Tag Archives: scrum

Ahead of their opening November internationals this coming weekend, Wales and England are going through some last minute preparations. The Red Rose are facing Argentina in their first test, while the Welsh will host Australia in the Principality Stadium. It emerged last week that Eddie Jones and Warren Gatland were colluding to prep their teams ahead of the ties, by …

Saracens' and Argentina prop Juan Figallo calls for the Pumas to salvage their scrum dominance ahead of playing Australia on Saturday.

England come to town on Saturday, looking to create history. Eddie Jones’ side are hot on the heels of a second consecutive Grand Slam, and they will break the record for consecutive test victories in the process. However, they arguably face their toughest task to date in this 18-and-counting win-streak, as Joe Schmidt’s side look for redemption after a bruising …

Ireland went down to New Zealand yesterday in Dublin, despite a remarkable performance. Joe Schmidt’s side were left to rue a host of missed chances. They were unable to register a single try, after failing to cross the line during several visits to the All Blacks’ 22. In the first half, Ireland had a five metre scrum, which ultimately led …

Dodgy feeds at the scrum may have made their job title misleading, but hookers now rule the rugby world. In fact, a staggering six of the ten teams from the Rugby Championship and Six Nations have hookers as their skippers. In an era in which it is de rigueur to substitute front-rowers midway through the second half, if not earlier, …

You can tell a lot by a country’s approach to the scrum. In New Zealand it is seen as a method for restarting the game. The ball is put in, the hooker hooks it and the scrum half passes it to the backs. In the northern hemisphere, it is seen as a way of winning penalties. Richard Cockerill, the Leicester …

For so long England’s front row was labelled as inefficient and ineffective, but under Eddie Jones England’s props have gone from underpowered and completely dominated to the cornerstones of the Red Rose pack once more. Any England fan has some of the worst results in the country’s history burnt into their skulls. It will be many, many years before the …

Some of rugby’s most recent law changes come into effect next month. Rugby is an ever evolving sport. At the beginning of each World Cup cycle, World Rugby address some of the issues affecting the game by altering it’s laws. Although rugby’s governing body sometimes make changes in order to create a fast flowing more entertaining game, they also endeavour to produce a safer sport. The …

World Rugby could be about to change the way rugby is played. When World Rugby announced they would be trialling a series of law variations in a number of tournaments around the globe this year, supports greeted the news with both interest and despair. While most fans agree that some intervention is necessary in order to save the game from the …

Today is the day when England and Ireland go to battle at Twickenham Stadium. It’s a highly anticipated fixture, as each team looks to prove their worth against the very best of European opposition. England have had the better start this campaign with a second half rout against Italy impressing many rugby aficionados. In contrast, Ireland battled hard to draw against …

Over the years England has produced some of the world’s best prop forwards. The 1970s saw the likes of Fran Cotton and Mike Burton debut, followed in the 1980s by the brute force of Phil Blakeway and the skilful Jeff Probyn. Next, the 1990s produced England’s most capped player, Jason Leonard, as well as the emergence of grand slam winner …

Eddie Jones’ coaching ticket for the England rugby team has just got considerably stronger, with the RFU confirming that Ian Peel will undertake the role of scrum coach for the Six Nations in 2016. Peel is a proven winner, and was the England u20 head coach. He will leave his position as an International Performance Coach with the RFU to join …

Ireland misfired this weekend against England and now the team is left with two wins from four in its build up to the World Cup. The team is still going into the competition on the back of successive Six Nations wins and a strong win record over the past two years under Joe Schmidt, but the two losses in a …