Warren Gatland has not abandoned hope of being able to select his Lions scrum-half Rhys Webb for the World Cup next year. Under an agreement between the Welsh Rugby Union and its four regions, the 29-year-old Webb is an outcast at international level after turning down the opportunity to remain in Wales and joining Toulon…
Category: Rugby
Leinster strengthen Champions Cup credentials with 27-point win over Bath
The two greatest teams of European rugby, with four titles apiece, will now go head to head at the top of Pool 1. Leinster remain the favourites, despite trailing Toulouse by two points. The Irishmen were unplayable on Saturday, dismissing Bath with enough ease to look contemptuous. Theirs is home advantage in the next round…
Bristol no pushovers as Ian Madigan punishes Quins’ ill-discipline
They are not going to be easy to beat here. Bristol’s second home match of their return to the Premiership did not throb with the intensity of their first, but on a relentlessly wet day they showed they could play with a panache to match the passion. Time and again, though, they spilt the slippery…
Sale captain Jono Ross: it’s far too early to talk about relegation
It may be too early in the season to describe Sunday’s meeting of Leicester and Sale at Welford Road as an eight-pointer but with the Manchester club starting the fifth round at the bottom of the Premiership and the Tigers having the worst defensive record after the opening four rounds, there will be little comfort…
Israel Folau commits to Super Rugby with four year Waratahs deal
Israel Folau is set to play for Australia to the end of 2022 after reportedly signing a four-year contract extension with Rugby Australia, the Wallabies and NSW Waratahs. The 29-year-old superstar put pen to paper on the new deal some time ago, but Rugby Australia and Waratahs have kept the announcement under wraps, Fairfax reports….
Duncan Weir rampant as Worcester undo Leicester’s comeback at the last
For a club with Leicester’s proud history and rich tradition these are concerning days. Beaten at home by the Premiership’s bottom club, four tries conceded inside the first 36 minutes and booed off by sections of the crowd at half-time. A stirring second‑half revival could not mask the grim fact the Tigers have shipped 40…
Owen Farrell: ‘Confidence can be elusive – you don’t know you’ve lost it’
“The thing I liked about it most,” Owen Farrell says, “was having a look at yourself and what you’re doing. Seeing and understanding how things happened.” On the verge of a new year, after a tumultuous 2018 in which he became England’s captain amid the team losing five Tests in a row following a winning…
Neath survive winding-up petition but doubts persist over club’s future
Neath survived a winding-up petition at a court hearing in Cardiff on Thursday but the future of Wales’ oldest club remains uncertain after a judgment that was greeted with dismay by supporters. Neath were sued for £31,000 by a company that loaned the club money earlier this year to help it meet its wage bill…
Adam Hastings steers Glasgow past Cardiff in farcical clash of the kits
Glasgow blew away the Blues with two tries before some of the crowd had settled in their seats – and blue was the colour on an afternoon when it was so hard to tell the players apart that one of them later tore a strip off the tournament organisers. Kick-chasers and counterattackers were confused because…
Eddie Jones: Pressure all on Ireland in Six Nations opener against England
Eddie Jones says the pressure will be on Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday when England aim to become the first visiting country to win there since the autumn of 2016. Champions Ireland have won their last 12 home matches, beating all the other tier-one nations in that run, and they have not lost…