Category: Rugby Union

Rugby Union News

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The Lion king in waiting? Why Ireland’s new talisman Caelan Doris fits the bill

The country boy from Lacken who is now a world-class No 8 on enjoying captaincy, a fascination with psychology and his penchant for hot yoga

It will be another six months before Andy Farrell finally has to choose his British & Irish Lions captain for the 2025 expedition to Australia. Plenty of time for the landscape to change and, theoretically, for one or two surprise contenders to emerge from the shrubbery. Until, that is, you sit down with the staggeringly impressive Caelan Doris and realise there is little need for Farrell to look anywhere else.

A bold prediction? Hardly. It is not rocket science that a world-class player with the universal respect of his peers, a university degree in psychology and a warm smile might just fit the bill. Ireland have produced some illustrious Lions captains in the pro era, from Brian O’Driscoll to Paul O’Connell and Peter O’Mahony, and another top-drawer candidate lurks quietly in the wings.

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‘It’s been an incredible ride’: Wales and Lions centre Jonathan Davies retires

  • Davies won 96 caps and two grand slams for Wales
  • Centre played six Tests for British and Irish Lions

The former Wales, British and Irish Lions and Scarlets centre Jonathan Davies has announced his retirement from professional rugby.

The 36-year-old, who won 96 caps for Wales, left Scarlets at the end of the 2023-24 season having scored 55 tries in 209 appearances across two spells for the Welsh region.

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The Ineos Effect: hit and miss as Jim Ratcliffe’s tentacles have gone global

Ratcliffe has built an empire of assets across different sports but his teams have enjoyed varying degrees of success

Should Sir Ben Ainslie’s crew achieve the seemingly impossible and bring home the America’s Cup it will be the biggest sporting triumph yet for Ineos, whose tentacles now lie across the elite landscape in six disciplines. Despite heavy investment and the oversight of Sir Dave Brailsford it has been a mixed bag so far for Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s petrochemicals company; they have struggled to make their mark in Formula One and cycling, while it may take a superhuman effort to restore Manchester United to greatness.

They have encountered accusations of using sport to airbrush environmental concerns around their business. Ending Britain’s 136-year wait for sailing’s most vaunted prize would, in the short term at least, guarantee favourable headlines.

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Sanderson v Diamond friendship on sidelines in battle of the north | Robert Kitson

Newcastle head to Sale on the back of a 24-game losing streak with a pressing need to attract a fresh audience

It is supposed to be a snarling northern “derby” but, in reality, Sale’s Friday night date with Newcastle is a case of friends reunited. The Sharks’ Alex Sanderson and the Falcons’ Steve Diamond take their respective eight-year-olds to the same swimming class every week and have been mates for so long they know pretty much exactly what the other is plotting.

Sanderson, in particular, has been warning his squad they will need to be up for the fight against their bottom placed, winless opponents: “They’re already talking survival, food on plates and roofs over heads; we’ve got to match their emotional levels.” Diamond, for his part, has been busy stripping down his side’s tactics to the barest essentials to counter Sale’s big pack and territory based game. “We’re not even competitive at the moment,” he says. “There’s still players here who don’t understand what we’re trying to do on game day.”

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The Breakdown | Once at war with the world and himself, Sexton in his own words is revealing

If you thought you knew the celebrated former Ireland fly-half, it’s time to look deeper – this is no leafy lane memoir

Perhaps the most tell-tale aspect of Johnny Sexton’s new autobiography is that it took seven years to stitch together. Seven years? Not since James Joyce took a similar timeframe to write Ulysses has there been such a slow-cooked Irish literary stew. And as Peter O’Reilly, Sexton’s excellent (and potentially long-suffering) ghostwriter, reveals in the final acknowledgments, there was little need for many supplementary interviews because of “Johnny’s exceptional memory for detail”. Combine those twin ingredients and a tasty dish is all but assured.

Because Johnny can remember everything and everyone. What his friends said and did, what his enemies were thinking (or, at least, what he thought they were thinking), how he felt at certain crucial moments. If it reads at times like a cold-eyed dispatch from an endless battle that is, for a good deal of his career, how it felt. “For so much of the time I was at war – with opponents, with rivals, sometimes with coaches, often with myself. For the most part … it felt like a fight.”

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Santiago Grondona’s debut double leads Bristol to blistering win over Bath

  • Bath 26-36 Bristol
  • Argentinian helps earn bonus point in first half

The days of low-scoring West Country derbies have gone the way of cassette tapes and Ceefax. A week ago, Bristol scored 41 points and still contrived to lose at home to Gloucester and last January they beat Bath 57-44 at Ashton Gate. This cracking game was not quite the same crazy whirl but the scoreboard still revolved at times like a fruit machine in Las Vegas.

When the music stopped and the nine tries were finally collated it added up to another hugely satisfying away day for Bristol, rewarding a consistently vibrant performance full of movement and purpose.

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