WRITERS WANTED!

Do you have a passion for rugby, either as a player or a fan?

Do you feel like you have an opinion, view or story about rugby union?

Well then we want to hear from you!

ATU (Against the Uprights) currently has just 2 writers and as we finish up university we are struggling to find the time write material.

We are looking for aprox 3-5 new writers to publish on our blog and to get their voices heard.

If you are interested then please either comment on this post, tweet us @ATUBlog or message us on our Facebook page, Against The Uprights.

We're not looking for the next Shakespeare, just someone who can communicate well and put together a blog post.

We do this just for a laugh and to see if others agree with us or not.

We look forward to hearing from you!

ATU.

The man behind the Grand Slam.

Who'd a thought it at Christmas time that by mid-March England would have brushed off the huge disappointment from the World Cup and won their first grand slam 6 Nations title since 2003?

And what a feeling it is!

This year's tournament has by no means been the best to watch in terms of quality and big questions are being asked about whether the northern hemisphere can really compete with the big boys from Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

But right now, we couldn't really care less.

Regardless of the quality of this year's tournament, a grand slam is a mighty big thing to win and extremely hard to do so. To be waking up and watching all the videos of the England team after the victory over France feels very nice indeed and it feels well overdue that England rugby fans can celebrate.

However, what's changed for this to all happen?

Mr. Eddie Jones.

He came into the coaching set-up after Stuart Lancaster was relieved of his duties after a disappointing 4 years in charge. What he's done in such a small amount of time is take the majority of Lancaster's squad and mould it into something rather brilliant.

There were a few eyebrows raised when the first squad announcement was made prior to the opening game versus Scotland and many were questioning why he had picked a very similar team. The media came out in voice and expressed their disappointment that after all the hype about the new man and the new dawn of English rugby, it all looked very much the same.

But what Jones has proven is that we had the team in the World Cup to do much better than we did and that if it had the right guidance would have not left an entire nation feeling deflated after 4 years of hope.

So, for me, Eddie Jones has got to be given the credit for our grand slam success because if it wasn't for him, there could might well have been very little to cheer about.

Don't get me wrong, the team played exceptionally well too and they deserve a lot of the credit.

I thought Billy Vunipola was outstanding and Maro Itoje lived well up to expectations. Anthony Watson continued his impressive score tally for the Red Rose and Mike Brown just did what Mike Brown does best; be a bloody good full-back.

Dylan Hartley as captain?

Well, I have to admit that though I thought he was the best man for the job when he was appointed, I did still have some doubts. Now, however, I can breath a sigh of relief and feel comfortable that he is the man for the job. His leadership was clear to see and it seems that the responsibility is keeping his head in the game and and yellow cards in the ref's pockets.

One player I think has been overlooked in this year's squad is Chris Robshaw.

It felt very odd seeing him in the team and not being the man to lead the team out.

I kept an eye out for Robshaw to see how he'd perform and whether he still had what it takes to be in the team.

He certainly does.

At 6 he's an exceptional player and the lessons he's learned from being captain could be seen throughout the tournament.

There were many times handbags were thrown and players went for each other, as is expected in rugby. Yet the one man I always saw in the mix was Robshaw, pulling players apart and keep everyone's heads cool.

For those who remember far back enough when Martin Corry was England captain, it was very much the same story. He was a quality back rower but as captain he seemed to not qutie fit the bill. When he was taken out of being captain though, he continued lead but was able to concentrate on his own game. The same thing can be said about Robshaw.

Overall, it's a great time to be an England fan and we have so much to look forward to when England travel to Australia this summer and go against the Wallabies.

There is still much to improve on in this team but with Eddie Jones at the helm, the only way is up.

No contact in school rugby would take more away from kids than the game itself.

Earlier this week it was reported that over 70 doctors and academics urged ministers to ban contact in rugby at UK and Irish schools. It was suggested that allowing children to play rugby with contact would put their health at risk in future years and that 'touch' rugby would be a far safer alternative. 

This report caught our eye and so we decided to put together a little post on why this report is completely ridiculous, massively stupid and for any rugby fan, infuriating.

I've had the pleasure of playing rugby since the age of 6. Back then (he says as if it were decades ago) we did not have the 'tag' rugby alternative which is played now by very young rugby players before they go onto contact at around 10 (I could be wrong on this age but it is around that). We played 'touch' rugby which means that instead of tackling someone to the ground you pat them on the hips with two hands and the tackle was made. 

