Even when they lose England’s cricketers are making everyone sit up and pay attention. Their one-run second Test defeat in New Zealand after enforcing the follow-on is merely the latest compelling example of their determination, win or lose, to make things happen. How good it is to watch international players exhibiting so little fear, trusting their instincts and, where possible, having some fun.
In rugby union, the same is presently true of Finn Russell and the now-injured Ange Capuozzo but not a whole heap of others. The orthodoxy, as underlined by the Wales v England game in Cardiff on Saturday, is that moving the ball in your own half is mostly a mug’s game. Stick it in the air – as both sides sought to do repeatedly – and maybe something will happen. Ambitious or groundbreaking it was not.
