Billy Vunipol has been cheered on for a last-minute claim for a Rugby World Cup spot in England as the frantic No. 8 continues to recover from his knee injury. Vunipola's season ended when he was forced out of the Saracens in the Champions Cup in April, having been defeated by eventual winners La Rochelle. He soon underwent surgery on his knee.
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The 30-year-old will not play for the Saracens in Saturday's Premier League final against Sale at Twickenham, but has already returned to training in the gym. Alex Dombrandt failed to convince England at number 8 earlier this year and Borthwick has no one to match Vunipola's possession power at the bottom of the scrum.
I think he will be back in full force at the latest in mid-August, Saracen rugby director Mark McCall said of Vunipol. There is still a lot of time before the Rugby World Cup. Billy has historically recovered very well from these injuries, of which he has had several. He can train and is now training hard.
I think he will be in the right shape for the World Championships. The question is whether Steve is ready to choose him or not. England will play Wales in Cardiff and Twickenham, travel to Ireland and also host Fiji for their four warm-up games ahead of the France Rugby World Cup starting in September.
Borthwick will announce his official squad for the RWC in the second week of August. If he does choose Wunipolu in his last batch of 33, he may have to do so as he has not played in any competitive rugby since April. The Harlequins' Dombrandt has started in all five of England's Six Nations games at No. 8, while Borthwick also have Montpellier's Sam Simmonds and Zach Mercer to consider in that position.
Mercer, currently with Montpellier, returns to English rugby with Gloucester. Meanwhile, Premiership Rugby are facing a time trial to sell out tickets to the league exhibition game at Twickenham on Saturday. McCall's Saracens will face Alex Sanderson's Sale in the highly anticipated final, but it's understood that ticket sales for the match are currently severely limited.
The Premier Rugby League declined to say how many tickets have been sold but are known to be approaching the 60,000 mark. Twickenham's capacity is 82,000 meaning there is a chance of significant crowd gaps this weekend unless strong last-minute sales push.
RWC 2023 – Leinster's Stuart Lancaster keen to coach in Ireland again after head coach role with Racing 92
It definitely looks like a big move to leave. In the background, you're trying to organize things, and there were times when I sat on Zoom calls and thought, I don't understand what this guy said at all. Stuart Lancaster says he wants to coach in Ireland again after four years with Racing 92.
The Leinster head coach has less than a week left before taking on his first managerial role since leaving England in 2015. Lancaster played a huge role in the resurgence of the Blues. He attracted young stars such as Kalan Doris and Dan Sheehan.
After losing to Munster in the URC semi-finals last Saturday, he is doing everything in his power to avoid a second trophyless season. He knows how difficult it will be against La Rochelle, who have had the upper hand over Leinster in the last two seasons and who have a deep-thinking head coach in Ronan O'Gara, as Lancaster describes Korkman. For more about Argentina Rugby World Cup Tickets.
Lancaster said, You definitely want to win, but that won't stop me. Ultimately, what defines you is your honesty, your values, and your ability to build relationships, get along with people, and grow them. I have been in rugby long enough to know that there are so many variables that can affect the outcome that you, as a manager, have no control over.
He tries not to get too hung up on the result. The last thing I want to do is be consumed by the result. I want to enjoy the event, the week, what happens at the end, but then look back at a brilliant period in my career, and hopefully not the last time I returned.
I sincerely mean it. I would definitely return to coach. It definitely looks like a big move to leave. In the background you are trying to organize things and there were times when I sat on Zoom calls thinking I had absolutely no idea what this guy said.
So it's going to be a hell of a coaching challenge, but I feel like I'm ready for it. After all, in four years, or however long it takes, I think I will be a better coach because of it. You look at great football managers or great American football coaches when they are at their best when they are in their fifties or sixties.
“Hopefully I still have a lot of work to do before I get there and Ireland will always be a place I would definitely like to return to.”
His focus is on Leinster winning a second European Cup crown since joining the team in November 2016 and fifth overall. James Lowe's return to physical form will help this cause. However, his time in Dublin is coming to an end. Lancaster has not had a television since he joined the province. In addition to watching rugby, he spent his free evenings buying and reading books.
