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Continue reading...‘I haven’t come back for a jolly’: Dan Robson on Dupont, Pau and rebuilding Gloucester
Four years in France have refreshed scrum-half’s outlook and he thinks his club can make their mark this season
Most players returning home from the French Top 14 have had a life-enhancing experience and Dan Robson is the latest example. The former England scrum-half spent four seasons in the shadow of the Pyrenees with Pau, mixing it with the likes of Antoine Dupont and Maxime Lucu, before rejoining his first Prem employers, Gloucester, this summer. “No more croissants for breakfast,” he sighs, slightly wistfully. “But it’s good to be back. My waistline is thanking me.”
Ask him how much he would recommend a spell abroad to others, though, and the word “amazing” swiftly follows. Not only were his two young sons, Laker and Roux, born in Pau – “It’s always going to have a special place in our hearts as a family” – but he also much enjoyed his regular meetups with Jack Willis, a close mate at Wasps before the club’s financial collapse forced both to start afresh across the Channel.
Continue reading...Suaalii’s career-first move as Wallabies name squad for South Africa clash
Former rugby league star Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii will start on the wing for the first time in his Wallabies career when Australia hosts world champions South Africa in Perth on Sunday.
Northampton lead Prem charge but history shows title defence will be no simple task | Robert Kitson
Boosted by retaining Henry Pollock, champions are eager to keep improving but a revitalised Saracens and Exeter should push them all the way
It used to be simple. Win the Prem once and people would assume it was just the beginning. At various times no one could dethrone Bath, Leicester or Saracens, serial winners by fair means or foul. And now? It is so long since any club defended their English domestic title that “doubling up” feels almost as quaint as reading a physical newspaper or chatting up a complete stranger in the pub.
Which explains why Northampton’s Phil Dowson, whose side are chasing a third title in four years, is keen to draw a distinct line under what happened last season. Yes, the Saints were unplayably good on occasions and deservedly claimed the trophy in June. But that was then. The last team to win two in a row were Saracens in 2019, shortly before the salary cap small print intervened.
Continue reading...Why England are yet to reap rewards of £264m deal with Rugby World Cup only a year away | Gerard Meagher
Two years on from landmark investment no one would describe Borthwick’s side as world-leading but the Prem is thriving
This month marks two years since the power brokers of the English game held court at Twickenham, sat in the kind of room where old money swills on Saturdays, and told us they were spending £264m to “reshape the rugby landscape”. The professional game partnership (PGP) between the Rugby Football Union and the Prem clubs was trumpeted as “historic” and would bring “world-leading English teams and thriving professional leagues”. Two years on and with a World Cup 12 months away, would anyone argue we are on the right path to achieving both aims?
Steve Borthwick was absent from Twickenham that day. It felt odd at the time because the most significant aspect of the PGP allows him to award 25 enhanced contracts and assume more control over the selected players. Precisely how much control is a question answered in shades of grey. At the time, an increase at all felt significant, a win for the head coach, but with hindsight, with the clubs still financially weakened by the pandemic, the RFU could have seized far more autonomy.
Continue reading...Prem Rugby 2026-27: the essential club-by-club guide to the new season
Bath have a point to prove, Newcastle are shy of an A-lister and Aaron Wainwright could prove the signing of the summer at Welford Road
The 2025 champions go into the new campaign with a point to prove after they were humbled on home turf by Exeter in last season’s semi-finals. Successfully defending the title is no easy task – it has not been done since Saracens in 2019 – but last season’s failure to return to Twickenham should stiffen the sinews in Johann van Graan’s squad. There is a World Cup at the end of the campaign and plenty in Bath’s squad also have a point to prove to Steve Borthwick – the centres Ollie Lawrence and Max Ojomoh, and Ted Hill chief among them. Recruitment has been kept to a minimum, but the arrival of Dan du Preez adds some more Springbok beef. Losing Thomas du Toit, who has returned to South Africa, is a huge blow, but Will Stuart’s return after a lengthy layoff due to an achilles injury softens it somewhat. If they finish in the top two Bath would forgo a home semi-final with the Rec finally undergoing much-needed refurbishment, which could ultimately count against them. Expect them to be in the mix.
Continue reading...The Breakdown | The Prem at 30: are all the fights and mistakes out of the way?
English club rugby enters its fourth decade determined to meet its challenges with more high-profile investment deals and expansion
It has taken a while but the penny finally seems to be dropping with those in charge of English club rugby. Perhaps it is simply maturity striking as the professional club top tier reaches its 30th season. Remember how things felt when you began to settle down, look for a proper job and start a family? According to the league’s chief executive, Simon Massie-Taylor, it is a similar story with the Prem.
