Category: Rugby Union

Rugby Union News

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Leicester hit Northampton for six as league leaders crumble in fiery derby

  • Leicester 41-17 Northampton

  • Freddie Steward caps six-try victory for hosts

You can play all the classy rugby you want, you can be leading the table with a few matches to play, but certain elemental truths still apply. One of them is that if you find yourself overpowered up front away from home in a sold-out East Midlands derby, you will be blown away.

Northampton could have secured themselves a place in the playoffs here if they had won with a bonus point, but – how to put this – they did not. In a ferocious atmosphere, records tumbled as Leicester claimed that bonus-point win to move third, within one point of Bath, who play Exeter on Sunday, and five shy of Saints. They scored more points than they ever have in this fixture; there were more cards than there have ever been in this fixture. Maybe not more aggro than ever, but there was plenty of that too.

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Italy 33–61 England: Women’s Six Nations rugby union – as it happened

England moved one step closer to another grand slam with victory over a spirited Italy

6 mins. The home side decide to ram a stick in their own spokes by booting the restart out on the full. England will have a scrum on the centre spot.

4 mins. A return to the 22 pulls the Italy defence in narrow and that is all the opportunity Harrison needs to find space on the right with a cross kick that Packer dives on to score.

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The problem with RFU’s handling of Six Nations review is that England fans aren’t stupid | Robert Kitson

If supporters want transparency, they won’t find it in the rubber-stamping of Steve Borthwick’s coaching team

There has been a lot of fuss in recent days about French TV directors not giving rugby fans the full picture. In that particular department, sadly, there remains a runaway market leader. To say the Rugby Football Union’s public response to England’s disappointing Six Nations campaign has failed to supply all the relevant angles is an understatement.

In an ideal world, there would have been a media conference with Bill Sweeney, the RFU’s chief executive, alongside Steve Borthwick, his head coach, presenting a united, purposeful front and outlining precisely why the status quo needs preserving despite England having racked up four championship defeats for the first time since 1976. Instead, there was only a “Don’t tell ‘em, Pike” statement on email best summarised in four words: “Nothing to see here.”

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RFU backs Steve Borthwick to lead England for 2027 World Cup after Six Nations review

  • England suffered four defeats in dismal Six Nations

  • Bill Sweeney says improvement not ‘one simple answer’

Steve Borthwick and his coaching staff are to remain in charge of England’s men’s team despite the squad’s worst Five or Six Nations for 50 years. The Rugby Football Union has opted to back Borthwick and his lieutenants through to next year’s Rugby World Cup in Australia having completed what it described as “a detailed and robust review” of England’s latest campaign.

Despite having lost four championship games in the same season for the first time since 1976, the RFU has chosen to keep faith with the Borthwick regime in the belief that things can only get better. The union has decided that sacking the head coach is not the optimal solution, having previously dispensed with Eddie Jones’s services nine months prior to the 2023 World Cup.

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Wales great George North to retire from rugby union at end of the season

  • Retired from international arena in 2024 with 121 caps

  • ‘I lived out my childhood dream for many seasons’

Think of George North and two iconic moments inevitably stand out. Both took place on the 2013 British & Irish Lions tour when he was just 21 years old. Few northern hemisphere players have made a bigger top-level impact at a more tender age than the departing North, who announced on Wednesday he was retiring from all rugby at the end of this season.

The first indelible image occurred in Brisbane in the first Test against Australia. North was inside his own half when he fielded a kick from Berrick Barnes and set off on the kind of surging run that gets longer with every breathless retelling. After 40 metres he had already burned off three Wallabies and had only Will Genia left to beat. The photo of North pointing an exultant finger at the trailing scrum-half has taken its place in modern Lions folklore.

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Expect divine rugby and more epic drama when Northampton and Bath meet again

Recent European quarter-final was a classic and champions’ Prem trip to the Midlands will likely produce similar

Was this the greatest game ever played, people were asking in the aftermath of that quarter-final of the Champions Cup a fortnight ago in Bath. Victory by the odd try in 11; home team roared on to successful comeback victory with that 11th try in the last five minutes; Northampton, the away team, 28-7 up after barely 20 minutes, playing rugby of the gods.

