Just reading Ian McGeechan’s autobiography Lion Man.
I recommend it.
McGeechan is so renowed for his coaching that it’s easy to overlook what a good player he was (and he stopped playing before I can remember watching much rugby).
However, there’s one passage where he describes his coaching philosphy:
"I believe that when you put new players in or [...]
Sadly, as predicted on these pages:
I think however that we will see a fairly routine victory for New Zealand by 12-15 points. I expect England to stay in touch for fifty or so minutes before the superior class of the All Blacks sees them pull away without really getting out of third gear.
Time needed for [...]
New Zealand. Land of One Tree Hill, lamb, Russel Crowe and of course, the incomparable New Zealand All Black rugby team. Now, if there is one team that a fragile England do not want to face, it is New Zealand. If it was France pitching up tomorrow I would be certain of a home win, [...]
The pressure on the England coaching regime is getting serious. England legend Josh Lewsey has waded in with a scathing attack to match his famous Matt Rogers tackle: “Mike Ford didn’t win anything, while John Wells never played international rugby. Wells’s achievements as a coach are terrible – what justifies these people keeping their jobs?”
What indeed. [...]
After the latest team announcement, all I now need is for the RFU to sell the naming rights to Twickenham and my misery will be complete.
“And a warm welcome this afternoon to the Nike Rugby @ Twickenham Stadium to watch England vs the All Blacks.”
The selection of Erinle at inside centre guarantees that, apart from a couple of inside passes to Cueto hitting the line from fullback, the ball is going to get to 12 and no further.
To be fair, despite Geraghty at 12, in the past couple of games the ball wasn’t exactly being fired out wide but [...]
I really enjoyed the game on Saturday.
Why?
Because my money was on Argentina. With the weather forecast looming and knowledge of England’s poor out of hand kicking, I viewed the 5/1 on offer as fair game and well it proved. I laid off mid-game at 5/2, job done.
And thank goodness because without the added financial incentive, [...]
Argentina. Land of Corned Beef, Eva Peron, the Tango, and Los Pumas rugby team. Whilst their footballing counterparts, driven by Maradonna and primadonnas, have twice won the World Cup, the Argentine rugby team has never dominated on the world stage. They face a permanent struggle in fact. They have no annual tournament to compete in [...]
Louis Deacon plays a very important part in the England first XV hence his continued selection for the Argentina game this weekend.
His role – to make Steve Borthwick look good in comparison.
On Friday and Saturday, I was having some doubts about not going.
On Sunday, boy was I pleased that I hadn’t wasted my money on that drivel.
What is so completely wrong with the setup that the same problems which beset Andy Robinson and Brian Ashton can continue to afflict the supposed clean start of Martin Johnson?
We [...]
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