The Roses were burned by a Dragon and trampled by a Wallaby

It is with a heavy sigh and a lot of disappointment that England have exited the World Cup in the pool stages, after losing back-to-back games against Wales and Australia. The home nation's tournament got off to a good start against Fiji, but it just was not to be against the more difficult opponents in what was termed the 'pool of death'. The question is, what did England do wrong and what did our opponents do right? 

Our first game against Fiji was by no means perfect - there were plenty of mistakes and we started the second half very slowly - but we eventually came out on top and got, what was at that time, a very important bonus point. Neither Australia nor Wales managed to achieve this and considering the fact that Fiji have talent in abundance, it seemed to put us in a good position for the other fixtures. George Ford had a very controlled game, managing to get us in the right places on the pitch and stop the opposition from getting any good position themselves. He has certainly come on leaps and bounds in the past couple of years, giving England so much more attacking flair in the process. Mike Brown also had a great game considering that he came up against Nemani Nadolo - probably Fiji's best player on the day. A huge guy, any player would need some serious balls to take him on. Brown is probably the one England player who would fit this description to a T - he never shies away from the high ball, and will give the contest everything that he's got. 

Introduction and Preview to the 2015 Rugby World Cup

With less than two weeks to go until the Rugby World Cup begins, the excitement is at fever pitch - all of the squads have been announced (which you can view here), the warm-up matches have come to a close and the 100-strong Rose Army are well under way with their tasks to get the public involved in the build-up. In just twelve days, England will be kicking off the tournament against Fiji at Twickenham, so what do you need to know before it starts?

Right from the beginning of the tournament there are fixtures galore taking place at all different times throughout the week, as to be expected. To keep up with who is playing who and when, click here for a downloadable fixture list - there are 48 matches available on ITV for your viewing pleasure (40 pool games and 8 finals), and it's impossible to stay on top of them all. Hopefully the available guide will allow you to do so, and ensure that you catch as many matches as possible.

England say bye bye to another seven players

With less than fifty days to go until the Rugby World Cup kicks off, competition for the thirty-one available squad places is really heating up. The players have now completed their training in Denver, Colorado and will be returning to Pennyhill Park to continue getting ready for the warm-up against France and the matches that follow. We now have just thirty-nine players remaining after the latest cut by Stuart Lancaster, and he has made some interesting choices. Those being released to their clubs are: Chris Ashton, Lee Dickson, Kyle Eastmond, Matt Kvesic, Matt Mullan, Semesa Rokoduguni and Marland Yarde. 

I should start off by saying that, in regards to Dickson, Kvesic, Mullan and Yarde, I am fully on board with Lancaster's decision to release them. There are just too many better players at the moment who are rightfully higher up in the pecking order. Some of the other players, however, may have reasons to feel aggrieved at the decision of the England management. This is not the first time the decisions of those in charge have come under fire, although there was significantly less disagreement this time compared to previous choices.

Saints Fans Say Goodbye to Big Samu

It's always difficult to say goodbye to players who have been real servants to the club, but the loss of someone like Samu Manoa makes it much tougher. Since he joined in 2011, he was nothing short of excellent for the club and was the player everyone wanted to watch. Toulon are known for snapping up some of the world's best players, and Manoa is no exception to the rule. He is going to be missed by everyone, and it will be impossible to replace him.

When he signed for the Saints, only a very small number of people knew who the big American was, and barely anyone knew exactly what he was capable of. However, Jim and Dusty clearly saw something special in him, and how right they turned out to be. Life hadn't always been easy for Samu, but his love for rugby got him through it, and this love was more than apparent - right from the outset he put everything on the line for Northampton, and his big hits and excellent ball handling quickly set him apart from everyone else. I think I speak for everyone when I say that we were blessed to be able to have him as part of the team, and so very lucky to have been able to sign him.

Saints Fans Say Goodbye to the Squad Father

The end of the season brings both excitement and dread as we find out who will be joining the club, but also who will be leaving. Saints have lost some good people this season, with one of them being the well-loved Dowson.

Having joined in the 2009-10 season from Newcastle Falcons, Dowson immediately made a name for himself, not only going to on to lift the Anglo-Welsh Cup in his first season at the club, but also by being short-listed for both the then Guinness Premiership Player of the Season Award and the RPA Players' Player of the Season Award. Not many can say they have made that kind of immediate impact at a new club, but Phil can. Playing for Northampton turned out to be the best fit for him, and he became a giant of the game in the six seasons he played for us. 

Why this Premiership Rugby season has been the best yet

We have now reached the exciting time of the season where the pressure really tells and we see who has the metal to go on and lift the trophy. After twenty-two rounds we have our four semi-finalists: Northampton Saints, Bath Rugby, Leicester Tigers and Saracens. Whilst league winners Northampton and second place Bath always seemed odds on to get those home semi-finals, the race for third and fourth position made the last few weeks of the regular season in particular very exciting to watch. But what else has made this season one of the best yet?

There have been some outstanding team performances over the course of the season, some we expected, others we may not have. One team in particular is Exeter Chiefs, who have had a phenomenal season. Their meteoric rise has been witnessed by the rugby community for a few years now, but they have absolutely shined this year. With superb performances by the likes of Dave Ewers and Henry Slade, who recently won the Land Rover Discovery of the Season Award, the Chiefs have been able to really push those teams at the top of the Premiership. They did the double over the current Champions, and almost got into the top four, losing out in the final round on points difference. Having managed to secure European Champions Cup rugby for next season, they can only go from strength to strength.

Respect - due regard for the feelings, wishes, or rights of others

We hear a lot of talk in the rugby community about how football is such a terrible sport due to the actions of their fans, and how they treat each other, the players and the officials with constant disrespect. We pride ourselves on being 'gentlemen' (or women, of course) in rugby, but is this true in reality? Respect is a huge part of the game, and for as long as I can remember this has been upheld by all rugby fans and players alike. I have some great memories where fans from opposite clubs have been nothing but cordial and polite to one another – an example that really sticks in my mind is from back in 2011 when Northampton Saints played Leinster in the Heineken Cup Final at Cardiff. It's safe to say Saints fans were pretty despondent when the match finished, but as a group of us were stood waiting to get on the coach some Leinster fans who were walking passed all stopped and shook hands with us, telling us it was a great match and we played really well. They didn't get anything out of doing that, but they did so anyway and it was actually a really lovely moment which lifted our spirits somewhat. But as the seasons go on I find respect is lacking more often than not.

Do Stuart Lancaster and England have a knack for ignoring players that fully deserve to be playing on the international stage?

The idea of wasted talent is something that is commonly talked about when it comes to Stuart Lancaster and England - a lot of players who have taken their chances and fought for their place in the international team have failed to be selected when it has been more than warranted. Stuart Lancaster has been Head Coach of England for a while now, and during his time in charge he's made some great decisions along with some bad ones. I think on the whole he has made team decisions I agree with, but there are some players who have either just fallen by the wayside to be forgotten about or have not been chosen to play when they perhaps should have been.

Nick Abendanon for me is probably the prime example of a player who Lancaster should have picked years ago but failed to do so. I know a lot of you out there won't agree purely because he plays in France now, but that's another debate for another day. At the moment it appears Abendanon will not play for England again - he may only be 28, but there are limited chances to play for your country and Lancaster is clearly interested in other players. When you look at how he played against Saints on Saturday, where he absolutely demolished them along with the rest of his team, I find it unimaginable that we haven't seen him in a white shirt more frequently. His kind of talent just should not have gone to waste, yet Lancaster has let this happen. Sure, Brown has cemented himself as the England full-back, and rightfully so, but I cannot think of many full-backs who would be better than Abendanon as a replacement, at least in the last few years. He is an incredible player with so much presence on the field, and he'd be a real asset for England.

