Steven Luatua has given up any hope of playing again for the All Blacks by signing a two-year contract extension with Bristol in the belief that the Bears will soon challenge for the Premiership title. Matt Symons: ‘I was eligible to play for New Zealand but I am English’ The other end of the table…
Leicester sack head coach Matt O’Connor after first match of the season
The season is barely one game old but Leicester have already seen enough to persuade them to part company with their head coach, Matt O’Connor. The Australian has left Welford Road with immediate effect in the wake of the Tigers’ 40-6 opening weekend mauling at Exeter. Even by the increasingly brutal standards of professional sport…
Bristol Bears’ success key to future of promotion, says Nigel Melville
Bristol’s first season back in the Premiership is likely to have a significant bearing on whether the top flight is ring-fenced, according to the Rugby Football Union. The big-spending Bears begin their campaign against Bath on Friday and the RFU’s director of professional rugby, Nigel Melville, believes an immediate return to the Championship would push…
Eddie Jones’s England formula looking good despite All Blacks defeat
Eagerly awaited Tests do not always live up to their billing. This was different: a belter from start to (another) contentious finish, a sporting event to nourish the soul. Both sides deserved credit for rising above the sodden conditions and contributing to an occasion as rich, in every sense, as any the old cabbage patch…
No limit to height Ireland can reach after historic win against All Blacks
Officially the rankings say otherwise but right now Irish rugby is on top of the world. Even more impressive than Saturday night’s historic first home win over New Zealand in 113 years was the manner of it: tactically brilliant, precision engineered and physically relentless. It is hard to think of a more complete performance by…
Andy Farrell can make England wince when Schmidt’s era ends for Ireland
For the Rugby Football Union every syllable of the press release announcing Andy Farrell as Ireland’s next head coach will sting indefinitely. Had England not crashed out of their home Rugby World Cup in the 2015 pool stages, Farrell would probably still be at Twickenham and modern rugby history might look very different. Talk about…
Christian Wade’s exit hints at a future where only bulk will matter
People love rugby union for different reasons. Some relish the contact, the physical challenge, the survival-of-the-fittest mentality. Others cherish the ethos of unselfishness, the camaraderie and the dressing‑room humour. Spending an entire 80 minutes with one’s head, for example, wedged between two large pairs of buttocks encourages a perspective about fellowship and sacrifice that few…
Co-captain Owen Farrell helps navigate England through choppy waters
Eddie Jones recently explained that Owen Farrell is not the kind of player to be wrapped in cotton wool. He may want to think again. If this victory, ultimately comprehensive but anything but comfortable, told us anything it is that England’s reliance on Farrell remains almost total; going into next year’s World Cup without him…
Premiership will not move play-off final to accommodate Lions’ training
Premiership Rugby will not bring its play-off final in 2021 forward to allow the British & Irish Lions to train for a week before flying out to South Africa, but its chief executive, Mark McCafferty, says English clubs were not trying to squeeze the tourists out of the fixture schedule. Future Lions tours will be…
Wales will hit emotional peak for England game, says Ken Owens
Wales’s experienced players will ensure Warren Gatland’s Six Nations pacesetters reach their emotional peak at the start of Saturday’s crunch match against England in Cardiff, not days before, says their 60-cap, veteran hooker, Ken Owens. Wales are looking for a record 12th consecutive victory but they have not beaten England in the Six Nations since…