Andy Farrell insists squad depth will be key to Ireland achieving their dream of World Cup glory after handing opportunities to a number of fringe players for Saturday’s warm-up clash with Italy.
Munster’s Jack Crowley has been selected at fly-half in the absence of the suspended Johnny Sexton, with uncapped trio Ciaran Frawley, Tom Stewart and Calvin Nash among the replacements.
Just three players – centre Robbie Henshaw and back-rowers Caelan Doris and Ryan Baird – have been retained from the XV which began Ireland’s Grand Slam-clinching win over England back in March.
Ulster lock Iain Henderson will captain the side, lining up in the second row alongside Joe McCarthy, who will make his first international start, while wing Jacob Stockdale will play at Test level for the first time in two years.
Head coach Farrell, who is due to cut his 42-man squad down to a final 33 following further fixtures against England and Samoa, wants a full complement of players fit and firing moving towards the tournament in France but dismissed the notion he is experimenting.
“We’re at a stage where we’re all gagging for a game,” he said.
“And you are judging constantly how preparation’s going and trying to balance that out with a side that’s got the experience and youth.
“I’m 100 per cent sure there are some individuals that will take the field saying to themselves that ‘this a big chance and big opportunity for me’.
“You’ve got to surround those people with good enough experienced players as well to be able to judge them properly, so we’re looking forward to that.
“I wouldn’t say we’re experimenting.
“You win World Cups because of the strength of your squad so we’re trying to find out about people that have done so well to get picked in the initial 42 and now they’ve got the opportunity to represent the group.
“They know the expectation of how we want to play and what’s acceptable and what’s not.”
Sexton’s three-match ban has opened the door for rookie number 10s Crowley, Frawley and Ross Byrne to gain some much-needed Test experience during the next month.
In-form Crowley is the first to be handed an opportunity to impress, having starred during his province’s United Rugby Championship success at the end of last season.
“He has been excellent but how that transfers into a performance is different,” Farrell said of Crowley.
“He has been going great. I have seen his confidence grow, obviously from what happened with Munster, being able to help navigate his team through those difficult periods and get some success.
“The minute that selection comes, it’s a different week as far as managing the team and being the main general as far as Jack is concerned.
“We have been keeping a close eye on that and he has been excellent so far.”
Farrell was speaking publicly for the first time since Sexton, who has not played since the Guinness Six Nations due to injury, was hit with a three-match ban for misconduct.
“He’s been all systems go, right from the start,” the Englishman said of his 38-year-old skipper’s performances in training.
“He’s not missed a session, he’s not dropped out of anything. If there was a game two or three weeks ago, he was able to play, no doubt.
“Obviously he’s disappointed not to be able to play in these games but he’s in great form.”
The aptly-named Zarak The Brave had to dig deep to fend off Jesse Evans to land the valuable Guinness Galway Hurdle.
A smart juvenile hurdler last season, some thought he may lack the required experience for such a test but he found plenty for pressure to deny last year’s runner-up, meaning Noel Meade’s Jesse Evans has now been placed in the race three times.
Mighty Tom had taken up the running from Cash Back three out and was still in with a chance when joined at the last.
However, Willie Mullins’ Zarak The Brave took it up under Paul Townend and could not have shown more determination in first fending off My Mate Mozzie, then the late thrust of Sean Flanagan’s mount.
Zarak The Brave (9-2) held on to score by a head from Jesse Evans, with My Mate Mozzie three-quarters of a length further back in third.
It was Mullins’ fifth win in the race since 2016 and his third in the last four years.
Christopher Head felt the tactical nature of the Qatar Nassau Stakes meant Goodwood racegoers did not get to see odds-on favourite Blue Rose Cen at her best.
Blue Rose Cen, who had won both the French 1000 Guineas and French Oaks, got little luck in running under Aurelien Lemaitre and she could finish only fourth behind surprise winner Al Husn.
Lemaitre ended up stuck behind Ryan Moore aboard the eventual runner-up Above The Curve and failed to quicken when the belated gap finally arrived.
Head said: “It was a good opportunity to challenge for a Group One, but things didn’t work out for her. I will have to speak to the owners and we will discuss a plan. It could include the Prix de l’Opéra.”