Why sports journalists should just stick to what they know and leave what they don't know well and truly alone

So, we've all read what is already fast becoming the infamous Jeff Powell article on the also infamous Courtney Lawes tackle on Jules Plisson. We've also all expressed absolute disbelief followed by an anger close to rage at his viewpoint on what occurred in the match against France at Twickenham. Before I get into the specifics about what was wrong with what he said (basically every word), just one quick mention about the author himself - he is a boxing correspondent, and rugby is absolutely not his speciality. Straight away that makes everybody wary about what his article goes on to say, and it seems we had good reason to feel that way.

Let's first take the headline, where Powell kicks off with the words "If Courtney Lawes' tackle on Jules Plisson was legal..." - I need to get one thing straight here: there is no 'if' about Lawes' tackle; the referee consulted the TMO, where it was looked at multiple times, even in slow motion, and it was deemed perfectly acceptable. You know when something is looked at in slow motion, where everything invariably looks worse, but is deemed perfectly legal that it is fine and no further action is warranted. So his article gets off to a bad start immediately, where he questions something that has already been resolved and put to bed.

One thing that Powell does throughout the entire article is make parallels with football, which I am vehemently against. For starters, they are not even remotely the same sport, so what business is there in weighing them up against each other? None. But my main issue is that one is a contact sport and one is not. So by saying that, if Gerrard stamps and gets a red, then Courtney should have been sanctioned is, frankly, sheer stupidity. Gerrard got a red because he intentionally stamped on a player in a NON-CONTACT sport. Lawes tackled a player, very well I might add, in a CONTACT sport where tackling is one of the most vital parts of the game. Thus you cannot make parallels, because contact means utterly different things in football than it does in rugby.

Another one of my gripes is his 'out on the street' argument, which holds no credence. Mainly because it wasn't on the damn street. He makes the claim that, if Lawes had been caught doing that on the street, he would be done for assault. In simple words, yes he would have. But it wasn't in the street, it was on the rugby pitch. Plus, may I remind Jeff Powell that he writes about BOXING. Yes, what Lawes did would have been against the law on the street, but so would punching someone repeatedly until you effectively knock them out. And, only last week did Powell write an article on a boxing fight that he stated was 'fantastically brutal'. That's right, he commented on the brutality of boxing, yet he has the audacity to moan and complain about a hard-hitting tackle. I want you all to think about other sports where, if they were to be done on the streets, an arrest could well be made. Off the top of my head I can think of Javelin & Shotput (what if you hurt someone with them?!), Wrestling (people fighting each other!), Formula One (they do speed after all!), Ice Hockey (slamming people up against the sides is assault, right?!) and Archery (what if you shoot someone, huh?!)

We then come on to his apparent concerns about concussion, and the risk that a tackle like Lawes' one poses to other players. Concussion is a huge issue in rugby that we are all aware of, but any tackle made can be potentially dangerous in terms of head injuries. Yet no one has EVER suggested that tackling needs to be reduced, and why? Because that is sheer idiocy. What it is important to remember is there are protocols to ensure player welfare is a top priority and, if someone is concussed, they are given proper medical attention. But, I think the main reason to discredit this argument is to bring us back to the point that he corresponds on boxing - probably one of the only sports where concussion actually happens more than it does in rugby. So who the hell does Powell think he is to essentially blame Courtney for creating dangerous situations with his tackles? Every punch in boxing brings the risk of a concussion - every single one. And in the face of this, what does Powell do? Comment positively on the brutality of the sport - frankly, I find it abhorrent that he can be this hypocritical.

Finally, we come to Powell's ludicrous suggestions that Lawes should apologise. Is he serious? On what planet should someone have to say sorry for a legal tackle? There are hundreds of legal tackles made every weekend in rugby, but we don't expect every single one of them to come with an apology, if any! If the tackle had been illegal, then yes, he should have apologised and I have no doubt in my mind that he would have. But in this instance there is absolutely no need for Lawes to make amends, and if he was to do so he would potentially be conceding that his tackle was not entirely legal, when it is in fact the very opposite. And to go even further and suggest that all of those supporting Courtney's actions are 'rugby snobs' makes this article go from ridiculously unfair, stupid and pointless to damn right offensive to everyone in the rugby community. In my eyes, he is the snob for thinking himself so righteous with his words. But hey, if disagreeing with him makes me a snob, I could not care less.

Luckily everyone who has read the article finds it as awful as I do. The whole thing is "supported" (I say this lightly, as to have support it actually needs to be somewhat true) by extremely baseless arguments that hold absolutely no weight in any respect. I think we have always known that the Daily Mail is not exactly the most reputable paper out here, but this seems like a new low for them. It is an example of absolute shoddy journalism, and I found myself surprised at first that even the Daily Mail would publish it. There are no excuses for the absolute rubbish that the paper allowed to be published, and I think it's time they stop journalists from reporting on stories that they have absolutely no knowledge of. I think it's for the best if he just sticks to boxing rather than trying to weigh in on a debate where he is a fish amongst sharks in terms of what he actually knows. To go out there and offend everyone in the rugby community is very very hard to do, but his farcical attempts at trying to comment on the sport using just about the worst arguments possible to back himself up meant that he managed to do just that.

Jess.

Twitter: @JessKebbell @RuckMeGently

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The future of English rugby looks bright as the Under 20's shine to be crowned Six Nations champions

Last Friday, the England Under 20's were crowned 2015 Six Nations Champions after an enthralling winner-takes-all final match against France in Brighton. The score come the final whistle was 24-11, bringing to an end a great tournament where a lot of young talent was on show. Compared to their performances in the Junior World Championship, where England were crowned world champions, we did not see the best from the squad – the players themselves even readily admitted that they played at about 60% of their full potential. For most of the time things did not quite come together in terms of attack, where a lot of chances were squandered or just not properly created, but the defensive work for the whole tournament was phenomenal and demonstrated just what these players are capable of. Having said that, England did win the trophy after losing just one match against Wales, and in the process scored 18 tries (9 of which came against Italy) whilst conceding just 5. It goes to show just how talented this group of young guys are if they can win the Six Nations whilst not playing to their absolute best. Hopefully they can recapture the style of play that won them the JWC last year in time for this year's competition, where England will be gunning for a third title in a row. It is a given that it will be much tougher for the squad than the Six Nations, and so they will need to be at 100%. Here are my five players that I believe everyone should be keeping a close eye on in the upcoming JWC and beyond.

The captain of the squad, Charlie Ewels, is a great example of a leader for the players. To be named captain of your country at any age is a massive achievement, and would be enough in itself to warrant selection on my list. Coaches do not just pick any old person to be in charge; they pick someone who, can not only handle the pressure of having to be in charge of making decisions for the team, but someone who is also an incredibly gifted player. Ewels is one such person. He led from the front throughout the entire tournament, making himself a nuisance in defence, excelling at the breakdown in particular, and is one of the main contributors to England conceding a very small number of tries. His decision making skills were also excellent in the Six Nations – he knew just what to do to keep England on the front foot and ahead on the score sheet in every match bar one come the final whistle. In terms of club rugby, you'll find him playing as part of the Bath academy, and for any supporters of Bath you should count yourselves very lucky that he is a member of your team. Hopefully a lot of you are planning to watch the Junior World Championship in June this year, and if you do you'll be able to see first hand how talented this guy is and how good a captain he can be for the under 20's.

