A bright afternoon in Bath set the scene for a tougher truth: cohesion beats potential. We walk through England A’s sobering loss to a slick New Zealand XV and pull out what matters for selection, development, and how fast “promising” becomes “test-ready.” Two names rose above the noise — Ollie Hassell-Collins under the high ball and Tom Pearson around the breakdown — but the wider lesson was clearer still: the basics decide everything when pressure bites. Switching to Twickenham, we break d...
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A bright afternoon in Bath set the scene for a tougher truth: cohesion beats potential. We walk through England A’s sobering loss to a slick New Zealand XV and pull out what matters for selection, development, and how fast “promising” becomes “test-ready.” Two names rose above the noise — Ollie Hassell-Collins under the high ball and Tom Pearson around the breakdown — but the wider lesson was clearer still: the basics decide everything when pressure bites. Switching to Twickenham, we break d...
Money, momentum, and a meteoric rise collide in a round that had everything—from a test-match brawl at Welford Road to a 65–14 shockwave in north London. We open on England’s Autumn Nations training squad and the headache it exposes: power up front and depth at fullback. With George Martin sidelined and Tom Willis choosing Bordeaux, we dig into the balance between national ambition and financial gravity, and ask whether England’s domestic-only policy still makes competitive sense as French an...
Rucks, Mauls & Oval Balls
A bright afternoon in Bath set the scene for a tougher truth: cohesion beats potential. We walk through England A’s sobering loss to a slick New Zealand XV and pull out what matters for selection, development, and how fast “promising” becomes “test-ready.” Two names rose above the noise — Ollie Hassell-Collins under the high ball and Tom Pearson around the breakdown — but the wider lesson was clearer still: the basics decide everything when pressure bites. Switching to Twickenham, we break d...
