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
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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.
Continue reading...Jacob Umaga and the English rugby players driving Benetton to success
Five players raised in England have swapped the Premiership for life in the beautiful Italian city of Treviso
The weather starts to warm up nicely in Treviso at this time of year and so does the race for playoff places in the United Rugby Championship. Benetton – Treviso’s team and the cream of Italian rugby – are fifth in the league table and on course to reach the URC quarter-finals, booking a place in next season’s European Champions Cup in the process, but they could slip out of the top eight with just one defeat.
The club’s annual budget of €8m is half what league leaders Leinster spend, but the Benetton family expect a return on their money. With three games to play in the regular season and their place in the top eight still not secured, the heat is on. “There’s a lot more focus now,” says Jacob Umaga, the former England international who joined the club in 2022 when Wasps went into administration. “We’ve not reached our ceiling and we’ve got such a good squad. We’ve got two of our last three games away and know one poor performance will take us straight out of the top eight.”
Continue reading...Ben Youngs, England’s most-capped male player, to retire from rugby in June
- Scrum-half has played 332 matches for Leicester
- He won a record 127 England caps and toured with Lions
The end of the road is finally approaching for England’s most-capped male player. Ben Youngs, who made a record 127 appearances for his country, has confirmed he will be retiring from professional rugby in June after more than 500 senior games for Leicester, England, the Barbarians and the British & Irish Lions in a career spanning 18 years.
Youngs has been a one-club man since his Tigers debut as a 17-year-old in 2007 but, at 35, will hang up his boots at the end of the current Premiership season. A five-times Premiership winner and three times a runner-up, he has played 332 matches for Leicester to date. In an England jersey he appeared in four World Cups and toured Australia in 2013 with the Lions, alongside his brother Tom. He was chosen for the 2017 Lions squad as well but withdrew from the tour of New Zealand for family reasons.
Continue reading...NRL stars included on former Wallaby’s Olympic flag football wishlist
Former Wallabies star Quade Cooper has named a wishlist of NRL stars to represent Australia in flag football at the 2028 Olympics.
Northampton hang on to edge out Newcastle in Premiership thriller
- Newcastle 34-35 Northampton
- Defending champions and bottom club share 10 tries
Northampton survived a late scare to snatch a narrow 35-34 victory over Newcastle at Kingston Park.
A thrilling encounter saw Craig Wright cancel out Jamie Blamire’s opening try and after Brett Connon sent the Falcons ahead again from the tee, Northampton seized control just before half-time with Luke Green, Fin Smith and debutant Will Glister all scoring.
Continue reading...Premiership’s disjointed sprint finish begins with playoff battle bonanza
Second to seventh all play each other this weekend but European calendar threatens to stall momentum
The Premiership season is rounding the final bend and entering the home straight. Organisers like to call this point in the campaign “The Run-in” and they could hardly have wished for a better set of fixtures this weekend to begin it with. Sixth host fourth when Saracens entertain Gloucester, fifth go to seventh with Sale travelling to Harlequins and on Sunday, second and third lock horns with Bristol facing Leicester.
As was the case last season, the race for the playoffs is shaping up to be a blanket finish. Bath are out in front in first but with five matches remaining, only four points separate Leicester in third and Harlequins in seventh. Bristol are a further five ahead in the runners-up spot and with second to seventh all playing each other this weekend, through rose-tinted glasses it is the perfect way to showcase the sprint finish.
Continue reading...Steve Diamond’s season-ending ban was for profanity aimed at match officials
- Newcastle director of rugby given six-match suspension
- Told TMO that he ‘should retire’
Steve Diamond’s season-ending ban was meted out because he called a group of match‑day officials “cunts” before telling the television match official he should retire.
The Newcastle director of rugby was given a six-match suspension last week after a disciplinary hearing into an incident that took place in the dying throes of the Falcons’ late defeat by fellow strugglers Exeter last month.
Continue reading...‘Try of the decade’: Waratahs stun rugby union world with 102-metre try in shock upset of heavyweight
The NSW Waratahs have stunned the rugby union world with a phenomenal 102-metre team try during their upset Super Rugby win over the Chiefs in Sydney on Friday night.
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Continue reading...Bonuses for Wallabies wins in Rugby Australia’s new $240m TV broadcast deal
- Improved deal struck with Nine Entertainment over five years
- Extra money to reward key wins during 2026-2030 period
Rugby Australia has signed a five-year extension to its broadcast rights agreement with Nine Entertainment in a deal worth up to $240m. It runs from 2026-2030 and includes performance incentives linked to Wallabies wins, Nine-owned newspapers reported.
“[It] represents a significant uplift on Rugby Australia’s current broadcast agreement and follows a successful organisational reset in 2024,” RA said in a statement.
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