Rugby News
The Ireland wing James Lowe went from hero to zero as the world champions, South Africa, underlined their status as Test rugby’s top-ranked nation with a gripping 27-20 win in Pretoria.
Lowe produced a sensational offload to set up a debut try for Jamie Osborne and thought he had brought Andy Farrell’s men level with a superb breakaway score in the second half.
Continue reading...Joe Schmidt’s reign as Wallabies coach got off to a flying start in Sydney on Saturday with a hard-fought 25-16 defeat of Warren Gatland’s Wales, who slumped to their eighth straight loss.
Liam Wright will return to the Wallabies for the first time in five years as captain of the national team with up to seven players set to earn their debuts as new coach Joe Schmidt put a full stop on the disastrous Eddie Jones era.
Michael Hooper, who holds the record for the most caps as Australia captain, put an end to his international rugby career on Sunday after missing out on selection for the Paris Olympics.
New Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt concedes he’s never been so “underprepared” as he remains without a clear idea of his first team let alone a potential captain just nine days out from the opening Test against Wales and even after a four-day camp in Brisbane with his maiden squad.
Caleb Clarke scored a hat-trick as the Auckland Blues crushed the Waikato Chiefs 41-10 on Saturday to win their first full Super Rugby title since 2003.
Eddie Jones said Japan were “going in the right direction” despite being thrashed 52-17 by England in Tokyo on Saturday in the first game of his second stint in charge.
The Blues have broken a 21-year Super Rugby title drought, sweeping aside the Chiefs in a 41-10 drubbing at a sold-out Eden Park.
In the first ever final between the two New Zealand sides in their 28-year history, the Blues were dominant.
Continue reading...Veteran playmaker Kurtley Beale has earnt a shock recall for the Wallabies after he was one of 38 players named in Joe Schmidt’s first squad as Australian coach that includes 13 uncapped players.
Next month’s Test double-header on South African soil will write a new chapter in an increasingly rancorous struggle
No sooner had Ireland claimed a 13-8 win over South Africa in the Rugby World Cup last year – an epic tussle in a tournament littered with all-time encounters – a thumping rendition of the Cranberries’ Zombie rang out around Stade de France. The song’s connections with the Troubles, the IRA and Ireland’s struggle for peace was lost on most South African fans that sweaty Saturday night in Paris. Their primary reaction to Ireland’s adopted anthem was rage.
“What’s in your heeeeaad, in your heeeeeeeaaaaad!” It was hard for them not to feel this was meant as a jibe; that the Irish, who have never seen their players lift the sport’s most glittering trophy, who had never even seen them reach the semi-finals of a World Cup, were rubbing South African noses in their success. That their No 1-ranked team had wormed their way into the subconscious of every South African by relegating the Boks to a stepping stone on their march to glory. The face of Rassie Erasmus, South African rugby’s god-king, said it all. He was seething. What was a friendly rivalry had now become personal.
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Continue reading...Otago Highlanders outside back Connor Garden-Bachop died on Monday at the age of 25 following a medical event, New Zealand Rugby has said.
Garden-Bachop, who made his Highlanders debut in 2021, was on the team’s roster this season but parted ways with the Super Rugby Pacific club after their latest campaign finished in the quarter-finals.
Continue reading...New Zealand rugby player Connor Garden-Bachop has died aged 25.
Gold Coast have pulled off a stunning signing coup with Wallabies five-eighth Carter Gordon to join the club in another huge blow to Australian rugby. The 23-year-old, who will join the Titans next year until the end of 2026, was a key member of the Wallabies World Cup squad in 2023 and played No 10 for the now defunct Melbourne Rebels.
Gordon will join fellow World Cup star Mark Nawaqanitawase in the NRL next year with Test winger signing with the Sydney Roosters from the NSW Waratahs. Joseph-Aukuso Sua’ali’i is heading the other way, switching to rugby union from the Sydney Roosters next season.
Continue reading...The Wellington Hurricanes overcame a slow start to win their quarter-final 47-20 against the Melbourne Rebels, who farewelled the Super Rugby in fighting fashion.
Tears among the Rebels players have signalled the end for Melbourne, whose place in Super Rugby Pacific was brought to a close by a quarter-final loss to the Hurricanes. The Rebels were given almost no chance of upsetting the table-topping Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday, but held them to an eight-point margin at half-time on the back of some desperate defence.
That took its toll, with the home side piling on five second-half tries to post a 47-20 victory. Rebels winger Lachie Anderson scored a late double but the Hurricanes remained on track for the semi-finals.
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