Here are the latest rugby headlines for Friday 21st June.
Botham’s ‘X-Factor’
James Botham has been tipped to bring some X-Factor to the Wales back row in Jac Morgan’s absence.
The Cardiff star has been plagued by injuries in recent seasons and would surely win more than 10 games if he stays fit. Wales were dealt a hammer blow this week when World Cup co-captain Morgan was ruled out of the summer series, but it has given Botham an opportunity when he lines up at openside against South Africa at Twickenham.
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“I think he will bring energy and physicality,” Wales forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys said. “He was unlucky with some injuries at the beginning of the year.
“He came with us and got injured against Scotland. What he is is very difficult.
“He gritted his teeth in that game in Scotland when he had a pretty serious injury but he didn’t tell anyone and just kept playing. He definitely gives us the X-Factor. Things happen around him.”
The question mark surrounding Botham is where to best play him with the 26-year-old capable of covering the entire back row.
“I think he’s been excellent for Cardiff since he’s come back, but it’s just a matter of whether he’s a seven, six or eight,” Humphreys said.
“Or is it someone who can play across everyone?
“I think he’s between six and seven. It’s a huge opportunity for him at the weekend.”
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Axed England star admits ‘snus’ habit
Kyle Sinckler has revealed he developed a snus habit which damaged his performances and ultimately saw him dropped from the England squad after the Rugby World Cup.
The auditor, who will join Toulon in France next season, said he started using a smokeless tobacco product when he was younger and trying to lose weight. He explained to The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast that it helped suppress his appetite.
He said: “There was a lot of other stuff going on behind the scenes, a lot of habits that I was doing that didn’t lead to me being a world-class athlete, that all came out afterwards.”
He described snus as “highly addictive” and “not good for your performance” and admitted that what he was doing was at odds with his efforts to be a good role model.
“When it comes to where I want to be and the person, the man I want to become, I can’t say one thing on social media and send that message. And then behind closed doors I act like a victim, the world is against me, and I do snus.
“The whole thing is just… it doesn’t work like that, you know?” So it’s like at the end of the day, I reap what I sow, you know?’
Former England team-mate Jonny May, a regular on the podcast, described Sinckler’s confession as “powerful… because a lot of people in rugby are addicted to this stuff. I don’t know enough about it, but it can’t be good for us.’
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Warning from England star Eddie Jones
Duncan Bech, England rugby correspondent from PA
Ben Youngs has warned England that Eddie Jones remains an elite coach whose second spell in Japan will be affected by his recent failures.
Jones and Steve Borthwick will meet for the first time when the Australian and his former number two go head-to-head in a master-apprentice showdown that underpins England’s tour opener in Tokyo on Saturday.
It’s just 18 months since Jones was sacked by the Rugby Football Union due to a slump in results, yet before returning to Japan he had a disastrous homecoming with the Wallabies that ended when they failed to progress from the group stage of last autumn’s Worlds. Cup.
But the 64-year-old has the highest win rate of any England head coach at 73 per cent and Youngs, his first-choice scrum-half throughout his seven-year reign, insists he is still a formidable operator.
“Eddie is honestly one of the best coaches I’ve ever had. Tactically he’s very, very good,” said England’s most seasoned player, who will be in action for the Barbarians against Fiji at Twickenham on Saturday.
“For whatever reason it didn’t work with Australia. That doesn’t make him a bad coach. He’s still a very good coach. He’s still very intelligent in how he sees the game.”
“We’ve had a really successful time in England. We’ve had some tough times, of course we have. But he’s honestly one of the best coaches I’ve had.
“I’m sure he’ll accept the challenge of Japan. I’m sure he’ll live up to everything, the way it went with England and the way it went with Australia.”
“You just know the way he is as a character he’s going to take Japan back to the World Cup in Australia.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if all of a sudden Australia and Japan were in the same pool – that’s how the stars aligned for him – and he’d love that.
“Rugby needs characters like Eddie and he’s a lot of fun. He divides opinion, I understand that, but if I get the chance to work under him again I’d jump at it.”
Final preview of the URC
By Anthony Brown, PA
Franco Smith believes Glasgow’s stunning semi-final win at Munster has set them up perfectly to handle the “hostility” they will face from the Bulls’ home crowd in Saturday’s United Rugby Championship Grand Final in South Africa.
The Warriors triumphed 17-10 over the holders at Thomond Park last weekend and must now win at another of the URC’s scariest venues when they run out of the 51,000-capacity Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.
Smith believes their recent experience in Ireland will be a good substitute for Glasgow in their biggest game of the season.
“I think we learned a lot from the last game,” said the head coach, a former South African international. “There were 20,000 Irish fans in Thomond Park and it could have been intimidating, but I think we took a lot from that in the build-up to this week.
“We know we’re going to face a pretty hostile crowd here as well. It’ll be double the number of last week, but again it’s about focusing on the task at hand and not letting the opportunity get the better of you.”
Smith leads his side to their second final in two seasons at the helm after losing to Toulon in last year’s Challenge Cup in Dublin. The head coach feels his team has evolved since then as they look to end their nine-year wait for silverware.
“We had another last chance last year and this is obviously the highlight of this season so we’re really looking forward to being a part of it,” he said.
“We’ve definitely learned a lot. We’ve learned a lot since the quarter-final at home to Munster last year and the Challenge Cup final against Toulon and we’ve taken some of that learning into our warm-up games.” season and then throughout the season.
“We are already looking forward to our next challenge and our next step.”