Author: Nick Bishop

Ex-Leinster head coach Joe Schmidt has made a huge impact on the Ireland national side, winning two back-to-back Six Nations championships in 2014 and 2015. We already know after two rounds that success won’t be repeated in 2016, and there are some general reasons for it – a long list of injuries and the loss to retirement of Ireland’s two talismanic figures of the last decade, Paul O’Connell and Brian O’Driscoll, being the most obvious. In this article however, I would like to focus on the specifics of Ireland’s attack, and the issue of why Ireland’s attack philosophy is not…

The Wales assistant coach Rob Howley epitomised the need for a new attitude to attack in the Northern Hemisphere after the World Cup last autumn when he said: “We want to pass and create space in the outside channels and there is no question that the game is evolving. In the coming weeks we will be looking for the ability of players to scan and achieve one more pass to get the ball wide.” The popular model for development was Argentina, who after a few years in the The Rugby Championship had advanced to the point where they could take…

For the first time since anyone can remember, Scotland will enter a Calcutta Cup match this Saturday feeling that their forward basics – the set-pieces of lineout and scrum – may be more solid than those of their England counterparts under Eddie Jones. I believe that there are real grounds to support this feeling. South African Josh Strauss will add further physicality and leadership to the Scotland forwards at #6 – and Strauss was a player of Springbok quality before he left South Africa – while Free Stater W.P. Nel was one of the two top scrummagers at tight-head (along…

There will have been a huge and forensic picking over of bones, analysis-wise, after the World Cup. One of the most interesting comments came from Wales attack coach Rob Howley, comparing teams whose attack made one pass (off 9) to those who made at least two (off 10). He said: “New Zealand had the lowest rate of one-passes, 47%, and the highest, which surprised me, was Japan with 67%.” The perception of Japan’s attacking game was defined by Eddie Jones’ mission statement “ruck and run”. They ruck, move the ball, and repeat. If Howley is right, they were playing predominantly…

The appointment of Eddie Jones as England coach, the RFU’s first-ever overseas appointment at that level, has raised a number of questions. That is putting it politely – over here it is more like the experience you get when pulling up a stone and watching the frenzied activity of the insects suddenly exposed beneath it! Here are some of the key issues – 1. Does Eddie Jones have the right background? The elite rugby union ‘super-coaches’ on the planet can be counted (almost) on the fingers of one hand: Graham Henry, Steve Hansen, Wayne Smith, Michael Cheika, Warren Gatland and Joe…

Last weekend, Five English clubs qualified for the finals stages of the ECC (European Champions Cup). The other three quarter-finalists were French clubs, and it was the first time that a team from the Pro 12 competition (clubs or provinces from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy) had failed to make the cut in the knockout stages. While this achievement has been widely (and rightly) celebrated in the English media, it is underpinned by a more disturbing trend in the professional club game. The CEO of English Premiership Rugby, Mark McCafferty, has spoken previously of the pride he takes in the…

When Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal was asked by the French rugby magazine Quinze Mondial to assess the change from Jonny Wilkinson to Quade Cooper at outside-half, he paused before replying “It is difficult to go from foie gras to paté… Right now if I say that I’m not happy with our stars, it’s only because we expect a lot. For now, Cooper is not what I was hoping for…” Round six of the European Champions Cup is being played this weekend, and Toulon needed a bonus point win away to Bath on Saturday to ensure they finished top of their…

Let’s wind the clock back a few months. In the build-up to the autumn Wales-Australia match, the Wales hooker Richard Hibbard had set out Wales’ stall pretty succinctly. He expected a repeat of the 3rd Test between Australia and the Lions:  ‘We were physical, we battered them for 60 minutes and that was the end of it, they couldn’t survive after that,’ Hibbard said. ‘We have to bring that ferocity again.’ The softening-up process had been focused on the scrum and the contact points, and Hibbard was at the heart of both, smashing George Smith in one concussive tackle and helping…

Video analysis into how the Wallabies scrum moves forward considering what happened in the third test versus the Lions

Deep analysis from elite analyst Nick Bishop giving you the inside track on who’ll win the Wallabies vs Lions third test and why

Injuries and form have forced a number of changes to the Lions starting side – but does this actually make them a better team asks elite analyst Nick Bishop

Elite level analyst Nick Bishop tells us why the Wallabies will miss George Smith and Scott Higginbotham in the makeup of their back-row

Elite analyst Nick Bishop examines the size of the Lions’ three-quarters and what that means for Wallabies backline selections

Elite level analyst Nick Bishop makes the case why Ben Alexander is the best choice at tight head in the Wallabies scrum verus the British and Irish Lions