Here's to a Resolution Against Elvs and That Endless Kicking

Summary

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BRIAN Ashton recently opined that too much attention has been paid to gym work and physical conditioning at the expense of practising skills. No doubt this was necessary in the early years after the game went professional. Nowadays, however, we no longer see northern hemisphere teams being outmuscled by New Zealand and South Africa.

When we lose (as we do) it's because their mastery of the basic skills of the game is superior to ours. Admittedly professional players today are far more skilful in most respects than their amateur predecessors, handling for instance being hugely improved. Indeed the same may be said of the upper reaches of the club game here in Scotland.

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Extract

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Here's to a Resolution Against Elvs and That Endless Kicking

Nevertheless it's still striking how often what one would consider to be basic skills are lacking, the inability of so many international backs to kick with either foot being only the most obvious.

I suspec...

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