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.
‘It’s a sad time’: Rebels bid emotional farewell in last ever Super Rugby Pacific match
- Hurricanes end Melbourne’s hopes of fairytale finish with 47-20 victory
- Financially-stricken club to now be closed down after 14 seasons
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.
Continue reading...‘Mad scenes’ as England international puts fan in headlock
England rugby star Jonny Hill has been accused of “putting a fan in a headlock and leaving him with a cut eye” after a semi-final defeat.
‘What a d**k’: Medic causes outrage over ‘pathetic’ rugby act
Rugby fans have been left shaking their heads in response to a medic’s classless act of unsportsmanship on the sideline of a game in Australia this week.
MCG’s 2027 Rugby World Cup final dream ‘in doubt’ over Melbourne Rebels shutdown in Super Rugby
The MCG’s hopes of hosting the 2027 Rugby World Cup final, and Victoria’s chances of hosting other major rugby events are in severe doubt, over the shutdown of the Melbourne Rebels.
The Melbourne Rebels will not continue in 2025 after Rugby Australia rejected a bit to keep them alive
Rugby Australia has rejected an application from a consortium seeking take over the Melbourne Rebels with a move to the courts the only possible saviour for the embattled club which will be shut down after 14 seasons.
Financially-stricken Melbourne Rebels axed from Super Rugby Pacific
- Private consortium’s rescue plan deemed ‘overly optimistic’
- Australian club’s last match will be played next month
A legal battle looms between Rugby Australia and the consortium who planned to save the Melbourne Rebels, with the Super Rugby Pacific club to be shut down after 14 seasons.
Five months after the Rebels entered voluntary administration, Rugby Australia broke the news before players boarded a plane to Fiji for the final round of the competition.
Continue reading...‘I’d never play again’: Rugby world in shock over viral 20m tackle
A South African schoolboy rugby player has gone viral after he carried his opponent 20m backwards in wild scenes during a recent match.
NSW Waratahs coach Darren Coleman won’t get a new contract after two win season
Waratahs coach Darren Coleman was given credit for navigating “three challenging seasons” but won’t get a fourth after the battling Super Rugby outfit confirmed he wouldn’t be offered a new contract.
Tony O’Reilly: the Lions cub who earned place in Irish sporting folklore
Before entering business, O’Reilly played rugby for Ireland and the Lions and could have been ‘one of the world’s greats’
Tony O’Reilly has died aged 88 and this week’s business pages will pay tribute to a titan of the corporate world who struck commercial gold with Kerrygold and built a hill of beans with Heinz. It is a sign of a life remarkably well lived, then, that his name will also always have a place in the pantheon of Irish sporting heroes and prompt a wry smile whenever rugby union’s classic old-school anecdotes are retold.
As a player good enough to have been selected as the youngest Lion in history when chosen to tour South Africa as a teenager in 1955, O’Reilly might have reached even loftier heights in the game had his burgeoning business career not intervened at the age of 26. There was to be one last impromptu hurrah, however, when he was famously recalled seven years later to face England at Twickenham.
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Continue reading...Blair Kinghorn: ‘The mentality at Toulouse is that we win trophies’
The Scotland back couldn’t be happier after switch to French club who face Harlequins in a Champions Cup semi-final
It’s been five months since Blair Kinghorn decided to move from Edinburgh to Toulouse mid-season. He’s played 10 games and won every one of them. Toulouse are second in the Top 14, two points off Stade Français, and have a home semi-final against Harlequins in the Champions Cup on Sunday.
Kinghorn has scored six tries and eanred himself a spot in a freewheeling backline that includes Antoine Dupont, Romain Ntamack, and Thomas Ramos. He’s been playing in front of a 20,000 home crowd every other week. And he and his fiancee are settled into their new house, next door to his friend and teammate Jack Willis.
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Continue reading...Spotted: Schuster sighting sparks possibility of shock Des reunion — NRL Transfer Whispers
Could the Gold Coast Titans be considering handing out-of-contract utility Josh Schuster an NRL lifeline?
England star tasered twice by police, convicted of assault in ‘unfortunate misunderstanding’
England and Saracens forward Billy Vunipola was convicted of assault and injuring a police officer in Mallorca, a Spanish court said Tuesday (AEST).