Category: Rugby

Rugby News

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Ashton hat-trick helps Warrington surge to Super League win against St Helens

  • Warrington 32-18 St Helens
  • Wolves run in seven tries to move up to seventh

Sam Burgess has made it his business to keep his emotions in check for most of his tenure as Warrington Wolves coach – which made his reaction to Rodrick Tai’s crucial try here in the final quarter of a compelling contest leave no doubt about what this result would have meant to him and his players.

To be clear, it is still far too early in proceedings to be suggesting there is any form of early-season pressure on Warrington. But Burgess set the bar so high in his first season as a head coach last year by reaching both major finals that the very sight of the Wolves being as low as ninth with a third of the Super League season gone suggests something is not quite right.

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‘You give everything in that first scrum’: meet Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Sale and England’s killer baby Shark

The 20-year-old prop is making a name for himself with eye-catching displays but visit of Saracens is a serious test

Some of English rugby union’s biggest names will be front and centre in Salford on Friday evening. Maro Itoje, Jamie George, Ben Earl and Tom Willis all start for Saracens while Tom Curry, George Ford and Luke Cowan-Dickie, among others, will trot out for Sale Sharks. Most 20-year-old props, invited to mix in such lofty company, would be feeling seriously intimidated.

It is increasingly obvious, however, that young Asher Opoku-Fordjour is different gravy. As anyone who saw his eye-catching performance against Harlequins last weekend will be aware, his strength and bullocking presence with ball in hand are quite something. “If last week’s anything to go by he’s tracking well, isn’t he?” nods Alex Sanderson, the Sharks’ director of rugby.

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Jacob Umaga and the English rugby players driving Benetton to success

Five players raised in England have swapped the Premiership for life in the beautiful Italian city of Treviso

By No Helmets Required

The weather starts to warm up nicely in Treviso at this time of year and so does the race for playoff places in the United Rugby Championship. Benetton – Treviso’s team and the cream of Italian rugby – are fifth in the league table and on course to reach the URC quarter-finals, booking a place in next season’s European Champions Cup in the process, but they could slip out of the top eight with just one defeat.​

The club’s annual budget of €8m is half what league leaders Leinster spend, but the Benetton family expect a return on their money. With three games to play in the regular season and their place in the top eight still not secured, the heat is on. “There’s a lot more focus now,” says Jacob Umaga, the former England international who joined the club in 2022 when Wasps went into administration. “We’ve not reached our ceiling and we’ve got such a good squad. We’ve got two of our last three games away and know one poor performance will take us straight out of the top eight.”

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‘Rob just put it down to bad luck’: Lindsey Burrow on her husband, MND and running her own marathons

Wife of rugby league legend who spent the last five years of his life raising awareness of MND and fundraising for a cure says the game will always be a part of her family’s life

This weekend Lindsey Burrow will run the London Marathon. Two weeks later, she will run the Leeds Marathon. And she’s not even what she’d call a good runner. “I think coming from Yorkshire and having that Yorkshire grit,” she says, with a smile, “I’m just quite stubborn.”

Burrow has always found getting out for a run good for her mental state and in the nine months since she lost her husband, it has become vital. “It’s just given me that headspace to go out and focus on something positive,” she says, speaking on Zoom from her Pontefract home. “And the marathons have given me a goal.”

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NRL approves revised Perth team expansion bid to bring back the Bears

  • ARLC agrees in principle to Western Australian government proposal
  • Clubs and Rugby League Players’ Association still to sign off deal

The NRL is set to expand into Perth after the Australian Rugby League Commission agreed in principle to a revised proposal from the Western Australia government for an NRL team.

The ARLC has signed off on an increased offer from WA Premier Roger Cook, which has salvaged plans for the Perth Bears concept to enter the competition in 2027.

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Ben Youngs, England’s most-capped male player, to retire from rugby in June

  • Scrum-half has played 332 matches for Leicester
  • He won a record 127 England caps and toured with Lions

The end of the road is finally approaching for England’s most-capped male player. Ben Youngs, who made a record 127 appearances for his country, has confirmed he will be retiring from professional rugby in June after more than 500 senior games for Leicester, England, the Barbarians and the British & Irish Lions in a career spanning 18 years.

Youngs has been a one-club man since his Tigers debut as a 17-year-old in 2007 but, at 35, will hang up his boots at the end of the current Premiership season. A five-times Premiership winner and three times a runner-up, he has played 332 matches for Leicester to date. In an England jersey he appeared in four World Cups and toured Australia in 2013 with the Lions, alongside his brother Tom. He was chosen for the 2017 Lions squad as well but withdrew from the tour of New Zealand for family reasons.

