Rugby News
There are few signs of the Scarlets relinquishing their Regional Academies U18 title after going through their four pool games unbeaten. Tom Phillips’ side notched 27 tries and 179 points as they breezed past Cardiff (51-19), Dragons (50-14), RGC (24-6) and Ospreys (54-5) to take top seeding or the semi-finals on Sunday 16 February. Leading […]
The post Young Scarlets ready for final push to retain U18 title appeared first on Welsh Rugby Union | Wales & Regions.
Harlequins fly-half Jarrod Evans along with Gloucester fly-half Gareth Anscombe and centre Max Llewellyn have been called up to the Wales senior men’s squad. They will assemble in camp with the squad on Monday 17 February to prepare for the sold-out match against Ireland at Principality Stadium on Saturday 22 February. Ospreys centre Owen Watkin […]
The post Anscombe, Evans and Llewellyn called up for Wales appeared first on Welsh Rugby Union | Wales & Regions.
Some rugby league players only appear in the top flight once. They should cherish every minute of it
By Gavin Willacy for No Helmets Required
In Salford’s last regular Super League game of 2024, the coach Paul Rowley gave debuts to eight reserve players to protect his stars for the playoffs. None of them are likely to be on the field when their season begins at St Helens on Saturday evening. Their services may never be required in the top flight again. But, for one night only, they found themselves up against the world champions, live on national TV.
Dan Spencer-Tonks knows what that “for one night only” role feels like. Rowley did the same thing two years earlier, fielding six debutants against Warrington in the final regular round. Spencer-Tonks came off the bench for his only taste of Super League, earning membership of the one sub club. He has spent the last two seasons in the Championship and League One, his time at the top seemingly gone as rapidly as it arrived.
Continue reading...‘Doing it for the town’: Super League’s all-conquering machine have a unique way of involving their community
It is Tuesday morning and there are just 48 hours to go until Wigan begin their Super League title defence against Leigh, not that you would know that when you walk into their Robin Park training complex.
To suggest the mood is relaxed would be an understatement. Some players are taking part in a cricket match on the indoor athletics track, while others are chatting to members of the public and upstairs, their head coach, Matt Peet, is relaxing with a coffee. “If someone said describe a high-performance environment, I don’t think this would be the first place you’d think of,” their former captain and assistant coach, Sean O’Loughlin, smiles.
Continue reading...WRU CEO Abi Tierney reached ‘a mutual decision’ that meant Warren Gatland would leave his post as Wales head coach. That was the explanation when Tierney was questioned about the move that saw Wale’s most successful coach of all time (three Grand Slams, two World Cup Bronze Finals, a 14-match winning streak and guiding Wales […]
The post Tierney: ‘We really need systemic change that is going to make a difference’ appeared first on Welsh Rugby Union | Wales & Regions.
Wigan have no weakness, Hull face a rebuild and newcomers Wakefield will quietly fancy their chances
Super League’s 30th season gets under way on Thursday evening, with the biggest opening-night crowd in the competition’s history anticipated to watch the reigning champions, Wigan Warriors, take on their local rivals, Leigh Leopards. Matt Peet’s side completed an historic quadruple last year and have all the hallmarks of a side that could sweep aside all comers again.
Will Wigan dominate 2025 just like they did in 2024? Can the likes of Warrington, Hull KR and Leeds put up a credible challenge? And who is in a struggle to avoid finishing bottom? Here is the Guardian’s team-by-team guide to the new season.
Continue reading...Warren Gatland’s second tenure as Wales head coach has ended by mutual agreement. Cardiff Rugby head coach Matt Sherratt has been appointed as head coach to lead the Wales senior side for the final three matches of the 2025 Guinness Six Nations Championship. Welsh Rugby Union CEO Abi Tierney has expressed her gratitude to Gatland […]
The post Gatland leaves Wales coaching job appeared first on Welsh Rugby Union | Wales & Regions.
Cardiff’s Matt Sherratt has been handed the Wales coaching reins on an interim basis after Warren Gatland’s second spell as head coach ended abruptly on Tuesday. Welsh supporters have been warned, however, there is “no magic bullet” that will instantly revive the national team after their dismal 22-15 defeat by Italy on Saturday.
Gatland has departed “by mutual agreement” after 14 successive Test defeats, the worst run in the country’s 144-year international rugby history. Gatland, 61, had been contracted until the 2027 World Cup but Abi Tierney, the Welsh Rugby Union chief executive, acknowledged “there was a mounting sense that it wasn’t working” and said the decision was “in the best interests of the Wales squad”.
