from coach Steve Borthwick, a massive call, drop captain Owen Farrell and all that. Actually, what it showed you is that there are massive fundamental issues within this set-up. I remember all those years ago, in 2003. And I know that’s a long time ago but that England set-up was almost desperate for rain because they knew they could win all the collisions. And I think we’re getting lost in the weeds of who should be fly-half,…

OOD DE JAGER chuckles when asked about Springbok team-mate Eben Etzebeth and the giant lock’s antics in the Champions Cup clash between Harlequins and the Sharks in January. While many expressed their surprise after Etzebeth rounded a ruck, burgled the ball and then raced away to score, de Jager recognised an artist at work. Etzebeth is better known for his big hits, post-tackle shoves and intense staredowns. For 12 years and 110 Tests, some have subscribed to the idea of Etzebeth as an enforcer and little else. Those close to him, however, insist that this iceberg runs many fathoms deep. They cite Etzebeth’s influence around the kick chase, his contesting at the front of the lineout, and his linking play in the wider channels as evidence of his growth over…

BORN AND schooled in Kingston, it’s not a surprise that I’ve always felt a connection to Jamaica. Admittedly, though, it has nothing to do with my upbringing in the south-west London borough of Kingston-upon-Thames. Instead, I grew up learning about the third-largest Caribbean island through my maternal grandmother’s tales of life on the rock. Elaine Joy Sheat, née Edwards, was born an hour from Kingston, Jamaica in the parish of St Ann in 1932. The daughter of Christian missionaries, she spent her early years on the island before moving to the UK before the outbreak of World War Two. Joy, as she was known, returned after the war for around five years before finishing her education in England. Having qualified as a teacher, she came back for a final stint to…

THERE WAS a time when Lorenzo Cannone dreamed of becoming the next Luca Toni, the brilliant striker who helped fire Italy’s football team to World Cup glory in 2006. Cannone used to love going with his older brother Niccolò to watch the one-time Bayern Munich and Juventus hitman turn out for Fiorentina. The boys and their father would join the throng behind the goals at the famous old Stadio Artemio Franchi and wait for the net to bulge, which it invariably did during Toni’s two spells in Florence. Now established in another national side, Cannone is in no doubt about the player he looks up to these days. “Duane Vermeulen,” he says without a moment’s thought, noting how the Springbok warhorse is still knocking it – not to mention opponents…

BLINK AND YOU’LL MISS IT Beat this! Sunderland wing Louie Groark scored a try six seconds, or was it eight, into the 113-5 win over Horden & Peterlee in C1 Durham & Northumberland. Keith Gregson, the club’s historian, said: “I made it eight but chairman Paul Geehan said it was six on his watch.” Here’s the downside: all Sunderland’s matches are videoed but a flat battery prevented coverage of this game, so a possible record was inconclusive. Gregson said: “Sunderland kicked off. Louie went at full pelt, the ball bounced outside the opposing 22 and straight into his hands. Without losing speed, he crossed the line and touched down.” Quick-try comparisons across the board include the 8.28 seconds it took Lee Blackett to score for Leeds against Newcastle in 2008…

1 Spain Madrid will host the Grand Final of the reimagined World Rugby Sevens Series for three years from the 2023-24 season, World Rugby and the City of Madrid have confirmed. Adopting a mantra of “Madrid Es Rugby”, the city is pushing to grow the sport, with the Cívitas Metropolitano Stadium selected as the spectacular host venue for the inaugural Grand Final taking place in June 2024. 2 Australia A new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between Rugby Australia, the five Super Rugby sides and the Rugby Union Players Association (RUPA) has been finalised and will run from 2023 until the end of 2026. The CBA includes a structured return to pre-Covid player payments and benefits. 3 South Africa Springboks tighthead Vincent Koch (below) will join up with the Durban-based Sharks from this summer.…

SINCE NOVEMBER time, everyone involved in the unique rugby project has been on “a wild ride”, according to American Raptors head coach Sarah Chobot. As she explains to Rugby World of the Raptors way of late: “Our original concept was, you know, finding crossover athletes and tapping into a new pathway. And then now we’re on a table in a very competitive league. So that began the race to find players and fill voids. It’s been exciting times.” Let’s recap quickly, for those who have never heard of the Raptors. In the first-ever Major League Rugby (MLR) season, what was then the Glendale Raptors finished top of the regular-season standings before losing out in the very first grand final against the Seattle Seawolves. But in 2020, the team – backed…

THE JOY of six was etched on Georgia faces in March when los Lelos won their sixth Rugby Europe Championship title in a row, defeating Portugal 38-11 in a showcase final in Badajoz, Spain. This year has seen the ERC use a new format, with eight teams involved before heading into semi-finals and ranking finals. Georgia beat Romania 31-7 and Portugal defeated Spain 27-10 to set up their title clash. And it was a close run thing by half-time in Badajoz, with Georgia just a point ahead at 12-11. Their physicality told in the second spell and while yellow cards flew around during the game, it was two front-rowers who broke the Portuguese spirit, with hooker Shalva Mamukashvili and prop Guram Papidze scoring the crushing tries. By the time centre Demur…

THE BEST of enemies. France have not defeated the English in the women’s Six Nations since 2018 – and back then it was by a solitary point. But these two have had plenty of close run-ins down the years. In 2020, it was England by six. In 2021, England by four. In 2016, it was France by five. The Channel may separate these two nations, but so often in the past the margin of victory has been a mere puddle. The Red Roses have had the edge on les Bleues of late, but this is quite simply the biggest rivalry in the women’s championship. And in the final round of this year’s competition, the pair will slug it out in a stand-alone fixture at Twickenham, with a world record crowd…

