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Continue reading...The first Lions match is about laying down a marker – but Pumas bring range of threats | Ugo Monye
Early days in a Lions camp can be nervy and everyone wants to play in Friday’s first match but Argentina provide a tough test
Every single member of the British & Irish Lions squad is in the perfect sweet spot at the moment. Blair Kinghorn aside, they all arrived into camp with a spring in their step and a smile on their face because their dreams have been realised. Speaking from experience, it is amazing how quickly you can leave national allegiances at the door.
At this stage, there is no sense of what the Test team will be, no division, or feeling that you have to make do with being a midweek dirt-tracker – the thing you are probably most nervous about is who your roommate will be. You know it will be someone from a different country and my first roommate was Keith Earls. As the youngest member of the 2009 squad, he was responsible for looking after the Lions mascot and I felt like I needed to mind him. I soon realised there are few as competitive as Keith and he did not need minding at all.
Continue reading...Duhan van der Merwe hits back at ‘SpringJock’ jibes: ‘I know how hard I’ve worked to get here’
Flying winger brushes off allegiance jibes and cannot wait for Australia after a testing Lions tour in 2021
Duhan van der Merwe does not want to shake hands. It is not that the hulking Scotland winger is being rude – he is polite to a fault – but after a gruelling gym session the British & Irish Lion has blisters as big as golf balls. A fist bump – a touch daunting given the size of his biceps – must suffice.
Van der Merwe’s war wounds are the first indication that public perception about him can be misleading and there are many to follow in the ensuing half-hour. From an impassioned response to accusations he is a “SpringJock”, to discussing why he runs roughshod over England once a year, Van der Merwe is illuminating company.
Continue reading...Veteran flyhalf James O’Connor overlooked for selection in Wallabies squad for Test against Fiji
Veteran flyhalf James O’Connor has missed selection in an extended 36-man Wallabies squad for next month’s Test against Fiji in Newcastle.
Maro Itoje to captain British & Irish Lions for first time in Argentina warm-up
XV features Marcus Smith, Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith
Tadhg Furlong also has the chance to prove his fitness
Maro Itoje will captain the British & Irish Lions for the first time in their non-cap international against Argentina in Dublin on Friday.
The England skipper Itoje leads a starting XV that features Marcus Smith at full-back and will be directed by England half-backs Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith.
This story will update
Continue reading...Owen Farrell focuses on Saracens return but keeps Lions and England on back burner
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...The Breakdown | End-of-season rugby union awards: best games, players and more
Champagne tries and offloads to retired greats and future stars, here are the highlights of the 2024-25 season
1) Leinster 34-37 Northampton, 3 May. One of the great ram-raids.
Continue reading...‘A special moment’: Russell revels in Bath glory as focus turns to Lions
Fly-half relishes end to his 10-year wait for a league title before homing in on British & Irish Lions challenge
Had Handrè Pollard done his homework he might have known what was coming – for Finn Russell has previous with intercepts when attacking Twickenham’s south stand. It was playing that way that he picked off Owen Farrell’s pass before streaking clear in the madcap 38-38 draw between England and Scotland in 2019. And he was at it again on Saturday, coming up with the decisive moment in Bath’s dogged Premiership final victory over Leicester.
On this occasion he did not finish off the try himself – you suspect he probably could have – instead flinging a nonchalant pass inside to the onrushing Max Ojomoh. In a final short on champagne moments, it put the fizz in Bath’s performance, extending their lead to 20-7 before a second penalty of the match proved pivotal in ensuring the 29-year wait for a Premiership title was over.
Continue reading...Bath hold off Leicester to win Premiership title after 23-21 victory – as it happened
Bath ended their 29 year wait with victory at Twickenham
4 mins. Leicester win said scrum and there’s another one a minute later after more poor Batch handling. This second one brings down the full malevolence of the Tigers pack to crumble the Bath eight and bring about a penalty. Pollard pings a beautiful touchfinder deep into attacking territory.
2 mins. The crafty kick off is very nearly gathered by Cracknell, but the ball ends up pinging about a bit before Spencer gets his hands on it and punts it away. There’s a few carries by Leicester in their own half before a knock-on brings about the first scrum of the match.
Continue reading...Rugby’s great wanderer Christian Wade: ‘You don’t say no to Wigan’
Having previously swapped rugby union for NFL, Wade shares his excitement for a fresh challenge after a ‘humbling’ start to life in rugby league
For a man who has done it all in rugby union and experienced the bright lights of the NFL, the glint in Christian Wade’s eye when asked what drew him to a new challenge with Wigan suggests this was an opportunity he couldn’t miss.