He smiled: I had a huge library of books, and I thought: What the hell am I supposed to do with all these books now? I have favorites, some have gone to Leeds. In the morning I take five books and put them in the free library in Rathmines. Gradually my book stock dried up.
I gave away hundreds and now the apartment looks pretty empty. It's amazing how what seems like months and months turns into weeks and days and now we've lost to Munster, now it's the last week, that's the reality. It's deep in my head because the only thing that matters is preparing the players, I hope they give their best.
And that's all, now. There is one game left. There were probably four clear things we could have done better in that game (against Munster) that we are sure to use as lessons in this game. Definitely, the ball was in play for 44 minutes – this is a game at the highest level of club rugby, especially in Ireland. In the 77th minute the ball was on their line and we lost. There is definitely a lot to learn.
“Equally, you don't want to spend a whole week analyzing this game and not thinking about what's around the corner. So yes, it was a quick hit, hit, hit show some examples, got it, let's go. You want to win, the goal of the season is to win the double and that's damn hard to do.”
Paul O'Connell insists that keeping it real will deflect Rugby World Cup hype from Ireland's door
That's all we need as coaches is to try to stay on top of the progress, said the Munster and Ireland legend. Paul O'Connell says the antidote to the inevitable Rugby World Cup hype to come is for Ireland to keep getting better. .
Grand Slam winners are starting to return to earth after a couple of nights of celebrating their success. For O'Connell, the former Ireland skipper turned defense coach, the process started a little earlier. I'm fine, I'm sure the players have heads this morning, I have three kids, so I came back to reality yesterday, O'Connell smirked.
We had two big nights. John Fogarty, who I work with as forwards, loves to have fun, so we certainly had a great few days. We had a lovely Sunday afternoon at the Shelbourne Hotel where we all had lunch with our wives, kids, parents, friends and we played 20s Ireland and watched it all together, so it was really nice.
“Then the players and staff went to the bar and we had a live bar, it was great to spend time together. Six Nations is a pretty intense game, so spending some time with them and relaxing and relaxing is great.”
The focus will quickly shift to the provinces and the business close of the URC club season, Champions Cup and Challenge Cup before turning to Ireland's preparations for the France Rugby World Cup. With 21 wins in the last 23 games and a top spot in the world rankings, expectations for the Rugby World Cup final will be very high.
For O'Connell, it's just about Ireland doing what they did. Really, it's just about getting better, he told Today FM. As long as we're focused on getting better… if you look at that game of France that we played in one go on TV, you'd think it was an amazing game. and we are a great party doing so many things well.
“But when you actually watch this game a few times, you go into a certain area and start really learning what we're doing, you see a lot of room for growth and improvement. That's all we need as coaches, it's about trying to stay on top and get better. And if we do that, you won't be distracted by the bigger picture of six nations, world championships or whatever.”
Speaking in the immediate aftermath of last Saturday's victory over England, Johnny Sexton said the team had deviated from what the coaches had planned before doing their job. The skipper meant it in the sense that a nervous Ireland lost focus before bringing it back and O'Connell sees the good in the way the competition has unfolded.
Really the strength of our players is that when something goes wrong or when they make mistakes, they are good at resetting everything to zero and going again, while in the past we may have hung up on mistakes and reproached a bit. yourself for them, remarked Munster legend O'Connell. There is no real value in it and Andy trains it well by having them readjust after a mistake and just start again.
“And that's what we did over the weekend.”
Asked to choose between the Grand Slam he won as a player in Cardiff in 2009 and the one he won last weekend as a manager, O'Connell replied: Oh shit, it's really hard to choose – it's like trying to pick one. from your children! I would choose him as a player because we haven't won him in such a long time.
It was an amazing time, but Saturday was absolutely incredible for me. In the summer, with New Zealand in the background, it was amazing. I think that as a coach, it's very different. You work as coaches, but this is a different job. Time at the computer, time to argue, chat and discuss things, time to think. But as players you spend time in the gym, on the field, and you're trying to figure out how to be selected, how to improve.