Next is James Chisholm, who has a lot of fans out there. When I asked people who they believed were the ones to watch, his name popped up again and again. To put it simply, the man is a machine. His work-rate across the field is, frankly, ridiculous. His presence at the back of the scrum is one of the main reasons that England managed to win and retain the ball – he keeps his eye on the ball to ensure that it is safely in England's possession and, if it looks like it may be lost, his split second decisions to move it away from the scrum and into the hands of those out wide makes him, in my opinion, stand out as one of, if not the, best player for England in the tournament. Exploiting gaps is a key feature for any team if they want to press forward and get points on the board, and Chisholm is an expert at this. There was one great play in the Wales game where, from the back of the scrum, he noticed a big enough gap and, rather than waiting to see if we could score from said scrum, picked up the ball and crossed the whitewash himself. He is a very intelligent player who knows the right move to make at any given time in any given situation. That is a great skill to have. When he has the ball in hand, you can be sure that it will be carried and that metres will be made; he has all of the makings of going on to be an incredible player in the future. You can find Chisholm playing his club rugby for Harlequins, and supporters of the club should be excited – he is seriously good, and may be just what Quins need at a time where they are not playing their best rugby.

Rory Jennings, the fly-half for England in this year's tournament, is an extremely reliable kicker, which I mean as a compliment. Reliableness is what you need as a 10 if you are going to keep racking up the points for your team, and Jennings did this very well in the Six Nations. Territory is another thing that, as a 10, you need to be able to give to your fellow players. Rory was incredibly good at this, constantly putting in kicks that allowed England to be in the right areas of the field and in a position to score tries. Sure, they may not have taken as many of those chances as were given to them by the fly-half, but Jennings did everything he needed to do to set the team up. Bar the first half against France, England seemed to win the kicking battle in every area and that is most definitely down to the talent of the young kicker. He does still have a way to go in improving his own attacking abilities, but I have confidence that he will get there. He, like Ewels, plays his rugby at Bath.

Before moving on to my next player, I would like to put in a quick mention about Harry Mallinder. He was unable to play in the Six Nations due to injury, but we are expecting to see him back and fit in time for the Junior World Championship. He plays at fly-half for England, and is a really really good prospect for the future. I admit, I have not seen him play that much, but we should all expect to see him in that 10 shirt in just over two months time. This will probably mean that we will not be seeing as much of Jennings, but I am confident that he will get game time where he can continue to impress.

My fourth player on the list is Howard Packman. Everyone knows how big a fan I am of his, which may be down to my Saints bias, but I have good reason to believe that he will go on to be a superstar. When Packman gets hold of the ball, you would put money on the fact that his pace will gain many metres for England and even that he himself will cross over the try-line. The speed at which he can run is a real sight to behold, and at full speed he is uncatchable. As a winger, he has everything and more that is necessary to make him one of the best – not only is his attacking prowess monumental, as his footwork allows him to dodge and break away from many a tackle, but his defensive work is also really impressive. It always amazes me how willing he is to get stuck in with tackling players that can sometimes be almost twice his size. Howard is not the biggest player you will see out on the pitch, so his tackle rate may actually come as a real surprise to most people. What he is best at though is running the length of the field to score some great tries, one of which came in the match against Italy. I would suggest watching the highlights of that match on YouTube, and you will quickly see just what I am talking about. He can get through the smallest of gaps and beat the biggest defenders, and this really sets him apart from most other wingers. There was a bit of frustration on his, and the fans', part over the course of the Six Nations as he just did not get enough ball to really show us all what he can do. However, if this can be rectified for the JWC, you are all in for a real treat. As previously hinted at, he does play his rugby at Northampton Saints and has been seen most recently setting the pitch alight in the LV=Cup.

Last but by no means least we have Joe Marchant. This guy is a try-scoring machine, having got 5 of his own throughout the Six Nations, three of which came against Italy. He makes beating defenders and carrying the ball look extremely easy, and he did this time after time to keep England in the right areas. It will usually take at least three tacklers before he is brought to the ground, by which time he has made valuable metres. Many times, however, he is not tackled at all and instead manages to slice the defensive line and touch the ball down to score some amazing tries. His hat-trick against Italy demonstrates this perfectly, and again I would suggest you look up the match online because you would not want to miss out on what he can do. He also has great footwork, something that we saw on display in the game against France. Against all of the odds, he managed to score what was one of the best tries of the tournament despite flirting seriously with the touch-line. It took a lot of skill to keep himself on the field of play, but his nifty abilities enabled him to keep his heel raised of the ground rather than being on the line. It was an all-round superb try, and one that you will definitely want to see. Marchant, like Chisholm, plays his club rugby at Harlequins and I cannot help but feel that they are one lucky club to have this kind of talent. He has been compared to Jonathan Joseph in the way he plays, and the resemblance in their styles is certainly there. The future of rugby at Harlequins is looking bright.

So there you have it – my five players to watch out for in the future. I just want to say that the whole squad are seriously talented and there are a lot of players in there who I have no doubt will be playing for the senior England team at one point. If I could talk about them all, I would because, to win the Junior World Championship two years in a row and now be Six Nations champions, is a phenomenal achievement that all of the players contributed to massively. Congratulations to them on their Six Nations win, and here's hoping that they can get a third JWC title in Italy in June!

What are your thoughts on who we should be keeping an eye on? Let me know!

Jess.

Twitter: @JessKebbell @RuckMeGently

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England come agonisingly close, but fall short at the final hurdle

It was a breathtaking Saturday of rugby as Ireland did enough to secure the Six Nations trophy. 

The day got to off to a great start as Italy put in a monumental first-half performance against Wales to keep everyone on the edge of their seat. However, the second-half was a different story as Wales came out and scored an unanswered 47 points, giving everyone the impression they would be crowned the winners come the end of the day. But then Ireland decided to throw a spanner in the works by demolishing Scotland to win by 30 points. This put them in the driving seat and, as expected, all of the pressure was on England to see what they could do. The best was certainly to come, as the game against France at Twickenham was amongst the most stunning matches that has been witnessed for a while. The momentum seemed to switch constantly from one team to another, with England eventually getting the win by 55 points to 35. But it was not enough, as Ireland won the championship by 6 points. Here is my analysis of the last match of the Six Nations.

As I do every week, let's start with the man of the match, Ben Youngs. He was absolutely outstanding today - there are actually not enough superlatives to describe his performance. The two tries he scored were phenomenal, and he had a hand in setting up many of the other tries that England went on to score this evening. Add to this his work at the breakdown, and he was a shoe in to win the award as early as half-time. Unlike Ford today, his kick from hands were done to perfection and he managed to gain England territory time after time. Some stunning breaks topped off what was a really effortless performance from the scrum-half.

You may have noticed I mentioned the fact that Ford's kicking from hand today was way below the level it should have been. I hate to have to pick out the negatives after what was such an intensely amazing game, but I have to give my true analysis. In terms of kicking at goal, George was superb as he always is. But that isn't all there is to the game of a fly-half. You have to control the match, and get your team into a winning position. Ford did not quite manage to do that today, and he needs to make sure he improves this part of his game in time for the World Cup later this year, where I have no doubt that he will be playing. For France, their fly-half Plisson also did not have a good enough game for an international. He missed many kicks at goal, and was also on the receiving end of an absolutely insane smash from Courtney Lawes. They should both take some lessons from Sexton, who is the master at controlling the game.

