Neil Back

After the summer exploits against the Barbarians and back-to-back games against Argentina, it was a disappointing summer for England. The loss to the Barbarians was followed by a good victory at home, albeit at Old Trafford, and then they travelled away and losing there was a big dent to England's...More

30 comments

There has been a lot of talk about injury problems in rugby, but injuries are inevitable in this sport. Most squads have between 32 and 35 players with a group of development/academy players to supplement the programme. The emphasis has got to be with the management of players and their...More

7 comments

I said in my last blog that I believe England can beat the Wallabies and, judging where they are at the moment, I think two wins out of three this autumn will be a reasonable return.There may be a few new faces in the England set-up but they have a...More

11 comments

It's no secret that Martin Johnson's choices have been severely curtailed by injuries ahead of the opening autumn international with Australia. His team is what it is because of the situation.As always, there are a few positions that could have gone the other way, and I think James Haskell has...More

4 comments

Warren Gatland has come out and said that the Premiership is the weakest he has ever seen and while everybody is entitled to their opinion, I cannot say that I agree with him. For me, the Premiership is the most competitive club competition in the world. It is a long...More

10 comments

Managing expectations ahead of England's autumn internationals always had to be a careful process even before Martin Johnson had a spate of withdrawals.Last year there was a lot of hope before the games and there ended up being some disappointing results. However, you saw a style of play beginning to...More

3 comments

Injuries have become the hot topic in rugby recently, especially after the experiences of England and Wales ahead of next month's internationals. Martin Johnson will be without 12 players for England's opener with Australia, while Warren Gatland is missing a handful of key starters for their clash with the All Blacks.It...More

4 comments

I had the pleasure of attending a dinner in honour of Ian McGeechan earlier this week and it struck me that the great man is the ideal candidate to take over at Quins. Geech played for Headingley during his club career and it is a mark of his standing in...More

3 comments

There were some surprise results in the opening round of the Heineken Cup during which a number of young England players caught my eye. London Irish's victory in Leinster may not have produced any tries but it was enthralling none the less. It was a high pressure game and Ryan...More

1 comments