Category: Rugby Union

Rugby Union News

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‘I couldn’t be bullied’: Danny Cipriani joins criticism of Eddie Jones’s style

  • Cipriani feels he was dropped for standing up to coach
  • Former fly-half returns for cross-code MND charity match

Danny Cipriani has become the latest former England star to weigh in with criticism of Eddie Jones, insisting he felt the Australian refused to select him at Test level because he “couldn’t be bullied” by Jones.

Cipriani will return to a rugby field this weekend when he takes part in the inaugural 745 Game, a cross-code hybrid match featuring some of rugby union’s and league’s biggest names to raise money for those living with motor neurone disease. The event, which will be held at Headingley, was devised by Rob Burrow and Ed Slater before Burrow died earlier this year.

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England will not ‘shut up shop’ against South Africa, insists Henry Slade

  • Slade says squad won’t change mindset on Saturday
  • England have slipped to seventh in world rankings

England are looking to banish their autumn frustrations at South Africa’s expense this Saturday and have vowed “not to shut up shop” against the reigning world champions. Successive defeats by New Zealand and Australia have dropped Steve Borthwick’s side to seventh in the world rankings but the players insist they can confound expectations and turn their month around.

Rather than ditching the high-risk defensive system that has so far conceded eight tries in two games this month, England intend to double down and be even more aggressive with and without the ball in their first rematch against the Springboks since last year’s agonising World Cup semi-final defeat.

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Warren Gatland ‘didn’t think there would be so much pain’ in Wales reboot

  • Head coach hoping for a win after run 10 straight defeats
  • ‘I have tried to not shy away from criticism’

Warren Gatland says he would probably head to the beach with a glass of wine “away from some of the pressure” if it was decided he should not continue in his role as Wales head coach.

Wales have lost their last 10 Test matches and are without a Test win since the 2023 World Cup. Defeat against in-form Autumn Nations Series opponents Australia on Sunday would inflict a record run of bad results on them, eclipsing the current sequence and that of 2002 and 2003 under Gatland’s fellow New Zealander Steve Hansen.

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Injured Dylan Pietsch returns to Australia from Wallabies’ grand slam tour

  • Winger forced to leave camp after picking up calf injury
  • Josh Flook called up as replacement ahead of Wales game

The Wallabies must make at least two enforced team changes after winger Dylan Pietsch was forced out of the grand slam spring tour of Europe with a calf injury.

Pietsch is on his way back home to Australia after hurting himself in the Wallabies’ 42-37 tour-opening triumph over England at Twickenham on Sunday morning.

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‘We don’t have any contact’: England will not benefit from Jones’ Springboks links

  • Former defence coach still employed remotely by RFU
  • Richard Wigglesworth and players have not been in touch

England will not be benefiting from the insider knowledge of their ­former Springbok assistant coach Felix Jones this weekend after it emerged that neither their players nor key staff members have been in contact with the Irishman, still supposedly employed remotely by the Rugby Football Union (RFU).

England’s senior assistant coach, Richard Wigglesworth said he had not spoken to Jones and the players also say they have received no input from him before Saturday’s big game against South Africa. Jones handed in his resignation as defence coach after the summer tour to Japan and New Zealand but has not yet been formally released from his RFU contract.

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Rassie Erasmus calls on doctor to deliver his message: the Boks are ready

Despite having one day less than England to prepare, South Africa hope Bomb Squad can give impression of strength

When Rassie Erasmus does something out of the ordinary it is usually for a reason, so his surprising decision to put the team doctor up to face the press on Tuesday was no doubt a calculated move. The message was clear, and has been since full-time against Scotland: the Springboks are fresh. And they evidently want everyone to know it.

Equally, you suspect they are not very happy about having a six-day turnaround before facing England. New Zealand made light work of theirs last week but as the all-conquering back-to-back world champions, perhaps it is necessary to engineer perceived slights against yourselves.

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Tommy Freeman vows England will take the fight to ‘human’ South Africa

  • ‘We are going to go properly after them,’ insists wing
  • Springboks are world champions but ‘not unbeatable’

The England wing Tommy Freeman has insisted that all-conquering South Africa are only human and vowed Steve Borthwick’s side will take the fight to the Springboks on Saturday.

After four straight defeats and six in seven against tier-one opposition, England face the daunting task of welcoming the back-to-back world champions to Twickenham. England’s last-gasp defeat by Australia saw Borthwick’s side slip to seventh in the world rankings while the Springboks returned to the summit after their 32-15 win over Scotland.

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Anscombe confident Wales can improve ahead of Wallaby clash

Gareth Anscombe was delighted to get back into international rugby after more than a year on the sidelines and believes will be better for the game against Fiji despite the 24-19 defeat. Australia are next up in the Autumn Nations Series and they will arrive in Cardiff on a high after their last-gasp, 42-37 win […]

The post Anscombe confident Wales can improve ahead of Wallaby clash appeared first on Welsh Rugby Union | Wales & Regions.

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Rassie Erasmus preps South Africa for challenge of ‘desperate’ England

  • Springboks head coach expects ‘very, very tough game’
  • England looking for first win of Autumn Nations Series

Rassie Erasmus expects England to bring a sense of frustration to their match against South Africa on Saturday and labelled them “desperate” for a win after two defeats from two in their autumn campaign.

Erasmus’s world champions returned to the world No 1 ranking with a patchy 32-15 victory over Scotland on Sunday as they kicked off their own run of Tests in the northern hemisphere. They now travel to Twickenham to take on Steve Borthwick’s side, who are reeling after suffering two late losses to New Zealand and Australia, 24-22 and 42-37, respectively, having expected to win both on home soil.

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‘Frustrated’ Gatland wants better performance against Wallabies

A frustrated Warren Gatland admitted “some things we need to be better at” after his side slipped to a 10 successive defeat in the 24-19 loss to Fiji in the 2024 Autumn Nations Series opener. Wales led 14-3 in the first half but fell behind after conceding 12 penalties and missing 32 tackles in the […]

The post ‘Frustrated’ Gatland wants better performance against Wallabies appeared first on Welsh Rugby Union | Wales & Regions.

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Joseph-Aukuso Sua’ali’i: from unproven prospect to living out a dream on rugby’s grandest stage | Daniel Gallan

The code-hopper is the talk of the rugby union world after making light of expectations and the occasion at Twickenham on his Wallabies debut

Picture this; you’re 21-years-old, you’ve been the most talked about player in rugby union for a month straight, you’re playing your first senior game, your first of any kind in this code since you were a teenager, and you’ve just stepped out to start for your country at Twickenham, the home of rugby. We all know that elite athletes are cut from a different cloth but it’s worth lingering on the staggering set of circumstances that preceded Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii’s Test debut.

Simply not stinking up the place with a string of errors would have been enough. If he’d managed to hold onto the ball and land a few tackles then Joe Schmidt and Rugby Australia could have argued that there was tangible hope in a return of their substantial investment in this unproven prospect. He looked the part, all 1.98m and 98kg of him. But could he handle the bright lights and weight of expectation? We had our answer shortly before kick-off.

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