The Newcastle director of rugby, Dean Richards, refused to get carried away with his side’s 26-25 win against the three‑times winners Toulon at Stade Fleix Mayol as they returned to the Champions Cup with a bang. It was Newcastle’s first time in the top tier of European club rugby for 13 years and it was…
Wallabies: with eight defeats in 11 Tests, losing has become a bad habit
Losing has become a bad habit for the Wallabies. The Wallabies’ try-less 9-6 loss to Wales in Cardiff was their eighth defeat from 11 Tests this year, ingraining the feeling that losing is now a matter of course for the Australian side. A pattern of negative behaviour has resulted in self-doubt, high anxiety and a…
US Eagles face Ireland in Dublin with both teams at an all-time high
The USA have won nine straight Test matches. That they will in all likelihood not make it 10 on Saturday is arguably of less importance to the rugby world than the fact their last game of 2018 is against Ireland in front of a sellout Dublin crowd. The Breakdown | Steve Hansen was right, Ireland…
Premiership issues World Rugby with legal threat as insurance row escalates
Premiership Rugby has threatened World Rugby with legal action in an escalating row over player insurance that is set to hamper a number of nations severely, including Wales and Scotland in the buildup to next year’s World Cup. The Guardian understands Premiership Rugby on Thursday wrote to World Rugby, giving it 21 days to agree…
Warren Gatland calls England’s Kyle Sinckler an ‘emotional timebomb’
Warren Gatland has responded to Eddie Jones’s attempts to wind up Wales before the Six Nations game on Saturday by describing the England tighthead Kyle Sinckler as an “emotional timebomb”. Gatland also called England’s decision to delay their journey to Cardiff until Friday afternoon as a “significant mistake” and dismissed Jones’s claim that Gatland’s current…
Saracens made to battle by Harlequins in TV thriller for US viewers
If gallant failures are as popular in the US as they are over here, then this agonising defeat for Harlequins will be a smash hit as the first Premiership match to be screened free-to-air across the pond. Billy Vunipola’s try with 10 minutes remaining settled it but Saracens were given an almighty scare at a…
‘He doesn’t play in a dinner suit’: the 25 best rugby union quotes of 2018
“Is the international game under threat? I think it is. Look at the balance sheets of some nations and you can see exactly where we stand. If you ask me as a businessman, the business side of rugby is not working. By the 2019 World Cup we need to have a blueprint for the next…
England’s co-captains still to decide who leads team out at Twickenham
Owen Farrell and Dylan Hartley are so laid-back about Eddie Jones’s move to joint leaders that they will wait until a few hours before kick-off against South Africa to decide who will lead the team on to the field, Farrell has revealed. England were due to meet the match referee Angus Gardner on the eve…
Wales turn England changing room into a theatre for Ray Gravell play
Wales have turned to Gareth Bale to ensure they maintain their winning start to the Six Nations against England at the Principality Stadium on Saturday. They were at the ground on Monday night to hear his impassioned one-man performance of one of the Welsh game’s most lauded figures, the late Ray Gravell. Not the Wales…
Lima Sopoaga: ‘Losing can affect players. I take it all quite personally’
Lima Sopoaga is not the first All Black – and will not be the last – to take time to adjust to his new surroundings. Gazing out of the window at the lashing rain whipping across the pitches of Broadstreet RFC is not the vision he was sold when he signed for Wasps as one…