He went on: “It was a very tactical race so of course it was a possibility that kind of thing could happen. She ran a nice race, she did her race, and for sure would have been closer in a different position.
“I still think Blue Rose Cen ran a very nice race and she will get into the rest of the programme at the end of the season.
“It’s different here, so we need to respect and go into the racing with the fact that, even with a strong possibility of winning, there is still a possibility to fail.”
On Lemaitre having not ridden at Goodwood before, the Chantilly-based handler added: “The Yeguada Centurion team and Leopold (Fernandez Pujals, owner) are always interested in working with the young ones for the future, because it’s important for them to build a team that follows them and we are still working together. Of course, Aurelien was part of the team.
“We will have to discuss with Leopoldo and we will come back with a programme.
“I need to talk to see what the team want to do with her. This was a nice opportunity because we need to exist at that type of race. It hasn’t been won by France since the beginning, so it was still a challenge.”
Nashwa found a combination of soft ground and an extra two furlongs from the Falmouth Stakes, in which she was at her brilliant best, costing her dearly as she finished in third place.
Thady Gosden felt the ground blunted the class of Hollie Doyle’s mount.
He said: “She’s run a very good race, obviously. They went a slow pace and it’s very difficult to pick up in this ground.
“She travelled into the race well but you can’t quicken on ground like this and that’s sucked the class out of her.
“She ran on very well, but she’s a filly who won last over a mile and she showed a brilliant turn of foot there in ground that was soft, but obviously not as soft and easier to quicken through, whereas today she’s run a very good race but couldn’t quite show that brilliance we’ve seen before with her.
“It was a testing mile and a quarter but they didn’t go overly fast in front, and obviously the winner is a very good filly. Hollie gave her a great ride.”
Doyle also pointed to the extra two furlongs not playing to her strengths, with the winner franking the form of their previous clash in the Hoppings Stakes on the all-weather at Newcastle.
She said: “There was no pace early on, but she relaxed beautifully. They got racing early enough coming down the hill and I was just trying to sit and hold on to her as long as I could, and I went there with a double handful at the two-pole.
“A furlong and a half out I went to win my race, pushed the button and she quickened. I just think in the final furlong I lacked a bit of stamina. It’s happened a few times now, and even today I rode her the opposite way and it confirmed what we might have thought.
“Take nothing away from the winner, who is very good.”
Burgeoning Scotland scrum-half Ben White is determined to make a big impact in France for both club and country in the months ahead.
The 25-year-old is set to go to the upcoming World Cup as his nation’s first-choice number nine after starting each of the Six Nations matches earlier this year.
And following the global showpiece in France, he will join up with his new colleagues at Toulon after he signed for the Top 14 outfit last month following the recent financial demise of his previous club London Irish.
“It was a tough time and it’s very sad for a lot of the players and fans and people who have been at the club a long time,” said White, reflecting on his pre-World Cup change in circumstances at club level.
“I guess a lot of the players have been lucky but for the fans their club is gone so from that side of it, it’s very disappointing. But when one door closes, another one opens and to get the opportunity to go to Toulon is one I’ll be very grateful for.
“I want to hopefully have a good World Cup and a good run of games to go to Toulon and put my best foot forward and to play well for them.
“It’s kind of weird how it’s happened, to sign for a club and then not go there (immediately), but (Toulon director of rugby) Pierre Mignoni has messaged me a couple of times to check up on how things are going with me and it’s great to have that communication straight off the bat.
“I’ve been trying to do my French lessons in my downtime and it’s going ok. It’s an awesome opportunity and I’m really excited for it.
“The French absolutely love their rugby, the grounds will be absolutely rammed at the World Cup and the atmosphere they have at the stadiums is one of the things that drew me to Toulon. Getting the opportunity to play for Scotland out there, hopefully, will be amazing.”
White explained that he was always keen on the idea of playing abroad and he feels his move to France will bring out the best in him.
“The Top 14 is one of the best leagues in the world,” he said. “French nines over the years have been nines that have controlled the game and slightly different to England where the 10 would call a lot of things.
“In France, the nines call things and Pierre was a scrum-half so to have the opportunity to work with him was something that excited me. Having a fresh challenge abroad is going to be amazing for me.”
