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Gatland rings Wales changes for Samoa clash

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:17:41 GMT

Wales' head coach Warren Gatland has made five changes from the team beaten by New Zealand for Friday night's Millennium Stadium clash against Samoa.

Carter handed one-week ban

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:13:19 GMT

New Zealand fly-half Dan Carter has been handed a one-week suspension for his high tackle on Wales scrum-half Martin Roberts at a disciplinary hearing in London today.

Peter Bills: Leicester epitomise the meaning of a rugby club

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:40:48 GMT

England have still to play the All Blacks, France have tasty looking encounters lined up against South Africa in Toulouse this Friday and New Zealand, in Marseille, at the end of the month.

Robinson shakes up Scotland side

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

A penny for Andy Robinson's thoughts yesterday as he settled into his seat in an Edinburgh hotel to name his first international XV for three weeks short of three years. Now where was he, before being so rudely interrupted by the thumbs-down of the management board of the Rugby Football Union? Ah yes, picking an England side hamstrung by injury and a collective loss of form – an England side that not once, in his 22-match tenure as head coach, had the luxury of Jonny Wilkinson calling the shots from No 10. What might have been for the red rose Robinson regime had the stricken World Cup winner of 2003 been in the pivotal position for those fateful autumn Twickenham Tests of 2006?

Desperate England turn to Doran-Jones

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The last thing England need ahead of a Test match against Argentina, the most powerful scrummaging side in world rugby, is a zero-option situation in the tight-head prop department, so confirmation that the new cornerstone of the red-rose pack, David Wilson of Bath, is doubtful for this weekend's meeting with the South Americans at Twickenham amounts to a selectorial catastrophe. The cupboard is utterly bare – Old Mother Hubbard would have considered herself better off than the national manager Martin Johnson – hence the decision to summon Paul Doran-Jones of Gloucester, whose Premiership career is precisely 266 minutes old.

Moody calls for clinical England

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:57:01 GMT

Lewis Moody warned England cannot afford to go into their shells as they begin preparations for Saturday's must-win clash with Argentina at Twickenham.

Gregor Paul: Are refs in awe of the All Blacks?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:33:52 GMT

If this tour wasn't already hard enough, now the All Blacks will have to watch out for officials determined to show they are not intimidated by the touring side.

Carter disciplinary hearing postponed

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:48:47 GMT

Dan Carter's disciplinary hearing has been postponed until tomorrow, at the request of the New Zealand team management.

Wilkinson warns of Argentina threat

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:42:58 GMT

Jonny Wilkinson has warned England that life will not get any easier when Argentina arrive at Twickenham this weekend.

Jones rues fluffing his big moment

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

While Warren Gatland was up in the press room accusing the game's referees of showing bias towards the All Blacks, Alun Wyn Jones was emerging from the Welsh dressing room seemingly intent on proving there is another method for handling defeat. It involves looking within rather than without and in this regard the Lions lock was even more brutally frank than his coach.

James Lawton: Wilkinson the forlorn symbol of a culture that has lost its way

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

However profound a defeat, it rarely provokes the sense of a sports version of Doomsday. England's did in a way that had to include the wholly admirable Jonny Wilkinson among its casualties.

Johnson damned by England's lack of bite

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Even in the ages of greatest uncertainty, visiting teams could confidently expect two things from the Twickenham experience: a programme of pre-match entertainment guaranteed to reduce right-thinking folk to a state of knee-clenching embarrassment and, during the game itself, a ferocious scrap with a pug-ugly England pack. The Rugby Football Union lived down to its standards on the first count at the weekend – dancers dressed as zebras (how very London), a woman attached to a hot air balloon, "Land of Hope and Glory" – but no one delivered on the second part of the deal as Martin Johnson's team slid miserably to a sixth successive defeat at the hands of a SANZAR nation.

Brave Wales lack the guile to stop Carter masterplan

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

New Zealand may well have lost their aura of invincibility in other arenas of world rugby, but in Cardiff they still seem invincible as ever. In extending their staggering period of dominance over Wales to 56 years and 21 Tests, the All Blacks forced Warren Gatland to seek a target elsewhere. The home coach duly turned his anger on the referee.

David Flatman: Green and gold giants finally pack a punch

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Much to my disappointment, the scrummage did not quite develop into the headline-grabbing, tone-setting confrontation I had hoped for yesterday at Twickenham. Inevitably there was the odd penalty either way, but not the violent, passionate, 2005-esque flare-up we all so desired.

