The confused world of Duhan van der Merwe must seem more confused than usual after last weekend. The Scotland winger with an accent that sounds more Western Cape than Western Isles found himself crowned man of the match despite Scotland’s defeat by England at Twickenham, while at the same time being scapegoated as the man who lost the game and the Calcutta Cup for his adopted nation.
Van der Merwe, who at 6ft 4in and nearly 17 stone could easily be mistaken for a lock forward, was roundly criticised for cutting away from the posts rather than towards them when he ran in the try right at the end of the match that took Scotland to within one point of England. Had Finn Russell been able to land a much easier conversion, rather than the difficult kick from far nearer to the touchline than he would have liked, then Scotland would have won. But he missed and they lost. And therein lies the real reason for Scotland’s defeat by a single point.
Russell has gone from hero to zero when it comes to kicking from the tee this season. His erratic form has cost more points than any other front-line kicker in this year’s Six Nations according to Opta stats. In last season’s tournament he missed only one of 24 kicks, but has landed just three from eight in Scotland’s three matchesso far this campaign.
Daylight robbery seems to be the most apt description of England’s showing, assuming members of the daylight robbing community don’t mind being associated with events at Twickenham.
This year’s championship race has turned into a battle of very fine margins between the four nations who were given any chance of winning the title – Wales and Italy regarded, sadly, as no-hopers. And in three of the four matches that haven’t involved either Wales or Italy, the margins have been five points or fewer – making Russell’s misses on Saturday and two misses from the tee by Thomas Ramos in France’s defeat by England the reason why Maro Itoje’s team are still in the running for the title, with their two easiest (on paper) matches to come.
Daylight robbery seems to be the most apt description of England’s showing
Lovable Sir Jim Ratcliffe made a pile with Ineos out of manufacturing things for some useful but pretty unglamorous products – window frames, food packaging, circuit boards, detergents, wind turbine lubricants and the like. So perhaps it’s no wonder that when the chance came to join the uber sexy world of elite sport he went for it like a session man invited to join the Rolling Stones.
But it’s all become a bit messy. Ratcliffe’s sponsorship of F1, America’s Cup sailing and All Black rugby hasn’t turned out too well, bringing the steady arrival of writs through the Ineos front door. And with those sports, you don’t have the eyes of the world on you. With football, the people’s game, the most high profile of all, it’s very different.
So far his stewardship of Manchester United has turned into a morass of bad publicity. Dreary is too kind a word for the way the team is playing, the manager wears the look of a man who’s just been told a plane has crashed on to his family home, and Ratcliffe’s cost-cutting wheezes could scarcely be less popular.
Free lunches have been axed at the Carrington training ground, though you’ll still be able to pick up a bit of fruit after an arduous morning laying out the cones. This is said to be saving up to £1 million a season: all useful dough no doubt, but a candle in the wind compared with the £15 million spent on paying off former manager Erik ten Hag. Or the £4.1 million thrown away in first hiring Dan Ashworth as sporting director, then getting rid of him almost before he’d had a chance to find out where the loos were.
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