Category: Rugby

Rugby News

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Wales appoint Steve Tandy as new head coach to launch the post-Gatland era

  • Scotland coach tasked with reviving Welsh fortunes

  • ‘Becoming head coach of my country is a massive honour’

Wales have appointed Steve Tandy as their new head coach. The 45-year-old Welshman will become the permanent successor to Warren Gatland on 1 September following almost six years as Scotland’s defence coach.

Tandy is tasked with reviving his country’s fortunes after their record 18-match losing run finally ended on 12 July with a 31-22 victory over Japan in Kobe. His first match in charge will be on Sunday 9 November against Argentina in Cardiff, which will be followed by meetings with Japan, New Zealand and the world champions, South Africa, on the following three weekends.

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James Slipper urges Wallabies to ignore ‘losing mentality’ jibe with Lions series on the line

  • Veteran calls for history to repeat after being part of fightback in 2013

  • Australia boosted by return of Rob Valetini and Will Skelton from injury

Steely Wallabies veteran James Slipper is urging his battered troops to block out the “noise” as they look to stop the Lions juggernaut in their do-or-die second Test in Melbourne.

The series is on the line at the MCG on Saturday night with Slipper offering a unique perspective in the current Australian line-up as the only player to have taken part in two series.

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Australia 19-27 British & Irish Lions: first Test – as it happened

Andy Farrell’s Lions eased to victory in the first Test, leading 24-5 before Australia rallied to make the score respectable

The crowd count us down and Finn Russell boots the test series under way.

Officials for this match:

Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)

Assistant Referees: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia) & Andrea Piardi (Italy)

Television Match Official (TMO): Richard Kelly (New Zealand)

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Captain Harry Wilson backs Wallabies to surprise British & Irish Lions in first Test

  • Australia’s No 8 says team will try to ‘win every moment’ on Saturday

  • Nick Champion de Crespigny and Tom Lynagh come into injury-depleted squad

Australia captain Harry Wilson said the Wallabies were confident of beating the British & Irish Lions in the first Test at Lang Park on Saturday despite being heavy underdogs after losing several key players to injury.

The Wallabies have won only four of their last 11 Tests and on Saturday will be without regular fly-half Noah Lolesio and their best Test player of the last two years, loose forward Rob Valetini.

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Joe Ofahengaue stars in Leigh’s statement victory over St Helens

  • St Helens 4-16 Leigh Leopards

  • Ofahengaue scores two tries as Leigh close on top two

Leigh Leopards further underlined their position as bona fide Super League title contenders with another statement victory, this time winning at fourth-placed St Helens to close the gap further on the competition’s top two.

A month ago, Leigh conceded 50 points at Leeds and with fixtures against the league leaders Hull KR, second-placed Wigan and the Saints on the horizon, it was not inconceivable to consider whether the Leopards could find themselves in a scramble just to make the play-offs in the final two months of the season.

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Andy Farrell knows what it takes to play for the Lions against Australia

Long before he was a rugby union coach, Farrell captained Great Britain’s rugby league team against Australia

By No Helmets Required

Andy Farrell knows more about playing for the Lions against Australia than anyone in his squad. He faced Australia 15 times for Great Britain’s rugby league team, winning just four of those matches. Farrell only played in Australia twice for the Lions, captaining the team in Brisbane in 1999 and Sydney in 2002. Both matches were a nightmare, his team humiliated by an aggregate score of 106-16.

Farrell’s introduction to the team was more enjoyable. He made the first of his 34 appearances for Great Britain at Headingley against New Zealand in 1993. He was only 18 years old and he scored on his debut. Let’s hope he savoured that moment. His third Great Britain international, in 1994, was an epic. Farrell started in the second row against Australia at Wembley in an arm-wrestle for the ages. This wasn’t a run-of-the-mill Australia side. This was one of the all-time greats.

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