Michael Aylwin

Rugby Correspondent and Writer at The Guardian

Rugby Correspondent and Writer at The Observer

‘Journalistic but worthy of consideration’ - Lord Myners. ‘Unholy Union’ here https://t.co/CE2041UU4w My novel 'Ivon' there https://t.co/06puiZoUqA

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Articles

Feyi-Waboso sees red before France XV stun England XV at the last

6 days ago | theguardian.com | Michael Aylwin

In the end, they couldn’t even come away with the win. On a thoroughly muted afternoon in a stadium barely a third full, an England XV contrived to lose to a France XV even further from full strength than their hosts. Romain Taofifénua crashed over from close range to clinch the match with an equally uninspiring try. Worse, England will lose the services of a player only just making his comeback from a long absence.
Bath’s treble win blends yesteryear charm with the recently unthinkable | Michael Aylwin

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Michael Aylwin

At the 29th time of asking, Bath are champions of England once more. At five to five on a sunny afternoon here, Ben Spencer passed to Finn Russell – the married couple, as their coach, Johann van Graan, likes to call them – and Russell kicked it somewhere, anywhere but on the pitch to put an end to decades of pain out west.
Inspired Perese try edges Leicester past Sale and into Premiership final

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Michael Aylwin

And so it is the two grand old clubs of English rugby. Leicester will face off against Bath at Twickenham next Saturday – and the rest of us will have to check which century we are in. Leicester, admittedly, have featured far more among the honours this millennium, which is to say at all, than their arch rivals from the West Country, who so dominated the 1980s and 1990s.
Ibitoye double fires Bristol past Harlequins to clinch playoff tie at Bath

3 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Michael Aylwin

A long way, still, from a first English title maybe, but Bristol stared down their darkest demons in the sunshine at Ashton Gate. No, no, not again, all but the most phlegmatic of a raucous crowd must have been thinking, as Harlequins threatened to overturn Bristol’s early lead in all-too-familiar style, midway through the second half.
Bristol feel playoff pressure as Premiership finale promises tries

4 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Michael Aylwin

There will be tries. That is hardly a revolutionary prediction in a sport that has long since rained down on us the 21st century’s manna of entertainment at all costs, but even by those standards this weekend’s last round of the Premiership promises bounty. The science of prediction is at best hit and miss, but one blind alley all too many “experts” get lost down is consideration of tactics, gameplans and the like, when all that really matters is a team’s motivation.
Exhausted Saints fall short again as Bordeaux’s colour and passion wins out | Michael Aylwin

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Michael Aylwin

A new name is on the cup. They reckon Union Bordeaux Bègles are the best-supported rugby union club in the world. To be in Cardiff was not to be disabused of the notion. Rugby is massive in France, on a par with football, and bigger in the southern half of the country. It creates a different kind of animal. Northampton were proud, brave, inventive – but in the end overpowered. The narrative was wild and, Saints might say, liable to have gone either way.
All aboard for glory? Bath hope their trophy buses are finally on schedule

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Michael Aylwin

Trophies. They are like bloody buses. Or at least that is what Bath fans must be hoping. They wait 17 years for one, and along come …We are about to find out how many. One has just been. The Premiership Cup pulled up in March to fairly inconsequential fanfare. But it looks as if another, the Challenge Cup, is waiting just a stop away, before we turn our attention to a third, the Premiership, timetabled for the middle of June – but you know what these bloody buses are like.
Saints’ fightback defies Itoje and provides perfect Champions Cup final sendoff

1 month ago | msn.com | Michael Aylwin

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Saints’ fightback defies Itoje and provides perfect Champions Cup final sendoff | Michael Aylwin

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Michael Aylwin

It ended with the Lions captain in forlorn negotiation with the referee. Australians may be encouraged that Maro Itoje was unable to work his magic to save Saracens’ match, to save their season. They desperately needed the win – in a way that Northampton did not – but they were staring down the barrel of the most dramatic of last-minute defeats, 28-24, courtesy of Tarek Haffar’s second try.
Cadan Murley hat-trick lifts Harlequins and shatters Gloucester’s playoff dream

1 month ago | msn.com | Michael Aylwin

Microsoft Cares About Your PrivacyMicrosoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.