England’s Maro Itoje said it was a “tremendous honour” to be named captain of the British and Irish Lions rugby union team on their upcoming tour of Australia as the squad was announced Thursday (Friday AEST).
British & Irish Lions squad 2025: the chosen 38 players
We profile each player from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland who will compete for places in Andy Farrell’s Test match squads to take on Australia this summer
Continue reading...Inside the Exeter meltdown: Rowe’s revival plan not for the faint-hearted
A 79-17 defeat for the 2020 champions’ set the alarm bells ringing and the ‘embarrassed’ chair is pulling no punches
How swiftly the sporting wheel can turn. Less than five years ago Exeter were the Double-winning darlings of English club rugby, their fairytale rise ranking alongside Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest, Sir Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen and Wimbledon’s Crazy Gang as the most romantic success stories in British team sport.
And now? Second bottom of the Premiership table, 79 points conceded at Gloucester last time out, coaches being summarily jettisoned, the chairman storming into the dressing room. The one thing everyone in Devon can agree on is that the season’s end cannot come quickly enough.
Continue reading...Maro Itoje’s chance of Lions captaincy grows with Caelan Doris set for surgery
- Injury to Ireland No 8 looks ‘serious’, says Leinster coach
- Andy Farrell due to name tour squad on Thursday
Maro Itoje’s chances of being named British & Irish Lions captain this week have been strengthened after Caelan Doris – one of his closest rivals for the role – emerged as an injury doubt for the tour of Australia.
Doris, the Ireland captain, will undergo shoulder surgery this week but, after a worrying assessment by the Leinster coach, Jacques Nienaber, he is in danger of missing the series against the Wallabies in a potentially momentous development before Andy Farrell names his squad on Thursday.
Continue reading...Sports quiz of the week: Liverpool, Lions, Usyk v Dubois and Chelsea
Have you been following the big news in football, boxing, snooker, motor sport, rugby union and cricket?
Continue reading...‘He’s mad for it’: Northampton’s Henry Pollock back in Dublin after rise to Lions contender
A year ago he was with the fans: now he’s an England player before Saints’ Champions Cup semi against Leinster
Henry Pollock is bouncing around the south stand at Franklin’s Gardens. He is in demand at Northampton’s media session and in between interviews he seems most preoccupied with reminding his teammate Tommy Freeman who won their latest battle on the golf course. As has been clear since his emergence, Pollock has no problem with the spotlight.
His restless energy is not confined to the pitch but soon he sits down for a chat, ostensibly to preview Northampton’s Champions Cup semi-final against Leinster on Saturday, but essentially to discuss Pollock-mania. How and why it has taken hold and whether at any stage in the 20-year-old’s fledgling career he has experienced a shred of self-doubt.
Continue reading...‘I lost my cool’: Jones opens up on ‘worst press conference ever’ and disastrous World Cup campaign
Former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has opened up about his infamous pre-Rugby World Cup press conference at Sydney Airport where he told a group of journalists to give themselves uppercuts.
Historic Aussie star Ellia Green lost his love for rugby. Then he found it again — at a suburban game
Ellia Green has won Olympic gold, world series and has competed on the biggest stages in sport, yet it was a club rugby match on a suburban field in Clovelly which proved one of the most special games of his career.
Quarter of World Rugby’s test group of ex-players ‘at risk’ of cognitive problems
- New service refers quarter of those seen for treatment
- Concern over high numbers of participants dropping out
A significant number of former elite players who have participated in World Rugby’s new brain health service programme have been identified as being “at risk” of cognitive problems in later life.
So far 131 former rugby union players have registered to take part after last April’s launch, although only 65 have completed the process. Of those, one quarter were referred for specialist treatment. The service is not designed to provide a diagnosis, only to provide a risk assessment for former players.
Continue reading...Queensland Reds coach Les Kiss to take charge of Wallabies in July next year
Rugby Australia chief executive officer Phil Waugh says the coaching transition from Joe Schmidt to Les Kiss next year is the “best possible outcome” for the Wallabies after confirming the Queensland Reds mentor would take the national role in July next year.
Les Kiss confirmed as next Wallabies coach with Joe Schmidt to stay on until 2026
- Kiss to see out Super Rugby Pacific contract with Queensland Reds
- Schmidt to remain in charge for end-of-season European tour
Joe Schmidt will remain as Wallabies coach until next mid-2026 before Less Kiss takes over, Rugby Australia has confirmed.
Schmidt was to have finished up after this year’s Rugby Championship but RA was keen for “minimal disruption to the Australian rugby ecosystem” and for Kiss to complete his Super Rugby Pacific contract with the Queensland Reds in 2026.
Continue reading...Saints’ Phil Dowson fears Premiership clubs ‘sleepwalking’ towards financial crisis
- Director of rugby backs plans for franchise league
- Expansion would end promotion and relegation
The Northampton director of rugby, Phil Dowson, fears the sport is “sleepwalking” towards another club going bust and endorsed plans for the Premiership to become a franchised league on the basis it would be more appealing to investors.
Premiership and Rugby Football Union executives have drawn up plans for an “expansion” league, akin to a franchise model, that would allow for teams to be added to the current 10 top flight clubs should they meet certain criteria. The RFU chief executive, Bill Sweeney, revealed that there is the possibility of expanding for the start of next season.
Continue reading...Rugby Australia set to announce Les Kiss as next Wallabies coach
- Reds coach expected to confirmed as Joe Schmidt’s successor
- Kiss will become fifth Wallabies coach in six years
The protracted process to secure Les Kiss as the next Wallabies coach has been finalised with the Queensland Reds mentor to be the fifth man to fill the seat in six years. Kiss is expected to front the media in Sydney on Wednesday before flying to Suva to join the Reds squad ahead of Saturday’s crucial Super Rugby Pacific encounter with Fiji.
He is contracted until the end of next year at the Reds, who sit fourth and are eyeing a title push this season. But it is understood the Queensland Rugby Union and Rugby Australia have negotiated a release for the former representative rugby league winger, who arrived at Ballymore last year after two decades in Europe.
Continue reading...Sports quiz of the week: Jamie Vardy, Faith Kipyegon and Ben Youngs
Have you been following the big stories in football, cricket, snooker, athletics, rugby, boxing and tennis?
Continue reading...‘You give everything in that first scrum’: meet Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Sale and England’s killer baby Shark
The 20-year-old prop is making a name for himself with eye-catching displays but visit of Saracens is a serious test
Some of English rugby union’s biggest names will be front and centre in Salford on Friday evening. Maro Itoje, Jamie George, Ben Earl and Tom Willis all start for Saracens while Tom Curry, George Ford and Luke Cowan-Dickie, among others, will trot out for Sale Sharks. Most 20-year-old props, invited to mix in such lofty company, would be feeling seriously intimidated.
It is increasingly obvious, however, that young Asher Opoku-Fordjour is different gravy. As anyone who saw his eye-catching performance against Harlequins last weekend will be aware, his strength and bullocking presence with ball in hand are quite something. “If last week’s anything to go by he’s tracking well, isn’t he?” nods Alex Sanderson, the Sharks’ director of rugby.
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