Leinster meet the Scarlets in the semi-finals of the European Champions Cup at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday. The ground will be full, as it would be were its capacity closer to Twickenham’s 82,000 than below 52,000. Irish rugby is where the game in Wales aspires to be and Europe was the vehicle that drove…
Category: Rugby
Finals between leading four teams bring curtain down on bruising season
The season, domestically at least, ends this weekend. As it came in, so it goes out with players queuing for surgery. Artificial pitches have come under scrutiny after Jack Willis, John Barclay and Steffon Armitage suffered leg injuries in the last month that will keep them out of action for between six months and a…
Nathan Hughes is fit to replace injured Sam Simmonds for England
England have lost one No 8 but gained another before the Calcutta Cup match against Scotland in Edinburgh next week. Exeter’s Sam Simmonds, one of his country’s most effective players this month, is set to miss Murrayfield after sustaining a shoulder injury against Wales on Saturday but Wasps’ Nathan Hughes is fit again and could make…
Wayne Pivac says Scarlets have no worries about facing Leinster in Dublin
Scarlets’ head coach, Wayne Pivac, says the prospect of facing Leinster in Dublin holds no fears for his players and has questioned whether the Irish province will derive any huge benefit from the choice of the less-than-neutral Aviva Stadium as the venue for Saturday’s European Champions Cup semi-final. The Welsh region secured last season’s Pro12…
Newcastle’s Dean Richards: I’ve absolutely no interest in England job
Dean Richards has stated he has “absolutely no interest” in being England’s head coach, suggesting he would not last a week in the job. Richards’s stock has soared after guiding Newcastle to the play-offs and on Thursday he was named the Premiership’s director of rugby of the season, 17 years after he last won the…
France 22-16 England: how the players rated in the Six Nations game
France Hugo Bonneval 5 Couldn’t repeat his thrilling form against Italy after departing for a head injury assessment. He didn’t return after the break. Benjamin Fall 6 Denied a try by Anthony Watson’s high tackle but the resulting penalty try turned the game France’s way just after the break. Mathieu Bastareaud 7 The biggest back…
Dan Cole looks to Europe after telling Leicester a few home truths
Dan Cole is not one to waste words. As the Leicester and England prop reflects on his first season with the club he joined 12 years ago that has not ended with a place in the play-offs, he offers a succinct summation: not good enough. Successive home defeats by Northampton, who had previously won only one…
England’s Kyle Sinckler: ‘I don’t want to lose the fire in my belly’
Click:Canada nicotine Pouches Whenever Eddie Jones is asked about England’s strength in depth he has only to count to three before expressing his concerns. Tighthead prop has always been the position he feels is most problematic and when England board the plane to South Africa at the start of next month, nowhere will the inexperience…
Big six who have stamped their authority on the Six Nations so far
Aaron Shingler Age 30, Wales, flanker, caps 15 Much of the attention paid to Wales before the start of the tournament fixated on a long injury list that had claimed most of their Lions. It was expected to curse their tournament but, although the foot infection that forced Leigh Halfpenny out of the side who…
Mark McCafferty: ‘The overall environment is one of careful confidence’
Last weekend Saracens won the Premiership for the third time in four seasons but in the tournament’s 20th anniversary a much-changed landscape has retained a feature that stood out in 1997. Most clubs are losing money and Nigel Wray, chairman of the champions, will be writing a cheque for a couple of million pounds this…