It may be at least five years until we see Joseph Suaalii back in the NRL again amid the report that his rich deal with Rugby Australia includes a secret contract clause.
The Breakdown | Once at war with the world and himself, Sexton in his own words is revealing
If you thought you knew the celebrated former Ireland fly-half, it’s time to look deeper – this is no leafy lane memoir
Perhaps the most tell-tale aspect of Johnny Sexton’s new autobiography is that it took seven years to stitch together. Seven years? Not since James Joyce took a similar timeframe to write Ulysses has there been such a slow-cooked Irish literary stew. And as Peter O’Reilly, Sexton’s excellent (and potentially long-suffering) ghostwriter, reveals in the final acknowledgments, there was little need for many supplementary interviews because of “Johnny’s exceptional memory for detail”. Combine those twin ingredients and a tasty dish is all but assured.
Because Johnny can remember everything and everyone. What his friends said and did, what his enemies were thinking (or, at least, what he thought they were thinking), how he felt at certain crucial moments. If it reads at times like a cold-eyed dispatch from an endless battle that is, for a good deal of his career, how it felt. “For so much of the time I was at war – with opponents, with rivals, sometimes with coaches, often with myself. For the most part … it felt like a fight.”
Continue reading...Viva la vida: Hull KR’s rise to Grand Final and a revolution built from the ground up | Jonathan Liew
Willie Peters’ side have earned their place at Old Trafford by staying true to themselves and serving the local community
To date, it’s still not entirely clear why Coldplay are coming to Craven Park. There was a certain bemusement last month when one of the world’s biggest and most unashamedly commercial bands announced that they were complementing their London residency next summer with two nights at the modest 20,000-capacity Sewell Group Craven Park, home of Hull Kingston Rovers. These, along with six nights at Wembley, are the only European shows Coldplay will play next summer. Even the city council described the news as “absolutely bonkers”.
Why Hull? Well for one thing, this is a city with a rich musical heritage in its own right, from the Housemartins to Everything But The Girl to Mick Ronson. And according to Neil Hudgell in a recent interview with The Times, the message came through that Coldplay wanted to play somewhere “northern and gritty”: authentic, out of the way, a little bit quirky. Hudgell is the owner of Rovers, and the man responsible for securing what we now have to describe as the second-hottest ticket in town.
Continue reading...Manu begins life in Japanese rugby union just 10 days after disappointing prelim exit
Just 10 days after his rugby league career ended, Joseph Manu has been captured training with his new Japanese rugby outfit Toyota Verblitz.
NRL grand final 2024: Penrith Panthers defeat Melbourne Storm – as it happened
- Panthers beat Storm 14-6 to seal fourth straight title
- Liam Martin wins Clive Churchill medal
Nathan Cleary missed State of Origin, sat out large chunks of the season, and has had to play through pain all year, but the game’s greatest modern player will still be the most crucial participant tonight.
The 26-year-old has played just 12 games this season, his lowest tally across nine seasons in the NRL. The knee injury he suffered in last season’s grand final affected his off season, and then a serious hamstring complaint meant he played just two games between rounds three and 20. His shoulder injury a month later kept him out for another three weeks, but he has returned and managed it during the finals.
Yet Cleary’s left shoulder remains one of the grand final’s major talking points. He was taken off in the final minutes in the preliminary final against Cronulla after appearing to aggravate it in a tackle, and respected NRL injury analyst Brian Seeney has described the problem – which makes a recurrence more likely – as a “ticking timebomb”.
Munster said this week that he and Martin “didn’t like each other” even when they were teammates for Australia. “I thought we were fine, but obviously that’s not the case,” Martin responded. “If he feels like that, then that’s his problem. It won’t change anything on Sunday.”
Continue reading...Santiago Grondona’s debut double leads Bristol to blistering win over Bath
- Bath 26-36 Bristol
- Argentinian helps earn bonus point in first half
The days of low-scoring West Country derbies have gone the way of cassette tapes and Ceefax. A week ago, Bristol scored 41 points and still contrived to lose at home to Gloucester and last January they beat Bath 57-44 at Ashton Gate. This cracking game was not quite the same crazy whirl but the scoreboard still revolved at times like a fruit machine in Las Vegas.
When the music stopped and the nine tries were finally collated it added up to another hugely satisfying away day for Bristol, rewarding a consistently vibrant performance full of movement and purpose.
Continue reading...‘Overly aggressive’: Details emerge over ‘rude’ and ‘unacceptable’ Cheika spat
Leicester head coach Michael Cheika has been hit with a two-week suspension after being found guilty of disrespecting an independent match-day doctor.
Impromptu haka leaves Jahrome Hughes with a tear after Dally M win
- ‘That meant a lot,’ says Melbourne Storm’s Kiwi No 7 after tribute
- Sydney Roosters forward Olivia Kernick wins women’s medal
An emotional Jahrome Hughes has admitted he had a tear in his eye after Melbourne teammates launched into a haka to honour his Dally M medal, while Roosters second-rower Olivia Kernick won the women’s award.
