Category: England Rugby

Moody’s diagnosis with motor neurone disease at the age of 47 is desperate news for all those who know and love him

Back when he was captaining England at the 2011 Rugby World Cup, Lewis Moody went canyon swinging near Queenstown in New Zealand. Despite being utterly fearless on the pitch he was not brilliant with heights. That day, he wrote in his autobiography, was “the most terrifying experience of my life”. Or at least it was. A fortnight ago, he and his family were plunged into something infinitely scarier.

Moody’s diagnosis with the incurable motor neurone disease at the age of 47 is, first and foremost, desperate news for all those who know and love him. There are good guys and then there is “Moodos”, about whom nobody in rugby has a bad word. Cruel doesn’t come close to describing it.

Continue reading...

Fresh from a chat with the Ryder Cup captain, the Saracens stalwart is back at his old club with half an eye on an England return too

By his own admission, Owen Farrell was exhausted after the first weekend of the season. A stray boot to the face inside 10 minutes made for a bloody nose and a rude awakening on his second Saracens debut against Newcastle, 17 years after his first. Farrell soldiered on to the hour mark, helping Saracens to a bonus-point victory before an early train home on Saturday morning. It was Sunday that left him “emotionally drained”, however.

Farrell was glued to Europe’s Ryder Cup triumph, watching Luke Donald’s side so nearly snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The 34-year-old is a keen golfer – he took the phone call from his father, Andy, to join the British & Irish Lions tour in July in a clubhouse – and played alongside Donald at last month’s PGA Championship Pro-Am at Wentworth.

Continue reading...

Former scrum-half admits family illnesses made it difficult for him to embrace his achievement of being England’s most-capped player

“I found it hard, I really did,” Ben Youngs says as he explains why it was once so difficult to embrace his achievement of playing more times for England than any other men’s rugby player. Youngs won 127 caps and featured in four World Cups, but he used to look down at the ground whenever his longevity was mentioned.

Youngs retired from international rugby at the end of 2023, and played his last game for Leicester in the Premiership final in June, and so he can now give public voice to the trauma he carried for so long. While his sister-in-law Tiffany suffered for years with blood cancer, and his brother-in-law Jake endured motor neurone disease, Youngs played for England. He often felt as if he was putting himself ahead of everyone else while his brother and sister lost their partners to terminal illness.

Continue reading...

• ‘If I can be trusted in the midfield then I’ll go for it’

• Freeman enjoyed a stunning 2024-25 campaign

England’s reigning player of the year, Tommy Freeman, has revealed he sees his future at outside-centre and intends to continue his transformation into midfield in the coming season.

A winger by trade, Freeman enjoyed a stunning 2024-25 ­campaign, ­racking up 23 tries for Northampton, England and the ­British & Irish Lions. Freeman scored a memorable hat-trick in the ­Champions Cup semi-final win over Leinster, having become the first ­England men’s player to score in every round of the Six Nations.

Continue reading...

Steve Borthwick’s new attack coach believes he has time to create a winning culture before the World Cup in 2027

To say England have been through a few attack coaches in recent times is an understatement. The latest cab off the rank, Lee Blackett, is the 11th individual to take on the role in nine years but it may just be that the national team have found the ideal catalyst to enhance their chances at the next Men’s Rugby World Cup in Australia in 2027.

Blackett, 42, auditioned successfully for the job in the summer tour of Argentina and the US, where England scored 13 tries in three Tests, and he has emerged as the big winner in Steve Borthwick’s latest cabinet reshuffle with Richard Wigglesworth switching to defence and Joe El-Abd helping out with the forwards.

Continue reading...

The Brisbane Broncos assistant coach on the Lions, union’s struggle in Australia and that World Cup fight

Ben Te’o emerges from Brisbane Broncos’ headquarters, umbrella in one hand and walking a little gingerly. As we head for the cafe at the Broncos’ lavish training base, where Te’o is now an assistant coach, he explains he has just spent two nights in hospital due to a burst appendix. To his great credit, he still felt obliged to meet, and he is good company. It is entirely complimentary to remark that Te’o has never struck as an overly complicated person. He says it how he sees it. And there is plenty to say.

It is 8am, the day before the first British & Irish Lions Test in Brisbane. Te’o has been in demand of late, for the local press wants to know how the Lions measures up against NRL’s State of Origin and the former England centre is the only man to both represent the former and play in the latter.

Continue reading...

• Wing shown red card in defeat by France

• England play three Tests in Argentina and US

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso has been included in England’s squad for the summer tour of Argentina and the US despite a suspension that rules him out of two of the three fixtures.

Feyi-Waboso was sent off after 33 minutes of his first appearance in six months during an England XV’s 26-24 defeat by France at Twickenham on Saturday. He endured a torrid comeback, twice dropping the ball before he was sent to the sin-bin for his clothesline tackle on the French fly-half Antoine Hastoy, his yellow card subsequently upgraded to red.

Continue reading...

Fly-half is determined to enjoy his rugby again after injury-disrupted time in France but his international future remains up in the air

If either call were to come, does Owen Farrell want to go on tour with England or the British & Irish Lions this summer? It is both the question that most intrigues and the one that he steadfastly does not answer following his return to Saracens.

