Category: Rugby Union

Rugby Union News

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Sports Personality of the Year 2025: Lionesses square off on six-strong shortlist

  • Chloe Kelly and Hannah Hampton make the shortlist

  • McIlroy, Littler, Norris and Kildunne also up for award

The England teammates Chloe Kelly and Hannah Hampton are up against one another for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award on a shortlist that also includes Lando Norris, Rory McIlroy, Luke Littler and Ellie Kildunne.

Kelly and Hampton were at the centre of England’s dramatic penalty shootout win over Spain in the Euro 2025 final, with Kelly scoring the winning spot-kick after Hampton had made two critical saves. For Kelly, it came after a difficult period personally, but after leaving Manchester City for Arsenal within months she was a European champion and Champions League winner. Hampton’s heroics saw the Chelsea stopper win the Yashin Trophy for the world’s best female goalkeeper at the Ballon d’Or awards.

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Etzebeth accepts 12-week ban but claims eye-gouge ‘was never intentional’

  • ‘I would never do something like this on purpose’

  • South Africa lock accepts 12-week suspension

Eben Etzebeth, the Springboks lock serving a 12-week ban for eye-gouging Alex Mann of Wales, has claimed it was “never intentional”, contradicting the verdict of an independent disciplinary committee announced last week.

In an Instagram post on Wednesday the Sharks second row accepted guilt and apologised, saying “unfortunately mistakes happen”. The 34-year-old double Rugby World Cup winner also appeared to distance himself from the act by drawing attention to “other factors”. Along with three videos accompanying the post, Etzebeth claimed two Welsh players involved in the fracas, along with Mann, changed “the dynamic of the entire picture”.

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Five years on: rugby’s brain damaged players wait and wait for the help they need

In 2020 Steve Thompson revealed he could not remember winning the Rugby World Cup and since then his case and others have been caught up in a warren of legal argument

The Royal Courts of Justice are a warren. They were built piecemeal over 125 years of intermittent construction, wings were added, blocks were expanded and then joined by a web of twisting staircases and long corridors. You navigate your way to whichever corner of it you have business in by checking the tiny print on the long daily case lists that are posted in the lobby early each morning, when the building always seems to be full of people hurrying in the other direction. For the last three years, three separate sets of legal action about brain damage in sport have been slowly making their way through here, lost in the hallways.

One is in football, one is in rugby union, one is in rugby league. The same small firm, Rylands Garth, is behind all three. Sometimes these hearings take place in the modern rooms of the east block, where the carpet is peeling and the roofs are gap-toothed with missing panels, and sometimes they take place in the cold old stone rooms off the great hall, which are wood-cladded, and contain rows and rows of heavy leather-bound books. Progress is slow. Events often go unreported.

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South Africa’s Eben Etzebeth handed 12-match ban for eye-gouging against Wales

  • Lock sent off in Cardiff during Springboks’ 73-0 win

  • Suspension covers matches until end of March

South Africa’s Eben Etzebeth has been suspended for 12 matches for eye-gouging against Wales last weekend.

The suspension covers matches for the Durban-based Sharks starting from this weekend to the end of March. The Sharks deregistered Etzebeth this week in anticipation of a lengthy ban.

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Maro Itoje eyes World Cup glory after England dodge big guns in 2027 draw

  • England ‘welcome whatever comes’ says bullish captain

  • Wales’ Tandy ‘unbelievably excited’ by England clash

Maro Itoje has set his sights on Rugby World Cup glory in Australia in 2027 after England were handed a favourable potential path through the tournament when the draw was made in Sydney on Wednesday.

Steve Borthwick’s side, who have risen to third in the world rankings after an 11-match winning streak, emerged on the other side of the draw from the reigning world champions South Africa, three-times winners New Zealand and France.

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Favourable 2027 Rugby World Cup draw provides few potholes for England | Robert Kitson

Signs are encouraging for an improving squad to invoke the glory of 2003 with rivals facing trickier routes in Australia

As the Ashes have reminded us, it never pays to get too excited in advance about winning in Australia. But once the draw for the 2027 men’s Rugby World Cup had concluded and the various knockout permutations had been crunched there was a strong whiff of deja vu in the Sydney air. A World Cup in Australia and a decent draw for England? What could possibly go wrong?

The organisers had already stoked the narrative nicely by wheeling out Jonny Wilkinson in the promotional tournament video, essentially a mashup of Mad Max and Wacky Races roaring across a dusty outback. When every Australian wakes up on Thursday to discover it is 666 days until the 2027 edition kicks off, the nagging fear of nightmarish history repeating itself will further intensify.

