“I won’t miss this.” So groused Stuart Hogg as he wrapped up another underwhelming Six Nations campaign with his final press commitment. One wondered whether the fullback was referring to the Scotland captaincy or the championship itself. The 2021 Lions Tour to South Africa was the launchpad, we were told. Buoyed by a record inclusion […]

4 years ago

Warren Gatland was playing it coy, but his assistant has made his play. The day after the British & Irish Lions lost their Test Series against South Africa, Gregor Townsend sat down with some of the touring journalists and laid out a vision of rugby, as he sees it. As job pitches go, for the […]

4 years ago

“We’re going to have to have more than one type of game.” The British and Irish Lions squad for 2021 has officially been announced and although there are some surprises in the selection, the inclusion of Ireland and Munster’s Conor Murray is as consistent as he is. This will be Murray’s third tour with the […]

5 years ago

“We asked the lads all week to stand for something and I think you could easily see that true grit.” CJ Stander and Peter O’Mahony will have had Scottish fans irate thisSaturday evening. Andy Farrell was hammering this point home before Ireland’s Guinness Six Nations opener against Scotland. On Saturday night at the Aviva Stadium, […]

6 years ago

Scotland captain John Barclay has said that Ireland play a ‘brutally effective’ brand of rugby ahead of his side’s Six Nations trip to Dublin on Saturday. Ireland have won their first three games by playing a possession based game where they have managed to minimise the amount of penalties they’ve conceded while maximising pressure. Joe […]

8 years ago

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has named his side to face Ireland on Saturday with Blair Kinghorn coming in for the injured Tommy Seymour the only change from the Scottish team that defeated England last month. The 25-13 win over the English represented Scotland’s first win over England since 2008 with Townsend’s side still in […]

8 years ago