Speaking of Courtney Lawes, he too had another sublime game. He may have only played two matches for England in the tournament but he was absolutely phenomenal, giving the team the boost they sorely needed in the breakdown. A lot of people were not happy Lawes walked straight back into the team, myself included, but I think his performances have more than justified Lancaster's decision. We must all surely be expecting him to be in the World Cup squad come the end of the year, as he is world class in his position. Speaking of the breakdown, Billy Vunipola also played excellently in that department today whilst making some brilliant breaks and smashing through multiple defenders. England are very good up front, and with a bit of tweaking could be a real force to be reckoned with come the World Cup. I must make a quick mention of our weak link in that part of the squad however - James Haskell. He did not have his best game today by any stretch of the imagination. There were many dropped balls from him that really halted England's forward momentum, and it left the performance feeling a bit jaded at times. We then had the yellow card incident, which was incredibly stupid from him. He knew exactly what he was doing when he stuck his leg out in front of the player, and I cannot fathom in my mind what on earth possessed him to do it. Whilst he was in the bin France scored a try, and I don't think it is much of a stretch to say it was one of the major reasons we did not get the required points difference come the final whistle. He should have been subbed much earlier, and I feel like Tom Wood has done enough to probably reclaim the starting 6 shirt for himself come the World Cup.

Noa Nakaitaci had a stormer for France today, and he was exceptionally dangerous on the wing. He did, of course, score the was it, wasn't it try that the TMO and the ref ultimately decided to give despite his best efforts to screw it up for his team. For me it was a try, as the ball was grounded just before his foot went into touch and his fingers were just touching the ball thus giving him control. Many more times after this he got possession of the ball and ran up the left side with lightning pace. Luckily he was stopped from scoring more tries, but I am sure all of us fans were ridiculously worried whenever he got hold of the ball. In terms of the England wingers, Jack Nowell had a very good game today. He has received some criticism regarding his previous performances as his handling errors were a real problem, but today they were non-existent as he crashed over the whitewash twice to score some excellent tries. With a bit more work, he could be great in time for the World Cup. Today's performance was a real step up for him and he easily demonstrated to everyone why he was brought in for May. Hopefully his critics have been silenced, at least partially.

Overall, England's problem with being clinical that have lasted throughout the tournament is what came back to haunt them this evening. Many times they found themselves dropping the intensity after they scored points, and this allowed France to get into the game much more than we all liked to see. Whilst it was a cracking match, England needed to be much tighter and it showed when they failed to get the required points to lift the trophy. I feel our performance against Scotland in particular is what came back to bite us, as we missed multiple chances to get a bigger score that day. Having said that, England made some major improvements from last week and unfortunately for us France really showed up today and put in one heck of a performance. During the course of the day we saw over 200 points being scored, many of which came from the 20+ tries we saw over the course of the three matches. It serves as the best example that rugby is NOT getting boring, and if you think it is I advise you to watch all of today's matches again! It's been a really great Six Nations, and I hope you have all enjoyed reading my analyses over the five rounds. Thank you all for continuing to support my blog.

Have a great rest of the weekend ruckers,
Jess.

Twitter: @JessKebbell @RuckMeGently

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England win the Calcutta Cup, but it was far from a perfect performance

England got the win against Scotland this evening, but many many chances went begging. This could come back to haunt England next week when they, Ireland and Wales will all be playing to win the Six Nations with the winner most likely being the team with the biggest points difference.

Let's start with the man of the match – Ben Youngs. He played much better this week as compared to last week, in particular he finally started to pick up the pace at the breakdown and his partnership with George Ford worked very well today. In my personal opinion, Youngs still has a way to go before I accept his inclusion in the squad. When you look at the speed of Laidlaw today in comparison to Youngs, and the Scotland scrum-half won hands down. Having said that, Ben put his kicking to really good use today and it put England on the front foot time after time (regardless of the fact that we did not take advantage of this most of the time). His partner at fly-half, George Ford, played brilliantly today – he finally managed to take control of the game, much like we see Sexton doing week in week out. His passing was absolutely flawless; he set up some brilliant line breaks for the likes of Burrell, Joseph and Nowell, as well as managing to get himself a try after easily breaking through the flimsy Scotland defence. Kicking-wise, he was pretty much immaculate, only missing one penalty kick and using his kicks from hand to great effect.

In terms of Scotland, for me their best player was Stuart Hogg, which seems to be the case more often than not. He made two incredible try-saving tackles to keep Scotland in the game for most of the match, and was consistently pushing at the England defence. Under the high ball, him and Mike Brown really competed and there was no evidence that they were put-off by the idea that they might be penalised by going up against one another, something we are seeing more often now with soft yellow cards being given in the game. Hogg is one of the best full-backs out there, and sometimes it feels like his talent is being wasted by him playing for Scotland. Mike Brown himself made a welcome return to the Six Nations this evening; he too made two great try-saving tackles and made some great breaks up the field. He even managed to cross the whitewash at one point, but was not awarded the try due to a forward pass by James Haskell. We really missed Brown last week, particularly as Goode was fairly poor, and he came out all guns blazing tonight to help us get the win.

Next, on to who I think was the actual man of the match by a pretty huge margin today – Courtney Lawes. For the past two weekends he has put in exceptional performances for the Saints, and it was no surprise that he was named in the starting squad on Wednesday for today's game. He was a force to be reckoned with all over the field for the whole match, making himself a real nuisance at the breakdown. Add to that the monstrous hits he put in that he has become synonymous for, and he was clearly our most outstanding player today. In last week's match against Ireland one of the main things we were lacking was a real physical presence at the breakdown, and we re-gained that today with the inclusion of Lawes. For Scotland, they had two good players in Cowan and Hamilton who also put in good shifts defensively at the breakdown. They earned their team a few turnovers that allowed them to sink their teeth in the game and actually go in at half-time in the lead. In the second half however, these two were effectively contained by England, particularly Cowan as Hamilton went off after only 47 minutes. This allowed England to get a real foothold in the match, ultimately stopping Scotland from scoring any more points and gifting England the win come the final whistle.

Dougie Fife was another player who had a solid game for Scotland today. He too made some really great breaks, and tried his hardest to keep Scotland on the front foot whenever they had the ball. There is a lot of pace on show when he does get to run with the ball, and he was next to impossible to stop today. In terms of the high ball, he like Hogg competed at the highest level whenever it came his way. In terms of the England wing, Jack Nowell has a mixed game today. He did play so much better than last week, making a lot of breaks and metres, however his passing was way below par. England screwed up multiple chances today to go over the try line, and at least of those was down to a bad pass by Nowell. However, he was not the only one to make any passing or handling errors, as it happened way too often today. The Haskell forward pass in particular was indicative of England's performance – he was standing still and could see exactly where Brown was, yet somehow still managed to pass forward despite the fact that Brown had not overran and could have easily caught the pass had it been thrown correctly.

The person for me who had the worst game for England today was Joe Marler. People always say that he is one of the best and when he is on the field that scrum will work perfectly. But today, he was well below how we know he can play. At the scrum, he gave away multiple penalties for not driving straight and changing the position of his hips. One of these penalties actually went against us on our own ball, and he seemed to be more of a liability than a help today. He just did not want to change his style of play despite constant warnings from the referee. There was no way that he did not know what he was doing, and his actions just seemed really pointless. Vunipola did a better job in the scrum when he came on, but I still feel like England are lacking something in that position. It may be time to bring in someone else to ply their trade in that position and see what can work. There are plenty of great props to choose from!

