North punished by Northampton over missed training session

Wow, what insight! Who'd a thunk it?

It is such a pity that your twisted hatred of South Africa precludes you from sharing in our pleasure. You could have been one of our world-wide community of rugby lovers and afficionados. Instead you have turned yourself into an object of ridicule, laughed at and scorned by all of us.

The fact that he's so focused on creating opportunities for himself and not others doesn't just make him a less rounded fly-half than Ford and Fin, but has completely devastated England's attempts to build an attacking system.

Would it be possible to have a similar article covering pay structures in women’s rugby?

They want to maximize their power in short bursts, then recover for the next effort. Teams like Bristol are the opposite. They want high ball in play to keep the oppo moving, they want quicker resolution at set pieces, and if anyone is to kick the ball out, they want it to be the other team.

The way rugby is there will always be a place for set piece based teams, but progression in the game is associated far more with the Black Ferns/Bristol style.

The scrum is a crucible. We have still not solved the problem of scrums ending in FKs and penalties, sometimes with yellow cards attached. A penalty ought not to be the aim of a scrum, a dominant SP should lead to greater attacking opportunity as long as the offence is not dangerous but technical in nature.

Apparently it’s not his fault though, it’s everyone else’s.

It was also very interesting to watch the Portugal game this year, it showed these matchs have value imo.