England have been bathed in Women’s Six Nations glory since 2019 and the winning sunlight warmed their skin once again as their captain, Marlie Packer, lifted the trophy aloft for the Red Roses’ third successive grand slam and sixth…
These two will be representing English rugby in the semi-finals of the Champions Cup next weekend. If this is anything to go by they will do not just do their country proud, they will astonish.
There are plenty of would-be contenders to win this year’s Premiership but they still have to prise Saracens’s stubborn fingers off the trophy. When push comes to shove the defending champions tend to raise their game and a resolute…
Leading English clubs are urging the Rugby Football Union (RFU) to accelerate their plans to introduce hybrid central contracts for a limited number of key men’s international players. Saracens are one of several sides keen to know exactly…
“It was squeaky-bum time wasn’t it?” observed a mightily relieved Alex Sanderson after his Sale side had clung on to win a thrillingly open game which keeps them firmly in the playoff mix.
Another week, another thumping win for Northampton, who could afford to leave out a handful of their star names and still put arch-rivals Leicester to the sword with plenty to spare. This was their fourth home match in a row and with the…
Not the biggest thrashing in Premiership history, maybe, but this was the sort of non-contest to give a competition a bad name. There was something dispiriting about the inevitability of what unfolded, albeit enlivened by a pair of…
There will come a day when England’s dominance in the Women’s Six Nations ends. Their run of consecutive wins, standing at 28, in the tournament will be broken. But Ireland could not stop England on a windy day.
European rugby chiefs want to overhaul the Champions Cup schedule to avoid a repeat of last weekend’s damaging scenes in which the Bulls sent a weakened team for their quarter-final against Northampton and are lobbying participating…
Winning big knockout games in France takes a lot of doing and two English triumphs in successive days really would have been something special. Even when Exeter led 19-17 early in the second half there was still a sense a star-studded…
The record for most points in a first half of Champions Cup knockout rugby stood for less than three hours. Earlier in the day Bordeaux-Bègles and Harlequins shared 40 points in the opening 40 minutes of their spectacular show.
There are some daunting away venues in Europe but none more formidable this season than this atmospheric and character-laden old stadium. Factor in temperatures nudging 30C and the prospect of Harlequins enjoying a vintage quarter-final…
England’s discipline was a concern for the second time in this Women’s Six Nations as they had to finish their match against Scotland with 14 players after Amy Cokayne was shown a red card.
On paper the Champions Cup quarter-final between Northampton and the Bulls from Pretoria is a rugby fantasist’s dream come true. The Premiership leaders against the only South African side to claim a Super Rugby title. The 21-year-old fly…
The wisdom of introducing a Club World Cup from 2028 has been questioned by Exeter’s director of rugby, Rob Baxter, who believes the new competition would need to stack up financially from the start. Baxter, whose side face Toulouse in the…