‘We all believe in the plan,’ says England’s Ben Spencer
England have vowed to double down on their kick-heavy gameplan against France on Saturday despite their drastic decline in recent weeks.It is a move that risks further provoking the anger of their supporters.Steve Borthwick and his side have come under intense scrutiny after last week’s first defeat by Italy and the manner in which they stuck rigidly to their kicking strategy left fans irate.England have kicked the most times and for the most metres of all the Six Nations teams and while it was a tactic that paid dividends last autumn when they were on a 12-match winning run, it is no longer having the desired effect.The 2003 World Cup winner Matt Dawson has warned that relying too heavily on their kicking game in Paris would be a “red flag against England’s coaching ticket”.
The Rugby Football Union was compelled to give Borthwick a qualified vote of confidence on Sunday.In his BBC Sport column, Dawson said: “England are never in a million years going to Paris and beating France by deploying the same kick-heavy strategy.If they do, that is a red flag against England’s coaching ticket.It may have worked during the 12-game winning run, but Scotland showed you need more than 40 points to beat France – and that was in Edinburgh.”But the scrum-half Ben Spencer, who was brought into the side against Italy for his box-kicking prowess, has revealed the gameplan is unlikely to change, suggesting England did not kick as much as they should have in the losses to Scotland and Ireland.
“Our plan has stayed the same or we haven’t changed our plan too much game to game.We’ve seen results from it so I don’t think we need to change too much,” he said.“We all believe in the plan.We haven’t gone too far away from what we did when we had 12 wins on the spin.“There are loads of ways you can go about it, but if you look at the two defeats we had previous to Italy, both Ireland and Scotland kicked more than us.
It is just how you go about it, how you implement it, it is your accuracy,There are loads of things that can influence that,“Whether it’s kick to compete, kick to score, kick to turn teams, I think we got a lot back in the air at the weekend,Our wingers were brilliant at that and that got us an in for the game and for 60-65 minutes the game was there to be won,A couple of things in the last 20 minutes let us down, but it wasn’t our kicking game that [cost us].
“As players, we’re fully aligned with the coaches in terms of the way we want to move forward and where we want to go with the gameplan.And then on Saturday night, it’s up to us to implement that gameplan and execute it as best as we can.”Borthwick is expected to make minimal changes to the side, but Tom Curry has been ruled out with the calf injury he sustained in the warm-up on Saturday.Tommy Freeman is likely to remain at centre with neither Ollie Lawrence and Henry Slade travelling to England’s training camp in Verona with Tom Roebuck sticking on the wing.Roebuck said: [The kicking contest] can be seen as quite random, but there is a skill to it still.
We speak about being able to win the middle and the air, getting your body in the contest, not going in half hearted.Yes, it is random, but if we can put a skill to it and make sure we’re better than other teams it can go our way.“When we’re on our best we can go and beat teams.We just want to make sure we stick to it, bring the best version to it, rather than, like we haven’t been recently, bringing a bit less of it.”
Verdict on the start of F1’s new era: five talking points from the Australian GP
The pre-season favourites had done their level best to play down their expected advantage in the buildup to the Australian Grand Prix, but it was impossible to hide. A dominant one-two by the best part of a second for George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in qualifying was followed by a similarly assured one-two finish in the race.Russell had to fight in the opening phases against Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, but once he had been extricated from that battle and could return to what engineers consider the “optimal” lap according to the new diktats of power deployment and recharging he had as much as 0.3sec to 0.4 on Ferrari
Zac Lomax exits limbo via defection as latest NRL star lured by Wallabies jersey | Angus Fontaine
After a tough two decades, Australian rugby’s luck is suddenly on the up. The defection of NRL flyer Zac Lomax gives the Wallabies a powerful new weapon in the moonshot quest to win a home World Cup in 2027. The 26-year-old NSW State of Origin and Kangaroos star on Monday signed a two-year deal with Rugby Australia (RA) to join the Perth-based Western Force and could debut in Super Rugby Pacific later in March.“Zac is a superb athlete with a proven record at representative level in rugby league and we believe he has the talent and drive to make a successful transition to rugby,” RA chief executive Phil Waugh said on Monday, as he welcomed the 133-game international winger back to rugby union. “He brings a unique set of experiences and skills to our environment and is motivated by the challenge of competing on the global stage
Russia flag raised and national anthem played after first gold at Winter Paralympics
The Russian national anthem has been played at the Paralympics for the first time since 2014 as the skier Varvara Voronchikhina claimed gold in the women’s super-G standing.A tearful Voronchikhina received her medal on Monday afternoon, and the Russian flag was raised, after a dominant performance on the slopes of the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre. A watching crowd of international fans responded only with polite applause, but Voronchikhina’s success has already been celebrated by Russia’s sports minister.Voronchikhina finished 1.96sec clear of the French racer Aurélie Richard in the giant slalom event
Sky Brown wins second skateboarding world title at rain-hit event in Brazil
Briton, 17, wins her second park crown in São PauloEvent was cut at halfway due to recurrent rainfallBritain’s Sky Brown celebrated International Women’s Day by becoming a skateboarding world champion for the second time at a rain-curtailed park competition in São Paulo.The two-time Olympic bronze medallist was leading in Brazil after two runs, the halfway point, at which World Skate deemed “adverse weather conditions and recurrent rainfall” to have called time on proceedings.World Skate had given a 7pm (11pm GMT) deadline for Sunday’s competition to recommence, stating that “if any weather-related interruption occurs, the activity will not resume”.Only one competitor, Cocona Hiraki of Japan, managed to start a third run, before more falling rain forced officials to end the competition.Brown’s score of 88
England handed tough Six Nations 2027 opener with Friday night trip to Dublin
England will begin their Six Nations campaign on a Friday for the first time in 12 years in 2027 after they were handed an opening night trip to Dublin to face Ireland by tournament organisers.Ireland will also host the final match of next year’s Super Saturday with organisers pitching Andy Farrell’s side against France in the 8.10pm kick-off. Ireland and France have won the last four editions of the Six Nations between them and both are in the hunt, along with Scotland, for the title this year with one round remaining.In 2015, England overcame Wales in Cardiff in a fraught Friday-night encounter that is memorable for a tunnel stand-off before kick-off when the captain Chris Robshaw refused to lead his team out on to the field until Wales were ready to avoid being left standing around
‘He had to shoulder tragedy alone’: how Larry Bird’s rise almost ended before it began
How otherworldly was Larry Bird during his memorable season for Indiana State in 1978-79? At one point he made an assist while sprawled on the floor: from his end of the court, he made a one-armed throw to a teammate, who streaked coast-to-coast for a quick bucket.That season ended with an epic showdown in the NCAA championship game against Magic Johnson and Michigan State. Magic got the better of Bird in that game, but the contest had wider repercussions. Not only did it spark interest in the NCAA Tournament, but Bird and Magic would help revitalize the NBA, after Bird joined the Boston Celtics and Magic the Los Angeles Lakers. But none of this was preordained, especially Bird’s trajectory
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