The new Premiership season kicks off at Ashton Gate on Friday when promoted Bristol meet Bath. The clubs are run by the two richest men involved in the game, whose combined wealth is more than £2bn, but 21 years on from the tournament’s launch clubs remain mired in debt and the game is still a…
Month: March 2019
Bernard Foley dropped by Wallabies as Israel Folau proves fitness
Australia coach Michael Cheika sprung a selection surprise by dropping flyhalf Bernard Foley to the bench and installing Kurtley Beale into the playmaker role for Saturday’s Rugby Championship Test against South Africa in Brisbane. Australia opened the tournament with back-to-back defeats to New Zealand and Foley was among a number of Wallabies under pressure following…
Warren Gatland puts faith in Liam Williams at full-back against Springboks
It is a measure of the faith Warren Gatland has in his revitalised Wales that they will go into an autumn international against a tier-one nation without the goal-kicking security of Leigh Halfpenny or Dan Biggar in the starting XV for the first time since 2010 when they face South Africa on Saturday. Wales’ Leigh…
Champions Cup pool-by-pool preview: Burns given chance of redemption
Pool One Bath ready to make unprecedented request for Toulouse replay Freddie Burns gets an instant chance to make amends and starts for Bath at fly-half a week after his horror show against Toulouse. Bath’s other 10, Rhys Priestland, is absent, having picked up a knee ligament injury which has ruled him out for up…
Dismal Australia fail to answer Michael Cheika’s demand for swagger
These are grim times for Australia. Outfought and outthought at the fag-end of a trying season, their annus horribilis ended in dismal fashion. The numbers tell the story – six straight defeats by England, nine losses in 2018 and their worst calendar year for more than half a century. Michael Cheika had called for some…
London Irish to leave Madejski and share with Brentford at new stadium
London Irish will play their home games at the new Brentford Community Stadium from 2020. The Championship leaders have reached an agreement with Brentford Football Club to play at the west London stadium, which is currently under construction and will have a capacity of 17,250. It is due to open in 2020. ‘He doesn’t play…
Katy Daley-Mclean helps England over line after Canada revival
England’s women, who had blown the USA away in a gale nine days earlier, were forced to dig deeper in the sunshine in Doncaster on Sunday. The Red Roses left the white rose county with a second victory of their three-match autumn series but Canada, ranked fourth in the world, threatened an upset on the…
George North try sparks Wales victory over Scotland in Doddie Weir Cup
Another Wales-Scotland match in Cardiff, another Wales win. This, the 10th such victory in a row, will resonate least of the recent run, sneaked in at an unfamiliar time of year, the selections compromised, the motives suspect. The really important matter lay beyond rugby. The match will be remembered for the inauguration of the Doddie…
Ireland’s Jordan Larmour overwhelms Italy with Chicago hat-trick
The Ireland full-back Jordan Larmour scored a hat-trick of tries and the lock Tadhg Beirne two as Joe Schmidt’s side hammered Italy 54-7 in Chicago. Schmidt omitted many of the players who won the Six Nations grand slam this year and the Italians made it tough in the opening period, despite Beirne scoring in the…
Handré Pollard’s 18 points guide South Africa to narrow victory over Scotland
Scotland’s hopes of a first win against the Springboks in eight years were alive right until the last seconds of an engrossing encounter but in the end South African power and precision prevailed. The teams scored two tries apiece but the visiting side were never behind, and in Handré Pollard they had the game’s dominant…