NRL stars Josh Addo-Carr and Reece Walsh and NRLW counterparts Ali Brigginshaw and Jamie Chapman have combined to settle the age old Australian sporting debate, which footy code is the best?
The Breakdown | England must overcome history of post-Lions hangovers to lift Six Nations title
In the professional era, there is a common denominator that suggests France and Ireland might be worth backing
All that performance data, all those fixture permutations. All the gym sessions and marginal selections. Not to mention all those finger-in-the-wind tournament previews. But what if identifying the winner of the 2026 Six Nations basically involves overlooking all of that – and is shaped by an underlying factor so simple that it is staring everybody in the face?
Interested in finding out what this magic bullet might be? OK, here goes. Without cheating (or consulting your new friend Monsieur AI), spot the common link in the following sequence of years: 2022, 2018, 2014, 2010, 2006, 2002, 1998, 1994, 1990, 1984, 1981, 1978, 1975, 1972, 1969 and 1967? Tricky, isn’t it? Even years, odd years, irregular gaps … if you were a statistician seeking a mathematical pattern you would be sat there gazing at the numbers for a long time.
Continue reading...REVEALED: Wallabies to face NZ in blockbuster Sydney clash as WC fixtures announced
Hosts Australia will face debutants Hong Kong in the opening game of next year’s Rugby World Cup, organisers have announced.
Australia to face debutants Hong Kong in opening match of 2027 Rugby World Cup
Hosts’ big clash with All Blacks on second weekend
England will begin against Tonga in Brisbane
The 2027 World Cup will get off to a low-key start with Australia kicking off against Hong Kong after the organisers opted against beginning the tournament with the Wallabies’ blockbuster pool fixture against New Zealand. When Australia were drawn in the same pool as their arch-rivals in December it was widely expected that such a mouth-watering fixture would raise the curtain on the tournament.
But with the first match taking place on Australia’s west coast in Perth on 1 October, organisers have opted to pit Hong Kong – competing at their first World Cup – against the Wallabies in what is sure to be a one-sided affair. The opening weekend of the tournament features just one fixture involving two tier one nations – South Africa against Italy.
Continue reading...England’s Joe Heyes: ‘People try to fit into moulds, be something they’re not. Screw that’
Leicester’s quirky prop on beating adversity, being second-string goalkeeper at Nottingham Forest and his love of ‘cooking with butter’
For some people the road to the top is painfully long and winding. Joe Heyes used to be a player whose dreams of making England’s matchday squad were constantly dashed. Driving home from Bagshot, having been omitted yet again, he would listen to Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues – “I ain’t seen the sunshine since I don’t when …” – and wonder if the hardship and sacrifice would ever be worth it.
And now? Less than two years later he is suddenly the most important player in England. The national management have already lost two injured tightheads in Will Stuart and Asher Opoku-Fordjour plus the loosehead prop Fin Baxter. If they had enough cotton wool England would be wrapping the now indispensable Heyes up in it.
Continue reading...Sports quiz of the week: Australian Open, Winter Olympics and Six Nations
Have you been following the big stories in football, rugby, cycling, tennis, cricket, NFL and winter sports?
Continue reading...Bundee Aki start in doubt for Ireland’s Six Nations opener against France over ‘disrespect’
Veteran dropped for alleged outburst at match officials
Andy Farrell dealt further blow by Hugo Keenan injury
Ireland are set to kick off the Six Nations next week without two of their most influential and experienced backline players. Bundee Aki and Hugo Keenan, key members of last year’s British & Irish Lions tour to Australia, should have been involved against France next week but are now facing spells on the sidelines for contrasting reasons.
Aki has not travelled to Ireland’s training camp in Portugal following a “misconduct complaint” relating to an alleged post-match incident with match officials at the weekend after Connacht’s URC game against Leinster.
Continue reading...The Breakdown | So much at stake and Six Nations just the start in ‘massive year for rugby union’
We may know the sport’s future is bright when trendsetters worldwide are wearing Fabien Galthié-style shades
On the surface it was business at usual at this year’s Six Nations launch in a chilly Edinburgh. Had the city’s most famous literary sleuth poked his nose into the venue at the top of the Royal Mile, Inspector Rebus would have clocked the usual suspects: head coaches trying not to divulge any secrets, captains quietly studying their opposite numbers and content creators seeking to “jazz up” their tournament previews.
This year’s booby prize went to the “influencer” who asked Caelan Doris, Ireland’s captain, whether or not he liked Fabien Galthié’s thick-rimmed glasses. It was almost on a par with the Breakdown’s all-time classic: the day someone asked Rob Baxter, Exeter’s director of rugby, to pick his favourite motorway service station. “Taunton Deane,” came the instant reply. “Because it means we’re almost home.” Brilliant.