AN UNEXPECTED name-drop for sure. As tactical thinkers go, you might have expected Gregor Townsend or Steve Tandy to get a mention but right there, in the middle of the conversation, is a reference to ancient military strategist Sun Tzu. Well, kind of. As Glasgow Warriors and Scotland hooker George Turner says with a bashful laugh, “What is it they say in the Art of War? Deception is good to have!” The actual line is “All warfare is based on deception”, but consider us defeated. Because what Turner is addressing is a question about the so-called ‘Pool of Death’ at this year’s World Cup, where Scotland are pitted against world No 1, Grand Slam-claiming Ireland and reigning world champs South Africa, and whether Scotland’s unpredictability can be a weapon. Turner…

ACROSS 1 Is this Leinster flanker coining it? (5,5) 8 - - - United, club that Wales legend Shane Williams helped win the WRU National Bowl when he was 40 (5) 9 British Overseas Territory that staged the first World Rugby Classic in 1988 (7) 10 Simone - - -, Benetton and Italy international prop (7) 11 Second - - -, Dubliner Ian McKinley’s highly rated autobiography (5) 12 “We had a - - - refereeing the match,” Neil Francis wrote of Jaco Peyper after the 2016 Ireland-New Zealand Test (6) 14 Taine - - -, Dragons flanker who was Wales’ Player of the Series in the autumn of 2021 (6) 17 Matt Jess enjoys hiding club from western Germany (5) 19 Christian name shared by Italian internationals Padovani and Iachizzi…

AT THE age of 19, Chloe Edwards played in her first game of rugby. She wanted to try something new following years of competing at kickboxing in school. Her university introduced her to rugby and suddenly her life had a new trajectory. Fast forward 12 years and the 31-year-old prop made history as she became the first woman to clock up 100 appearances for Harlequins. Edwards, who joined the club in 2016, tells Rugby World what being written into the history books has meant to her. “It’s a bit bizarre to think about it that way,” she says. “I came here to play rugby and I couldn’t anticipate getting to the point to be the first person to play 100 times. To know I’m the first person to have done…

THE DISMISSAL of Freddie Steward in the Ireland v England game prompted a deluge of discussion. It’s now been downgraded to a yellow – an admission of error – after an outcry from former players, pros and fans coming out in support of Steward and criticising ‘unsympathetic’ choices from the referee Jaco Peyper. Head contact is a red-hot topic, with hundreds of ex-players suing various unions for neurological conditions that have appeared after playing careers concluded. So what happened here? With Ireland running the ball and crossing England’s 10m line, it goes to ground and bobbles forward as Mack Hansen tries to offload. It’s picked up by Hugo Keenan, who collides with a turning Steward, bracing himself for contact. His upper arm strikes the head of Keenan, who didn’t return…

ASK YOURSELF this question. How much of your personal information would you hand over to a complete stranger? It’s a conundrum that’s been rattling around every social media app, dating site and online shop since the internet decided to be part of every aspect of our lives. TikTok is a brilliant invention. It allows creators to stream live, go viral and promote content – such as the best and brightest players featuring in the Women’s Six Nations this year. But I’m not comfortable with the social media giant being the title partner of such a brilliant competition, which this year will have professional players in every side for the first time in its history. TikTok is owned by a private Chinese firm – which is completely fine – but there…

COMING INTO May, the top whistlers in world rugby will be anxious. Because at some point in the month the official list of referees, assistants and Television Match Officials (TMOs) for the Rugby World Cup in France will be revealed. The Big One. Rugby’s pinnacle event. Some experienced referees will be all over it, but some newer faces always push through when the circus comes around every four years too. Which got us wondering how that list is arrived at, and when we will see a female official first call a World Cup match. How we get the refs we get is something World Rugby’s director of rugby Phil Davies is happy to discuss. “The match officials have been coming through Super Rugby, the URC, the Premiership and the Top…

WHEN OBAN Lorne won the RBS Bowl at Murrayfield in 2013, they did so on the back of a huge pack and forward domination. Ten years on and the club from the West Highlands of Scotland are forging success in a different manner. “Some say the way Scotland play at the minute is a bit chaotic, but the blueprint handed down from Scottish Rugby is encouraging: quick, attractive, effective rugby,” says the club’s youth convenor, Murray Hamilton. “That’s how you’re encouraged to coach. Oban Lorne are doing that – our rugby is mobile and fast. “But we can still set a drive as well as anybody and we’re abrasive in defence. Lorne MacLachlan is particularly good over the ball. Ten years ago he was fresh out of school when he…

THE SUCCESS of this season comes from a long time away,” explains Argentina sevens star Marcos Moneta, when discussing how the Pumas programme has rejuvenated and put the country right in the title hunt this HSBC World Rugby Sevens season. With two golds to their name by mid-March, they are on New Zealand’s tail, in second place with four legs to go. And as Moneta says, the Pumas crew have headed in this direction for a while. “The breaking point was the process of the Tokyo Olympics,” the 23-year-old tells Rugby World. “After the pandemic (hit) and the Olympics were postponed by a year, we started working and training ourselves again. We changed some things and started a good process that led to the bronze there – that was the…

“Every second-row wants to be Bakkies Botha, the shark from Jaws” ▸ OKAY, I’LL say it out loud. No, I was never considered an ‘enforcer’ as a player. But I think there are different types of enforcers in the game of rugby. An enforcer, generally, is somebody that can bring a level of physicality or intimidation. Someone who strikes fear into opponents or can control a situation with that physicality and domination. In certain ways, whether it’s ball-carrying or tackling, everyone is trying to be a deciding force and trying to be as imposing as they can. Of course, there are some people who stand out for their sheer mass and aggression and stature. That’s something that we can’t all copy, unfortunately. However, the game has also moved on in…