I remember loving this form of the game, simply because I knew nothing different. 

I remember my last ever game of touch rugby and my dad saying to me, "next season's contact, that's much better". I didn't believe him. I could not comprehend anything being better than my beloved touch rugby. But how wrong I was...

The first training session of the following season we turned up all eager to see what all the fuss was about in contact rugby. We learnt how to tackle, how to fall and most importantly how not to tackle so that it could not risk the wellbeing of the opposition. 

It was tricky at first but we got the hang of it and by the time it came to game day we were rolling around in the mud, pulling players down and having the time of our lives. 

The feeling was incredible and all of a sudden I understood that my father had been so correct in his statement. 

And this is why it has irritated me so much that some imbeciles said contact should be banned from rugby at schools.

Most of my friends for whom I play rugby with now only learnt about the game at school. It was at school they learnt how to pass, how to score, where to run and how to tackle. 

It was only after the first game in PE that those who might have usually played football fell in love with the game and wished to give a club a go. Without these lessons I highly doubt rugby clubs would have half the players they do now. 

There's so much more to rugby than the contact and it's utterly bewildering to think that doctors know what rugby's about.

Discipline, teamwork, respect, enjoyment, leadership. 

These are words we take for granted when we talk about rugby but they are so true. Take away the contact and you take away the essence of rugby. 

Kids are not made of glass and paper. In fact they are usually made of glue, plastic and magic. They bend, they fall, they scrape their knees and hurt themselves all the time but they get back up with a huge smile on their faces and say "let's do that again!". Kid's might cry if they have to have an injection but fill them with adrenaline and put them on a grassy field and say "go", they will become much stronger than you give them credit for.

If you take away contact in school rugby you will not teach them how to fall when they get hit or where to put their heads when they want to make a hit. 

THAT is when injuries occur. 

It is only through ignorance of the sport that players get hurt in tackles. If they get a bump or a knock in a harder tackle it's not putting their lives at risk. It's simply teaching them to get back up even when you're hurt. That their team needs them and they can't roll around moaning. 

If a serious injury does happen, to which they do occasionally, they won't be in any life threatening position. In fact you will find that they will be itching to get back out on the field before they are even fit. 

Here's an example. 

The worst injury I witnessed on a rugby field was when we were around 11/12. A lad went into a tackle and somehow managed to break his collarbone. It was a serious injury and he was in qutie a bit of pain. He went to hospital and got the required treatment and we carried on as usual. The season later he was back with a grin on his face and big hello to everyone, ready for the first game.

I've seen more broken bones on people who don't play rugby than those who do, especially children! 

Children at that sort of age are still learning a lot. Take away the contact of rugby in schools and your taking away all the skills and attributes that make rugby players after a game meet up with the opposition, shake their hands and say "well played". 

Children are not precious artifacts that need to be preserved. They're little nutters that want to go out with their mates and play. Let them bloody do it!

ENG 21-10 IRE- The Billy Vunipola show!

Eddie Jones has had, arguably, the easier of introductions to England coach life having had Scotland and Italy as his two first opponents. This week, however, put him up against the reigning champions Ireland and I think the whole of Europe was looking at England to see if they can beat the big boys in the 6 Nations.

Well, they showed they could still play against the big teams, even if Ireland are riddled with injuries at the moment.

ENG 21-10 IRE.

It's a scoreline that probably is a fair evaluation of the match. 

Ireland did look a little lost without many of their usual starters and England did look inspired by the Twickenham crowd. 

But what can we take away from the match as whole?

Well I think the win is the first thing to look at. Regardless of Ireland's struggles in this year's 6 Nations, they are still the team to beat and England did this with relative ease. This isn't to say the win was easy but England certainly looked like the probable victors throughout the match. They looked creative, confident and powerful in defence and well structured. But regardless of the entire team's performance there's only one man who can be talked about.

Billy Vunipola.

What a performance from the Saracens number 8!

By the end of the match his carries added up to around 100 meters! That's to say that he single handedly carried, smashed, demolished and ran the entire length of the pitch in just carries. It was incredible to see. If you didn't see the game then watch it just for his performance. The Irish defence looked genuinely confused into how he was still powering through, even when they threw everything at him. There were moments when two or three players who assigned to taking him down but still he'd make 10 meters in gainage. I have to admit that I used to think that Ben Morgan was England's best number 8 but after that game there's only one man for the 8 shirt with England.  

