6 Nations/ Northern hemisphere Rugby news

[TiGeR]

Andrew named England supremo
18/08/2006 13:06 - (SA)
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London - Newcastle boss Rob Andrew was on Friday named as England's first director of elite rugby.
The former England flyhalf had emerged as favourite for the position ahead of England's World Cup-winning coach Sir Clive Woodward.
The position was created following the Rugby Football Union's review of this year's Six Nations where England finished a lowly fourth.
It is designed to manage all levels of English representative rugby, bridge the impasse between the union and the clubs and ease the pressure on national coach Andy Robinson.
Andrew, capped 71 times by England, will start his new job on September 1 after spending 11 years at Newcastle as rugby director, a reign which included one Premiership title and two English knock-out cup triumphs.
The 43-year-old's appointment ends an exhaustive search by the RFU who were also looking at Woodward and former Australian coach Eddie Jones but Andrew's credentials found favour with the four-man interview panel.
Andrew's role will be to head up a department that includes all England representative teams from the senior side through to the Under-18s, plus national and regional academies, elite referees, sports science and medicine.
Andrew's appointment ends speculation in South African rugby circles that current coach Jake White would quit his Springbok role in favour of a move to England.

[TiGeR]

Three is better than six, says Henry

Friday August 18 2006
European 'rugby standards are not as high'
New Zealand coach Graham Henry reopened the old Northern Hemisphere versus Southern Hemisphere debate on Friday, when he suggested that the north's Six Nations tournament is inferior to the calibre of play in the south's Tri-Nations.

Henry offered his opinion on the eve of the decisive Tri-Nations test between New Zealand and Australia at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday.
The best he could offer the Northern Hemisphere's Six Nations was that it was "very special" in terms of atmosphere.
"I've been involved in both and the [Six Nations] rugby standards are not as high," the former Wales coach told the French news agency AFP.
Henry based his statement on experiences with the Northern Hemisphere top players during his stints as coach of both Welsh and the British & Irish Lions.
Although the level of play in this year's Tri-Nations championship has been widely criticised - with the second Test between Australia and South Africa rated woeful by many commentators - Henry was firm in his condemnation of the Six Nations.
"There's a lot of migration of huge numbers of people every weekend from Wales to Scotland, or England to Ireland or whatever it may be, and I think that gives it a special flavour," he said.
"It's a special tournament but the rugby standards are not as high."
Henry added that the Tri-Nations countries were among the top in the world, a fact reflected in the level of competition.
"When you're playing three games against each of those top teams it becomes major physically and major mentally, so in a rugby sense it's a harder competition," he said.
The IRB World Rankings have the All Blacks on top, followed by Six Nations champions France, then Australia and South Africa followed by Ireland, England and Scotland. Wales are ninth and Italy 12th.
Although the unbeaten All Blacks have beaten Australia twice and South Africa once so far in this year's Tri-Nations series, captain Richie McCaw said there was little separating the three teams.
"It's who turns up ready to play that the difference is. Sometimes the difference between winning and losing is who's right on their game and to turn up thinking it's just going to happen - that's when you come unstuck," McCaw told AFP.