Dylan Hartley expects to start the season with Northampton after taking the summer off to recover from concussion and the England captain is confident the Saints will mount a title challenge after a couple of seasons when they have floundered below the top four. Danny Cipriani faces ban after RFU ignores calls to drop charges…
Month: March 2019
Freddie Burns shows the way forward in Bath’s fruitful trip to Wasps
Redemption for Freddie Burns, relief for Bath. A run of only one win in 12 matches came to an end thanks to this hard-fought victory with Burns the standout performer after scoring his first try since his desperate mistake against Toulouse and all the flak that followed. There can be no doubting Burns relished his…
Ben Earl leads Saracens’ resurgence after Blues threaten unbeaten run
Saracens march on with another half-century, another seven tries and another demonstration of how determined they are to reclaim the Champions Cup trophy. If there was any surprise, it took until the introduction of the 20-year-old back-row Ben Earl early in the second half to turn the match in their favour but, all be told,…
Saracens’ Mark McCall wants solution to ‘complicated’ high-tackle situation
The Saracens director of rugby, Mark McCall, has suggested the introduction of a sanction in between yellow and red cards as a possible solution to the debate currently raging over high tackles. Will Spencer’s red card and subsequent four-week ban for a dangerous tackle during Leicester’s defeat by Wasps last Sunday has polarised opinion between…
RFU ‘perplexed’ at Agustín Pichot’s attempts to reform rugby calendar
The Rugby Football Union is “perplexed” at moves from World Rugby’s vice-chairman, Agustín Pichot, to drastically reform the international calendar by introducing a World League from 2020 onwards. Pichot’s proposal – in which the world’s top 12 teams would compete in an annual tournament switched between hemispheres every November – is set to be discussed…
Charlie Sharples strikes twice as Gloucester rally to sink Bristol
Unbeaten Gloucester clambered to the top of the Premiership after coming from behind to defeat promoted Bristol who made a point even if they returned home without one. The Bears were ultimately undone by their own adventure, conceding two late tries after abortive attacks from their own line, but they had far more about them…
Bristol warn Eddie Jones and England that George Smith is not for hire
Click:Solution to the drum problem of high speed printing press Bristol intend to block any potential attempt by England to recruit the veteran Australian flanker George Smith to help fix their breakdown woes before the autumn internationals. England hopes hit by injuries to Anthony Watson and Jonathan Joseph Smith is well known to Eddie Jones,…
Alex Goode refuses to give up on England World Cup dream
Alex Goode has revealed he has not heard from Eddie Jones for nearly two years but the Saracens full-back has not given up hope of forcing his way into England’s World Cup squad. The 30-year-old was in magical form on Saturday, scoring one try and setting up another three as the champions romped to a…
Leigh Halfpenny to miss Six Nations start with concussion symptoms
Leigh Halfpenny is expected to miss at least the first two Six Nations matches after being told by a specialist he is at least three weeks away from a return from concussion. The Wales and Scarlets full-back was concussed against Australia in November – the fourth time in six years. He has not played since…
‘I hope to be an NFL player in a year’: Christian Wade on his exit from rugby
Christian Wade speaks to the Guardian from the back of a New York cab. Coventry it isn’t but the winger who left Wasps to shoot for the NFL hasn’t entirely succumbed to American glamour. For one thing it is typically bitterly cold. For another, halfway into our second question his car enters the Lincoln Tunnel,…