Champions Cup offers London clubs chance to shine on greatest stage June 29, 2022 At a swanky Dublin event yesterday afternoon the best and brightest of European, and South African, rugby discovered their fate in next season’s Champions Cup. In a recent shake up in format, there are no longer six pools of four but instead two pools of 12. Teams now play a team from the other two [...]
Ollie Phillips: My Premiership Rugby awards June 24, 2022 The season is over, Leicester Tigers are champions and I have enjoyed it completely. The lack of relegation has created new interest for me, and we’ve seen some real bolters, like Henry Arundell, earn an international chance on the summer tours. But now that all has been said and done, here are my Premiership awards. [...]
Ed Warner: Wimbledon shows that the Lawn Tennis Association gets too much money June 23, 2022 If you want to know what’s wrong with tennis in Britain, look no further than Wimbledon. Blame the Championships for being such a phenomenal success that they bequeath the Lawn Tennis Association more money each year than it appears to be able to handle effectively, while simultaneously raising the public’s hunger for the LTA to [...]
Eddie Jones’ squad: In with the old as England head Down Under June 20, 2022 England depart for their final overseas summer tour ahead of next year’s World Cup this week off the back of another mediocre Six Nations performance and Sunday’s record loss under head coach Eddie Jones to the Barbarians. Yesterday, Jones named his 32-man squad for the three-Test series in Australia, starting in Perth on 2 July. [...]
Big Freddie Burns moment personifies great game of rugby June 19, 2022 What constitutes a great game? Is it a record amount of points, tries upon tries and showboating rugby? Is it gripping, tense and decided in the final 20 seconds with a drop goal? Saturday’s Premiership final between Leicester Tigers and Saracens ended in the manner of the latter. It wasn’t a record-breaking points haul like [...]
Barbarians hark back to less serious times, says David Flatman June 17, 2022 Sunday sees the curtain fall on the rugby season in England as an Eddie Jones XV takes on the globetrotters of oval ball in the Barbarians. The side are put together with little preparation and aim to please the masses, and former England international David Flatman says this year will be no different. “The pure [...]
Ollie Phillips: Leicester versus Saracens final rounds off great season June 17, 2022 South west London will be the centre of the rugby world this weekend when one of the most competitive seasons of Premiership action reaches its climax. You’ve got Leicester Tigers, buoyed by brilliant home form this year, and have a serious amount of off-field emotion in tow. And you’ve got Saracens who are hated by [...]
Simon Shaw interview: ‘Addressing concussion is for the here and now’ June 15, 2022 It was a project hatched over a pre-arranged dinner, but the cogs that were left turning once the bill had been settled have spearheaded innovation into understanding concussion in and out of sport, and provoked questions as to why it continues to take so long to implement change. Simon Shaw is a former Wasps rugby [...]
Barmy Barbarians’ rugby against England will set Twickenham alight June 13, 2022 Rugby union is a sport in which traditions are constantly debated and continually evolving, but one element of the oval ball sport that has remained untouched since the late 1800s is the Barbarians. Almost a World XV, the Barbarians are a group of players cobbled together under – usually – an existing international coach who [...]
Leicester and Saracens final offers far more than first versus second storyline June 12, 2022 For the sixth time in the last seven seasons, the Premiership final will be contested between the sides who finished in the top two places in the table. In Leicester Tigers and Saracens, English rugby is set to witness a clash between historic giants of the league and the newer dynasty from the capital. Saracens [...]