Rugby Union News
Joe McCarthy was a revelation alongside Tadhg Beirne and Tom Curry for the Lions, while Tom Lynagh had a brave debut for the Wallabies
Tom Wright Kicked well from hand and covered the myriad Lions attacks as best he could. Not at fault in any way for the scores conceded. 6
Continue reading...Andy Farrell’s Lions eased to victory in the first Test, leading 24-5 before Australia rallied to make the score respectable
The crowd count us down and Finn Russell boots the test series under way.
Officials for this match:
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia) & Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Television Match Official (TMO): Richard Kelly (New Zealand)
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Continue reading...Australia’s No 8 says team will try to ‘win every moment’ on Saturday
Nick Champion de Crespigny and Tom Lynagh come into injury-depleted squad
Australia captain Harry Wilson said the Wallabies were confident of beating the British & Irish Lions in the first Test at Lang Park on Saturday despite being heavy underdogs after losing several key players to injury.
The Wallabies have won only four of their last 11 Tests and on Saturday will be without regular fly-half Noah Lolesio and their best Test player of the last two years, loose forward Rob Valetini.
Continue reading...Long before he was a rugby union coach, Farrell captained Great Britain’s rugby league team against Australia
Andy Farrell knows more about playing for the Lions against Australia than anyone in his squad. He faced Australia 15 times for Great Britain’s rugby league team, winning just four of those matches. Farrell only played in Australia twice for the Lions, captaining the team in Brisbane in 1999 and Sydney in 2002. Both matches were a nightmare, his team humiliated by an aggregate score of 106-16.
Farrell’s introduction to the team was more enjoyable. He made the first of his 34 appearances for Great Britain at Headingley against New Zealand in 1993. He was only 18 years old and he scored on his debut. Let’s hope he savoured that moment. His third Great Britain international, in 1994, was an epic. Farrell started in the second row against Australia at Wembley in an arm-wrestle for the ages. This wasn’t a run-of-the-mill Australia side. This was one of the all-time greats.
Continue reading...Wallabies star plays down feud with Sione Tuipulotu
21-year-old was sent off in State of Origin debut for NSW Blues
Wallabies gun Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii has avoided throwing fuel on the fire ahead of a possible spicy rematch with British and Irish Lions centre Sione Tuipulotu in Saturday’s opening Test in Brisbane
The star league recruit and the Melbourne-raised Scotland captain had to be separated in a skirmish in their first meeting at Murrayfield last November.
Continue reading...Wales win 31-12 for first Test win since 2023 World Cup
Fiji 29-14 Scotland; All Blacks 43-17 France; Portugal 7-106 Ireland
Wales held on to end their 18-match losing Test run with a hard-fought 31-22 victory over Japan in Kobe. Playing under the closed roof of the Noevir Stadium, Wales scored three first-half tries, with Josh Adams opening the scoring and Kieran Hardy going over twice after Lee Seung-sin’s penalty, but Japan struck on the stroke of half-time through Shuhei Takeuchi.
Although Dan Edwards’ penalty extended Wales’s lead, they slipped into trouble as two tries in quick succession from Warner Dearns and Dylan Riley brought Japan back into the game. However, Edwards crossed with five minutes remaining to seal a first Test win since beating Georgia at the 2023 World Cup.
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Continue reading...Wallabies survive scare from surging Fiji at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle
Out stride the two teams, side by side, accompanied by mascots. The visitors are wearing white jerseys and black shorts, the hosts are wearing their First Nations jersey, which is predominately gold, with green accents to match the green shorts.
Angus Fontaine puts it all into context for the Wallabies.
Adventurous attack. Bone-rattling defence. Mistakes punished and opportunities seized. Get in the enemy’s faces and bring the crowd into the contest from the get-go. A ragtag NSW Waratahs gave Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies a bold blueprint for how to dismantle the British & Irish Lions in the first Test on 19 July.
Continue reading...Wales capitulate to their 18th successive Test defeat
Scotland beat Māori All Blacks; Georgia 5-34 Ireland
Will Jordan scored a try in each half and Beauden Barrett kicked to perfection as New Zealand overcame three cancelled tries to claim a nervous 31-27 win over France in the series-opener in Dunedin.
Fielding only three players from the Six Nations title-deciding win over Scotland, the depleted France side gave Scott Robertson’s team a huge scare in an entertaining match at a sold-out Forsyth-Barr stadium. However, a late Barrett penalty proved enough for the All Blacks to hold on, ending a three-match losing streak against Les Bleus.
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Continue reading...Hooker to partner James Slipper and Allan Alaalatoa in front row
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii returns after recovering from broken jaw
The Wallabies have opted for experience in their front row to face Fiji this weekend, with former captain David Porecki called back into the team, 643 days since he last pulled on a gold jersey.
Porecki, 32, was named on Friday in the starting XV for Sunday’s Test in Newcastle, alongside all-time cap record holder James Slipper and 80-Test tighthead Allan Alaalatoa, in a forward pack missing big guns Will Skelton and Rob Valetini, who both have calf injuries.
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Continue reading...Mealamu and Umaga’s slam-dunking of the Lions captain was typical of the game’s wild west years but it proved a watershed – and the hurt still lingers
Brian O’Driscoll is sick of talking about it. Tana Umaga says anyone still asking needs to put it behind them. But here we are, 20 years to the day since the tackle that ties them together – and people do still want to talk about it.
That moment – in the first minute of the first Test of the Lions series against New Zealand – still pops up on TikTok and YouTube feeds, still sparks arguments on Reddit threads, still leads hour-long podcasts when players reminisce about how they saw it. And it still inspires articles like this one, long after the men involved have made up and moved on.
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.
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