Continue reading...Filo Tiatia has been named as the permanent head coach at Dragons RFC on a multi-year contract after serving as interim boss since November The former Ospreys back row man arrived at Rodney Parade at the start of the season to take over as defence coach at the region but was then thrust into the […]
The post Tiatia takes over Dragons head coach role full time appeared first on Welsh Rugby Union | Wales & Regions.
If Welsh rugby sinks any lower, big questions about the tournament’s long-term health may have to be asked
The difference is a mere 0.1 of a ranking point. And rankings, in isolation, do not necessarily foretell the future. Even so the news that Wales have slipped to 12th in World Rugby’s official pecking order, one place below Georgia, was a hugely symbolic moment. After 14 Test defeats in succession, another unwanted record, it was a new low in a season increasingly full of them.
Faith seems to be ebbing away, too. “It can’t carry on like this,” their erstwhile fly-half Dan Biggar said on ITV Sport over the weekend. “That looks like a team shot of belief and confidence.” Sam Warburton, who was leading Wales to Six Nations titles and grand slams not so long ago, was similarly downbeat as he sifted through the ashes of the defeat against Italy in Rome on Saturday. Neither were putting the boot in for the sake of it, they were just saying it as it is.
Continue reading...The Warrington head coach reflects on high expectations, learning from pain and a Super League opener against Huddersfield and his younger brother Thomas
“A lot of pain or adversity can be a great foundation for future success,” Sam Burgess says as we track back through the dark times, as well as the glory years, which have shaped him. Burgess, the once imperious rugby league player from Yorkshire who earned searing fame and then infamy in Australia, is about to start his second campaign as the head coach of Warrington Wolves.
Having guided Warrington to third place in Super League and to the Challenge Cup final last season, Burgess aims to end the club’s 70-year wait for another championship. It is a sign of the calm hope he feels now that the 36-year-old can reflect on the tumult and strife he has endured – starting with the death of his father from motor neurone disease when Burgess was a teenager to playing with a shattered cheekbone and fractured eye socket while inspiring the South Sydney Rabbitohs to their first NRL title in 43 years in 2014.
Continue reading...New Zealand Rugby (NZR) has launched legal action against Ineos after the company, which is founded and run by the British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, allegedly dropped a sponsorship agreement with three years remaining.
Ineos branding appears on jerseys and other clothing worn by the men’s and women’s senior sides – the All Blacks and Black Ferns – as well as the New Zealand Māori team and New Zealand sevens teams after a deal signed in 2022, which was due to continue until 2028.
Continue reading...Warren Gatland has pledged to continue working hard to try to get his players to put into practice what they’ve been working on in training following Wales’ Guinness Six Nations defeat in Rome. Next up for Wales is their first home assignment of the campaign against Ireland at a sold-out Principality Stadium in two weeks’ time. Then there is a […]
The post Gatland looking for ‘clinical’ edge appeared first on Welsh Rugby Union | Wales & Regions.
Tyler Olding’s try three minutes from time settled a cracking Super Rygbi Cymru clash at the Talbot Athletic Ground where Newport edged Aberavon 36-32. Centre Oli Andrew scored twice for Newport in the first half, while Dragons’ wing Ashton Hewitt – on the comeback trail after injury – marked his first Newport appearance since September […]
The post Hewitt returns with a try as Newport triumph at Aberavon appeared first on Welsh Rugby Union | Wales & Regions.
Emotional success against France captures imagination and showcases the charm and unpredictability of the Six Nations
After it was all over on Saturday night, England’s players peeled away to seek out their loved ones in the stands. Fin Smith’s parents, Andrew and Judith, were awaiting their match-winning boy and the shared family embrace, when it came, was among the more heartwarming things you’ll see in sport all year. All those unsung hours on school and club touchlines, all those youthful ups and downs, distilled into a tight group hug of the purest emotional joy.
In a strange way it also captured the tangled charm of the Six Nations. Andrew Smith is a proud Scot who met his wife – whose father Tom represented Scotland and the British & Irish Lions – at a post-match curry night in the clubhouse at London Scottish. What a Proclaimers-style 500-mile walk it has been from there to celebrating one of England’s more stunning modern wins with their red-rose-wearing son. Heaven knows how they will feel when Scotland head south next week for a Calcutta Cup clash now laden with even more resonance.
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