France came back from a nine-point half-time deficit to beat Australia 42-26 in a pulsating Nations Championship clash in Brisbane on Saturday.
Will Jordan grabs try-scoring record as All Blacks hammer Italy in Nations Championship
Fullback scores hat-trick as New Zealand win 47-17 in Wellington
New coach Dave Rennie has back-to-back wins in his first matches
Will Jordan grabbed a hat-trick of tries including a record 50th for New Zealand as the All Blacks thrashed Italy 47-17 in the Nations Championship Test.
Jordan touched down once in the first half and twice in three minutes after half-time at Wellington Regional Stadium to eclipse Doug Howlett’s record against the outclassed Italians.
Continue reading...Australia 26-42 France: Nations Championship rugby union international – as it happened
Wallabies unable to defend 21-12 half-time lead
France run in four tries in dominate second half
Australia in gold, France in blue, round two of the Nations Championship is under way…
Anthem time in Brisbane, which means an always welcome rendition of La Marseillaise. Advance Australia Fair pales by comparison, but the duration of the song allows plenty of close-ups of the Wallabies’ excellent First Nations jersey, worn to coincide with NAIDOC Week here in Australia.
Continue reading...England return to the north with Borthwick needing to avoid a Mersey meltdown
Team head to Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium to face Fiji needing to avoid a sixth straight defeat, with eyes on debutants Van Rensburg and Caluori
England’s men venture north to play international rugby union so infrequently that their Nations Championship fixture against Fiji is a newsflash in itself. It is more than a decade since the north-west last staged a union Test and approaching 30 years since the England coaches Steve Borthwick and Richard Wigglesworth, among others, had their youthful sporting ambitions sparked by watching England at Old Trafford and Huddersfield respectively in the late 1990s.
So even in the dog days of July, with temperatures nudging 30 degrees celsius and Merseyside feeling more akin to the Med, this particular game is significant even before England’s recent five-game losing streak is layered on. Get it right and Borthwick can head to Argentina for the final leg of this summer’s magic mystery tour with some pressure relieved. Get it wrong at Hill Dickinson Stadium and a hard day’s night looms.
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Continue reading...Steve Borthwick sidesteps questions over future if England lose to Fiji
Janse van Rensburg, Caluori and Kloska to make debuts
Head coach: ‘My conversations with the RFU are private’
Steve Borthwick says he and his players are also feeling “the hurt and pain” caused by England’s losing streak but has sidestepped questions about his job security if his team are beaten by Fiji on Saturday. The head coach has not tasted victory since early February and will come under significant external pressure should his side slip to a sixth successive Test defeat at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Continue reading...‘Not sure if it’s right’: Wallabies coach worried about debutant as squad named for France clash
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt admits he’s “apprehensive” about thrusting the uncapped Declan Meredith into Australia’s chief playmaking role on Saturday against France, but says injuries have forced his hand.
Wallabies name Declan Meredith for Test debut against France as injuries mount up
Australia call up flyhalf to face back-to-back Six Nations champions
Jock Campbell replaced by Tom Wright in starting XV in Brisbane
Declan Meredith will debut against France as the reconfigured Wallabies paper over the cracks created by more soft-tissue injury carnage in Brisbane.
The ACT Brumbies flyhalf will wear the No 10 against the back-to-back Six Nations champions at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.
Continue reading...Janse van Rensburg poised to face Fiji as England look to rebound from Boks defeat
Uncapped back set for Nations Championship call-up
Squad aims to bounce back at Hill Dickinson Stadium
England’s rugby players could be forgiven for wondering which way is up. On Sunday they were in South Africa, next Monday they will be in South America and they are now in sub‑Saharan Surrey preparing to face Fiji in Liverpool this Saturday. Ironically it is warmer in Bagshot this week than it is in Suva, albeit with fewer coral reefs and fresh coconuts.
Regardless of the rotating backdrop, though, there is no disguising the lingering disappointment of the 45-21 defeat against the Springboks in Johannesburg last weekend. Victory at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium would not repair everything overnight but there is widespread acceptance within the camp that they need to rebound strongly on Saturday.
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Door is ajar for Rassie Erasmus’ side to surpass All Blacks when leading sides converge on Australia next year
The best sports teams constantly look to reinvent themselves. Their core principles remain in place but, crucially, they never, ever stand still. To do so is to risk slipping backwards relative to their competitors and arrive at the worst of all possible outcomes: a poorer, less successful version of themselves.
The ultimate example in rugby, until now, has probably been the All Blacks. For decades it was not only about winning the next game, but underlining their position, to quote one of their motivational whiteboard slogans from 2013, as “the most dominant team in the history of the world”. When you are chasing that kind of rarefied target you don’t allow the grass grow beneath your jandals.
Continue reading...Wallabies were brave and brilliant against Ireland but still miss some key ingredients | Daniel Gallan
If Australia can keep playing with the same amount of ambition, skill and speed they showed in Sydney, they will trouble anyone in the Nations Championship
Did anyone inside the sold-out Allianz Stadium, or watching around the world, really expect Ben Donaldson to slot the game-winning kick at the death? A few minutes earlier, when his team still held a slender five-point lead, he had the ball on a tee a little closer to the poles and a little further away from the right touchline. That effort curled across the face of goal and never threatened to sneak inside the upright.
This one was more of a challenge. Just about the toughest challenge a right-footed kicker can encounter. He struck it better but started it too far to the right without the requisite bend. And as the ball sailed wide, it seemed to carry with it the story of Australia’s afternoon. Brave and brilliant, frenetic and entertaining, but ultimately still missing some crucial ingredients as they went down 31-33.
Continue reading...South Africa 45-21 England: Nations Championship rugby union – as it happened
England blown away in the second half as South Africa underline their status as the world’s leading team.
‘The final countdown’ blasts around Ellis Park.
Decent crowd in as James Doleman blows his whistle and we’re under way with Libbok kicking us off!
Continue reading...Wallabies ‘gutted’ as contentious call leaves Aussies heartbroken after ‘one of the all-time’ Tests
It was heartbreak for the Wallabies as Tom Clarkson scored a last-gasp converted try to help Ireland to a riveting 33-31 victory over Australia on Saturday in the Nations Championship.
Australia 31-33 Ireland: Nations Championship rugby union international – as it happened
Ireland score late and Australia miss a penalty as the visitors snatch victory in 10-try thriller.
Really keen to see how the midfield battle plays out.
Len Ikitau is one of the elite ballers in the game and Stuart McClosky was the best centre of the Six Nations (imo).
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