PLENTY OF INTEREST IN STUDENT SHOWDOWNS
Talking Grassroots with PHIL HODGSON
THE Student Four Nations Championship, which start on Sunday (June 29) and will be held in Nottingham, promises to be the most entertaining for years.
In one sense that shouldn’t perhaps be too hard as both Ireland and Scotland withdrew last year, leaving England and Wales playing each other once at home and once away.
Twelve months earlier Wales (who I expect to challenge strongly this time) propped up the standings, having been unable to raise a side in 2022, when only three teams contested the title in Ireland.
Given an inevitably high turnover of players it’s only to be expected, I suppose, that the fortunes of all four teams can fluctuate relatively dramatically, and sometimes do.
But there are some wily coaches involved, not least, happily, Clive Griffiths, who is back at the helm at Wales, proving that the former St Helens and Wales fullback is one of those men who puts much more back into the game than he took out.