The Six Nations is set to unveil HSBC as the championship’s new title sponsor, the Guardian understands. HSBC, which sponsored the 2009 and 2013 British & Irish Lions tours of South Africa and Australia respectively, is in line to replace NatWest after just one year. NatWest was parachuted in for the 2018 Six Nations only…
Danny Cipriani fined £2,000 by Gloucester after nightclub incident
Gloucester have fined their England outside-half Danny Cipriani, who has yet to play for the club after joining from Wasps in the summer, £2,000 following an incident in a Jersey nightclub last week that led to his arrest and an appearance before magistrates on the island. Senior club officials met Cipriani yesterday at the club’s…
Eddie Jones suffers new blow with loss of England’s sports science head
England have been dealt a significant blow just over a year before the World Cup with another key member of Eddie Jones’s staff set to leave. Dean Benton is due to depart his position as the head of sports science, leaving Jones with another sizeable hole in his backroom staff to fill. The England head…
All Blacks run riot against Wallabies in Bledisloe Cup opener
Former Wallabies captain Mark Loane once described lineout possession lost as rugby’s “slow poison”, meaning eventually it will kill you. On Saturday night at ANZ Stadium in Sydney, the All Blacks stole seven of the Wallabies’ lineout throws and killed the home side 38-13. The All Blacks have enough ways to kill you without adding…
English rugby calls for tougher penalties for high tackles as injury severity rises
Click:block making machine English rugby’s leading players and administrators want stricter penalties for high tackles following the release of statistics that show the severity of injuries in top-level rugby is on the rise. The idea of a visible line being printed on jerseys is among ideas being considered to try to reduce the professional game’s…
A year before Japan 2019, rugby is braced for threat of natural disasters
With exactly a year to go to the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan the organisers are unusually bullish. For the first time rugby’s premier tournament is heading for Asia, with all the gospel-spreading potential that involves. There is talk of the event being the most economically impactful in the sport’s history and the knock-out…
Sports prospects of 2019: the women set to shine in the year ahead
Football Georgia Stanway (Manchester City and England) Dynamic and prolific, Stanway, 19, is blessed with such an unerringly powerful right-foot shot that Manchester City fans have likened it to “a traction engine”. The Barrow-born woman grew up as a Newcastle United fan, idolising Alan Shearer, and there are definite shades of Shearer about aspects of…
How rugby and the NFL found common ground on concussion
In an equation of physics and physiology, collisions plus big, fast, athletic bodies equals concussions. But while the risk can’t be eliminated, it can be lowered. With that common goal, a group of international sport representatives – including the NFL, World Rugby, NHL and AFL – gathered at the Collision Sports Conference this October. The meeting…
‘Glint in Chris Ashton’s eye’ convinced Eddie Jones about England return
Eddie Jones was convinced Chris Ashton still has an international future by the “glint in his eye” only minutes before he ran England ragged with a hat-trick for the Barbarians at Twickenham in May. RFU warns England’s Eddie Jones: ‘We expect success in the autumn’ Jones on Thursday handed Ashton an immediate return to the…
Foley defends kicking record after crucial Super Rugby miss denies Tahs
NSW Waratahs five-eighth Bernard Foley will back himself to make the next kick he takes that’s identical to the crucial one he missed in his side’s opening round Super Rugby home loss to the Hurricanes. Crucial World Cup year set to make or break Australian rugby | Bret Harris With NSW trailing 20-19 and just…