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Hosts Australia to face New Zealand in Rugby World Cup pool as England draw Wales

  • Champions South Africa face Italy, Georgia and Romania

  • Ireland and Scotland in pool with Uruguay and Portugal

The host nation Australia will face their traditional rivals New Zealand at the men’s Rugby World Cup in 2027 after the draw was made in Sydney on Wednesday.

The Wallabies, hosting a second men’s tournament, were guaranteed to face a top-ranked nation in Pool A due to a current world ranking of seventh, and the renewal of their fierce rivalry with the All Blacks is perhaps the most appetising possible outcome from the draw.

The potential for a “Bledisloe Cup” opening match to kick off the global showpiece, on 1 October 2027 in Perth, will be a hugely attractive prospect for fans. Chile, playing at a second Rugby World Cup after their debut in France in 2023, and debutants Hong Kong are also in Pool A.

England, who won the men’s tournament in Australia 22 years ago, have been pitted against their Six Nations rivals Wales, with Tonga and Zimbabwe the other sides in Pool F. Wales famously defeated England at their home tournament a decade ago before a second loss, to Australia, consigned the hosts to an early exit.

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Eben Etzebeth to appear at hearing after red card for alleged eye-gouging

  • Mid-range offence could see eight-week ban

  • Apology after match will be considered

Eben Etzebeth is expected to appear at a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday after his red card for alleged eye-gouging in the dominant victory against Wales on Saturday, with the Springboks lock potentially facing a long ban. The verdict is likely to be announced on Wednesday.

As South Africa closed in on a record 73-0 victory in Cardiff, Etzebeth clashed with the Welsh back-rower Alex Mann, appearing to make contact with his opponent’s left eye in a fracas involving several players from both sides.

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Prem Rugby roundup: Bristol punish Todaro red to end unbeaten start for Northampton

  • First-minute red card for challenge costs Saints dearly

  • Gloucester off mark with victory against Harlequins

Northampton’s unbeaten start to the season came to a shuddering halt as they were blown away 46-12 by impressive Bristol at Ashton Gate. Saints lost Edoardo Todaro to a first-minute red card and it was downhill all the way after that as Bristol ran in six tries.

Scrum-half Kieran Marmion scored two and Tom Jordan, Kalaveti Ravouvou, Aidan Boshoff and Luka Ivanishvili also crossed, with Sam Worsley kicking five conversions and two penalties. JJ van der Mescht and Tom Litchfield scored Northampton’s tries, one of which Fin Smith converted.

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Wales 0-73 South Africa: Autumn Nations Series rugby union – as it happened

The Springboks delivered their autumn clean sweep of Europe with a record defeat of Wales in Cardiff

6 mins. It’s taken six minutes, but the first scrum penalty is awarded against Wales after the Boks drop the hammer and shove the Welsh pack back to Bridgend, splintering it along the way.

4 mins. Two passes are all that’s needed from the Boks to get Moodie running outside Mee on the blindside . The SA winger then completely airswipes his attempt to kick the ball forward to start a foot race with the retreating defence which cues some laughs from the crowd. Gotta take your fun where you can find it at Wales games these days…

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Northampton coach Phil Dowson: ‘I tried working for a bank – it was tough’

Saints’ director of rugby on being converted to coaching, his ‘bromance’ with Sam Vesty and why Henry Pollock is smarter than he seems

Northampton is not the most exotic destination on the planet, but there is plenty of romance and adventure in its rugby union team.

In a town famous for boot‑making you might expect kicking, as frequently and as far as possible, to be the Saints’ modus operandi. But under the director of rugby, Phil Dowson, the team in green, black and gold prefer to keep ball in hand. Despite representing a quintessentially English town, they display a panache synonymous with the greatest French exponents of champagne rugby.

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Tuilagi could face England with Samoa while Marchant return is boon for Borthwick

  • Tuilagi free to switch allegiances for 2027 World Cup

  • Marchant available for England after signing for Sale

Manu Tuilagi has refused to rule out playing for Samoa at the 2027 Rugby World Cup, leaving open the possibility of him facing Steve Borthwick’s England in Australia.

The 34-year-old, who spearheaded the Red Rose midfield for more than a decade, would qualify for the Pacific Island nation in 2027 under eligibility rules introduced four years ago.

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England have no plans to reward Borthwick with new deal despite winning run

  • Head coach’s current deal runs until 2027

  • RFU annual report shows net loss of £1.9m

The Rugby Football Union has no plans to begin talks with Steve ­Borthwick over extending his ­contract beyond 2027 “for the ­foreseeable future” despite England’s 11-match winning streak and autumn clean sweep.

Borthwick’s contract runs until the end of 2027 but with England halfway through the current World Cup cycle and currently third in the world ­rankings, the RFU chief ­executive, Bill Sweeney, has no immediate intention of discussing an extension in a sea change from the union’s ­previous approach.

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