After being rested last weekend as an experimental Scotland side defeated Italy 25-13, White and the rest of Gregor Townsend’s big guns return to the starting XV for this Saturday’s World Cup warm-up match at home to France, just five weeks before the Scots’ first match at the tournament against holders South Africa in Marseille.
“It’s a really exciting period and if we can get a good result against France it gives you a lot of confidence going into the World Cup,” said White. “They’re a tough team with great players so it’s a really exciting challenge for us.
“I absolutely love every minute in a Scotland shirt. Running out at Murrayfield is probably one of the most special things I’ll ever do in my life so when you get the opportunity to do that, you want to make sure you play to the best of your ability.
“I’m very excited to be back doing it this weekend.”
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is relishing the expectation of following up on the club’s latest treble-winning season as he declared he had “unfinished business” in Scottish football.
Rodgers started an incredible run of Celtic winning five trebles in seven seasons when he first arrived in Glasgow in the summer of 2016.
He returns on the back of Ange Postecoglou becoming the third manager to achieve the clean sweep during that run and he did not shy away from the lofty ambitions during his first pre-match media conference of the season.
Ahead of Saturday’s cinch Premiership opener against Ross County, Rodgers addressed the challenge of following up on an impressive campaign which saw Celtic lose only one domestic game before clinching the title.
“I sit here with the knowledge of doing it twice, so I understand what the pitfalls of success are,” said Rodgers, who won all seven trophies he competed for in Scotland first time round.
“In order to have long-term success there are certain elements you need to make sure you guard against. That’s something we have spoken about over pre-season.
“For a club like Celtic it’s always about winning, but winning in the best way that you possibly can.
“That is sometimes harder. When we did the treble the second time, we didn’t amass the same amount of points. Our game wasn’t maybe quite at the same level, but we turned up in the big games and did what we needed to do.
“That will be the idea this season again, to win three trophies, it’s an incredible achievement. But it’s a new season, new motivation and new desires. I am looking forward to challenging for every trophy again.”
Rodgers stressed the need to impose themselves again on the title race rather than hold on to what they had.
“The mentality is, rather then defend it, we want to win it,” he said. “That’s key, we start everything afresh. It was a great achievement last year and years leading up to that but everyone starts with no points at the beginning of the season.
“That’s the excitement for me of coming back here. I always felt I had unfinished business here when I left. But I am so happy to be here and really happy to take on that pressure and expectation that comes from managing Celtic.”
Celtic have added five new signings after losing only one key player, Jota, since Rodgers took over, but the manager is keen to make sure they do not stand still.
“There are clear positions that are priorities that we would like to improve on but the team and the squad was in a really good position,” the former Leicester manager said. “I was fresh in so I needed to assess that over a period of time.
“Over time we will look to improve the squad further because it’s the best time to do it, whenever you have had success, because success is that moving target.
“It keeps moving and the challenges this year will be even greater, so we have to ensure we have a squad that can match that.”
Both Cameron Carter-Vickers and Anthony Ralston could feature against County after getting their first 45 minutes of pre-season action against Athletic Bilbao on Tuesday following injury.
“Both those players came through really well during the week which is great news for us,” Rodgers said.
“They are back with the squad. They probably aren’t as up to speed as some of the other boys but they still look in very good condition, so we will take a look at them on Friday.”
Al Husn upset Blue Rose Cen and Nashwa to lift the Qatar Nassau Stakes at Goodwood.
Christopher Head’s Blue Rose Cen was the 10-11 favourite to add to her Classic wins on home soil in the French 1000 Guineas and French Oaks, with last year’s Nassau heroine Nashwa rated her main threat.
Above The Curve, trained by Joseph O’Brien and ridden by Ryan Moore, made much of the running and it was from the cut-away in the home straight that drama began to unfold.
French jockey Aurelien Lemaitre, riding at Goodwood for the first time, went for a gap on the far rail aboard Blue Rose Cen, but it was firmly and swiftly slammed in his face by Moore, leaving the market leader all dressed up with nowhere to go in behind.
Hollie Doyle, meanwhile, kept out of trouble aboard Nashwa and she looked likely to follow up her latest Group One triumph in last month’s Falmouth Stakes after quickening up smartly to move to the heels of the leaders.
But her effort flattened in the final furlong, and she was unable to get by the front-running Above The Curve, with Roger Varian’s Al Husn, who beat Nashwa in a Group Three at Newcastle on her most recent outing, also in there pitching.