So there is a different feeling, but I have to say it was great after the final whistle. There are many things that we did wrong and could have done better, but which still annoy you deep down. But at the same time being involved as a coach and helping to influence people or players or some strategy that you can use, to see how they work, it's a great feeling, but a completely different feeling.
Leinster’s knockout failures set worrying precedent for Ireland’s Rugby World Cup campaign
The club's latest European Cup defeat makes the curse of the Rugby World Cup quarter-final all the more frightening. As anyone who watched 1990s horror movies will tell you, the thing about demons is that you can kill them, celebrate their passing, but then, right before the credits, they open one eye. For more about England Rugby World Cup Tickets.
It's the same with Ireland and their recurring case of dizziness in the Rugby World Cup playoffs. Over the past four years, Andy Farrell has overcome his fear of heights caused by being world number one. Ireland have won 13 of their last 14 matches, including the no small feat of a Grand Slam and beating every opponent in the Rugby World Cup.
Ireland now seeks pressure rather than an outsider's protective blanket. Like Premier League champion Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool side, Ireland has become a mental monster. So you can imagine Farrell's discomfort watching Leinster squander a 17-0 lead against La Rochelle with all those ghosts of the past flooding back into the Aviva Stadium.
As La Rochelle's winning head coach Ronan O'Gara so generously remarked, there is a very different context between a European Cup final and a Rugby World Cup quarter-final. However, it's basically the same group of players – row two Ross Moloney was the only Leinster player who isn't a full Irish international – who have now lost back-to-back European Cup finals, as well as back-to-back wins. -back Rugby United Championship semi-finals.
How can doubt not creep into the players’ minds?
According to Jamie Heaslip, former No. 8 Leinster and Ireland, over the past couple of years when they had their pressure cooker moments, it didn't fall in their path. How can doubts not creep into the minds of those same players when the issue of Ireland's World Cup quarter-final record is raised, which will happen frequently over the next three months. For reference: Losses to Australia 1987 and 1991, France 1995, Argentina 1999, France 2003, Wales 2011, Argentina 2015, New Zealand 2019. They didn't make it out of the group stage in 2007.
It is important. Ireland have won many important matches under Farrell, but outside of the Rugby World Cup, nothing beats the frenzied knockout pressure of a match. There are about three dozen warnings you could attribute to Leinster's defeat. Probably the biggest was the absence of the half-fly, half-breed Johnny Sexton, who, characteristically, still made himself known by ranting to the officials.
Ireland have staggering depth in nearly every position but fly-half
Ross Byrne, who hit the post twice with conversions, was almost right, but Sexton is exactly the mental monster that Leinster needed in the last quarter to clear the line. It's hard to imagine that Leinster wouldn't have been set for a goal when they were in La Rochelle 22's camp five minutes before Sexton took the field.
However, that in itself is a problem for Farrell. Ireland has staggering depth in almost every position except the flywheel, which wouldn't be such a problem if Sexton, recovering from a torn groin, didn't have such a patchwork of injuries. In 2015, Ireland's campaign was derailed by another injury to Sexton's groin. Eight years later, it is just as fundamental and even more fragile.
Perhaps Leinster's failure could serve as rocket fuel for Farrell's outstanding motivational qualities. Yet despite Ireland prospering under Englishman leadership, a quarter-final hump remains on the road. That hump turns into a hill when you consider that Ireland are likely to face New Zealand or France in the last eight matches. Leinster's failure in another high-stakes knockout match makes the hill look like a mountain.
Club setbacks should fuel Ireland in the Rugby World Cup
Now it's up to Andy Farrell to turn player frustration into a motivating tool to double down on winning. While the loss to La Rochelle in last Saturday's European Cup final was devastating for the Leinster players, Republic of Ireland coach Andy Farrell should certainly see the defeat as motivation for the national team ahead of the Rugby World Cup in September.