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Northampton hang on to edge out Newcastle in Premiership thriller

  • Newcastle 34-35 Northampton
  • Defending champions and bottom club share 10 tries

Northampton survived a late scare to snatch a narrow 35-34 victory over Newcastle at Kingston Park.

A thrilling encounter saw Craig Wright cancel out Jamie Blamire’s opening try and after Brett Connon sent the Falcons ahead again from the tee, Northampton seized control just before half-time with Luke Green, Fin Smith and debutant Will Glister all scoring.

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Premiership’s disjointed sprint finish begins with playoff battle bonanza

Second to seventh all play each other this weekend but European calendar threatens to stall momentum

The Premiership season is rounding the final bend and entering the home straight. Organisers like to call this point in the campaign “The Run-in” and they could hardly have wished for a better set of fixtures this weekend to begin it with. Sixth host fourth when Saracens entertain Gloucester, fifth go to seventh with Sale travelling to Harlequins and on Sunday, second and third lock horns with Bristol facing Leicester.

As was the case last season, the race for the playoffs is shaping up to be a blanket finish. Bath are out in front in first but with five matches remaining, only four points separate Leicester in third and Harlequins in seventh. Bristol are a further five ahead in the runners-up spot and with second to seventh all playing each other this weekend, through rose-tinted glasses it is the perfect way to showcase the sprint finish.

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Hull KR and Hull FC savour local supremacy before top-of-table clash

With the clubs occupying first and second spot in the standings, the stakes are high for their Good Friday derby

Nestled at the eastern tip of the M62, the city of Hull may sit on the very tip of British rugby league’s geographical landscape but, right now, it is the epicentre of Super League.

Few cities are driven by a passion for rugby league quite like it. Both of the city’s clubs – Hull FC and Hull KR – have enjoyed spells in the upper echelons of Super League over the past 30 years but not since the early 80s, long before the advent of summer rugby, was there a time when both East Riding clubs were simultaneously competing for honours.

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Steve Diamond’s season-ending ban was for profanity aimed at match officials

  • Newcastle director of rugby given six-match suspension
  • Told TMO that he ‘should retire’

Steve Diamond’s season-ending ban was meted out because he called a group of match‑day officials “cunts” before telling the television match official he should retire.

The Newcastle director of rugby was given a six-match suspension last week after a disciplinary ­hearing into an incident that took place in the dying throes of the Falcons’ late defeat by fellow strugglers Exeter last month.

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Hull KR v Wigan: welcome to the newest rivalry in Super League

Hull lost their unbeaten record on Friday but they are building something special and trophies will surely come

By No Helmets Required

To say Hull Kingston Rovers are a club on the up would be a huge understatement. Eight years ago they were playing Championship games against Batley, Swinton and Dewsbury. Now they are Super League leaders, aspiring to overthrow Wigan. They are inspiring other mid-sized clubs, showing what can be done with a bit of money, a lot of hard work and many good decisions. They were beaten 28-12 by Wigan but Friday night at Craven Park was more evidence of dreams manifest.

Forty years after they last lifted a major trophy, Hull KR fans are desperate to see this current wave of success be crowned with silverware. They sold their 4,000 tickets for the Hull derby in 12 minutes, their 6,000 Challenge Cup semi-final allocation in two hours. Craven Park is sold out most games, seats only left empty by absent season-ticket holders or folk enjoying the food and drinks area on Craven Streat, the dilapidated southern terrace replaced by a fortnightly festival. It was busy from two hours before kickoff on Friday, with local musician Tom A Smith playing on the pitch before the game and on the Craven Streat stage at half-time. Fireworks went off randomly. It was the Super Bowl brought to you on a budget.

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Bonuses for Wallabies wins in Rugby Australia’s new $240m TV broadcast deal

  • Improved deal struck with Nine Entertainment over five years
  • Extra money to reward key wins during 2026-2030 period

Rugby Australia has signed a five-year extension to its broadcast rights agreement with Nine Entertainment in a deal worth up to $240m. It runs from 2026-2030 and includes performance incentives linked to Wallabies wins, Nine-owned newspapers reported.

“[It] represents a significant uplift on Rugby Australia’s current broadcast agreement and follows a successful organisational reset in 2024,” RA said in a statement.

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