Ridden by Jim Crowley, Al Husn knuckled down to beat Above The Curve by half a length, with Nashwa the same distance further back in third and Blue Rose Cen close behind her in fourth.
The victory was the latest in a rollercoaster few days for Crowley, after receiving a 20-day suspension and £10,000 following his winning ride aboard Hukum in the same colours in last weekend’s King George at Ascot.
England batting great David Gower described Stuart Broad's Ashes send-off as "the stuff of legend" after he delivered two crucial wickets to level the series on the final outing of his career.
Broad announced the fifth Test against Australia would be his last match as a professional cricketer on Saturday, before ending his glittering career on a high two days later.
With England requiring two late wickets on day five to level the series at 2-2, Broad dismissed Todd Murphy and Alex Carey to deny Australia a first series win on English soil since 2001.
The 37-year-old ends his career with 604 Test wickets, a tally only bettered by long-time team-mate James Anderson (690) among England players.
Asked about Broad's remarkable final outing, former England skipper Gower told Stats Perform: "Stuart's finished as anyone would like to, on a high, on an absolute high.
"The Ashes has probably been his specialist subject, but he's taken wickets all around the world. His record, of course, is absolutely outstanding, bettered only by Jimmy Anderson.
"His last shot being a six over deep midwicket, then to finish with the two wickets that wrapped up the game at The Oval… that is the stuff of legend.
"Most of us go out without that script, most of us have to slink off having had a pretty bad day!
"To go [out] on a highlight… that is a privilege accorded to very, very few. Alastair Cook did it at The Oval, others have done it at The Oval. The gods are looking after you when you have that sort of finish.
"I think for so many players, whatever else happens elsewhere in the world, if you are good at The Ashes – because of the history that comes with it – that stays in your memory forever.
"I was very lucky to have a pretty good record in The Ashes as a batsman, and that's something I'm very proud of. Stuart can be equally proud about the way he succeeded and the way he played.
"We will always miss great players. When England next take to the field in a test match in India or next summer back here against different opposition, [we'll] be looking at the England eleven and thinking, 'I wish we still had Stuart' because people really enjoyed the way he played the game."
Broad's total of 153 wickets in Ashes series is the best of any England bowler, with only Australia pair Shane Warne (195) and Glenn McGrath (157) boasting more dismissals.
Meanwhile, fellow bowling great Anderson has refuted suggestions he could follow Broad into retirement, saying his team-mate's exit has made his own desire to play on "even more firm".
Reflecting on the duo's incredible Test records, Gower added: "What will stay indelibly in black ink is that record.
"The records of the game will show him [Broad] with 600-odd wickets in a lot of Test matches, 600 wickets for a seam bowler of his ilk is a lot of wickets.
"Jimmy Anderson is ahead in that game, and he is even more incredible for his longevity. Jimmy is saying, 'I don't want to give up, I'm only 41!'
"It's an extraordinary thing for him to be quite so fit and strong and capable at that age as a quick bowler.
"Both of them will look back as their lives develop, and there will always be those figures in the book."
Marcus Rashford has revealed how Wayne Rooney is willing him to break his Manchester United goalscoring record.
Rooney tops the list of all-time scorers at Old Trafford with 253, but having recently signed a new five-year contract, 25-year-old Rashford looks in a good position to one day overhaul that tally.
The 30 goals he scored last season, which was the most prolific campaign of his career, saw him move to 123 and more look set to follow with Erik ten Hag seemingly unlocking Rashford’s full potential.
And Rashford says the man whose record he wants to take is cheering him on.
Asked by Gary Neville on the Overlap, in partnership with Sky Bet, whether he can surpass Rooney’s record, he said: “Hopefully I will.
“You never know what’s going to happen, but I’m all about scoring goals and trying to make assists. There’s definitely a chance that it can happen.
“I’ve actually spoken to Wazza about it – he wants me to do it.
“He said it would be good for me to do it as I’ve grown up at the club. Hopefully I get the opportunity to try and make it happen.”
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After such a prolific season last term, Rashford believes he could hit 40 goals if he can stay fit in the forthcoming season.
“Before last season, I always said let’s get to 20 – for a winger a good benchmark,” he added. “But this season, I’ve hit 30 so we have to try and push it now and go above and beyond.
