Category: Rugby Union

Rugby Union News

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Newcastle’s Red Bull rebrand brings fresh energy to rugby’s troubled outpost

High-profile takeover has rejuvenated an ailing club, with the opportunity for Steve Diamond’s team to take flight and grow

Don’t mention the F-word. Such has been the pace of the Red Bull rebrand that one Newcastle official joked there would be spot fines for anyone who forgets it is no longer the Falcons giving them flight.

Energy drinks are in, feathered friends out, but the feelgood factor now coursing through the north-east promises more than just a dopamine hit. For the club, who only a few months ago were exploring a loan from their league rivals to stay afloat, and the revamped Prem, there is a feeling that the Red Bull revolution can be seminal.

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‘I didn’t get empathy from Borthwick’: Ben Youngs on family trauma and why he rates Eddie Jones

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.

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James O’Connor starts for Wallabies after dash back from England for Bledisloe Cup Test

  • Australia’s No 1o named in starting XV after globetrotting week

  • James Slipper to become first Wallabies player to reach 150 Tests

Australia flyhalf James O’Connor has been rewarded with the No 10 jersey following his globe-trotting journey while prop James Slipper will become the first Wallaby to play 150 Tests in the Rugby Championship clash against New Zealand on Saturday.

O’Connor flew to England last week to join his new club Leicester Tigers only to head back to the Antipodes days later after being named in Joe Schmidt’s Australia squad for the final two Tests against the All Blacks at Eden Park and Perth.

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What’s in a name? Prem loses some letters but hopes to keep gaining viewers

Season-opener between Sale and Gloucester promises to be a cracker in English rugby’s new frontier

Th ne PREM seas sta o Thursd nigh wi Sal Shar hosti Glouce befo Harleq enterta Bat an Newcas Re Bul fac Sarac on Frid.

That is a sentence, as uneasy on the eye as it may be, of which you can just about make sense. Much like the Premiership’s decision to lose a few letters as part of its rebrand.

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Prem Rugby 2025-26: complete club-by-club guide to the season

Defending champions Bath are favourites to retain their title but Saracens will be boosted by Owen Farrell’s return

There have been six different title winners in as many seasons but the defending champions are favourites to buck that trend. In Johan van Graan Bath have a relentlessly process-driven coach, not someone who would allow an ounce of complacency to creep in, and they have Ollie Lawrence and Jaco Coetzee back for the start of the season after long-term injuries.

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The Breakdown | No place for ‘old school’ rugby values as PREM rebrand aims to turn heads

English top flight’s push to attract a younger audience is accelerating and relegation may soon be a thing of the past

Times are changing so rapidly in rugby that even the competition names now have go-faster stripes. Farewell to the familiar old Premiership and welcome, kicking off on a Thursday this year, to the Gallagher Prem. Or, strictly speaking, PREM. Who needs boring extra lower-case syllables or superfluous vowels in 2025 anyway?

Even the league’s updated logo is now bright orange to denote “intensity” and the mission to woo new fans – the younger the better – is accelerating by the week. Ask Rob Calder, Prem Rugby’s suitably bearded head of growth, what he thinks, for example, about the traditional rhythm of promotion and relegation and he does not hold back. “There’s a Victorian interest in promotion and relegation but actually that’s existential for a lot of clubs.” Sorry, are you suggesting the meritocratic English club pyramid is a Victorian concept? “Yeah. I think it’s old school. If you want the sport to grow you need to grow the conditions for ambition and investment.”

This is an extract taken from our weekly rugby union email, the Breakdown. To sign up, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

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James O’Connor retained for Wallabies’ crunch Tests against All Blacks

  • Flyhalf included despite flying to England to join new club Leicester

  • Coach Joe Schmidt’s preferred scrumhalf Jake Gordon returns

James O’Connor has been retained in Australia’s squad for back-to-back Rugby Championship Tests against New Zealand despite flying to England on Monday to join his new club Leicester.

O’Connor’s inclusion denies Western Force playmaker Ben Donaldson a recall following his recovery from a thigh injury, with coach Joe Schmidt opting for Tom Lynagh and Tane Edmed as his other flyhalf options in the 34-man squad named on Thursday.

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England wing Tommy Freeman sets sights on switch to centre for club and country

  • ‘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.

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The Breakdown | Springboks light up engrossing Rugby Championship so why tinker with it now?

South Africa and New Zealand’s selfish decision to go it alone will lead to competition hiatus and looks foolish

Enjoy it while it lasts. The current edition of the Rugby Championship has been captivating, the most open in living memory and with two rounds remaining all four nations are firmly in contention for the title. Last weekend witnessed another thriller between Australia and Argentina – the Pumas edging home 28-26 – while the Springboks produced their most dominant display since the 2023 World Cup with a record victory against the All Blacks.

There had been suggestions that South Africa were beginning to decline after a plateau since their triumph in Paris but Saturday’s performance was some riposte. Australia were agonisingly close to another successful comeback at the soldout Allianz Stadium, meanwhile, and there remains a good deal of optimism around the Wallabies. Not least because they sit top of the table and believe they can get their hands back on the Bledisloe Cup in the coming weeks after New Zealand won it back in 2003 and never let it go.

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No ‘funky rugby’: new England coach Lee Blackett targets substance over style

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.

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All Blacks humiliated by Springboks in Rugby Championship with heaviest ever defeat

  • South Africa thump New Zealand 43-10 in Wellington

  • Tourists score 36 unanswered points in second half

The All Blacks suffered their heaviest-ever Test defeat as South Africa beat New Zealand 43-10 in Wellington to revive their Rugby Championship campaign.

Cheslin Kolbe scored a try in each half and Damian Willemse, Kwagga Smith, RG Snyman and André Esterhuizen also touched down at the end of ambitious and clinical attacks as South Africa ran in six tries to one.

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Australia v Argentina: Rugby Championship 2025 – as it happened

After turning out last week top to toe in navy blue, Argentina revert to their traditional albiceleste (white and sky blue).

It is one of my favourite uniforms in international sport, and here’s why. The colours are beautiful, soft, and complementary. Le Coq Sportif is uber cool and carries association with shaggy haired French soccer players of the 1980s. The golden Puma is unfussy. The sponsor is top-tier and occupies the correct amount of real estate. My only criticism is the absence of a collar, recent iterations of this jersey were elevated further by a crisp white fold.

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Tom Lynagh and Len Ikitau scratched from Wallabies squad for Argentina clash

  • Injured pair ruled out of Saturday’s Rugby Championship Test

  • Tane Edmed will wear No 10 jersey for first time

Flyhalf Tom Lynagh and centre Len Ikitau have been ruled out of Australia’s Rugby Championship Test against Argentina in Sydney on Saturday in a blow for the Wallabies.

Lynagh is nursing a hamstring strain following the last-gasp 28-24 win over the Pumas in Townsville, while Ikitau has a laceration on his knee that had failed to heal enough to take the field on Saturday.

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