Just to end on a little high, a quick mention about Burrell and Joseph – their partnership has definitely been a success in this year's tournament. Burrell made some nice breaks, using his power to crash through the defence, and he also made some nice offloads along the way throughout the match. Joseph got back to showing us his electric feet in this match, something we haven't seen much recently, particularly in last week's match when there was no real ball for him to run with. This of course culminated in the first try of the match after five minutes, and again demonstrated just how special a player he is going to go on to be. It would, however, be really nice to see the likes of Slade in the set-up: he would be a great substitute for Burrell, and could even get himself into the starting line-up if he plays well. His inclusion is one thing that all rugby fans seem to be united on – it makes no logical sense that Lancaster has still not named him in his 23, and with him recently being named Premiership Player of the Month for February those shouts for him to the be in the team will just be getting louder.

Overall, it was a good performance from England, but it still was not quite good enough. We need to be way more clinical if we are to beat France next weekend and potentially lift the trophy. Not to mention the fact that we have the World Cup coming, and England have got to clean up their act and become more polished and refined. There is no room for error in the top tier of rugby, and the team still have a lot of developing and growing to do. But to still be in the running to win the Six Nations puts England in a really good place, and they need to grab the bull by the horns next weekend. We are in a really good position playing last because it allows us to know exactly what needs to be done. So now it's onwards and upwards to next weekend, and here's hoping that it will be the men in white lifting the trophy come the end of the day.  

Carry Them Home,

Jess

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Should we all LV the LV=Cup?

In one simple word – yes. The LV=Cup brings a lot to the rugby community, and here's why.

The importance of youth in sport cannot be underestimated in the modern game. All teams have those players we have been watching light up the rugby pitches for years, but what happens when they are finished and their career is over? Who do we watch then? I'll tell you who – the players who have grafted their way through the academy and beyond. The path is paved for these players, through the LV and other means, to come up and make a consistent name for themselves in the first team, if they haven't done so already (which we are seeing increasingly already – a lot of younger players have already made big names for themselves). What the LV achieves is the showcasing of those players who will go on to be the future of our clubs and in some instances are already affirmed in the present. But, what makes this tournament so successful at demonstrating the future of rugby? Well, all of the big names in English and Welsh rugby are involved; the 12 Premiership clubs as well as the four Welsh Pro12 clubs battle it out year after year for LV= Cup glory. This in turn brings in a huge audience, and has allowed the competition to thrive for the past 10 years (which is how long it has been Anglo-Welsh).

All Directors and coaches have stayed true to the aim of the tournament over the years, consistently putting out teams that are full to bursting with exciting young talent. Many names we probably already recognise, but there are also many we don't and that is what makes it worth watching – it allows the fans, commentators and even those in charge of other clubs to discover and cast an eye over previously unknown talent, which makes the future seem all the more brighter. One day we will see many of these players regularly in the first team for national clubs and we may even get to see them play internationally in the not-too-distant future. The LV=Cup has become evermore popular over the years with players and fans alike, and there is a real impetus from every club to really stake a claim to win the trophy. This is really good to see, as it could have been very easy for the tournament to be viewed as a bit pointless and vastly inferior to other silverware. Of course, it is not the top competition going, but it is certainly up there amongst those which the people love to watch and it is great to see it has not gone to waste and that it invigorates the youth to go out and show everyone what they are made of.

Not only does the tournament itself provide a way for the youth of today to prove themselves, but so does the LV= Breakthrough Player. At the end of each pool round (there are 4 in total) two players, based on opta statistics, are nominated for the award. This brings the nominees up to 8, after which two wildcard nominees are added based on analysis of their performance in the tournament as a whole. The grand total of 10 players are then subject to a fan vote, with the winner being announced just before the LV=Cup final. In my view, this is a great way for an award to be structured. Not only do you have nominations based on actual statistical evidence of how well a person has played, but then you also involve those people who make the competition as popular as it is – the fans. Previous winners include Jonny May and Ollie Devoto. We have obviously seen May lighting up the stage, occasionally, for England in recent years, as well being a permanent fixture in Gloucester's first team. He was a deserved recipient of the award and has gone on to better things in recent seasons. Devoto continues to make a name for himself whilst playing with Bath and, whilst he remains second to George Ford, he's taken to the role of flyhalf reasonably well in the latter's absence. In the centre position, where we see him pretty often, he plays even better and I can see him playing in an England shirt one day in the future as he has improved immensely over the past couple of seasons.

Having just sung its praises, it is worth mentioning the fact that the tournament does have its issues. One in particular is the fact that it is vastly advantageous to the English clubs. There are three times as many Anglo clubs, and this makes it very hard for us to see a Welsh semi-finalist, let alone a finalist or a winner. The competition has followed this Anglo-Welsh format for 10 years, over which time we have had a total of 40 semi-finalists. Out of those 40, only 9 times have we seen a Welsh team in the mix. Out of those 9 Welsh semi-finalists, only four of them have gone on to be a finalist and then only two of those finalists have actually won the tournament – the Ospreys in 2008, and the Cardiff Blues in 2009. None of those statistics are particularly positive towards the Welsh teams. I understand the whole point of throwing it open to the Welsh teams was to expand the competition's reach, but really it's almost as if it only contains English teams. For the past 3 years alone, there have been no Welsh semi-finalists and if the competition is to continue there is an argument there needs to be some changes. One possibility could be to open the tournament up to all of the Pro12 teams. Yes this will still benefit the English teams, but it could mean that one (or more) of the Pro12 regions are consistently in the semi-finals or even further. That way, the tournament will spice up a bit and make the matches between Premiership and Pro12 teams more competitive. Either that or we cut out the Welsh teams who are currently competing, but I think that would make the LV a bit lacklustre and not as inclusive towards others. There would also be a drop in spectators.

Another problem is with the selection of the venue for the final – this year, it takes place at Franklin's Gardens and last year it was at Sandy Park. You'll notice these venues host two of the teams that partake in this competition. I can't see how it is fair to choose a ground belonging to one of the clubs playing in the LV because, as we saw last year and could see again this year, if the team that regularly plays there makes it to the final they have a significant advantage, when really the game is supposed to take place on a level playing field. My thinking is there must be a venue out there that is completely neutral and can be used for the final. I know some fans will enjoy seeing the final at their own ground, and may even end up watching their own team, but it's not really fair to all the other teams and something should be done to alter this state of affairs.

Despite those two problems, the LV=Cup really is great to watch. Whilst it has not been televised much this year, all matches sell a lot of tickets and interest in the tournament has increased exponentially. There have been rumours circulating that it will not be making an appearance next year, potentially to make room for the World Cup, but I do hope that, even if does not take place next season, it will be back after that for our viewing pleasure!

Have a rucking good day,

Jess.

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Should referees be held more accountable for their actions and decisions?

More and more in the game we seem to be seeing referees making decisions that defy our believe and make no logical sense. In that case, surely something needs to change to ensure the officials keep their mistakes to a minimum and do not continue to get certain things so drastically wrong?

I know the idea of having sanctions for referees and the other officials will come under scrutiny immediately for a couple of reasons. First, it won't change the outcome of the match as there is no way there can be a call for a re-match or the changing of the points if there is found to be any wrongdoing. This would be impossible and probably a very controversial set of events. Secondly, the referee is seen to have the final word because it ensures that he is respected by the players and fans alike as being the person in charge of the match. But let me address these points and explain why I believe there has to be repercussions in response to any major decisions the referees get wrong.