“Towards the end of the season, I was struggling with a few injuries, and I probably wasn’t quite at it – that’s when the goals started to dry up a little bit.
“If I can keep that side of it under taps, I feel like I can go on and get 35 or 40.”
United look well placed to finally start challenging again under Ten Hag’s strict regime.
Rashford felt the force of the disciplinarian last season when he was dropped from the starting XI for the game at Wolves after being late for a team meeting.
The forward came off the bench to score the winner in a 1-0 victory, but revealed he was just one minute late.
“I learned from pre-season, a couple of the lads were late and it was important to implement his rules there and then,” said Rashford, who also “100 per cent” agreed with Ten Hag’s decision.
“I wasn’t even that late – I don’t think he was being harsh, late is late – but it was probably about 45 seconds, a minute late.
“I already knew what was going to happen because of the rules he implemented in pre-season.
“I am not going to sit and argue about it, because we’ve got a game to win. There is a time and place to speak to him, but if we win the game nobody really cares.”
An all-round performance from Sunil Narine propelled the Oval Invincibles to a three-wicket win over the London Spirit in their Hundred fixture at Lord’s on Wednesday.
First, Narine starred with the ball after his Invincibles won the toss and elected to field first.
In his 20 balls, Narine took 2-14 to help restrict the Spirit to 131 from their 100 balls.
Adam Rossington led the way for the Spirit with 39 while Matthew Wade hit 37.
The Invincibles then reached 132-7 with only one ball to spare. Sam Curran hit 34 while Captain Sam Billings made 25.
Narine hit 13 from five balls including the winning runs. Daniel Worrall, Jordan Thompson and Nathan Ellis all took two wickets, each, for the Spirit.
Retiring playmaker David Silva should be remembered as one of the best players to grace the Premier League, according to his former Manchester City team-mate Joleon Lescott.
Real Sociedad midfielder Silva announced his retirement at the age of 37 last Thursday, having suffered a serious knee injury in pre-season training.
Prior to joining La Real in 2020, Silva won four Premier League titles and seven domestic cups during a memorable spell at the Etihad Stadium, where he has since been honoured with a statue.
Silva – who also won the 2010 World Cup and two European Championship titles with Spain – led all Premier League players for assists (89) and chances created (768) during the decade between 2010 and 2020.
Having played alongside Silva between 2010 and 2014, former City defender Lescott believes Silva deserves to be seen as a Premier League great.
"When he joined he was obviously a World Cup winner and a Euros winner, and he turned out to be an iconic Premier League player, one of the best to ever grace the Premier League," Lescott told Stats Perform.
"I think we all are aware of what his qualities were on the pitch, but what a guy. What a human being. My biggest compliment to David is that he's equally as good a person as he is a player."
City have lost two further club icons during the current transfer window, with Ilkay Gundogan joining Barcelona on a free transfer and Riyad Mahrez signing for Saudi side Al Ahli in a £30million deal.
Lescott believes the duo will be missed by Pep Guardiola's treble winners, adding: "The qualities they'll bring to their new teams are obvious.
"They have superior technical ability. Ilkay is recognised as one of the best leaders in the squad. Riyad is obviously one of the most skilful.
"They'll bring that to their new teams but they'll be sorely missed, not just because of their ability on the pitch, but [because of] what they brought to the dressing room and what they were to City's fanbase."
Having delivered the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup trophies last term, Guardiola is looking to lead City to a fourth successive top-flight title this season.
Asked about Guardiola's impact on English football, Lescott said: "He's obviously changed the game, he's revolutionised different positions, the way we look at it and the way we view it.
"Every country he's managed in, I think they've tried to adapt throughout the leagues, and that's the biggest compliment for Pep.
"Now in England there are multiple teams in multiple leagues that want to play the way they see Man City play."
Desert Hero emerged as a genuine Classic prospect for the King and Queen as he followed up his famous Royal Ascot success by landing the John Pearce Racing Gordon Stakes at Goodwood.
The William Haggas-trained three-year-old raised the roof when carrying the royal silks to victory in the King George V Stakes, providing the King and Queen with their first winner at the showpiece meeting.
He had more to do stepping up to Group Three level, but proved up to the task under a typically well-judged ride from Tom Marquand.