“There’s nothing for me to do other than concentrate on getting myself back here and getting myself in the best place I can and everything else is hypothetical,” is a typical example of his response. There were a number of others in the 20 minutes spent in his company, back at the StoneX stadium after a torrid season with Racing 92, but all gave little insight into what his reaction might be if Steve Borthwick or his dad, Andy Farrell, wish to call him up for either England’s summer tour of Argentina and the USA, or the Lions’ trip to Australia.

Continue reading...

• Director of rugby said rumours ‘not worth answering’

• Leicester prop Dan Cole to retire at end of season

The Saracens director of rugby, Mark McCall, has declined to comment on reports that the former club captain and England fly-half Owen Farrell is considering a Premiership return.

Farrell left Saracens at the end of last season after a 16-year stint with the Premiership club. He moved to Paris-based Racing 92, but it has proved a testing campaign for him in terms of injuries and Stuart Lancaster left as head coach in January.

Continue reading...

• The 20-year-old back-rower has only one England cap
• Borthwick anticipates further call-ups to Lions squad

Steve Borthwick believes Henry Pollock can force his way into the British & Irish Lions Test team for the series against Australia this summer despite having just one England cap as a replacement to his name.

The 20-year-old was the headline inclusion in Andy Farrell’s Lions squad last month after a stunning breakthrough season in which he has helped Northampton into Saturday’s Champions Cup final against Bordeaux.

Continue reading...

• Steve Borthwick ‘delighted’ with wing’s recovery
• Mike Brown announces retirement from rugby

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso is on course to make his England comeback on the summer tour of Argentina and keep hopes of a late British & Irish Lions call-up alive. Steve Borthwick said the Exeter wing was straining at the leash during a mini training camp on Tuesday.

Feyi-Waboso has been sidelined since late December after finally undergoing shoulder surgery that was put off amid confusion as to whether he would go under the knife or not. The delay, which exposed faultlines in the new club and country agreement, was exacerbated because Feyi-Waboso also had a tooth infection but ultimately cost him the chance to stake his claim for a place in the Lions squad.

Continue reading...

With England’s Lions away in Australia, selecting a callow squad would bring pitfalls as well as opportunities

When Warren Gatland named his British & Irish Lions squad to tour New Zealand in 2017 he included 16 England players. Stalwarts such as Dylan Hartley, Chris Robshaw, Joe Launchbury and George Ford were still notable absentees but England had won the previous two Six Nations titles, 17 of Eddie Jones’s first 18 matches and, accordingly, their contingent was substantial.

The very next day Jones named his England squad for a tour of Argentina. He refused to engage in the merits of the selected Lions touring party but at the time you sensed Jones did not particularly like Gatland hogging the spotlight. England might have lost their most recent match, against Ireland in Dublin, denying them another grand slam, but the Australian was still basking in an extended honeymoon period and all eyes were on his old adversary. Jones proceeded to make a statement with his squad selection and it did not feel like coincidence that he was doing so 24 hours after Gatland.

Continue reading...

A year ago he was with the fans: now he’s an England player before Saints’ Champions Cup semi against Leinster

Henry Pollock is bouncing around the south stand at Franklin’s Gardens. He is in demand at Northampton’s media session and in between interviews he seems most preoccupied with reminding his teammate Tommy Freeman who won their latest battle on the golf course. As has been clear since his emergence, Pollock has no problem with the spotlight.

His restless energy is not confined to the pitch but soon he sits down for a chat, ostensibly to preview Northampton’s Champions Cup semi-final against Leinster on Saturday, but essentially to discuss Pollock-mania. How and why it has taken hold and whether at any stage in the 20-year-old’s fledgling career he has experienced a shred of self-doubt.

Continue reading...

The 20-year-old prop is making a name for himself with eye-catching displays but visit of Saracens is a serious test

Some of English rugby union’s biggest names will be front and centre in Salford on Friday evening. Maro Itoje, Jamie George, Ben Earl and Tom Willis all start for Saracens while Tom Curry, George Ford and Luke Cowan-Dickie, among others, will trot out for Sale Sharks. Most 20-year-old props, invited to mix in such lofty company, would be feeling seriously intimidated.

It is increasingly obvious, however, that young Asher Opoku-Fordjour is different gravy. As anyone who saw his eye-catching performance against Harlequins last weekend will be aware, his strength and bullocking presence with ball in hand are quite something. “If last week’s anything to go by he’s tracking well, isn’t he?” nods Alex Sanderson, the Sharks’ director of rugby.

Continue reading...

• Scrum-half has played 332 matches for Leicester
• He won a record 127 England caps and toured with Lions

The end of the road is finally approaching for England’s most-capped male player. Ben Youngs, who made a record 127 appearances for his country, has confirmed he will be retiring from professional rugby in June after more than 500 senior games for Leicester, England, the Barbarians and the British & Irish Lions in a career spanning 18 years.

Youngs has been a one-club man since his Tigers debut as a 17-year-old in 2007 but, at 35, will hang up his boots at the end of the current Premiership season. A five-times Premiership winner and three times a runner-up, he has played 332 matches for Leicester to date. In an England jersey he appeared in four World Cups and toured Australia in 2013 with the Lions, alongside his brother Tom. He was chosen for the 2017 Lions squad as well but withdrew from the tour of New Zealand for family reasons.

Continue reading...