I understand people may think it's pointless for the referees to be penalised as it has no bearing on the match they potentially screwed up, but surely it has relevance on how they perform in future matches? Sure, it doesn't change the fact that they made the mistake previously, but there's nothing stopping them from doing it again if they aren't questioned on it, and it could even occur again in a match that your team are playing in! In a game like rugby, which is becoming ever more popular and one of the biggest sports in the world, there should be no room for big errors. Of course, if the referee or other officials happen to make minor mistakes, such as missing knock ons and forward passes, or even making the occasional dubious penalty decision, there would be no real reason for them to be brought up on it. However if they make major errors, such as ending the match before time is up (which we have seen increasingly in recent seasons) or awarding a penalty to the team that in no way deserves it, there has to be some sanction. In professional sport, there should be no mistakes made – after all, if a player makes a mistake there is usually a reaction. Just because the officials are not the one playing the sport does not mean their role in how the match plays out is not important, because it is, and due to this they have to do as good a job as possible.

As for the second point, yes the referee is in charge of the match and has the final say on the day. But people in charge should not be immune from repercussions if they do something wrong. Just look at Directors of Rugby as an example – they are in charge of their club and their players, but they too can be subject to the consequences of their actions. Take Richard Cockerill – after he made some negative comments, he was given a ban that meant he had to watch the matches away from the rest of his team. Directors have a lot of power and responsibility, but they are not exempt from punishment and referees should not be either. It just goes to show that those in charge do do things wrong and they too can be held accountable, otherwise they could abuse their position of power. Obviously I am not suggesting referees will abuse their position of authority, but it may make them feel comfortable if there is to be no consequences to what they do. This shouldn't be the case, as comfortability can work against someone – referees need to be constantly on the ball, and even feeling the pressure in a way because it essentially forces them to do a good job for fear of repercussions.

As my last point, I want to make quick reference to the idea that penalising referees could lead to abuse of this power and we could see many citings. However, my response to this would be that we have these citings for players and directors alike and there seems to be no issue of abuse of the power. Having said that, the way the citings work does come with its own issues that aren't immediately relevant to this discussion. Therefore, I would sum up with the overall argument that we need to have a means to hold referees accountable – it's unfair to players, fans, clubs and everyone involved in the sport if officials should get off with no punishment for doing something that goes against what everyone believes should have happened. Of course, all those people involved in the sport may not themselves be crystal clear on what should have happened, but sometimes it is completely obvious the referee has made the complete wrong decision. For all I know, there may be some means of holding referees accountable, but if there is it needs to be made known to everyone or it needs to be increased because there are many issues with the way some rugby matches are being officiated.  

Thanks for reading ruckers,

Jess.

It was a case of too little too late for England as Ireland punished an error-strewn and ill-disciplined performance from the men in white

Ireland 19-9 England

It wasn't to be for England today in the Six Nations, as they went down 19-9 to Ireland in Dublin. Right from the get go, England's game was fraught with silly errors and the poorest discipline that has been seen from them for a while. But which players stood out for both teams, and which players failed to show up?

Let's start with the winning team, Ireland, and the man of match. Henshaw had an incredible game, busting his way through 6 defenders (the most of any player in the match) and also scoring the sole try of the match. The try resulted from a poor attempt by Goode to catch the high ball, and all Henshaw had to do was pluck the ball out of the air, walk over the line and dot the ball down before going into touch. The high ball was, amongst other things, a real problem for England today in many ways. For starters, whenever the kick did go high there was no chase from England. They provided Ireland with no competition. Secondly, Nowell had the misfortune to drop the ball on multiple occasions. Add to that the fact we continuously kicked the ball to Zebo, who put in an impressive performance, and we were simply outdone by Ireland in the high ball department.

Kicking brings us on two the battle of the fly-halves, and there was only one winner – Jonny Sexton. Everyone (coaches, players and fans alike) knows just how much of a world-class kicker he is. So why in the hell did England give away the most ridiculous amount of penalties? Some of the penalties themselves were stupid ones to give, such as for offside, which happened countless times. It was like the team completely forgot how to follow even the most basic of laws, and it allowed Sexton to rack up the points. George Ford didn't have a bad game, but it also was not his best. His drop goal was, in my opinion, an intelligent play regardless of the fact we had a penalty advantage, but other than that he failed to control the game like Sexton did. The amount of times he kicked the ball in Zebo's direction baffled me, especially as Simon is great with the kind of possession that sees him with the ball in hand. Ford's inexperience sadly showed itself very clearly today, but hopefully he can only improve and get better.

One player for England who I personally felt had a good game, although I am sure many will disagree, was Billy Vunipola. Sure, there were a lot of problems at the breakdown, but it was not all his fault. In general, I think his defence was solid – he put in some great tackles and gained some great turnover's for England at crucial moments. Likewise for Ireland, Devin Toner had a superb match for much the same reasons. He was an absolute nuisance at the breakdown today, and went on to help Ireland win multiple penalties which ultimately punished England.

Conor Murray also had a stormer for Ireland today, and he was up there for the man of the match award. His box-kicking was done almost to perfection today, and it's clear he and Sexton make a great 9/10 pairing. They both control the game exceptionally well, and it's nigh on impossible to beat Ireland when they are playing like they did today in the kicking department. England, however, were not good at all in the scrum half department. Ben Youngs is consistently poor, game after game. The speed at which he gets the ball out at the breakdown is incredibly frustrating – no team can ever be on the front foot when the ball is that slow! Wigglesworth is also too slow at retrieving the ball, and I firmly believe Joe Simpson and Danny Care need to be put in the squad.

Jonathan Joseph too had a good game, but it was in defence today rather than in attack. Because England continued to give the ball away throughout the match, no opportunities presented themselves for Joseph to make those exciting runs we all saw in abundance throughout the first two rounds of the competition. He did, nevertheless, put in some really great tackles today, and helped England stop many Ireland advances. Burrell too had a good defensive game, and at one point he held up the Ireland players over the line to deny them a try.

Before I finish, a quick word on the two captains today. Robshaw was, compared to the last two matches, diabolical with his decisions today in my view. There was one in particular I vehemently disagreed with: we were 6-3 down, and had just been awarded a penalty that was easily kick-able for Ford. But what did Chris decide to do? That's right, go for the corner. For the whole of the match up until that point (and even beyond), we had shown no indication we were anywhere close to scoring a try, and as it was Ireland managed to win the ball and clear the lines after we went for the corner. Of course, those three points would not have made a difference, but at this point no one was to know that. Levelling the scores by going for the 3 points was clearly the correct option, and no one in their right minds would have gone for the corner. O'Connell on the other hand continuously made the decision to go for the posts, and it allowed the team to kill any chances or momentum England may have had in the match. A lot of people call for Robshaw to be replaced but of course him being captain means this will not happen. Hopefully for the remaining two matches he can back to his best like we saw against Wales.

Ireland exploited England to very good effect today, which wasn't hard for them to do considering we essentially gifted them all of the possession and eventually the match. No team can even hope to compete let alone win a match if they play like we did today. I know it sounds negative, but we did everything wrong – there were silly errors, too many penalties and just poor decision making. Ireland weren't brilliant, but they didn't have to be. If we had come out and played as well as we did in the last 15 minutes, the outcome of the match could have swung in our favour. Unfortunately, the team just did not click today and we failed to fire on any cylinders. Having said that, we are still in the Six Nations, and there is still the possibility we could win the competition. England need to go out and convincingly win the remaining two fixtures – if we do that, we give ourselves the best chance of winning. After that, it is down to other results. Either way, we should all keep the hope alive and continue to fully support the team!

Carry Them Home,

Jess.

Ring fencing is not the way forward, instead the RFU & PRL need to whip out their bundles of cash and start spreading it around fairly to those that need it

We are all aware of the reports that there may be ring fencing of the Premiership, and this has, of course, sparked fierce debate about whether it really is a good idea. I have already weighed in on this with some people via social media, but I've decided to write this blog as it seems to be such a contentious issue.