A field of six runners set out to tackle the mile-and-a-half contest, with James Doyle intent on making every yard of the running aboard Chesspiece.
One by one his challengers came and went, but Marquand always looked confident in behind and after negotiating his way out of a pocket, Desert Hero powered home to get up and score by a neck.
The winner was cut to 6-1 from 16-1 by Betfair for the St Leger at Doncaster in September, a race the late Queen won in her Silver Jubilee year of 1977 with Dunfermline.
Warren Gatland has backed Wales to do “something pretty special” at the World Cup in France.
Wales face England in their opening tournament warm-up game on Saturday after winning just two of the last 10 Tests.
A miserable Six Nations campaign produced a fifth-placed finish, while player contracts, financial issues throughout Welsh professional rugby and the threat of a players’ strike significantly compounded matters.
Wales have also dropped to ninth in World Rugby’s official rankings and seen talismanic figures like Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric and Rhys Webb all retire from international rugby since the end of last season.
Head coach Gatland, though, has delivered an upbeat message ahead of Wales’ preparation games against England home and away, plus South Africa, before a tough World Cup opener against Fiji in Bordeaux on September 10.
Asked if he relished Wales being written off, Gatland said: “Yeah. Continue to do it because it’s only going to make us stronger.
“I am really excited. I’m telling you this team will do something pretty special.
“I think if I look back on the Six Nations and all the things that were going on, I probably needed to let things unfold a bit and not be as direct or demanding as I might have normally been.
“The fact that things have settled down and a lot of new players have come in, the way that we’ve been so much more accountable for how we do things and demanding standards, that has been brilliant.
“As a group, we are in a good place. I promise you now, we will surprise some people.”
Wales’ training squad experienced punishing training camps in Switzerland and Turkey during the past month and Gatland will parade three news caps – Max Llewellyn, Corey Domachowski and Keiron Assiratti – among a starting line-up captained for the first time by flanker Jac Morgan.
“I have got to say that I am incredibly impressed with this group of players in the last eight weeks,” Gatland added.
“They are in great shape physically. I couldn’t have asked for any more.
“They have been to the well and had to dig deep with everything we’ve put them through. They have been absolutely brilliant.
“We’ve had tough sessions, but come out the other side. The hardest thing is naming the 33 (final World Cup squad). There will be some real tough calls.”
Gatland, meanwhile, says he can see a likeness between 23-year-old Morgan and Sam Warburton, who was appointed Wales skipper ahead of World Cup in 2011 at the age of 22.
Other leadership candidates will also be assessed during the warm-up schedule, but Morgan has first opportunity to put down a marker.
“He is a fantastic individual and he is respected in the group. He has got a big future for Wales,” Gatland said.
“He doesn’t say a lot or talk a lot, a bit like Sam Warburton. He does his talking out there and leads by example.
“We went to Turkey last week and took a referee out there with us to do some live stuff.
“One of the comments from him (referee) was that some of the interaction from Jac was really impressive. He was asking good, positive questions and that was probably an indication that we had made the right call.”
Gatland, meanwhile, has also hailed full-back Leigh Halfpenny, who will become the ninth player to win 100 Wales caps when he runs out against England.
“He will be leading the side out,” Gatland added. “He is driven and he is a role model for everyone coming through who looks up to him.
“If you are talking about role models as a professional, you could not get a harder worker than Leigh Halfpenny in terms of how he prepares.
“The analysis, training and recovery. He is the ultimate professional.”
England cannot claim a "moral victory" over Australia in this year's "outstanding" Ashes series, which ranks among the best ever played in the view of former skipper David Gower.
Rain during the fourth Test at Old Trafford ruined England's hopes of teeing up a decider at The Oval, though Stuart Broad's heroics did at least allow them to level the series at 2-2 with victory in the fifth Test.
While England's wait to recapture the urn continues, supporters and players took solace in denying Australia a first series win on English soil since 2001.
Captain Ben Stokes said he was "proud" of England's performances after the fifth Test, describing the draw as a "fair reflection" of the series as a whole.
While Gower agrees with that assessment, he does not believe England will be alone in wondering what might have been.
"Let's not talk about moral victories, that's just a red herring," he told Stats Perform. "It's 2-2, that's how it'll stand in history forever.
