I don’t have the time to research the statistics but I believe the 5m lineout followed by the 15 man maul is now the no. 1 try in the Premiership. Ugh!
I have played and loved rugby all my life but now I just watch the Premiership highlighls on YouTube and even highlights include the 5m line-out 15man maul tries! I only watch full match highlights for wonderful games such as earlier this season when Saracens beat Bristol at Bristol with the last kick of the match, a match that was full of brilliant rugby. All the other teams have also shown they can play brilliant rugby. Why not go for it all the time? And why are England’s major tactics kick and chase and 5m lineout/mauls. It is not the same in France, New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland and South Africa – when they play you will see quality rugby and you see the same in most of their club and division matches
France build their game around Dupont. England probably have the next three best attacking scrum halves in world rugby – Randall, Quirke and Mitchell. What a bunch of assets to build a strategy around! England is well loaded has the talent in all positions, so many good players. Fortunately they do not fulfil their potential – I support Scotland!
SOMETIMES RUGBY MEMORIES HELP ME FORGET THE POLITICIANS, RELIGIOUS CONFRONTATIONS AND THE UK’S DOWNHILL SLIDE
Dec 19th 2024 – a gathering of the young men who nearly succeeded in taking Blackheath into the Premiership as the game became professional in the mid 1990’s. Underfunded in comparison to the teams that succeeded to make the Premiership this group had very good, very committed players and a few with exceptional talent. They always showed their commitment and talent and played some great rugby and they were regular winners of Sevens tournaments. Danny Vaughan assisted by Phil Ubee and me had the pleasure of coaching them. Unhappily Phil could not be with us as he is going through a very difficult health set back – such a genuine good guy
The lunch was at The Gherkin and was a memory feast and for several hours I forgot the troubles of the country I love. For the young guys it was an alcohol feast🍺🍻🥂
In this photo is a coach who could transform England into the brilliant attacking force it should be. RFU pay millions to people who neither see the problems nor the solutions. Still too much ‘old boys’ network influence
Another day to forget all the negatives is coming up on January 18th when we will have a lunch at Blackheath Rugby Club to honour the memory of Peter Piper. I will be with a group of players who in their final playing years played for Blackheath’s Golden Oldies with Peter. An abundance of memories will be flying round – the Guernsey tour likely to figure high! And the East African tour in 1966 – Peter was President The program for that tour is in my memories section. Peter’s grand daughter is Katie Piper so no surprise how courageous she was after the acid attack and how successful she has been in her television career. Peter’s son Richard has been a very successful motorsports racer