And maybe he has a point when he says the league, which kicks off this Friday, is entering a new phase. In the rear-view mirror are the toddler tantrums and playground politics that disfigured the early years, the teenage growing pains and the subsequent existential struggle of finding a foothold in a precarious world.
Continue reading...Henry Pollock saga ends after player signs ‘multi-year’ deal to stay at Northampton
‘I’m happy. It’s an exciting place to be right now’
Prem champions have moved to tie down huge asset
England back row Henry Pollock has signed a bumper new contract with Northampton. The 21-year-old has agreed a “multi-year” deal, the Prem champions announced on Tuesday morning.
“I’m massively happy to re-sign with Saints, my boyhood club,” Pollock said. “It’s an exciting place to be right now. We’re in a great spot as a team, but it feels like there’s still so much more growth in us.”
Continue reading...‘Words cannot express’: Family speaks after Wallabies legend’s son tragically dies
The rugby world is in mourning following the tragic passing of Jack Waugh, the eldest son of Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh.
‘You can’t be shy’: Joe Marchant on French lessons, England ambitions and his new famous father-in-law
Centre is back in the Prem with Sale after three years in Paris where he says he learned a lot more than the language and is ready to play for England again
Joe Marchant admits he has been a disappointment. Significant developments over the summer gave rise to lofty expectations among his new Sale Sharks teammates but the 30-year-old centre knows he has not lived up to them. “When we’re playing here, people expect me to be good,” he says. “Why would it make me good in any way? I’m not the best.”
Marchant is, of course, referring to his football skills rather than the rugby ones and the added expectation to perform in a pre-training kick-about after former Newcastle and England captain Alan Shearer became his father-in-law over the summer. In every other department, Marchant has done nothing but impress in his new surroundings.
Continue reading...Greatest Rivalry swagger showed South Africa will take some beating at World Cup
All Blacks were valiant in 3-1 series defeat but Springboks sent another warning to rest of the world in Baltimore
What is the enduring image of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series? The Springboks put the exclamation mark on their status as World Cup favourites by wrapping up the series 3-1 with victory in Baltimore on Saturday, but in months and years to come where will the mind immediately go when reflecting on this epic?
The reality is that after four Tests of remarkable intensity – a brutal reminder of the levels required to compete with the two biggest beasts in the world game – there are plenty. But it is hard to look beyond the 65th minute of the third Test in Soweto, when the Boks’ tank rumbled over from 20 metres. Malcolm Marx was awarded the try and there would be no more deserving recipient of a player of the series award.
Continue reading...South Africa 43-28 New Zealand: fourth and final rugby union Test – as it happened
Kurt-Lee Arendse scores from his own half to swing a 10-try thriller in Baltimore as South Africa win the series with New Zealand by three Tests to one.
Loads of emotion from the players as the anthems are sung.
Hate to venture into cliche land, but try telling them that this is just a ‘money game’.
Continue reading...George Furbank on his latest injury woe: ‘I was hoping I would get to the hospital, just fart and leave’
Full-back missed out for England when he had appendix out but could be key for Steve Borthwick if his luck changes
George Furbank must have cracked a few mirrors in his time. A second Prem winners’ medal was some way to bring the curtain down on his Northampton career but when it comes to England, he cannot catch a break. Indeed, it is staggering to consider the 29-year-old full-back has just 14 caps to his name, only one more than his former Saints teammate Henry Pollock, who is only 21.
It was supposed to be No 15 against South Africa in July – more than 18 months since his previous England appearance – but Furbank woke up feeling off colour the day before the match and was sent for a scan by the team doctor. The results arrived at 7pm on the Friday night – Furbank would need to stay in hospital and have his appendix out on the Saturday. The wait would go on.
Continue reading...World Rugby floats plans for Six Nations match in US but England unlikely to participate
Governing body floating staging Ireland v Italy in US
World Rugby eyes commercial value in American fixtures
World Rugby wants a Six Nations match to be staged in the US and has offered financial incentives to the unions to do so – but England have effectively ruled themselves out on the grounds that fixtures at Twickenham are too lucrative.
The US will stage the 2031 World Cup and World Rugby is seeking to capitalise commercially despite mounting fears over the parlous state of rugby union in the host country. As a result, the governing body is desperate to raise interest in the sport’s profile by staging high-profile matches Stateside, with Baltimore hosting the fourth Test between South Africa and New Zealand on Saturday.
Continue reading...England to extend Borthwick contract as Pollock closes on £400,000 Northampton deal
RFU eager to avoid uncertainty heading into World Cup
Lloyds Bank to pay £5m a year for logo on back of jerseys
Steve Borthwick will be handed a contract extension until after the 2028 Six Nations, giving the Rugby Football Union time to identify his successor if England flop at the World Cup next year.
The RFU’s move is designed to avoid uncertainty heading into the tournament but stops short of backing Borthwick in the long term.
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