These reports gave me a sense of deja vu when they surfaced, as they seemed oh so familiar to those surrounding the salary cap in that they appear to hide and mask the bigger problems. With the salary cap debacle, the reports served the purpose of attempting to hide the fact that some clubs, who I shall not name but we already know, were being investigated for abuse of said cap. Now with these new reports, I feel they serve to hide the real issue with English rugby – funding, and in particular the way the RFU and PRL distribute funds to all clubs.

It's obvious to everyone who has an interest in the game that funding is completely unequal and unfair to many clubs, both in the Premiership and the Championship. This is the real issue that needs to be resolved – there is not enough pressure on the RFU and PRL coming from anyone, and there needs to be. Many people have made the argument that ring fencing is a good idea because the lower clubs simply cannot compete at top tier level, and they have no desire to even try. I completely disagree. First, who is anyone to suggest Championship clubs have no desire, or ambition? That is a ridiculous statement, of course they do. And second, why do you think they cannot compete? I'll tell you why – they aren't given enough money.

Exeter are an outstanding club in the Premiership, and have been ever since they were promoted. Yet if we cut off clubs from being able to get promoted, we are ending the chances for this to happen again with a different club. Sure, Exeter did have certain financial backing which allowed them to come up and compete straight away, but this just brings me straight back to the point I was trying to make. Teams can make it happen for themselves if they have the funding which, unless they have an independent financial backer of some sort, they are not receiving. Everyone, even those people who are not Exeter supporters, enjoyed seeing a Championship club prosper. How can you not? It's a great thing to be able to personally witness the rise of a club in front of your very eyes - it serves to remind everyone that any team can flourish under the right circumstances. But those circumstances have to include the right amount of money.

London Welsh are probably the major team that can help me demonstrate my point further. Unfortunately for them this season cannot have gone more terribly, however we are all aware of their intentions to attempt to get equal funding. They made it abundantly clear they view the system as being utterly unfair, considering they get around half the amount of money as a lot of the other clubs in the Premiership do. How do we expect them, as well as teams in the Championship, to even begin to compete when this is the state of affairs? Teams need access to adequate training facilities, as well as the ability to fairly compete for the top players when it comes to adding and expanding their team. Without this, it is essentially a given that a team will get promoted, stay up for one, maybe two, seasons, and then go straight back down again. This isn't how rugby should be – all teams should be given the footing they need to compete with ALL other teams. After all, competition is what rugby is all about. Take the Premiership this year as an example; it is exceptionally close between 2^nd and 7^th, closer than it has possibly ever been. What team wouldn't give anything to be able to take part in such a fierce contest? Those in charge of how the sport is run should be encouraging every team in the country to want to be a part of that, but money is a huge obstacle right now.

Ring fencing is not the way forward. Better funding is. I can guarantee if all teams are given the money they need, we will see fierce competition throughout the whole country in both the Premiership and the Championship. We may also be able to see some fresh faces in the top tier of English rugby whom we can actually expect to stick around for some time. Who doesn't want to see another Exeter-like rise? I know I do.

Ruck on,

Jess.

Consistency can ruin parts the game - it's time for referees and other officials to grow a backbone and judge all incidents, and only do so on their facts

Consistency. It is a word we hear a lot of in rugby and see put into practice during every match. But just how useful is its role in the game? Does it help or hinder?

We see 'consistency' in every aspect of the modern game, from the simple every day offences to those that are more serious. Let's take these every day offences first – referees being consistent when penalising these sorts of occurrences, such as for being offside or for going off your feet, is paramount in rugby. If a player from one team gets in trouble for something then it stands to reason that a player from the opposite team should get the same treatment for the same incident. That way, we keep the game fair and it shows us that the officials are unbiased. I have no problem with this basic element of consistency, because a match just would not work without it for obvious reasons. After all, this is why we have these elementary rules – to ensure no players can willingly break them, and that they are punished in the same way if they do. However, does it play a positive role in more serious rule breaking?

When we come on to the more serious types of incidents I feel that consistency actually ruins aspects of the game. Take the Scotland v Wales Six Nations game from last weekend for example. The first major incident to occur was the Finn Russell and Dan Biggar incident, which saw the Scot yellow-carded. There is no doubt in my mind, this incident was card-worthy (whether that be yellow or red) – Russell, knowing he would be unable to either safely tackle Biggar on the ground or have a shot at catching the ball, turned his back on the player in the air instead of trying to pull out. He clearly created a dangerous situation, and this came to a head when Biggar crashed into him and fell to the floor. But my problem comes with the second incident of this nature when Jonathan Davies was yellow-carded for tackling John Beattie in the air. In this case, there was a genuine competition for the ball, and the winner of the contest, Beattie, happened to fall to the floor. Naturally, the referee called on the television match official to look at the incident and, in the interests of consistency, gave Davies a yellow card. In this case, I do not believe a card of any sort was warranted, as both players were always going for the ball. But because referees have to be 'consistent' in all areas of the game, the player was always going to be sent off. This for me is where the game can be ruined – as a player, if you know you could penalised simply for hitting a player in the air whilst going for the ball, what incentive is there to compete? Competing for the high ball is a genuine part of the game, but you'll find nowadays that one player almost always never bothers competing if they see another player going to do so. Take Leigh Halfpenny for example. He is extremely good under the high ball and catches it pretty much all of the time. But for how many of those instances was he actually challenged? Not many, I can tell you.

So, what needs to change? Well, for some situations consistency needs to take a back seat. I know that does not seem to be in the interests of any sport, but I firmly believe in the types of situation where a player falls from the air whilst competing with another player for the ball, it needs to be assessed on the facts of what actually happened, and the previous incident should not have any bearing. Otherwise, we see players being sent off who in no way attempted to tackle or pull the player down. In the above example Davies was clearly jumping for the ball but, because he missed it and Beattie fell to the ground, the referees immediately decided he had to be sent off as other's had been sidelined before (and not just in this match, but in plenty of others). I don't think this is fair because it's ruining a staple part of what makes rugby the game it is – competition. People seem to forget this is a contact sport; if we are going to scrutinise every single incident of contact that is made the sport will become unrecognisable and there will be no flow to the play. Yes, some people create dangerous situations in the air and for that they should be penalised. But just because the referee has done so with one player, does not mean he has to with a similar incident if the situation was purely accidental with no apparent fault from any player. I am not for one second suggesting we scrap consistency. As I said before, it's the reason that the basic rules are upheld – because the referees penalises both teams for their actions. But when we make the step up into the big incidents of the game, I make the argument that it is much fairer to everyone if the facts of exactly what happened are analysed. I understand some people may say you can either have consistency or not, but I honestly do not believe it is that simple in a sport where there are many dimensions to the laws - sometimes it is important, but at other times it can get in the way.

Let's take a look at the other end of the spectrum where not having consistency is a problem. It is not just during the matches that we need to see some consistency. We need to see it in events such as citings, and sometimes it is sorely lacking. Take the Northampton Saints game versus London Irish from last weekend. Salesi Ma'afu has since been cited and banned for his actions towards Tom Court, which is absolutely correct. However, Court himself was yellow-carded in the match for stamping, but did we see a citing? No, we didn't. Now, I'm not saying he would have been banned for his actions, but both players were yellow-carded and so surely, if one was cited, the other should be as well? Otherwise it seems like certain players are being singled out, or certain card-worthy actions are being deemed acceptable over others, when in reality all incidents of foul play are unacceptable. Sure, some are worse than others and there is no denying that, but if you yellow-card a player during a match for foul play they should be cited, regardless of the severity. Even if there turns out to be no further punishment against the player, at least there can be no accusations that the citing commission condone certain actions over others. Because that is how it looks whether people like it or not. If you are going to investigate one yellow or red card incident, you should really look at them all, even if it does not result in a hearing or ban of any kind. That way any and all inconsistency is removed from citing sanctions.