Of course, for Leinster's elite to walk away empty-handed for the second year in a row is a bitter pill to swallow after two seasons in which they have dominated both cup and league qualifiers.
However, their loss to Munster in the URC semi-finals last week and capitulation to French side Ronan O'Gara on Saturday devastated many Leinster's souls ahead of their Rugby World Cup squad. Some rugby pundits now believe Leinster's failures have detracted from Ireland's Six Nations Grand Slam victories.
But for a manager as subtle and intelligent as Farrell, the disappointment of these players should easily turn into a motivating tool before the World Cup. He just needs to convince them that, despite their club failures, the collective Irish effort in France has only one goal: let's go and win something.
Irish rugby officials rigorous in mental and physical preparation for Rugby World Cup duty
They worked on a results mindset with former Dublin Gaelic footballer Kevin McManamon. Ireland's four officials for the upcoming France Rugby World Cup, referee Andy Brace, assistant referee Chris Busby and TV match officials (TMO) Brian McNeice and Joy Neville spoke on a wide range of topics, including working with former Dublin Gaelic footballer Kevin. McManamon.
A highly effective coach and sports psychology consultant across sports, McManamon (KevMc Performance) has previously worked with the 2019 Under-20 Grand Slam rugby team and has expanded his responsibilities to include Irish rugby's elite referees.
Chris Busby explained: Kevin came in and started working with us at the beginning of the year, which is a good example of the support and development we are getting. We are looking for ways that we can improve and possibly make the levels the same as those of professional players.
He was a breath of fresh air; it helps with that kind of performance thinking. How do we deal with things both on and off the field, whether it's reviewing, making decisions, trying to move on to the next decision. I think he has been excellent for us as a group for the last six months.
There used to be support in terms of sports psychology, but it was probably a little less formalized and more sporadic. Kev is now much more accessible to us, he would have regular meetings with us. From my point of view, he supported me in important moments, making a decision and then quickly moving on to the next one, because I think it can be very difficult for the judges.
“There are a lot of outside influences around you, you have a big screen, you can hear the crowd and sometimes it can be difficult to jump back in time and start preparing because the next big decision can be made in 30 seconds. ”
Neville, who will be the first woman to officiate at the men's world championship, shared her thoughts on this milestone. It means a lot. This will be my sixth World Championship as a player and referee, between the 15th and 7th. Even though I have all this experience in both codes, with the Men's Rugby World Cup, I still think I will learn a lot in these few months.
This is a huge honor for me and my family. Andy [Brace] mentioned the fact that we are a close-knit group. I think we are very unique in terms of IRFU. The support structures that we have include Johnny [Lacey, IRFU High Performance Referee Coach and Talent Manager) and Dudley [Phillips, IRFU Referee Team Leader] and support team in all provinces [excellent], but we also support each other.
“I'm sitting here happy and proud that I got here because of those support structures. I think we were all there for each other.”
From an IRFU perspective, Phillips underlined the success of the decision to create a high performance refereeing program which enabled Ireland to achieve the previous highest level of representation of four referees at the 2003 World Championships in Australia.
There are currently 559 referees in national rugby across four provinces and they have overseen more than 13,000 matches last year. Phillips confirmed that 115 new umpires were hired this year, but the net profit was only 25 due to injuries and retirement.
He added: When we look at the path that all four officials here today have traveled, no matter what province they were in, there are members who are now looking at the election and thinking, Wow, that's brilliant.
“This is very exciting, we have an ongoing effort in the provinces to fuel our succession planning and with our development team led by David Wilkinson and an army of volunteers, this will be a goal for the foreseeable future.”
Four Irish officials on their way to the World Cup were asked if they remembered the first match they officiated. Busby: Ophir Seconds, Can't Remember Rivals (2011). Brace: Munster Development Squad vs Garriowen U20.
Neville: St. Manchins Under 14s (2014/15), I've never been more excited than before; pretty intimidating. I remember thinking that I would never want a referee again. Brian McNeice: I'm the grandfather here. UCD J3s against Guinness in 2002. Since then they have come a long way.
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