England and France notched up more than half a century of points in their opening fixtures of the Women’s Six Nations and Sunday’s meeting in Doncaster will decide the fate of this year’s title. Simon Middleton, the England coach, happily concedes that last season’s grand slam winners are favourites but the only certainty at Castle…
Alex Lewington’s late try adds gloss to Saracens’ routine win over Lyon
This is no time to be sniffy if you are an Englishman in Europe, so two wins from two for Saracens, English flag-bearers, is on balance an achievement to celebrate. But the faithful of north London remained largely in their seats throughout this mundane exercise in result collection. No one thought for a moment that…
Owen Farrell rues ‘game that got away’ but says England will peak at World Cup
Owen Farrell believes the controversial defeat to New Zealand was easier to take because England will be closer to their peak if the sides meet in next year’s World Cup. England thought they taken the lead five minutes from time, but Sam Underhill’s try was ruled out after Courtney Lawes’s chargedown from an offside position….
Gregor Townsend puts Scotland on attack footing against Argentina
Greig Laidlaw cannot wait to see the outcome as Scotland prepare to use all of their attacking weapons against Argentina in their final November outing. Wales feeling the pressure of closing gap on born-again Springboks | Paul Rees Gregor Townsend has decided to take the reins off his side after naming a back division that…
England’s Eddie Jones to make late call over Manu Tuilagi for Australia Test
Eddie Jones was on Wednesday night set to make a late decision on whether to play Manu Tuilagi against Australia on Saturday. The centre has not played for England for more than two-and-a-half years but took part in a make-or-break training session on Wednesday with Jones mulling over whether to include the heavyweight Tuilagi when…
Wales need strong attack to win World Cup, says defence coach Shaun Edwards
Shaun Edwards believes Wales’s formidable defence alone will not be enough to win next year’s World Cup but that the squad are the strongest he has known. The defence coach’s side will travel to Japan third in the world rankings after a run of nine victories. They conceded an average of 14.7 points in 12…
Kevin-Prince Boateng raps, Vuelta memories and managerial meltdowns
1) The Vuelta a España, the third and last of cycling’s Grand Tours of 2018 gets started on Saturday with a time trial in Málaga. Last year, the race was won by Chris Froome, who won’t be in Spain to defend the red jersey. Philippa York, then known as Robert Millar, recalls here the heartbreaking…
Eddie Jones urges England to show France no mercy in Six Nations clash
England’s players have been urged to show no mercy to France at Twickenham and to reach an even higher level than they achieved in their opening Six Nations game in Ireland last Saturday. The head coach, Eddie Jones, and the captain, Owen Farrell, both sense there is further improvement to be made and believe complacency…
Ben Ryan: ‘If rugby were a company people would be comparing it to an Enron’
Click:Semi-automatic laser cutting machine If you love rugby union what follows will be a tough read. According to one of the world’s leading coaches, however, the time has come for the sport to get real. “If rugby were a company people would be comparing it to an Enron,” says Ben Ryan, Fiji’s Olympic gold-medal winning…
Premiership clubs seek talks with RFU over ending promotion and relegation
The owners of Premiership clubs are seeking talks with the Rugby Football Union over ending promotion and relegation in England’s top flight. Fears had been raised about England’s top clubs forcing a breakaway but the league’s governing body, Premiership Rugby, has pledged to thrash out a way forward with the RFU. Taking rugby into Star…