Category: Rugby

Rugby News

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Warrington beat Leeds in fitting thriller for Super League’s 5,000th game

  • Warrington 16-14 Leeds
  • Visitors squander eight-point lead in second half

Almost 29 years to the day since Super League kicked off in Paris amid a flurry of excitement and hysteria, two teams with very different histories in the competition’s biggest games delivered a thriller for the 5,000th match in the history of the league.

The early evidence is still unclear on whether or not Warrington can claim a first Super League title – and first league title since 1955 – this year, or whether Leeds can add to the eight Grand Finals they already have. But they certainly showed enough between them to suggest they will be in the mix when the pressure is on come September and the scramble for Old Trafford reaches boiling point.

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Richard Wigglesworth: ‘I’ll be honest … and think of nothing but the Lions’

Newly selected British & Irish Lions assistant on his journey as a coach, picking Steve Borthwick’s brain and Andy Farrell breaking the news

Richard Wigglesworth was in the garden with his five-year-old daughter, two days after England’s thumping win over Wales, when the phone rang. It was Andy Farrell and as much as Margot was not happy that her father was on the phone, it was a call he had to take. England’s storming finish to the Six Nations may not be the only reason Wigglesworth has been seconded to the British & Irish Lions but it can only have helped, and so the 41-year-old completes Farrell’s lineup, the first England coach to do so since Steve Borthwick in 2017.

It is easy to forget that more than two years ago, Wigglesworth was still playing for Leicester Tigers. He was a player-coach when Borthwick got the call from England in December 2022 and as a result, Wigglesworth immediately hung up his boots and took interim charge at Welford Road.

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Oasis promoter behind rugby league’s Ashes series return to England

  • Warrington owner Simon Moran instrumental in decision
  • Bramley-Moore Dock, Wembley and Headingley to host

The music promoter backing this summer’s Oasis reunion will be a major figure behind rugby league’s Ashes returning to England for the first time since 2003. The venues and dates for the three-Test series were confirmed on Wednesday.

England will face Australia, the world champions, in Tests at ­Wembley, Everton’s new home at Bramley-Moore Dock and Leeds ­Rhinos’ Headingley on consecutive Saturdays: 25 October, 1 November and 8 November. All three games will kick-off at 2.30 and be live on the BBC.

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Jones wants Wales to “go for it” against England

Hannah Jones

Hannah Jones has a simple message for her Wales team ahead of Round 2 of the Guinness Women’s Six Nations against England at Principality Stadium – “we’ve got nothing to lose, so let’s go for it.” The Red Roses will make their debut at the home of Welsh rugby seeking to build on their 38-5 […]

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Unions unite to strengthen women’s game

Wales Women

With less than six months to go until Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, all four Home Unions – RFU, WRU, Scottish Rugby, IRFU – are continuing to work together to grow the women and girls’ game, thanks to the Impact ’25 programme and UK Sport. Backed by UK Sport funding, this international collaboration between the […]

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Rabbitohs’ 80-year-old bunny mascot issues apology over child pushing incident

  • ‘Nothing like this will ever happen again,’ says Charlie Gallico
  • Much-loved retired panelbeater filmed shoving nine-year-old

South Sydney’s mascot has apologised for pushing a child during an NRL match against the Cronulla Sharks. Charlie Gallico, while dressed as mascot Reggie Rabbit, was filmed shoving a nine-year-old boy while moving through the players’ tunnel at Sharks Stadium during their round three fixture.

Gallico, 81, issued an apology on Tuesday following an investigation by the club into a complaint made by the child’s mother Caroline Agius.

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Pontypool boost top four chances with big win over Quins in SRC

Pontypool boosted their hopes of a top four finish in Super Rugby Cymru with a comprehensive 42-17 victory over Carmarthen Quins. Holding a narrow 18-17 lead at half time, having been outscored three tries to two in the first half, Pooler then ran in four tries, scoring 24 unanswered points in the second to down […]

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Pontypool boost top four chances with bit win over Quins in SRC

Pontypool boosted their hopes of a top four finish in Super Rugby Cymru with a comprehensive 42-17 victory over Carmarthen Quins. Holding a narrow 18-17 lead at half time, having been outscored three tries to two in the first half, Pooler then ran in four tries, scoring 24 unanswered points in the second to down […]

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Finn Russell returns to lead Bath past Gloucester to consolidate lead at top

  • Bath 42-26 Gloucester
  • Leaders score six tries against West Country rivals

Bath cemented their position as the team to catch in the Premiership race this season with an entertaining victory against their West Country rivals Gloucester. Assisted by the return of their chief playmaker, Finn Russell, after the Six Nations, the hosts scored six tries and, in a neat example of symmetry, are six points clear of the field with six regular-season fixtures to play.

It has already been a good month for Bath, who won the Premiership Cup last weekend to secure their first trophy for 17 years, and here was further evidence of the significant squad depth at their disposal.

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Amazing Maisie ready for next step up Welsh pathway ladder

Two years ago, Maisie Davies and Alaw Pyrs were lining up for Wales U18 against their Scottish counterparts in the Six Nations U18 Festival. Today the talented teenagers will make their first starts for the senior Wales Women’s team in the Guinness Six Nations. Their dramatic rise through the ranks is testimony to their form […]

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From one crisis to another: rugby league in dire need of real leadership

Clubs ousting the RFL chair to demand a third review in eight years is a retrograde step that takes yet more focus off the actual rugby

Remember Super League’s historic trip to Las Vegas? The hype, the excitement and the feeling that after years of trying, perhaps British rugby league had finally broken a glass ceiling and could be set for a bright future? That all unfolded only three weeks ago, but given what has happened since, it feels like a lot longer.

Few sports do off-field issues quite like rugby league, but even by its own ridiculous standards, these are unique times. It is perhaps pertinent to start with Salford Red Devils, given their very existence has appeared under threat of late. They have twice been placed in special measures by the Rugby Football League over the winter, the latest coming when their new owners failed to pay their players on time in February, days after a takeover of the club that had fuelled optimism.

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Defence coach Murphy joins Wales Women

Dan Murphy

The Welsh Rugby Union is excited to announce Dan Murphy, the Gloucester/Hartpury coach, has been drafted in as defence coach for the Wales Women’s Six Nations campaign. Murphy is part of new Wales head coach Sean Lynn’s title-winning coaching team at Gloucester/Hartpury in the PWR. He is the Gloucester/Hartpury scrum coach but his remit with […]

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