Category: Rugby

Rugby News

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Inside the Exeter meltdown: Rowe’s revival plan not for the faint-hearted

A 79-17 defeat for the 2020 champions’ set the alarm bells ringing and the ‘embarrassed’ chair is pulling no punches

How swiftly the sporting wheel can turn. Less than five years ago Exeter were the Double-winning darlings of English club rugby, their fairytale rise ranking alongside Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest, Sir Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen and Wimbledon’s Crazy Gang as the most romantic success stories in British team sport.

And now? Second bottom of the Premiership table, 79 points conceded at Gloucester last time out, coaches being summarily jettisoned, the chairman storming into the dressing room. The one thing everyone in Devon can agree on is that the season’s end cannot come quickly enough.

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Maro Itoje’s chance of Lions captaincy grows with Caelan Doris set for surgery

  • Injury to Ireland No 8 looks ‘serious’, says Leinster coach
  • Andy Farrell due to name tour squad on Thursday

Maro Itoje’s chances of being named British & Irish Lions captain this week have been strengthened after Caelan Doris – one of his closest rivals for the role – emerged as an injury doubt for the tour of Australia.

Doris, the Ireland captain, will undergo shoulder surgery this week but, after a worrying assessment by the Leinster coach, Jacques Nienaber, he is in danger of missing the series against the Wallabies in a potentially momentous development before Andy Farrell names his squad on Thursday.

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Magic Weekend brings a divided sport together – for 48 hours at least

All 12 Super League clubs take the field at St James’ Park but away from the pitch the structure of the sport in England is under discussion

There are some weekends when Super League’s profile feels elevated and this is one of them. The 18th edition of Magic Weekend, with all 12 teams playing in the same venue over two days, returns to St James’ Park with the event being played out to a backdrop of excitement and uncertainty.

On the one hand, this has been an encouraging start to 2025. Attendances are up, viewing figures are trending the right way and there is the prospect of the best-attended Ashes series in a generation this autumn, with two of the three venues already sold out.

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‘He’s mad for it’: Northampton’s Henry Pollock back in Dublin after rise to Lions contender

A year ago he was with the fans: now he’s an England player before Saints’ Champions Cup semi against Leinster

Henry Pollock is bouncing around the south stand at Franklin’s Gardens. He is in demand at Northampton’s media session and in between interviews he seems most preoccupied with reminding his teammate Tommy Freeman who won their latest battle on the golf course. As has been clear since his emergence, Pollock has no problem with the spotlight.

His restless energy is not confined to the pitch but soon he sits down for a chat, ostensibly to preview Northampton’s Champions Cup semi-final against Leinster on Saturday, but essentially to discuss Pollock-mania. How and why it has taken hold and whether at any stage in the 20-year-old’s fledgling career he has experienced a shred of self-doubt.

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Quarter of World Rugby’s test group of ex-players ‘at risk’ of cognitive problems

  • New service refers quarter of those seen for treatment
  • Concern over high numbers of participants dropping out

A significant number of former elite players who have participated in World Rugby’s new brain health ­service programme have been identified as being “at risk” of cognitive problems in later life.

So far 131 former rugby union players have registered to take part after last April’s launch, although only 65 have completed the process. Of those, one quarter were referred for specialist treatment. The service is not designed to provide a diagnosis, only to provide a risk assessment for former players.

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Les Kiss confirmed as next Wallabies coach with Joe Schmidt to stay on until 2026

  • Kiss to see out Super Rugby Pacific contract with Queensland Reds
  • Schmidt to remain in charge for end-of-season European tour

Joe Schmidt will remain as Wallabies coach until next mid-2026 before Less Kiss takes over, Rugby Australia has confirmed.

Schmidt was to have finished up after this year’s Rugby Championship but RA was keen for “minimal disruption to the Australian rugby ecosystem” and for Kiss to complete his Super Rugby Pacific contract with the Queensland Reds in 2026.

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Saints’ Phil Dowson fears Premiership clubs ‘sleepwalking’ towards financial crisis

  • Director of rugby backs plans for franchise league
  • Expansion would end promotion and relegation

The Northampton director of rugby, Phil Dowson, fears the sport is “sleepwalking” towards another club going bust and endorsed plans for the Premiership to become a franchised league on the basis it would be more appealing to investors.

Premiership and Rugby Football Union executives have drawn up plans for an “expansion” league, akin to a franchise model, that would allow for teams to be added to the current 10 top flight clubs should they meet certain criteria. The RFU chief executive, Bill Sweeney, revealed that there is the possibility of expanding for the start of next season.

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Rugby Australia set to announce Les Kiss as next Wallabies coach

  • Reds coach expected to confirmed as Joe Schmidt’s successor
  • Kiss will become fifth Wallabies coach in six years

The protracted process to secure Les Kiss as the next Wallabies coach has been finalised with the Queensland Reds mentor to be the fifth man to fill the seat in six years. Kiss is expected to front the media in Sydney on Wednesday before flying to Suva to join the Reds squad ahead of Saturday’s crucial Super Rugby Pacific encounter with Fiji.

He is contracted until the end of next year at the Reds, who sit fourth and are eyeing a title push this season. But it is understood the Queensland Rugby Union and Rugby Australia have negotiated a release for the former representative rugby league winger, who arrived at Ballymore last year after two decades in Europe.

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Lachlan Galvin lifts lid on emotional toll of Tigers saga after ‘tough’ few weeks

  • Teenager stars in win over Cronulla on return to first grade
  • ‘It’s been pretty difficult,’ says Wests playmaker of contract situation

Lachlan Galvin has described the last fortnight of his life as “difficult” and “tough” after the wantaway five-eighth made a triumphant return to Wests Tigers’ NRL side.

Galvin claimed he was undaunted by making his first grade comeback – after a six-day exile in NSW Cup – at a packed Leichhardt Oval as he starred in the Tigers’ 20-18 golden point win over Cronulla on Sunday.

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Melbourne Storm leave Indigenous elder ‘heartbroken’ after cancelling Welcome to Country

  • Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin was to perform before NRL Anzac Day clash
  • Club say was ‘miscommunication’ over decision to call off ceremony

Melbourne Storm are under fire after being accused of cancelling a Welcome to Country at its Anzac Day NRL match at the last minute, leaving an Aboriginal elder “broken-hearted”.

Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin said she was informed by the club on Friday afternoon that she was no longer required to address the crowd before the match at AAMI Park.

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