It has been some fortnight for one of the Premiership’s all-time greats. His farewell appearance for Gloucester – and perhaps in rugby union altogether – ended with victory against Northampton and two tries. The second of those was a sensational long-range finish in the dying embers of that game which would have caught the eye of any Wigan supporters keenly checking out what their new signing is capable of.
Continue reading...Welcome to the Gallagher Prem: English rugby’s top flight rebrands and targets US
Reset will promote ‘gladiatorial nature’ of club game
Prem targets playing in US in run-up to 2031 World Cup
Premiership Rugby has rebranded England’s top division as the Gallagher Prem as part of a wide-ranging reboot that includes plans to take a fixture to the United States in the coming years and kicking off next season on a Thursday night.
Unperturbed by the existential threat posed by the R360 breakaway league, PRL on Saturday relaunches the Premiership on the day that Bath face Leicester in the final at Twickenham.
Continue reading...Master motivators put 90s chart-toppers Bath and Leicester back on Premiership final stage
Rival coaches Johann van Graan and Michael Cheika have rebuilt their sides along similar lines but Bath are favourites
It has been a while but the old firm of English club rugby are finally back. Between 1978 and 1997 Bath and Leicester collectively won 15 national knockout trophies and over the first 15 years of the league’s existence they claimed 12 titles between them. Their reunion at Twickenham is akin to those other 90s chart-toppers, Oasis and Blur, dusting down their favourite guitars and appearing on stage together.
The temptation is to dive head first into a foaming tub of nostalgia and wallow in the rekindled rivalry. If anyone had predicted in 1996 that Bath would not win another domestic title in the next 29 years they would have been laughed out of the convivial old Rec clubhouse. Leicester, similarly, thought the ABC Club and the Tigers’ steely winning mentality would live for ever.
Continue reading...Super Ted or Superman? Hill’s ‘different game’ key for Bath in Premiership final
Flanker Ted Hill has been called ‘a freak’ by his captain as the 26-year-old waits for another chance with England
Is it a bird or a plane? No, it’s probably “SuperTed”. If Bath win this year’s Premiership final the chances are their rangy, athletic flanker Ted Hill will have played a prominent role. This week his captain, Ben Spencer, called him a “freak” and various seasoned judges have compared him with illustrious former back-rowers ranging from Kieran Read and Jerome Kaino to Pierre Spies and Tom Croft.
During this year’s Six Nations Maro Itoje suggested similarities between the 26-year-old and “Captain America or Superman” and suggested he was “a man carved out of Greek stone”. Bath’s head coach, Johann van Graan, believes likewise. “I think he’s one of the best players in the league and his athletic ability is special. There’s not a lot he can’t do, really.”
Continue reading...Owen Farrell agrees return to Saracens as player-coach on five-year deal
Fly-half endured torrid season at Racing 92
Farrell agrees summer return including a pay cut
Owen Farrell has agreed an immediate return to Saracens after a torrid season with Racing 92. The 33-year-old former England captain will join his boyhood club as a player-coach this summer on a five-year deal.
Saracens have secured Farrell’s signing after agreeing a compensation package with Racing 92 of about €200,000 (£170m) – significantly less than the €500,000 paid by the French club last year – and reaching a deal over personal terms. Farrell had signed a two-year deal with the Top 14 side but endured an injury-hit season and informed the club of his desire to return to the Premiership towards the end of the campaign.
Continue reading...An ugly pack and backs worth paying to watch: Bath have taken us back to the 1990s | Andy Bull
There was a time when the team playing at the Rec were the dominant force in English club rugby and there are signs they may be on the rise once again
The first thing anyone who cares says when they find out you’re a sports journalist is to ask whether or not you were at whichever big game was on that weekend. The second, after you’ve explained, apologetically, that you don’t actually follow football, is usually an awkward pause. There are all sorts of reasons why you may prefer any other sort of sport, but after 20 years of variations on this conversation, I’ve learned that unless you want to come across like someone who insists actually they prefer art-house cinema and free jazz, it’s best to have a straightforward explanation. Mine is that I grew up in Bath.
They do play football in Bath, out at Twerton Park. The club have never been in the Football League (right now they’re in National League South), and most weeks they draw a crowd of around a thousand. Which isn’t so very many more than you’ll find crowded around the stone balustrades of the city’s parade gardens, trying to peer across the weir and see into the Rec when the rugby club have a home game. Bath’s football has always been bad. But in the 80s and 90s Bath’s rugby was so good that the brand still stands for something, even after they have been mediocre for a large part of the past 30 years.
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