Rugby News
Brad Donald has resigned as Jillaroos coach, with his replacement making an immediate statement ahead of the upcoming Test against England in Las Vegas.
AAP reported last month that Donald’s job was under threat as the NRL finalised an investigation into a disparaging comment allegedly made in front of players.
Continue reading...Warren Gatland says Taulupe Faletau’s 100+ cap experience and X-factor can provide his young Welsh side with a real boost in confidence ahead of Round 2 of the Guinness Six Nations championship in Rome on Saturday. The 34-year-old Cardiff Rugby No. 8 returns to pick up his 105th cap at Stadio Olimpico at the weekend, having not featured […]
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Warren Gatland has dismissed the notion Wales are facing their biggest game for two decades against Italy in Rome on Saturday.
The former Wales outside-half Dan Biggar described the Six Nations fixture match as Welsh rugby’s biggest game for the “last 15 to 20 years” after an opening 43-0 thrashing by France left Gatland’s side surveying a record-breaking 13th consecutive defeat. A 14th at the Stadio Olimpico would leave Wales with the very real prospect of a second winless Six Nations campaign and championship wooden spoon and put Gatland in almost an untenable position.
Continue reading...Steve Borthwick believes Marcus Smith can be England’s “gamechanger” against France after shifting the Harlequins playmaker to full-back and handing Fin Smith a first start at fly-half for Saturday’s crunch clash.
Marcus Smith has started England’s last eight Tests at fly-half but with Borthwick keen to exploit his sparkling talents from deep and introduce a second playmaker to the side, the head coach has rolled the dice as he seeks to end his side’s miserable run of seven defeats in nine matches.
Continue reading...New format was supposed to send Super League teams to lower-league grounds but things haven’t quite gone to plan
It is officially the start of the new Super League season this weekend, but not quite as you may remember it. The road to Old Trafford begins next Thursday when the reigning champions, Wigan, take on Leigh in a mouthwatering local derby. But before then, all 12 top-flight clubs enter a revamped and remodelled Challenge Cup much earlier than usual.
In recent years, Super League clubs have entered as late as round six. This year, they come into the competition at round three after the Rugby Football League decided to try to pump some magic into the cup’s earlier rounds by guaranteeing all Super League sides would be drawn away at lower-league opposition. However, it hasn’t quite gone to plan.
Continue reading...Senior men’s head coach Warren Gatland has named the Wales team to play Italy in the second round of the 2025 Guinness Six Nations at Stadio Olimpico, Rome on Saturday 8 February (KO 14.15h GMT, live on ITV and S4C). Taulupe Faletau is named at No. 8 and will make his first appearance for Wales […]
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Aidan Boshoff says Wales U20 will go into Round 2 of the U20 Six Nations with the same level of confidence they took into their opening game in France and are ready to repeat last season’s victory over Italy. Having more than held their own against the French side in Vannes in the first half […]
The post Boshoff says belief driving Wales U20s on appeared first on Welsh Rugby Union | Wales & Regions.
France’s Matthieu Jalibert will start at fly-half against England in the Six Nations on Saturday in place of the suspended Romain Ntamack, one of two changes from the team that beat Wales in the opening game.
Jalibert asked to be sent back to his club, Bordeaux-Begles, when he was left out of the 23 to face the All Blacks having been second in the pecking order at flyhalf to Thomas Ramos during last November’s autumn series but the France head coach, Fabien Galthié, said there was no grudge held against the 26-year-old.
Continue reading...Joe Schmidt will step down as Wallabies coach at the end of this year’s Rugby Championship in a blow to Australia’s hopes in the 2027 World Cup.
The New Zealander confirmed on Thursday he would extend his contract beyond the British and Irish Lions tour, but won’t continue through to the showpiece tournament on home soil. His last Test in charge will be against the All Blacks in Perth on 4 October.
Continue reading...After months of speculation, Joe Schmidt has confirmed he will step down as Wallabies coach in October, leaving Rugby Australia to search for a fifth head coach in six years.
The France fly-half Romain Ntamack has been suspended for the match against England on Saturday, forcing Les Bleus into a reshuffle, but he will be available for their fixture against Ireland later in the tournament.
Ntamack was sent off in the emphatic victory against Wales last Friday and has been handed a three-week suspension. In his absence, Bordeaux’s mercurial fly-half Matthieu Jalibert is the favourite to come into the No 10 jersey at Twickenham.
Continue reading...Steve Borthwick’s England squad has been compared to Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United side before the massive Six Nations fixture at home against France on Saturday. Both teams have been having difficult seasons but inside the red rose camp there remains a firm belief that, given a little patience, the tide will eventually turn for them.
England’s attack coach, Richard Wigglesworth, also happens to be a United fan and sees similarities between the respective situations at Twickenham and Old Trafford. He thinks Amorim will eventually deliver success for United, now 13th in the Premier League, and is also backing England, who have won just two of their past nine Tests, to turn the corner in the not-too-distant future.
Continue reading...The class action being brought by hundreds of former rugby union and league players over the devastating effects of repetitive head injuries has taken a significant step forward at the high court in London.
Four years after the Guardian first reported that a group of eight former union players, including the World Cup winner Steve Thompson, had been diagnosed with neurological problems which they claimed were caused by their playing careers, the presiding judge, senior master of the king’s bench division Jeremy Cook has set out a roadmap for the landmark case.
Continue reading...Head coach Richard Whiffin has confirmed his Wales U20 men’s matchday squad to face Italy in round two of the 2025 U20 Six Nations. (KO 7.15pm, S4C) Wales head to Treviso to tackle the home side on Friday at Stadio Comunale di Monigo with a side showing four changes to the starting XV which lost […]
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The Welsh Rugby Union can confirm Wales prop Sisilia Tuipulotu will miss the forthcoming Guiness Women’s Six Nations campaign. Tuipulotu, 21, has undergone an operation due to a hamstring injury and will be out for the rest of the 2024/25 season. The 25-times capped prop has been a mainstay of the Wales side for the […]
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