Category: Rugby

Rugby News

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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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Former Scotland and Lions coach Sir Ian McGeechan says he has prostate cancer

  • 78-year-old says he has recently undergone radiotherapy
  • McGeechan led four British & Irish Lions tours

Sir Ian McGeechan, the former head coach of Scotland and the British & Irish Lions, has urged rugby players and all younger men to get themselves tested after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The 78-year-old, who is the consultant director of rugby at the Championship club Doncaster, led Scotland to the grand slam in the 1990 Five Nations. McGeechan oversaw four series as the Lions head coach, defeating Australia in 1989 and South Africa in 1997. He also led the team on tours of New Zealand in 1993 and South Africa again in 2009.

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Competitive Itoje willing to learn from Mount Rushmore of Lions captains

Maro Itoje has listened to Martin Johnson and Sam Warburton as he prepares his ‘tough men’ for Australia

Do you know what really stuck out as Maro Itoje sat chatting in the O2 Arena after the British & Irish Lions squad announcement? His biceps. This year’s Lions jersey is tight enough on the shoulders and sufficiently short on the arms to make their already well-muscled captain look like Popeye on steroids. Say what you like about the Lions squad but they have chosen a strong leader.

It has worked for them in the past. Who can forget the pipe‑smoking Willie John McBride and his classic response – “Do you think there will be many of them?” – when an angry hotel manager in South Africa threatened to call the police to arrest a number of 1974 Lions who had been enthusiastically “rearranging” the furniture. Legend also has it that Ian McGeechan picked the hulking Martin Johnson as his skipper in 1997 partly because of the intimidating effect he might have on the Springboks – and the referee – when he entered their changing room.

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NRL confident of early success for Bears after Perth team confirmed for 2027 entry

  • Bears to enter competition before PNG expansion side
  • Club will wear red and black and play home games at HBF Park

Peter V’landys insists the Perth Bears can be immediately competitive, adamant their link with North Sydney will set them up for success on entry to the NRL in 2027. The league confirmed on Thursday Perth would become the 18th franchise, joining the competition one year before Papua New Guinea’s 2028 admission.

The announcement ends a long push from Western Australia to have a team in the competition, after the Western Reds were killed off in the Super League war. The Bears link will also revive the moniker of one of the league’s foundation clubs, after North Sydney’s exit following the failed merger with Manly in 2000.

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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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