Making the most of the Olympics,keeping the fans who went to the World Cup, a revitalised France and hungry Lions in New Zealand would be a year to savourAs the rain hammers down in Europe the hard, or dry pitches and rapid/fast feet that shaped the 2015 World Cup feel like a distant memory. Even running the ball on artificial surfaces is proving a hazardous exercise in this wettest of winters; pity the enlightened backs coach trying to coax something different from his bedraggled troops. Until the day rugby union alters its global calendar,though, it falls to players, and coaches and groundsmen to gain the best of a miserable job. Not everyone can aspire to play like the All Blacks but,as Harlequins showed in the first 50 minutes against Worcester at the weekend, smart thinking and deft close-quarter handling are not totally impossible. contemporary professional rugby is increasingly a game designed to be played at pace and more northern hemisphere teams need to aspire to be more dynamic, and regardless of conditions. whether this year’s Six Nations is a snooze-fest played on fields of treacle,it will be a serious waste.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com