The southern hemisphere big guns have touched down in Europe for the Quilter Nations Series and there is much to look forward to over the next five weekends
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Continue reading...Rugby union 2025: England team to face Wallabies at Twickenham, George Ford flyhalf as Marcus Smith omitted, news, video
George Ford has won the race to be England’s starting fly-half against Australia at Twickenham on Saturday (Sunday AEDT), with Fin Smith on the bench and Marcus Smith omitted from coach Steve Borthwick’s matchday 23 entirely.
Borthwick rips up script with move to hybrids that could lead to Pollock on wing
Head coach may also consider playing Ben Earl at centre
Marcus Smith left out of matchday 23 to face Australia
Steve Borthwick is considering playing his fast-rising back-row Henry Pollock on the wing at some stage this autumn as he seeks fresh impetus in all areas before the looming November Tests.
The England head coach says he wants his side to hit the ground running against Australia on Saturday and may also start Ben Earl at centre this season.
Continue reading...The Breakdown | Farrell’s return boosts Ireland for Autumn Nations Series with plenty at stake
After successful Lions tour, head coach returns to a side under pressure to prove their best days are not behind them
One minute we’re winding the clocks back an hour, the next we’re hurtling forwards into rugby union’s maddest month. Welcome to the whistle-stop world of the Autumn Nations Series, which, this year, has arrived as abruptly as a cat burglar in the Louvre. Sides that take time to settle into familiar old routines are about to experience a short, sharp shock.
Of course there is the flip side: the main southern hemisphere powers have been smashing away at each other for weeks and certain individuals must be slightly weary. In terms of cohesion and collective readiness to pick up where they left off last time out, however, there is barely a comparison.
Continue reading...George Ford in line to beat Fin Smith for England fly-half berth against Australia
Sale No 10’s tactical nous may earn him start on Saturday
Tommy Freeman in contention for outside-centre spot
George Ford is likely to start at fly-half when England begin their autumn internationals campaign against Australia at Twickenham on Saturday.
The Sale Sharks No 10 enjoyed an outstanding summer tour with Steve Borthwick’s side, helping to orchestrate two victories against Argentina and one against the USA, and appears to have stated a strong case for selection.
Continue reading...Saracens’ Noah Caluori called up by England for autumn internationals
19-year-old wing scored five tries on first Prem start
Borthwick has picked 36-player squad for four matches
Noah Caluori, the 19-year-old Saracens wing, has been named in England’s autumn internationals squad by Steve Borthwick.
Caluori burst on to the Prem scene by scoring five tries against Sale on 18 October and, as England gear up for a busy November featuring four Tests, Borthwick has called up the uncapped youngster after initially inviting him to a training camp last week. The 36-player squad, including 19 forwards and 17 backs, gathered at Pennyhill Park in Surrey on Sunday night.
Continue reading...Cokanasiga on song to help Bath past Bristol in bruising West Country derby
Bath 40-15 Bristol
Bath keep up pressure on Saints at top
Bath do not lose often these days, never mind on successive league weekends. And with an injury-hit Bristol supposedly cast in the role of punchbags this fixture was widely viewed as a home banker. Sure enough the defending champions eventually pulled away but only at the final whistle could this feisty, incident-packed West Country derby be classed as wholly comfortable.
It was fractious and visceral enough at times to make next Saturday’s England game against Australia look like a quiet suburban church fete. The England management will be suitably relieved that Ellis Genge, Ollie Lawrence, Guy Pepper and others walked away largely intact but they will all report back to Bagshot feeling distinctly battered and bruised.
Continue reading...‘Don’t think it needed to be that tense’: Wallabies survive almighty scare against gutsy Japan
Australia survived a second-half comeback to beat Eddie Jones’s Japan 19-15 in a wet Tokyo and get their five-Test tour off to a winning start on Saturday.
Australia hold off brave Japan in Tokyo Test – as it happened
Wallabies defeat Cherry Bolossoms 19-15 in Tokyo
Australia hold in wet slog for victorious start to spring tour
Japan National Stadium, home of the 2020 Olympics, has absorbed plenty of moisture over the past 24 hours, and today’s match is likely to be played in persistent light rain. There is little wind to report.
As has been the case for what seems like two decades, it’s near impossible to appraise where the Wallabies are at.
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Continue reading...Caluori’s aerial prowess adds intrigue to battle in the sky at Franklin’s Gardens
Prem’s top two meet on Friday night, with Northampton aiming to slow down the Saracens wing’s hype train
Brian Clough famously said that if God had intended football to be played in the sky, he’d have put grass up there. Tactical trends in rugby are moving in the opposite direction though, and with Noah Caluori set to make his second Prem start, Northampton’s high-stakes meeting with Saracens on Friday night promises to be a battle in the skies.
Phil Dowson’s table-topping Saints, champions in 2023-24, are the only unbeaten team remaining after three wins and a draw. Second-placed Saracens are two points back, having scored a league-leading 168 points to Northampton’s second-best 138. Nine players involved in England’s training camp this week will start at Franklin’s Gardens.
Continue reading...Wallabies change 13 starters and hand captaincy to two-Test rookie for Japan clash
Nick Champion de Crespigny to captain Australia in Tokyo
No place for Carter Gordon after return to union from league
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has rested a host of stalwart campaigners and changed all but two of his starting side for Saturday’s Test against Eddie Jones’s Japan, which opens Australia’s end-of-season tour.
Schmidt has kept only halfbacks Tane Edmed and Jake Gordon from the starting team that lost to New Zealand at the end of the Rugby Championship with flanker Nick Champion de Crespigny captaining the new-look side in his third Test.
Continue reading...Shock captain as Wallabies reveal new-look squad to take on Japan without a host of missing stars
Flanker Nick Champion de Crespigny will captain Australia in just his third Test as Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt rests a host of players for Saturday’s clash with Japan in Tokyo.
Louis Rees-Zammit recalled to Wales squad after NFL misadventure
Tandy names winger in squad after 21-month absence
Rhys Carré also included after he requalifies for selection
Louis Rees-Zammit is in line for an international rugby comeback for Wales next month 21 months after abandoning the sport to try his luck in American football. Rees-Zammit, now 24, is among 39 players named in the first squad to be picked by the new national head coach, Steve Tandy.
The British and Irish Lions winger, who won the most recent of his 32 caps at the 2023 World Cup, made the switch to American football in January 2024 but ended up not featuring in a competitive NFL game. He returned to union in August when he joined the English Prem side Bristol.
Continue reading...The Breakdown | Caluori conundrum adds to Borthwick’s England selection headaches
Head coach faces delicate balancing act before opening November Test as Saracens’s new whiz-kid enters mix
The lobby of the Pennyhill Park hotel on a Monday evening provides a neat snapshot of English rugby’s fast-changing world. First to amble into view is Noah Caluori, Saracens’s new whiz-kid who has just announced himself with five tries on his first Prem start. He nods a polite greeting and looks every inch a sporting thoroughbred that any national coach would covet.
A couple of minutes later a more familiar face appears. It feels faintly bizarre to be bumping into Joe Marler when, on your television, he is sitting in a Scottish castle with Claudia Winkleman but, hey presto, that’s the magic of showbiz right there. One minute you’re propping for England, the next you’re attempting to out-think Stephen Fry.
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