Tom Dunn shines on record-breaking appearance as Bath crush Leicester

  • Bath 43-15 Leicester
  • Dunn scores try in 184th Premiership match for Bath

It could yet be that these two teams will meet again in this season’s Premiership final at Twickenham. If so Leicester will have to look for some different solutions. This meeting of the leagues’s top two was compared to a “heavyweight boxing clash” by Bath’s head of rugby, Johann van Graan, but even the ability of Leicester’s defence to soak up plenty of punishment could not save them in the end.

Bath’s first-choice forwards are increasingly taking no prisoners and this seven-try victory on a glorious early summer evening was the latest reason to fancy they will eventually end up as champions. The highlight was a memorable score from Tom Dunn, setting a new club record for the most Premiership appearances in the famous blue, black and white striped jersey. The hooker’s extravagant dummy and subsequent 20-metre sprint to the line would have been collector’s items even in a game of social tag rugby

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Will Steve Borthwick give untested England youth a chance in Argentina? | Gerard Meagher

With England’s Lions away in Australia, selecting a callow squad would bring pitfalls as well as opportunities

When Warren Gatland named his British & Irish Lions squad to tour New Zealand in 2017 he included 16 England players. Stalwarts such as Dylan Hartley, Chris Robshaw, Joe Launchbury and George Ford were still notable absentees but England had won the previous two Six Nations titles, 17 of Eddie Jones’s first 18 matches and, accordingly, their contingent was substantial.

The very next day Jones named his England squad for a tour of Argentina. He refused to engage in the merits of the selected Lions touring party but at the time you sensed Jones did not particularly like Gatland hogging the spotlight. England might have lost their most recent match, against Ireland in Dublin, denying them another grand slam, but the Australian was still basking in an extended honeymoon period and all eyes were on his old adversary. Jones proceeded to make a statement with his squad selection and it did not feel like coincidence that he was doing so 24 hours after Gatland.

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Women’s Super League is light years behind Australia but kicks off with hope

England’s thrashing in Las Vegas looked bleak but Wigan coach Denis Betts and the RFL see it differently

Rugby league’s return to Las Vegas in 2026 was confirmed this week for the best of Super League and Australia’s National Rugby League but there was one notable omission from the billing.

This year’s four-match card was always likely to be reduced after administrators admitted they would cut one match and, unfortunately, it was always likely the women’s international between England and Australia would miss out. This year’s match, which the Jillaroos won 90-4 against Stuart Barrow’s side, illustrated the gap between the two nations.

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NSW Blues wrap up Origin series with 26-6 win over Queensland Maroons

  • Olivis Kernick scores two tries in rain-soaked victory
  • Blues recover from shaky start in Sydney

Olivia Kernick has helped NSW claim the women’s State of Origin series with a game to spare after powering the Blues to a 26-6 victory over Queensland.

Kernick, who was controversially overlooked for the Australian Test team after winning the 2024 NRLW Dally M Medal, scored two tries and set up another on Thursday night as the Blues inflicted more misery on the Maroons to win game two.

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Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii injury not as bad as feared as Wallabies get boost for Lions tour

  • Player still needs surgery but fractured jaw is on lower scale
  • ‘Just a four-week injury,’ says NSW Waratahs coach Dan McKellar

Wallabies fans can breathe easier after NSW Waratahs coach Dan McKellar allayed fears of Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii missing any Tests against the touring British & Irish Lions.

Despite Suaalii requiring surgery for a broken jaw, McKellar on Thursday said the injury was of a lower scale and the 21-year-old was already back in the gym working out to maintain his conditioning.

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Rugby by rail: the romance (and regret) of going to games by train

Railway lines formed rugby league as we know it but out-of-town stadiums mean some journeys are easier than others

By No Helmets Required

Like the more adventurous of you, I’ve reached matches via bus, tube, ferry, plane, train and, mainly, automobile. You might also have gone by tram or bike. But when ill health stopped me from driving to rugby for several years, I embraced the horseless carriage to get to St Helens, Newcastle, Coventry, Leeds, London Broncos and more. The train certainly took the strain.