"I think it's a fair reflection. If you talk to people in Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Perth and all the rest of Australia, they will say Australia could have won it.
"It's a certainty that if you talk to people in the United Kingdom, they will look at all the things that could have been slightly different.
"They'll look at the weather in Manchester and say we had the moral victory."
Gower added: "I guess what's fair to say is that England were destroying one of the best bowling attacks in world cricket at Old Trafford.
"That assault at Manchester was awesome. If you want to talk about moral victories, maybe that's the one place you're allowed the leniency to say that."
Gower believes the series' many twists and turns should ensure it is remembered as one of the most entertaining of the modern era.
"This is right up there with the great series, or at least the ones in living memory – I can't go back to beyond the 1930s," he added.
"I was part of the 1981 series, which was [Ian] Botham's Ashes, Botham and [Bob] Willis's Ashes in many ways. That was a brilliant, brilliant series to be part of.
"Then 2005 was outstanding, we had some fantastic performances there. Great drama, great theatre, and this year was certainly up there for drama and theatre. You can argue about the overall quality, but there were some stunning performances.
"You look at the human error… at the end of it all, you can imagine that the results – English fans would say – could have been very different. If only.
"But the Aussies will say the same. Rain at Manchester, who'd have thought it? Weather in England… you have to factor these things in at some stage.
"At the end of it, I would say that the quality of the cricket between the two teams was outstanding."
Gower feels much of the series' intrigue came from a clash of styles, with England's aggressive approach under Brendon McCullum contrasting sharply with Australia's more conservative way of playing.
"Before the series started, there was an element of it being a clash of cultures," he said. "The so-called 'Bazball' against the more traditional way that Australia play.
"Sides have to play the way their players play best. England have a lot of gifted batsmen who have the capacity to force the pace, as per 'Bazball'.
"Australia have batsman, for instance like Usman Khawaja, who will just stay at the crease and make runs in quantities and buy time, use time. He was outstanding as well throughout the series."
Vandeek looked an exciting prospect in confirming the promise of his successful racecourse debut with a comprehensive victory in the Markel Richmond Stakes at Goodwood.
Simon and Ed Crisford’s grey justified cramped odds on his introduction at Nottingham a fortnight ago and was the 11-8 favourite taking a swift step up to Group Two level, in a race that had seen the withdrawal of likely market leader Jasour.
Ridden with plenty of confidence by Andrea Atzeni, Vandeek was initially settled in behind the pacesetting Toca Madera before being switched to the far side of the track to throw down his challenge.
A smart change of gear propelled him clear of the chasing pack and he only needed to pushed out hands and heels in the closing stages to score by a comfortable length.
Atzeni said: “He looked pretty special when he won first time out at Nottingham.
“Obviously when you step up to this level, you never know how good you are until you try. He’s got a bit of a pedigree, he’s obviously improved since Nottingham and he showed today how good he is.
“He’s a very smart colt and I think he is a very good horse. He’s won at Group Two level now, he’s going to go up one way to Group One level and I can’t see why he wouldn’t be good enough.”
Vandeek looks set for an immediate tilt at Group One company in France later in the month.
“Nothing really took him into the race for as long as we would like today, he was in front too soon and he sorted of idled when he hit the front,” said Simon Crisford.
“I think there’s tons of improvement to come and I think we’ll head for the Prix Morny on August 19. Obviously that is dependent on Sheikh Khalid’s wishes, but he likes to be bold and brave and I’m sure he will want to go for the Group One.
“We don’t know how this form is going to stack up, the Prix Morny is going to be an altogether different kind of a race.
“Stamina-wise, he’s of out an Exceed And Excel mare, there’s tons of speed in his pedigree but he strikes us at home like he will go further. He’s big, scopey, he stands over a lot of daylight – he will stay.”
Ballymount Boy outran odds of 25-1 with an excellent effort to fill the runner-up spot, with Toca Madera five lengths further back in third.
Ballymount Boy’s trainer, Adrian Keatley, said: “He didn’t help himself early on – he was a bit slow away and slow to get into his stride, but he’s a fair horse and we were expecting that kind of run from him.
“We’ll see where we go with him next, but we might contemplate going seven furlongs.
“He’s a proper horse now, he’s a Group horse for sure, so onwards and upwards.”
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