A personal opinion is that it certainly was the greatest game ever played … this month. Without wanting to prick any bubbles of enthusiasm that may have swelled in the moments after the latest epic, yes, the match was incredible – and if it had happened in the amateur era would have been consecrated as legend long ago – but have we already forgotten France v England not even a month earlier? What about Scotland v France a week before that? We could go on.

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‘If not us, then what?’: fears grow for rugby talent lost to league amid Moana Pasifika demise

  • Coach Umaga calls for more support for union in Samoa and Tonga

  • Super Rugby club’s future in grave doubt beyond this season

All Blacks great and Moana Pasifika coach Tana Umaga fears the region’s talent will gravitate to league and derail the Tongan and Samoan Test sides without a Super Rugby presence.

The Super Rugby Pacific franchise is set to be disbanded after ownership on Wednesday confirmed it would not continue funding the “unviable” operation beyond this season.

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‘We’ve got to wake up and smell the coffee’: Tony Rowe on Exeter’s new American frontier

As West Country club join rugby’s modern-day gold rush, their chair looks forward to some US razzmatazz and a possible Prem expansion into Wales

Tony Rowe has not yet had time to ensure Exeter’s proposed new American owners feel fully at home in the west. On a damp morning at Sandy Park no one is wearing a Stetson hat and there is not even a horse tied up outside reception. Maybe that will be part of the handover package assuming the Chiefs’ 700-odd members vote in favour next month of proceeding with the sale of their 155-year-old club.

The winds of change, though, are kicking up the local dust. For the past 33 years Rowe has been integral to one of British team sport’s most romantic Cinderella stories. But romance doesn’t pay the bills in modern pro rugby and times are a-changing. At 77 years old, it is easy to understand why Rowe fancies handing over the reins to a smartly dressed stranger from out of town.

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Andy Simpson, the unluckiest England rugby player in history, finally gets his Test cap

Longsuffering hooker, who warmed bench for 21 Tests and lost part of a thumb, is getting RFU recognition at last

Initially, Andy Simpson thought it was a Saturday morning wind-up. Someone from the Rugby Football Union museum was phoning to tell him that, at the age of 71, he was finally a capped England player. Given he had retired without featuring in an officially recognised Test – “the first thing you think is: ‘Who’s taking the mickey here?’” – his scepticism was understandable.

But no, it was totally legit. Simpson is among 47 former players now basking in a warm, rosy glow that had previously eluded them. Having trawled through its archives, the RFU has deemed that several fixtures against full-strength national teams – including a 1986 contest between Italy and an England B side containing Simpson – were effectively Test matches. The long wait is over and the golden oldie debutants have been invited to attend a special, if belated, capping ceremony on 8 June.

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‘You come back different’: how rugby players change after motherhood

Four England players will miss the Six Nations as they are pregnant. What do they have in store when they return?

By No Helmets Required

When England begin their defence of the Women’s Six Nations against Ireland on Saturday at Twickenham they will be without Zoe Stratford, Lark Atkin-Davies and Rosie Galligan as they prepare to become mothers for the first time. The England rugby league player Kelsey Gentles – who has returned to her sport as a different player and person – says the World Cup winners should embrace the imminent metamorphosis.

Gentles left the Women’s Super League as a sparkling outside back in 2023; when she returned the following year, having given birth to her daughter Maia, she was a prop who blasted holes in defensive lines. She enjoyed a glorious comeback, scoring the winning try as York Valkyrie clinched the Grand Final, but there were challenges along the way.

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England full-back George Furbank heads for Harlequins in lucrative switch

  • Northampton struggle to meet offer

  • Smith and Mitchell fit for Saints quarter-final

Underperforming Harlequins have confirmed the signing of England’s full-back George Furbank as they seek to rebuild their squad for next season.

The 29-year-old Furbank has been an influential figure at Northampton, the league leaders, but a lucrative contract offer has persuaded him to try his luck in south-west London.

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