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International prop scores superb 50-metre solo try

Sweden's rampaging prop Ale Loman. Photo: Rugby Europe

While Joe Marler has been dominating the headlines off the pitch for his comments about the Haka and his decision to retire from international rugby, another Test loosehead was making a name for himself on the pitch this weekend.

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Ale Loman might not have the profile, or the career of Marler, who has called it quits after 95 caps at the top, but the Sweden international is three-nil up on the try count.

Marler may have achieved many things in the game but not once during his 12-year Test career did the Harlequins man cross the opposition whitewash, whereas Loman got his third for Sweden at the weekend, away to Lithuania, and what a try it was (try starts 29 minutes into video/12:15 into match, footage courtesy of Rugby Europe).

Receiving the ball just inside his own half in the 13th minute, Loman beat two defenders on the outside with barely a hand laid on him and then powered through a third tackle to score Sweden’s opening points after they had fallen behind to an early Lithuania score.

Loman’s brilliant effort inspired Sweden who, helped by a brace of tries from captain and inside centre Axel Kalling-Smith, maintained their winning run in style at the Aukštaitija Stadium with a 46-19 victory.

“It was my third try for Sweden, and definitely the best!” Loman said.

“When I got the ball, I recognised the mismatch against their 10 in defence. After I was able to beat him, I looked for support. I didn’t see a good opportunity to offload so I went for the try myself. I’m glad I did!”

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Sweden are looking to go one better than last year and win the Rugby Europe Men’s Trophy, having finished as runners-up in 2023-24, and the win over Lithuania puts them top of the table following a hard-fought victory over Czechia in their first game of the competition.

It will also put Sweden at their highest-ever position of 31st in the World Rugby Men’s Rankings when they are officially updated at midday on Monday.

Like his captain, who plays for Rams Rugby in National One, Loman is based in England but one level higher with Nottingham.

The 24-year-old is believed to be the first Scandanavian player to sign for an English Championship club, having moved to Midlands to do an MSc in Machine Learning and Computer Science at the University of Nottingham

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Whilst he has yet to break into Nottingham’s first team, Loman, a death metal guitar player in his spare time, continues to impress Sweden’s head coach, Alex Laybourne.

Laybourne believes that Nottingham have made a good decision, too, in recruiting the cornerstone of his pack.

“I’m very proud of where Ale has got to so far. He made his debut in my first test match in charge against Luxembourg in October 2021, and has been an ever-present since,” said Laybourne.

“Originally an 8, I moved him to prop and he hasn’t looked back, developing consistently and working hard on his game.

“He’s moved to tight-head (Nottingham’s preference) but played loose-head on Saturday for us as he can play both sides.

“He has a great willingness to learn and a desire to get better all the time; I believe he has a high ceiling and there is plenty more to come from him.”

Related

Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 ticket application opens 5 November (22 October for Mastercard holders). Register your interest now.

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O
Oh no, not him again? 26 minutes ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

6 Go to comments
C
CO 42 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

26 Go to comments
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