In scenes reminiscent of fellow New Zealander Roger Tuivasa-Sheck’s win in 2018, Melbourne winger Will Warbrick took over the Dally Ms to celebrate Hughes’ award. After holding off James Tedesco by one vote and landing the first big individual honour of his career, Hughes watched as Warbrick launched into a haka alongside Storm second-rower Eliesa Katoa and Canberra prop Joseph Tapine.
Continue reading...South African pitch invader knocked out cold in brutal hit
A pitch invader was knocked out cold by a security guard during a rugby match in South Africa.
Rugby convert Joseph Suaalii jumps gun before chat with Wallabies coach
Rugby convert Joseph Suaalii may have got a little ahead of himself before he even suits up for his first game in the 15-man code.
Relentless South Africa will not let up after claiming Rugby Championship
After beating Argentina to seal the title, the world champions will look to sweep England, Wales and Scotland
Two World Cups, a British & Irish Lions series and now the Rugby Championship. South Africa are in possession of every major trophy available to a southern-hemisphere team. Does this put them on par with the all-conquering All Blacks of Richie McCaw and Dan Carter? It is a question best unpacked over a second pint in the pub. That it is worth asking, though, is a testament to the evolution of this team under Rassie Erasmus and the potential heights they may yet reach.
This 48-7 win over Argentina included all the familiar notes of a Springboks classic. Their scrum consumed the Pumas pack with Ox Nché – a man who famously joked that “salads don’t win scrums” – feasting in the set piece, winning a string of first-half penalties seemingly on his own. Eben Etzebeth, now with a record 128 caps for his country, began the day with tears in his eyes and was totemic throughout. Pieter-Steph du Toit, who continues to produce player-of-the-match performances with his father’s hamstring surgically implanted in his left leg, bossed the breakdown and scored two of his team’s seven tries.
Continue reading...‘Soul destroying’: Warrington eliminate St Helens in golden drop goal thriller
- Eliminator playoff: Warrington 23-22 St Helens
- George Williams’ kick sets up Hull KR semi-final
The Super League playoffs may only be 48 hours old but if this is what the remainder of the road to Old Trafford looks like, we are in for some treat: not that it will be any consolation to supporters of St Helens after this most remarkable of sudden-death ties.
For weeks, the Saints have been so brittle that many felt when they ended the year sixth – their lowest league finish since 1994 – this would be somewhat of a formality for a Warrington side who have caught the eye so much in Sam Burgess’s first season as a head coach. But anyone with even a brief history of Super League should not know you can never write the Saints off.
Continue reading...‘Gutted’: Same old story as Wallabies’ horror record extended despite gutsy effort v All Blacks
The Wallabies’ Test drought in New Zealand extended to 23 years when their brave challenge in Wellington was repelled by an All Blacks’ onslaught on Saturday.
Fergus Burke: ‘Owen Farrell was awesome but I’ve got to be my own player’
Saracens’ new fly-half is not daunted at the prospect of following in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor
Certain acts are tougher to follow than others. Imagine, say, playing Hamlet at the Old Vic with the ghost of Sir Laurence Olivier on your shoulder. Or succeeding Sean Connery as the next James Bond. As he prepares for his first home league game as Owen Farrell’s heir apparent, Saracens’ new fly-half, Fergus Burke, knows he is stepping into some exalted shoes.
Which, of course, presents an instant dilemma: do you try to be a carbon copy of your predecessor – give or take the Wigan accent – or resolve to be your own man? Sitting in St Albans, his freshly adopted home town, the 25-year-old Burke has already made his mind up. “Stepping into someone else’s role … there’s obviously a bit of expectation. I just try and park that. Owen was an awesome player and one of the best this club has seen. But I’ve got to be my own player. I can’t be thinking too much about what’s been.”
Continue reading...‘A line in the sand moment’: Premiership’s troubles laid bare by report | Robert Kitson
Seven of the 10 Premiership clubs are balance sheet insolvent but all of rugby must change, says James Haskell
Rarely has the gap between how rugby would like to be perceived and the unvarnished reality felt wider than it did on a grey midweek lunchtime in the City of London. The Honourable Artillery Company – “Turn right just past the cannon, sir” – remains a seriously valuable piece of real estate which made it an interesting choice of venue from which to launch a coruscating critique of the financial state of English club rugby.
It was certainly instructive to sit among seated rows of money men and lawyers listening to assorted experts, academics and – boom, tish! – the former England flanker James Haskell assessing the findings of a newly published independent report into the health of the Premiership’s finances. Interrupted only by the occasional chiming of a splendid grandfather clock, it was the most contemporary of debates in the most old school of settings.
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