Rugby World Cup 2015: More huge crowd numbers as over 11m watch Wales beat England and record attendance fills Wembley for Ireland v Romania September 27, 2015 This year's Rugby World Cup continues to show off its size after attracting record crowds and bumper TV audiences for the second weekend in a row. Read more: England's disappointing loss to Wales summed up in six sorry stats Just under 12m people were glued to the screens for the final few minutes of England's [...]
Rugby World Cup 2015: Australia warm up for England showdown by scoring 11 tries in Uruguay mauling September 27, 2015 Australia head coach Michael Cheika has warned his players they will have to improve for Saturday’s World Cup showdown with England, despite seeing them run in 11 tries against Uruguay. Read more: Australia shrug off failure to keep pace with Pool A rivals Flanker Sean McMahon scored two tries in a man-of-the-match display at Villa Park, [...]
Rugby World Cup 2015: England’s disappointing loss to Wales summed up in six sorry stats September 27, 2015 England's World Cup future hangs on a knife-edge after Stuart Lancaster's men let a 10 point lead against Wales shrivel into a three-point deficit and devastating loss at Twickenham last night. The tournament's host nation must now beat Group A opponents Australia next Saturday to have a realistic chance of progressing to the quarter-finals. Wales' [...]
Rugby World Cup 2015 and faster delivery times helps House of Fraser as half-year sales jump September 26, 2015 Department store chain House of Fraser has hailed a jump in sales over the first half, boosted by further improvements to its online offer including faster delivery times. The company, which was taken over by Chinese consortium Nanjing Xinjiekou last year, said like-for-like sales were up 6.5 per cent, with gross total value (GTV) rising to £574.2m in the six [...]
AIG and the All Blacks brand: How New Zealand dominates rugby on and off the pitch September 25, 2015 New Zealand’s opening two wins over Argentina and Namibia at the World Cup will not rank particularly high in the annals of the country’s proud rugby history. Yet even in what was a tense and at times ill-disciplined 26-16 victory over Argentina on Sunday, there was enough in the All Blacks’ opening performance to understand [...]
Rugby Comment: Question marks remain but Sam can be the man September 25, 2015 I’M not surprised that Stuart Lancaster has gone with Owen Farrell and Sam Burgess at 10 and 12 for England against Wales on Saturday. The most important thing for this match is to have a very, very strong defensive line. Wales will want to get over the gainline and those two probably won’t let them. [...]
Rugby World Cup 2015: Wales have not broken rules, fumes Warren Gatland September 25, 2015 Wales coach Warren Gatland has issued a robust rebuttal to suggestions of cheating after England’s Pool A rivals became embroiled in a row involving the use of non-World Cup squad players. Governing body World Rugby slapped Wales with an official warning for using players outside of their nominated 31-man party during a training session on [...]
Rugby World Cup: New Zealand cruise past plucky Namibia September 24, 2015 Defending champions New Zealand ran in nine tries to dispatch a truculent Namibia and maintain their winning start to the Rugby World Cup at the Olympic Stadium last night. Full-back Nehe Milner-Skudder dotted down twice as the All Blacks crossed the line five times before the break, while No8 Victor Vito, centre Malakai Fekitoa [...]
Rugby World Cup 2015: Once bitten twice try for South Africa in open Samoan encounter September 24, 2015 Last Saturday afternoon, South Africa were on the wrong end of arguably the biggest upset in World Cup history, losing 34-32 to minnows Japan. Tomorrow’s opponents, Samoa, played the part of underdogs in another contender for that crown when, as Western Samoa in 1991, they overturned Wales to stun the sport. They’re much more competitive [...]
Rugby World Cup: Sam Burgess feels ready to start England’s crunch Group of Death match against Wales September 24, 2015 England rookie Sam Burgess insists he unfazed by being thrust into the starting line-up for Saturday's pivotal Rugby World Cup fixture against Wales at Twickenham. The rugby league convert, 26, has just three caps to his name since switching codes last year but is set to form an untried centre combination with Brad Barritt for the Pool [...]