Two other notable performances were from Anthony Watson and Mike Brown, the pair of them being massively influential on the scoreline having both scored tries. 

The highlight for me though was something that was slightly overlooked by the highlight reel as most, understandably, discussed Billy Vunipola's performance.

The tackle from Jack Nowell in the last quarter of the match, for me, sealed our win and was one of the greatest displays of defensive work I have ever seen in an England match. 

Jonny Sexton broke free on the right wing and then smartly offloaded the ball to Robbie Henshaw who looked to be in the clear as he past the 22 meter mark in a shot of green and white. But just as he approached the tryline Jack Nowell who had been on the opposite wing comes flying into view and smashes in Henshaw's waist and just does enough to force the Irishman to spill the ball just centimetres from the strip of white paint that was the tryline. There was a little confusion into whether it was a try or not at first but by looking at Henshaw's expression, the result was pretty obvious. 

If Nowell had not made that tackle then the last 5 or so minutes would have been a very different story and I could be here moaning about a loss rather than praising a win. 

Overall I was incredibly happy with the England performance. All that lacked was that cutting edge to them which if they did have would have meant the result could have been well into the thirties and beyond. 

A little tidying up and Jones' England could be the force he so wants them to be. 

Who is Maro Itoje?

At 10am this morning Eddie Jones announced the England squad to face Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday. As expected Jones has picked a squad with plenty of experience on the international stage, but for one name - 21 year old Maro Itoje. Itoje came off the bench two weeks back in Rome in the 40-9 victory over Italy and was placed at blindside-flanker, however this weekend he has been picked to start at second row alongside Saracens teammate George Kruis.

Ahead of Maro Itoje's first England start this weekend, we've picked out a few key points on England's fresh-faced second row for you which should help you become more familiar with a player who will no doubt be on England team sheets for many years to come:

• Itoje captained the England Under 20 squad to the 2014 IRB Junior World Championship in a 21-20 victory over South Africa. 

• Itoje also represented England at under 17 level in the shot-putt.

• He captained the England under 20 team during the 2014 Under-20 Six Nations tournament in which he scored a try in every match, resulting in Itoje being named England's Man Of The Tournament.

Eddie Jones has announced that Maro Itoje will make his
first England start against Ireland on Saturday.

• The Saracens lock was playing in National One with Old Albanians until he made his Saracens debut in the 2014/2015 season. Since then he has climbed up the ranks at the club and captained the first team and started a European Champions Cup semi-final in his first season.

• Camden-born Itoje started his studies at the same Hertfordshire school as Owen Farrell and George Ford, before finishing his studies at the same school as Billy Vunipola.

• As well as a professional rugby career, Itoje is currently reading for a degree in Politics at the School of African and Oriental Studies.

• He was involved in the school choir and thoroughly enjoys writing poetry. With his family roots in Nigeria, Maro often gears his university studies towards underdevelopment in Africa.

Itoje captained the England U20 squad to the 2014 IRB Junior
World Championship.

• Itoje has been given the nickname 'FEC' by his England teammates, meaning 'Future England Captain'. He also has the less-imaginative nickname 'mophead' because of his haircut. 

• At 6ft, 5in and almost 19 stone, Itoje's mobility allows him to play either at second row or in the back row. 

• England's defence coach Paul Gustard has compared the 21 year-old to the likes of Martin Johnson and Paul O'Connell. 

Is the 6 Nations harming the domestic leagues?

The 6 Nations is the greatest annual tournament in the world.

End of.

But is it coming at a bit of a sacrifice for our leagues that the faithful fan still turns out for every week when they can't afford tickets for the internationals?

Now if you're a fan of a lower table club then maybe this post is a little irrelevant. And if you are a fan of a higher table club which is doing well throughout the 6 Nations period then you may think I'm wrong too. But to be frank, that's half of the fun of doing these posts; to irritate someone somewhere. 

So... where am I going with this.

Imagine you're a fan of Northampton, Leicester, Saracens, Bath etc... You have an abundance of quality players, plenty of which are internationals. 

When the squad announcement is made you see 5 or 6 of your club's players being selected for their respective nation. 

It feels great. You fill up with pride that one of your own is going out onto the world stage and prove why he plays, in your eyes, for the greatest club in the country, world, universe...