Continue reading...England captain Maro Itoje absent from training camp to attend mother’s funeral in Nigeria
Borthwick: ‘We are deeply saddened for him’
Itoje misses launch of 2026 Six Nations
England will kick off their Six Nations training camp in Spain this week without their captain, Maro Itoje, who has travelled to Nigeria for his mother’s funeral. Itoje was conspicuously absent from the official Six Nations championship launch in Edinburgh on Monday and is not expected to join up with his squad until Wednesday evening.
With the tournament commencing on Thursday week every team is scrambling to be ready for their opening games but Steve Borthwick, England’s head coach, has given the Saracens lock permission to miss the start of this week’s training block in Girona. “He is in Nigeria for the funeral of his mother and we are all deeply saddened for him,” said Borthwick, whose side open their campaign at home to Wales on Saturday week.
Continue reading...Waratahs forward cops ban for punching teammate during heated training session
Waratahs forward Miles Amatosero has been slapped a four-match suspension for punching a teammate and allegedly leaving him with a facial fracture during a training session earlier this month.
Borthwick’s task is to strike the right balance with thriving England ready for takeoff | Robert Kitson
Head coach is excited by what his team could achieve as the Six Nations opener against Wales looms into view
Precise formations, instant decision-making, absolute synchronicity. It is not hard to grasp why Steve Borthwick and his assistants spent an instructive day with the Red Arrows last month in preparation for a Six Nations campaign in which they would love to soar even higher and leave their rivals gazing at their vapour trails.
Squadron leader Borthwick was particularly struck by the clarity of the Red Arrows operation – “They were so clear and to the point about what they must do better” – and how the world-renowned air display team choose their elite personnel. “The lead pilot basically said: ‘Every one of these pilots is a great pilot. What we’re going to select on is the character of these people.’ I thought how great that is and how consistent that is with what we do.”
Continue reading...Bullish Borthwick tells England to target Six Nations triumph in Paris
Uncapped props called up to boost front-row options
‘We want England fans flooding across the Channel’
Steve Borthwick is plotting an English raid on Paris and has called on his side to set their sights on clinching a first Six Nations title in six years in the French capital on Super Saturday.
England have not won the title since the Covid-hit championship in 2020 and last managed the grand slam in 2016 when Eddie Jones’s side clinched a fifth straight victory at the Stade de France.
Continue reading...‘Thinking a lot less’: Tommy Freeman on the secret to international rugby
England wing on handling Test pressure, the ‘awesome’ setup at Pennyhill Park and Northampton’s big ambitions
Tommy Freeman is known for being multi-talented, so it is fitting that he arrives brandishing a golf club. Thankfully none of the ensuing questions provoke its use in a non-sporting capacity. The Northampton back’s handicap will have to wait, because after a trip to Sale on Saturday he will dive into England’s Six Nations camp, surfacing in mid-March after the concluding fixture in Paris.
Les Bleus are the tournament favourites but if Steve Borthwick’s team stay on an upward curve – they have won 11 straight Tests – there is a decent chance that encounter at Stade de France in seven weeks’ time will decide the title. An expansive Saints side also top the Prem before round 10, and the ever-improving Freeman personifies the prevailing effervescence of club and country.
Continue reading...Borthwick a contrast to Galthié as he picks England squad from position of strength
France selection for Six Nations caused a huge stir but England’s head coach has no need to spring any shocks
Steve Borthwick names his England squad for the Six Nations on Friday and as much as we do not know about the precise makeup of the chosen party, there is plenty that we do. As much fun as it may be to imagine Borthwick rocking up at Twickenham in a sharp navy suit, ice-white trainers and a few selection bombshells in his pocket, the England head coach is not about to borrow from Fabien Galthié’s playbook.
Galthié’s decision to omit Damian Penaud, Grégory Alldritt and Gaël Fickou has created such a stir because it is radical by any measure but the point here is that Borthwick’s squad, in comparison to England’s closest rivals for the Six Nations title, is significantly more settled. He has a couple of injury concerns, as is always the case at this time of year, and he is expected to reward the recent form of the uncapped Greg Fisilau with a call-up, but what is likely to be most telling is how few surprises it contains.
Continue reading...Shock contract clause leaves Crichton NRL return ajar after star confirms ‘dream’ code switch
Australian Kangaroos and NSW Blues representative Angus Crichton is set to become the latest NRL star to depart the Sydney Roosters with the backrower agreeing to a code switch to rugby union.