Premiership gets shot in arm as league attendances grow for most May 21, 2024 Premiership Rugby has received a welcome shot in the arm after the average match attendance across the league grew by almost 300. Excluding one-off matches at the likes of Twickenham and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the average attendance for regular home games – according to crowd data published by Premiership Rugby – rose from 12,569 in [...]
England prop Kyle Sinckler named in Barbarians team for Fiji clash at Twickenham May 21, 2024 The fixture on 22 June, which is part of a double-header that sees South Africa take on Wales beforehand.
Investec Champions Cup finalists Leinster and Toulouse have varied preparations May 19, 2024 The four clubs set to contest this weekend’s Investec Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup had mixed fortunes in their domestic leagues at the weekend as each side prepares for the showpiece finale at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Friday and Saturday night. The English team Gloucester will face South African franchise the Sharks on Friday [...]
‘Premiership run-in is great. It is a shame about Gloucester and Newcastle’ May 17, 2024 It’s incredible – there are only 80 minutes left of the regular Premiership season and barely anything is decided. We know Northampton Saints are guaranteed a home semi-final, but they’re not yet confirmed as regular season champions. Saracens are definitely in the play-offs but aren’t sure of whether they’ll be home or away in the [...]
Maro Itoje and Ben Earl on Saracens, departing teammates and what success looks like May 15, 2024 Sat on the balcony overlooking the trading ring of Finsbury Square’s London Metal Exchange, Saracens stalwarts and England internationals Ben Earl and Maro Itoje take in what they’ve just witnessed. In the preceding hour a handful of men in suits debated, argued and eventually decided the price of zinc, copper and other metals for the [...]
Ollie Phillips: Premiership top four play-off predictions May 10, 2024 The next two weeks of Premiership action will decide who makes the end of season play-offs. Eight of the 10 teams can still make the top four, and most of those can still earn a home semi-final. As it stands, Northampton Saints are four clear of Saracens at the top of the table. Bath are [...]
Jackson Wray on salary cap jibes from fans, Saracens’ legacy and his new life in the City May 9, 2024 Interview with Jackson Wray on Saracens' legacy and his journey from elite sport to the Square Mile.
English teams in Champions Cup showed Premiership still has aura May 6, 2024 For the fourth consecutive Investec Champions Cup final there will be no Premiership side, and for the fourth consecutive final there will instead be representatives from both the multi-national United Rugby Championship and the French Top 14. But is that reason to be gloomy about the English top flight? Not at all. Because in the [...]
Champions Cup: Leinster vs Toulouse is the final we deserve, and want May 6, 2024 So there we have it; seven weekends of Investec Champions Cup action has delivered the final many wanted, and expected. When the final concludes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 25 May, it’ll either see French giants Toulouse extend their record of European trophies from five to six, or see Irish stalwarts Leinster move level [...]
Fans vote with feet as Champions Cup semi-final weekend set for bumper attendance May 4, 2024 When Dublin’s Croke Park and Toulouse’s Le Stadium play hosts to this weekend’s Investec Champions Cup semi-finals, it’ll mark a bumper weekend of attendance figures for European rugby’s governing body EPCR. Because the sell-outs across the Irish Sea – for Leinster’s clash with Northampton Saints – and the English Channel – for Toulouse’s tie against [...]