But then they scamper of to leafy Surrey for the England camp and you sit there thinking, 'wait, so if they're playing for them, then what about... oh bollocks'. 

You turn up on the Saturday and you look at your club's line-up and you realise that it's much, much weaker than it usually is. You have players coming in that aren't tested as much or bench players that are good impact subs but only that. Then you look at the opposition, a club in the bottom three of the table, for example, and they have a fully fit, well gelled squad with maybe 1 or 2 players missing, if that. They come out, play like a team that know each other's ins and outs, play you round the park and present to you why your bench players were only just good enough for that. You then return home to see that your lads from the week before are walking out Murrayfield, Twickenham, The Aviva Stadium etc and they play like the little legends you know they are. So then you drink a beer to get over the 'surprising' loss to the team fighting relegation as you slip to 3rd or 4th and think, 'maybe this isn't such a good thing.'

Been there? Of course you have! It's gut-wrenching, frustrating but worst of all understandable. You take an extra large gulp of the good stuff, sit back and realise you have another month of unpredictable results which usually, with a full strength squad, you could bet your house on winning. 

So, is this anyone's fault?

Well... it's hard to say really. 

The players certainly aren't to blame as they've worked hard to get to the test stage. The management have picked the best men for the job.  The RFUs have made sure the best players are available. The clubs have bought the best players for their clubs. 

So surely it's not fair on the clubs who buy well?

Well... again it's hard to say.

It does give the lower league clubs a little bit more of a chance and certainly makes it more competitive. 

You could also argue that the bigger clubs should be able to weather the storm and have the resources to keep on competing. 

But in my eyes, a fan of a certain 'higher' club, it is something that maybe should be addressed. 

For example, why doesn't the RFU start the season a little earlier and make the 6 Nations period a 'break' period? That way the players can patch up for the second half of the season and refuel. Then, when the 6 Nations finishes the break ends and the league gets back underway. 

Everyone will say that they want their respective nation to win, no matter what. It's spine tingling hearing your national anthem being blasted out by 70,000 fans and seeing them win against a national rival. But we all, mostly, have a club we hold dearly too. And to see them become weak due players missing is horrible. 

Is it impossible to have a 6 Nations without a weakened league and should it just be accepted or is there a way around it?

ITA 9-40 ENG: Don't be fooled by the scoreline!

Hmm,

This post is a little difficult to put together as it requires me to criticise a side that won by 31 points.

But it is necessary.

For those of you who did not watch the game on Sunday and think I have lost the plot then just hear me out. The scoreline was NOT a fair reflection of the game or England's performance.

Let's begin with the first half.

At half time the score ITA 9-11 ENG and how Italy weren't ahead I do not know.

Ford with a tidy finish against the Azzurri.

Something that has stood out for me in England's first two matches of this year's RBS 6 Nations has been the horrendous amount of penalties given away. Versus Scotland England conceded 12 which might not sound like too many but when I was watching the game it felt like England were constantly giving them away and it was the fault of England, not the work of Scotland. Against Italy it was 15 penalties conceded. 15! Again, most of these were due to poor England discipline and not Italy being exceptional. 


If Italy had the extra talent required and made most of those penalties, England would have been in real trouble.

The only reason England won this game was because of a handful of star performers, namely Jonathan Joseph who bagged a hat-trick and MOTM Ben Youngs who dictated play wonderfully, and Italy's legs running weak towards the end of the game.

JJ scoring 1 of his 3 tries.

After the Scotland game and in our review of that match we were quite pleased with Jones' first match in charge and saw promise, while understanding that fluidity was to come with time.

After that performance it is a little less promising.

England showed glimpses of world class play but our work at the breakdown was very poor.

Our scrummaging was, however, very good but our lineouts were usually OK with them not showing much consistency.

What England need is a much improved back-row, something we have discussed before, and much tighter discipline.

If you look at the bench mark of good rugby, the All Blacks, you see why England are not ready for world class teams to face them.

Something I adore about the All Blacks is how they have always stated that it's not just about how many points you score but how many you concede.

If England were playing the All Black, the Springboks, the Aussies or Ireland, France or Wales it would be a very different story.

Teams will be better at making the most of penalties than the Italians. Teams will be better at forcing penalties at the break down from England. Teams will not run out of steam at 60 mins, unlike the Italians.

The game against Ireland on the 27th will truly show whether these issues have been patched up or not.

Don't get me wrong, it was a good win. Just not as good as the scoreline showed.