Prem Rugby Big Match Bonanza test of sport’s commercial aims March 26, 2026 This weekend will go far in helping onlookers assess how much progress Prem Rugby has made in recent years. Because on Saturday the first match since Australia beat Uruguay in the 2015 Rugby World Cup will take place at Villa Park in Birmingham. The geography is a little bit iffy given the home team – [...]
Bath Rugby debts topped £32m before Dyson investment as club makes £2.8m loss March 23, 2026 Bath Rugby’s debts to its owner reached £32m in their triumphant Prem Rugby season before billionaire Sir James Dyson purchased 50 per cent of the club. The West Country club last week announced a deal that saw the hoover magnate take an equal stake in the club alongside long-time funder Bruce Craig. The deal reportedly [...]
Does Dyson’s Bath investment signal a new era for Prem Rugby? March 21, 2026 If there was major surprise surrounding Red Bull’s entry into Prem Rugby last year, fewer heads would have been turned by news this week of Sir James Dyson’s investment in Bath. Probably because plenty had assumed he was paying for the upkeep of the club anyway. The deal – likely a debt-for-equity swap – by [...]
Elior Champ Rugby deal may be good for clubs, but what’s the point? March 20, 2026 It is great to see Champ Rugby get its first sponsor in six years this week, in catering company Elior UK; it signals a shift in appetite for the second tier of English rugby. It will be a good marketing tool for clubs, whose matches are broadcast on streaming platform Clubber TV, and it solidifies [...]
Sir James Dyson buys 50 per cent stake in top flight English sport club March 18, 2026 One of the UK’s richest men, Sir James Dyson, has purchased 50 per cent of Prem Rugby champions Bath. The long-time fan of the West Country Club, which won three trophies last season, has converted his front-of-shirt support for the club – through Dyson – into a 50 per cent ownership stake in the Blue, [...]
Lozowski: Showdown Saracens match at Tottenham good for Prem Rugby March 17, 2026 England’s Prem Rugby takes an almighty leap of faith later this month, staging three of its five Round 12 fixtures at stadiums more than double the home team’s usual arenas. On Saturday 28 March, Gloucester Rugby take on Leicester Tigers at Aston VIlla’s Villa Park and Bristol Bears host Harlequins at Wales’s Principality Stadium. But [...]
England won’t be derailed if they hold their nerve over Borthwick March 13, 2026 However unlikely one may think it is, there is a chance of England being left holding the wooden spoon for the first time in the Six Nations era. You have to go back to 1987 for their last bottom-place finish in the old Five Nations. That alone would be a humiliation for a head coach [...]
Toulouse minority owner: Prem Rugby franchising ‘very exciting’ March 11, 2026 A ringfenced Prem Rugby should be seen as an exciting prospect that could one day chase down the powerhouse Top 14 league, according to a co-owner of six-time Investec Champions Cup winners Toulouse. The RFU Council voted through measures last month that ended automatic promotion and relegation from Prem Rugby to the second-tier Champ. It [...]
Italy Six Nations revival a lesson for Wales as England challenge awaits March 6, 2026 In 2019 rugby in Italy was staring down the barrel of extinction: three home Six Nations matches at their 70,500-capacity Stadio Olimpico drew crowds of just 38,500 versus Wales, 49,700 against Ireland and 48,800 for their match against France. Fast forward to 2026, however, having just beaten Scotland in front of 68,200 fans Italy will [...]
Automatic promotion and relegation from Prem Rugby scrapped February 27, 2026 Automatic promotion and relegation from Prem Rugby has been scrapped after a crunch RFU Council vote on Friday. Yo-yoing between English rugby’s top flight Prem Rugby and the second tier Champ Rugby will be halted, with expansion teams admitted into the highest form of domestic rugby in England on a case-by-case basis. In what many [...]