Pitchside at Bigside

After England's hard fought victory in the blustery conditions at Murrayfield Ellis Genge and Eddie Jones came out with relatively prickly interviews, unsurprisingly so. It was refreshing to see Genge so honest in his interview, almost looking disinterested, whilst Jones was his usual non-committal self. After the turbulent week in the press the interviewees adopted a semi-vitriolic tone, journalist Stephen Jones suggested that this was the problem. England players not co-operating with the press, almost being anathema for the players. The inconsistency in the press is the galling thing. Matt Dawson being critical after the France game before praising the game management in the maelstrom on Saturday succeeding his glowing report of Jones after the World Cup. Indeed, former World Cup winner Kyran Bracken called for Jones to be replaced after the World Cup, a ludicrous call not only due to the success of Jones and his record, but also the lack of an obvious replacement. There's n

After England's defeat in Paris last Sunday there were plenty in the media and in the Twitterverse eager to criticise the performance of Jones' men. Not only does this reflect rugby's new football-like attitude in regard to memory and failure, just 3 months previously he had masterminded one of the great World Cup performances against New Zealand. Robert Kitson wrote a vituperative and ridiculous article in The Guardian suggesting Jones was arrogant. This statement has its provenance in two areas. The first is Jones' prickly relationship with the media, refusing to spoon feed them vox-pops and facile phrases. Secondly, his refusal to pick a 'proper 8'. The media obsession with power and pace, players such as Sam Simmonds and Alex Dombrandt, means that as soon as Jones picks Curry to replace Vunipola he's naive and arrogant. Jones understands that Test rugby football is more nuanced and skilled than some of the numbskull and dull rugby of the Premiership, som

It must be a great feeling; winning the Six Nations. Jubilation, ecstasy, pride. Wales obviously felt these emotions as a nation after winning the Grand Slam and I came as close to these feelings as I ever will on Thursday after winning the Natwest Cup. One of my proudest sporting achievements, beating a quality Warwick side steeped in Cup history as they sought to make it 3 on the bounce. Sitting in the cavernous England changing room after, I reflected on the similarities between us and Wales. Firstly, we both share a vastly experienced coach. Gatland, coach since 2007, knows international inside out and won the Heineken Cup with Wasps in 2004. He understands the players and they know clearly his demands in return, having clear heads in times of pressure. Secondly, maybe this only applying to the Natwest Final, we both played little rugby. Warwick came at us with searing pace and quick attack and we scored by sparks of individual brilliance setting up tries, trusting our defence to

England received criticism for failing to adapt their game plan against the Welsh last Saturday. They continued to kick to Wales' back three although they were dominating the lineout and clearly needed to keep the ball in hand and bring attacking players like May and Tuilagi into the game. However, they stuck to their game plan against Ireland by out kicking the Irish and keeping the ball at the fringes of the defensive line whilst competing physically and outmuscling them. So credit has to go to Gatland for coaching the Welsh discipline and managing the referee namely by massively widening the gap at the lineout. They kept the ball for multiple phases for the Hill try and although it wasn't pretty, it was functional. Where the disappointment lies with England is the lack of leadership displayed by Farrell in not getting the players round and discussing different ways to play. Jones also proved too reticent to make subs, for example the fabled Robson could've come on and a

On Wednesday 9th January we played Ivybridge in the National Cup Quarter Final on Bigside.With two society linesman more attention was focussed on the possible infringements during the game. The breakdown was hotly contested and hence threw up many penalties. In rugby at the minute there's huge debate over the panoply of interpretations within world rugby. The referee on Wednesday was extremely strict at the breakdown. For example, any contact on the floor with the hands in an attempt to jackal was deemed to be 'off feet' and conversely when we were attacking it only took a second without a clearer to be holding on. It meant that we had to be more conservative with our play, but only before Christmas against Cranleigh the referee was less strict and so we could take more risks at the breakdown. This issue is also prevalent in the wider game. Northern Hempishere refereeing is stricter at the breakdown focussing on abiding by the Laws of the game whereas in the Southern Hem

On Saturday we played a passionate Cranleigh side. A fire and brimstone game, to nil Cranleigh was a great achievement considering they were in our half for most of the second period. However, the game demonstrated the changing nature of the front row and how the front row has gone from powerful meatheaded players to more skilful, well rounded footballers. One got an interception try and the 2 others (including myself!) with good assists using silky hands and offloading. You can draw parallels from the performance on saturday to current successful front rowers. The pugnacious Brian Moore and Keith Wood-esque players have been replaced with the dynamism, agility and ball-handling ability of the likes of Sinckler, Coles and Furlong. The changing nature of the sport requires more multi-dimensional players that can adapt to a plethora of situations such as passes 'out the back' and stepping into back's moves. However, the basic staples of scrummaging and lineout work are stil