Ruck and Maul: Family ties, family tries as identical twins line up for Baa-Baas

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The Barbarians have picked their first set of twins, and identical ones at that, to face the Combined Services in the annual Remembrance Match at Aldershot on Wednesday evening. Rob and James Lewis – a scrum-half from London Welsh and a centre with Coventry respectively – have played together before with Wales Sevens and Ebbw Vale, and were opponents last Friday when their clubs met in the Championship. There is fun to be had with these chromosomal coincidences. In the 1950s, cricket's Alec and Eric Bedser were playing in an exhibition match at The Oval when Alec bowled the first three balls of an over to the great Frank Woolley medium-fast, and Eric sent the remaining three down as spinners. Woolley was clearly none the wiser, remarking to the wicketkeeper: "Wow, that young man's got a wonderful change of pace, hasn't he?" On the other (if identical) hand, Manchester United recently got into bother with their Brazilian twins Fabio and Rafael and a case of mistaken identity over a booking at Barnsley. The Lewis boys have been there, done that, as dad Steve, a former scrum-half and chief executive of the WRU, told Ruck and Maul: "They had an area final at school when Rob put in a high tackle but James was the one sent to the sin-bin. And it's happened more than once in Gwent age-group matches that Rob would be captain and the referee would turn to James to ask whether he wanted the kick or choice of ends." A proud spectator at Aldershot will be the twins' grandfather Ernie, 85, who was a touch judge at the Barbarians' famous 1973 meeting with New Zealand. Another family member will be there in spirit, the remembrance spirit – sister Abbie is an Army lieutenant who has just returned safely to Germany after a three-month tour in Afghanistan.

Geraghty needs time to blossom for Red Rose

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Martin Johnson's hand may have been forced when he inked his back line to face Australia in the Autumn International series opener, with Delon Armitage and Riki Flutey ruled out through injury, but the new-look midfield partnership of Shane Geraghty and Dan Hipkiss in particular, failed to ignite England as they crumbled to a woeful 18-9 defeat at Twickenham yesterday.

Wilkinson's return not enough to save flat-footed England

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

There is a long list of troubling tasks facing Martin Johnson and his cohort of England coaches this morning. So low did the sweet chariot swing yesterday that the metronomic swipe of Jonny Wilkinson's boot was drowned out by chimes of doom among a Twickenham crowd who cheered their returning hero whenever they could but were not so sycophantic as to ignore the discordant rugby unfolding in front of them.

All Blacks too strong for brave Wales

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:00:01 GMT

New Zealand withstood another brave performance by Wales to continue their mastery of this fixture.

England beaten by Australia

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:20:04 GMT

Australia beat England 18-9 at Twickenham today after sorting out some early indiscipline that threatened to hand the home side victory.

Shane Geraghty: 'I know Wallabies are out to get me'

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

An awful lot has happened to England's rugby team since Shane Geraghty suddenly materialised at Twickenham in the spring of 2007 and ran Saturn-like rings round a high-rolling French back division containing such luminaries as Christophe Dominici, Vincent Clerc and Yannick Jauzion. A good deal has happened to Geraghty too, precious little of it a cause for celebration, but when he takes the field against the Wallabies today, it will be as if the last two and a half years never happened. That's the thing about supernovas: they always appear to be shining for the first time.

Springboks humbled by Leicester

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Peter Wheeler was not wearing a hat last night which will have come as a relief to Austin Healey who had promised that he would eat the Leicester chief executive's headgear if his former club won this game. Healey's gloomy prediction that Leicester would be "tonked" was not just another controversial comment from the "Liverpool Lip" but was based on the sensible premise that a depleted Tigers would stand little chance against the World Cup holders, albeit the Springboks' midweek dirt-trackers.

Recuperating Vickery to miss start of Six Nations

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Wasps prop Phil Vickery will miss the start of the Six Nations despite undergoing successful neck surgery. Vickery requires a minimum three months of rehabilitation from the injury sustained against Racing Metro last month.

Roberts brings home Lions spirit

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Through all the mind games, reverse swipes and subtle putdowns that have characterised a build-up that at the very best could be described as tetchy, the Wales and New Zealand camps have at least managed to agree on one thing. Jamie Roberts will be a key man at the Millennium Stadium this evening - if not the key man.

All Blacks confirm Carter will start

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

New Zealand would like everyone to know, Warren Gatland in particular, that Dan Carter will most certainly, most definitely, most undeniably be starting at the Millennium Stadium today. "He's assured me all week he will be playing," said Richie McCaw. "And he better not be lying to me."

James Lawton: England rugby may soon have to face hard truth that Johnson is not fit to rule

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Six years after achieving one of the most stunning moments in the history of English sport Jonny Wilkinson might have been wise to take his sainted, miraculously resurrected bones for a flying visit to Lourdes before coming home for today's assignment against Australia at Twickenham.