Rugby News
‘Flickitau’ is first centre to win Australia’s top prize
Tabua Tuinakauvadra crowned top Wallaroos player
Wallabies star Len Ikitau has won the John Eales Medal, becoming the first centre to claim Australian rugby’s highest individual honour.
Ikitau enjoyed a phenomenal year in the gold jersey, opening the voting period in spectacular style by delivering the magical match-winning flick pass to Max Jorgensen in Australia’s epic win over England at Twickenham last November.
Continue reading...Former captain will not be in training squad next week
Farrell has not played for England since 2023 World Cup
Owen Farrell is expected to be overlooked by Steve Borthwick for England’s autumn internationals campaign despite injury headaches at inside-centre. It is understood that Farrell will not be named in a training squad on Sunday for next week’s mini camp and as a result Borthwick is expected to omit the 34-year-old former captain when he finalises his squad on 26 October.
The Gloucester centre Seb Atkinson, who started England’s two summer victories over Argentina, is sidelined through injury and likely to miss all four autumn Tests, against Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Argentina, but as things stand that is not going to prompt Borthwick to turn to Farrell, who has not appeared for his country since the 2023 World Cup.
Continue reading...London Broncos’ big names will play in Championship
Door open for them in 2027 if they can raise grading
York Knights’ owner, Clint Goodchild, believes the club’s historic promotion to the Super League for the first time is a watershed moment for the whole of North Yorkshire, after they and Toulouse were granted admission to the top flight in 2026 and London Broncos missed the cut.
The Knights will play in rugby league’s highest division for the first time since 1986 after they were selected by an independent panel alongside Toulouse to join the top 12 from Thursday’s IMG gradings and expand the Super League to 14 teams for the first time in more than a decade.
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Continue reading...Canadian club folded during Covid-19 pandemic in 2020
Players receive around £750,000 in unpaid income
Players from the former Super League club Toronto Wolfpack have finally been paid around £750,000 in unpaid salaries following a five-year legal battle, the Guardian can reveal.
The Wolfpack folded in 2020 during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic leaving their playing squad – which included the likes of Sonny Bill Williams – unemployed and without a contract. Some of those players were able to source deals for 2021 and continue playing but others retired from the sport altogether and had to take jobs outside rugby league to make ends meet.
Continue reading...Agents who take players to unregistered competitions also face ban
Rules will ‘protect future of the game’, ARLC chair Peter V’landys says
The NRL has vowed to ban any player who leaves the code for R360 for 10 years, as it fights to fend off the threat of the breakaway rugby competition.
In a statement on Wednesday, the NRL also threatened to ban any agent if they take a player to the rebel competition.
Continue reading...Leeds half-back won the 2025 Man of Steel award
First Test against Australia at Wembley on 25 October
The England head coach, Shaun Wane, has said the decision to leave Super League’s Man of Steel, Jake Connor, out of his squad for the Ashes was “not really difficult”. He added that he does not understand the obsession surrounding the exile of the Leeds Rhinos half-back.
Connor is by far the most notable omission from the 24-man squad to take on Australia in the first Ashes series since 2003. It begins on 25 October at Wembley, with Tests at Everton and Headingley to follow on successive Saturdays. There are a number of surprise inclusions, including a returnfor Hull KR’s Joe Burgess after his two-try performance in the Super League Grand Final on Saturday. The winger has been out of the national side for a decade.
Continue reading...Former Gold Coast Titan flyhalf lured back by Rugby Australia
Coach Joe Schmidt selects 34 players for Tests starting 25 October
Carter Gordon could be the Wallabies’ flyhalf again by the end of the month after securing a release from his NRL deal to be part of Australia’s spring tour.
The 24-year-old’s move to the Queensland Reds was confirmed on Monday after Rugby Australia secured a release from the second and final year of his Gold Coast contract.
Continue reading...Unpredictability and fresher feel has been apparent in Super League and whets the appetite for England’s home Tests against Australia
For the first time in two decades Super League woke up on Sunday morning with a name other than Wigan Warriors, St Helens or Leeds Rhinos as its champions. Hull KR are the first new winners of the competition since 2004, and only the fifth in history to be crowned at all.
For the Robins, this is a watershed moment. Without a major trophy in 40 years before this season, they have now completed an historic treble in 2025 and are arguably Super League’s premier club side. But for the wider competition as a whole, their success could not have come at a better time.
Continue reading...Public naming competition had more than 20,000 submissions
Rugby league franchise joining in 2028 will be known as Chiefs
Papua New Guinea’s new team to enter the NRL in 2028 will be known as the Chiefs, the country’s prime minister, James Marape, has announced.
The club’s name was unveiled at Santos National Football Stadium before kick-off in the men’s annual match between the Australian Prime Minister’s XIII and their Pacific neighbour on Sunday.
Continue reading...A dominant display led by Mikey Lewis secured an astonishing treble for Hull KR, denying Wigan a three-peat
“Being the most consistent team [in regular season] means nothing today,” the Hull KR coach, Willie Peters, tells Sky Sports. “It’s about today. Winning the moment. Today’s a big moment, and we need to win it.
“We’ve got to be switched on for 80 minutes against this team. I’ve got a lot of faith in the group. Now it’s about going out and expressing themselves.”
Continue reading...Wing has a masters in finance but has England ambitions and takes inspiration from Manny Feyi-Waboso
In his quieter moments Paul Brown-Bampoe has a recurring daydream. A packed Twickenham international stage, with him playing on one wing for England and his Exeter teammate Manny Feyi-Waboso on the other. “Of course I’ve imagined that day,” he says, smiling broadly. If the double-barrelled whizz-kids continue their current form it might just happen sooner rather than later.
Admittedly it is early days in the new Prem season but something potentially thrilling is stirring out west. Feyi-Waboso, after an injury-curtailed year, is back fit and firing with five tries in his opening two league games. The top-drawer Wallaby Len Ikitau has arrived to link up with Henry Slade in the Chiefs midfield and also lurking with intent is the 23-year-old Brown-Bampoe, a serious athlete with numerous strings to his bow.
Continue reading...Phil Dowson has Fin Smith, Henry Pollock, Alex Mitchell and Tommy Freeman available again and eager to make up for last season’s 33-0 defeat
It does not feel like a coincidence that the Prem’s first derby weekend of the season marks the return of most British & Irish Lions players and for Northampton it is a welcome boost indeed. Phil Dowson has Fin Smith, Henry Pollock, Alex Mitchell and Tommy Freeman back at his disposal as they seek to avenge last season’s 33-0 home drubbing at the hands of fierce rivals Leicester.
For Saturday’s game Dowson has selected Smith, Mitchell and Freeman to start while Pollock is named on the bench and across the league a number of other Lions return now that the mandatory rest period has ended. Marcus Smith starts for Harlequins against Saracens, who field Ben Earl from the start. Jamie George is on the bench but Maro Itoje is still considered “unavailable”. Bath are led by Finn Russell in their West Country encounter with Gloucester with Will Stuart also starting. Ellis Genge lines up for injury-hit Bristol against Exeter.
Continue reading...Hull KR have taken two of Wigan’s crowns this year and stand in the way of Matt Peet’s team at Old Trafford
It is not just the walls of Wigan Warriors’ plush Robin Park training complex that are draped with the historic moments of rugby league’s most famous club. Almost everywhere you turn in the town, there is a nod to the great players and triumphs Wigan recalls with immense pride.
The modern era has not exactly been short on supply when it comes to similar memorable moments but in terms of teams and players that will stand the test of time, it is not unreasonable to suggest this current incarnation of Wigan Warriors is on the verge of entering the pantheon of the club’s all-time greats.
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