So there you have it. Consistency does play an important role in sports, but sometimes it does need to either take a back seat or actually be used more if there is to be fairness within the game. It is not right to penalise a player just because another player previously was punished for something similar, particularly if the facts of the events are different. Instead, they should be treated like separate incidents and assessed accordingly. When it comes to incidents of foul play the consequences can be enormous for a player and a team, and so they deserve to be treated in an unbiased manner in relation to what has gone on before them. After all, referees are told to start with a red and work backwards from there, they are not told specifically what they should give. They are to look at the incident independently and penalise a player judged on what happened in the specific case. Not only that, but the citing commissioner(s) need to utilise consistency more to ensure all incidents are thoroughly investigated and some are not picked and chosen over others despite what happened, particularly when two players are given the same card yet only one is looked at further.

Thanks for reading ruckers!

Jess.

England run in 6 tries, but it was not quite the performance we had hoped to see

England 47-17 Italy

Well. Where to start? England did get a big 30 point win, but it was a funny old game and England, particularly in the first half, did not play as well as was hoped. There are many things to work on before the visit to the Aviva Stadium in Ireland in two weeks time, but there were also some huge positives on display after that euphoric win in Wales.

Before getting to my player by player analysis, I want to quickly focus on the injury to Mike Brown and the reshuffling that had to occur. First I just want to say that I hope Brown has a speedy recovery, and it was nice to see him back out and sitting on the bench after a horrific injury saw him taken off on a stretcher. This injury created a problem in the backs, and the solution ended up being this: 12. Twelvetrees, 13. Burrell, 14. Joseph and 15. Watson. A lot of people were worried about this set-up for a couple of reasons, mainly because Cipriani could have been a good full-back choice, and Joseph is not a winger. But I have to say the set-up took nothing away from England's performance – in fact, all of those players adapted to the situation phenomenally. Of course, it will always be better having players in their proper positions, but ultimately there was no reason for the worry today.

Let's start with an England player, and who better to start off with than Jonathan Joseph. Two matches, three tries and countless metres later, Joseph has smashed his way to being first choice for the 13 shirt. He has an unbelievable amount of natural talent, and he put it all to stunning use today. The first try for Joseph came after 27 minutes, and was the result of a seriously good break and run. Watson, a player who was excellent at full-back today, was there with him at all times to ensure the try was scored if Joseph failed to make the it to the line, but Joseph knows how to step around tacklers and he did just that to gift England a much needed 7 points, after the conversion, to put England in the lead by 10 points. Before this point in the match the score had been too close between the teams, and England needed something to give them more of an advantage. Joseph provided just that, but this was not his only moment of brilliance in the match. He made an incredible 123 metres throughout the course of his 80 minutes on the pitch, and this prowess culminated in his second try on 61 minutes after a perfectly timed pass from George Ford allowed him to make a sensational break up the field to touch the ball down over the line. There are simply not enough superlatives to describe Joseph's performance today – he is well on his way to being a world class player, and will be a revelation for England in the World Cup later this year. The Man of the Match award deservedly went to him today, and I can see many more coming his way during his time with England.

For me, Sergio Parisse was Italy's best player today. An absolute monster in defence, he made a multitude of tackles to help keep England from scoring on many occasions. I have watched him play for Italy many times and have never seen him have a bad game. Whilst Italy obviously have a terrible record in the Six Nations, Parisse consistently plays like he belongs in an international match, and he continues to push himself in be in the top end of the stats come the end of the match. Italy were defensively superb last weekend against Ireland and, despite letting in 6 tries today, it could have been a lot more had he not taken the charge and put his body on the line to stop England from running in a ridiculous amount of points. England winning by 30 points actually, in my opinion, demonstrates not only how inaccurate England were on occasion, but also how well Italy defended right up until the end of the match. Considering how well we played in the second half we could have put many more points on the board, and Italy have their captain to thank for stopping that from happening. Sergio also managed to score an excellent try for Italy after just 4 minutes, shining a spot light on his class. In terms of the English defensive effort, Robshaw was head and shoulders above the rest, demonstrating to everyone why Lancaster has confirmed he will be England's captain during the World Cup. One of the contenders for man of the match today, he has silenced all of his critics, including me, who said his form was not good enough to warrant him being on the pitch. He effort was monstrous today, and he was all over the field proving himself to be a nuisance to the Italians. After a difficult first 40 against Wales last weekend, Robshaw stepped up and led England to victory with his excellent captaincy skills and decisions. The same could be said for this week – he did not go out there presuming that we would win by a huge margin, and that was the correct attitude to adopt. Italy put up one hell of a fight in the first half, and Robshaw acknowledged this by making the decision a few times for England to put 3 points on the board when a penalty was awarded. 

It's very common for us fans to hear about the battle of the tens before a match starts, but today there was no contest. George Ford was, in my opinion, miles better than last week and actually kept a cool head for the whole match. Only 2 points were missed when he stepped up to kick between the posts, and his defensive work was actually fairly good today. He made a great tackle on 48 minutes by simply holding on to the players leg and not letting go. This may not be a 'proper' tackle as it were, but it was very effective. Cipriani also came on after 60 minutes, and scored an excellent try a few minutes later after a great break and pass from May, cementing the England fly-halves as the obvious winners today. In terms of the Italian fly-half, Haimona had a shockingly terrible game – he missed every kick that he attempted, and this resulted in a loss of 10+ points for Italy. These kicks would in no way have allowed for Italy to win the game, but they could have given the team some momentum to keep pushing for tries against an England defence that was sometimes easily broken. It was broken in particular by Mourisi, another Italian player to have a really solid game. His two tries came after some great breaks through the English defence and showed us that Italy do have some sparks in attack, although they do not come nearly often enough.

I found myself disappointed with two players in particular today – Ben Youngs and Jonny May. Youngs did show a couple of moments of brilliance, in particular his try after he took a quick penalty on 55 minutes, but on the whole he was much too slow at the breakdown. He was told to use the ball time after time, which really highlights the fact that England need Danny Care back in the squad. Care is so much faster and clinical at the breakdown, something that England are sorely lacking right now. I find it unfathomable that Care has now essentially fallen down to third in the pecking order – it would be nice to see him re-selected for the EPS in the lead up to the Ireland game in two weeks time. May was average today, and it says something when this leaves people disappointed. He was electric in the Autumn Internationals last year, but this just has not manifested itself in the two matches he has played this year. He did made a couple of breaks and a fairly good amount of metres, but this is not good enough for a winger. They should be consistently breaking up the touching line – look at George North for example. Jonny May just has not brought his excellence to the Six Nations yet, and it may be time for Lancaster to consider his options in that part of the squad.

On the whole, it was a good performance from England. They did win by 47 points to 17 after all. But it was a very shaky start, and England did not quite reach that pinnacle of greatness that we know they can achieve. There are still some issues that need to be ironed out in time for the visit to Ireland, because I can assure you that is going to be one tough match, and is likely going to be one that we need to win in order to lift the Six Nations trophy. Saying that, there are some real positives for England this year and Lancaster has actually done a very good job of selecting the best players available for his squad. Thank you for reading!

Carry Them Home,

Jess.