A sport that was born before cars and buses needed the Victorian railway routes that allowed teams and their supporters to leave their locale and establish a national competition. The railways begat professional rugby league as we know it.

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Wallabies blow with Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii to undergo surgery before Lions clash

  • Australia star suffers fractured jaw after on-field collision
  • Suaalii may miss rest of NSW Waratahs’ Super Rugby season

Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii is in a race against time to be fit to face the British & Irish Lions, with the Wallabies star set to miss the rest of the Super Rugby Pacific regular season with a fractured jaw.

Suaalii will undergo surgery on a “small undisplaced fracture” he sustained in an accidental collision with a NSW Waratahs teammate against the Queensland Reds on Friday night.

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Bulldogs book ticket to Las Vegas as teams locked in for NRL’s 2026 season opener

  • Dragons, Cowboys and Knights to join rugby league festival in March
  • Hull and Leeds clash revealed but women’s fixture yet to be confirmed

The NRL will attempt to capitalise on Canterbury’s popularity by putting them on the plane to Las Vegas next year, alongside St George Illawarra, North Queensland and Newcastle.

Head office confirmed the four men’s NRL teams for the league’s third Vegas extravaganza, with all teams on their maiden trip for the 1 March (AEDT) event.

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The Breakdown | Rugby union’s bonus points barely change the Premiership table. Should we scrap them?

Research shows they make a major difference to 2.28% of positions, while play-off semi-finals also look redundant

The business end of the domestic season has arrived and the Premiership and United Rugby Championship tables, as ever, are being carefully scrutinised. Two from Bristol, Sale and Saracens are now vying to make the Premiership playoffs with two games left while the race for the URC top eight will boil down to the final weekend.

At which point some know-all will intone the well-worn mantra: bonus points will be crucial. And we’ll all nod solemnly and start contemplating how Team X or Team Y can best set about scoring either four tries or losing by seven points or fewer. Without necessarily stopping to think whether the cold, hard mathematics support that supposition – or indeed ever have done.

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Leicester turn to Geoff Parling as head coach after hunt for Cheika’s successor

  • Former lock will remain with Australia for Lions series
  • Leinster confirm Caelan Doris out for four to six months

Geoff Parling has been appointed as Leicester’s new head coach, bringing an end to a drawn out recruitment process to find Michael Cheika’s successor. Parling is currently employed as the Australia assistant coach but will return to Welford Road after this summer’s British & Irish Lions tour.

The former second-row Parling, 41, spent six years at Leicester and will be a popular appointment among the Tigers faithful. Paul Gustard, Graham Rowntree, Leon MacDonald and Stuart Lancaster were heavily linked with the role but Leicester finally landed on Parling, who has agreed a long-term contract.

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Door open for overseas Wallabies to take on the Lions, says Australia coach Joe Schmidt

  • Players like Samu Kerevi, Pete Samu and Will Skelton in frame
  • Squad of up to 40 players to be picked before first Test in Brisbane

Such is the magnitude of the challenge and occasion that Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt is set to ditch his no overseas-based players selection strategy for the blockbuster series against the touring British and Irish Lions.

While not picking talent from outside of Australia is not strictly a set-in-stone policy, Schmidt has made clear his preference to mostly overlook Wallabies stars playing offshore, or heading overseas.

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Sneyd inspires Warrington to defeat Leigh and reach Challenge Cup final

  • Semi-final: Warrington 21-14 Leigh
  • Sam Burgess going to Wembley for second straight year

These may still be considered the formative years of Sam Burgess’s coaching career but, as Warrington celebrate back-to-back Challenge Cup finals, it was worth a moment to reflect on how, just as he did in his playing days, Burgess belied his lack of experience on the biggest stage once again.

This year has not been anything like as enjoyable a season in charge of the Wolves for Burgess. After the high of guiding Warrington to a cup final and a playoff semi-final in his first year as a head coach, the early part of this campaign has been much more testing for the 36-year-old, with inconsistency at the heart of most of what they have done. It is perhaps easy to forget that, in coaching terms at least, he is still incredibly young.

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