Premiership rugby: Top four race shows product deserves off-pitch stability April 21, 2024 When Joe Carpenter won an 82nd minute turnover against the run of play to hand his Sale Sharks side a 37-31 victory over Harlequins, it catapulted the Mancunians from eighth into sixth in the Premiership table and reduced the deficit to the play-off spots to just three points. With Northampton Saints five points clear of [...]
Red Roses’ standards are high, they can be disappointed with 50,000 crowd April 19, 2024 This weekend when 50,000 fans flood into Twickenham Stadium’s famous bowl to watch England’s Red Roses take on Ireland in the Women’s Six Nations it’ll be another achievement for the women’s game. Because gone are the days of celebrating filling a single stand for the women’s game in England, and gone are the days of [...]
Ollie Phillips: Harlequins play rugby fans deserve to watch April 19, 2024 When I watched Harlequins just about get past Bordeaux last weekend in the Investec Champions Cup, I understood why the south London club get such good crowds week in, week out at both the Stoop and Twickenham. They play a style of game that is just so addictive and attractive, and it is something other [...]
Premiership needs ‘Fortnum and Mason’ signings like Barrett, says Exeter boss April 17, 2024 Barrett will join Leinster on a short-term deal next season in a major coup for the Irish province.
Benetton can silence Italian rugby doomsayers with Challenge Cup run April 16, 2024 Italy has been a focus of rugby discussion for a number of years. While many believe they shouldn’t be afforded the privileges of a tier one country, others think they just need time to succeed. But in Benetton Rugby Italy has a sturdy foundation on which to build. The team formerly known as Benetton Treviso, [...]
Royal London to grant £3m to British and Irish Lions teams ahead of women’s tour April 16, 2024 Royal London has announced a £3m ‘Levelling the Playing Field’ fund that will aid the British and Irish Lions in investing in elite women’s player and coach pathways. The deal comes ahead of the first ever Women’s Lions tour to New Zealand, which is scheduled for 2027. The grant will support all four unions despite [...]
Toulouse too good as they book Investec Champions Cup home semi April 14, 2024 A second-half surge saw Toulouse cruise past Exeter Chiefs 64-26 to book themselves a place in the Investec Champions Cup semi-finals today. The French Top 14 side are on the hunt for a record-extending sixth title in the most prestigious club rugby competition in the world. Les Rouge et Noir, as they’re known locally, put [...]
Harlequins to face Toulouse in hope of first Champions Cup final appearance April 14, 2024 If Londoners Harlequins are to reach their first ever Investec Champions Cup final next month they’ll need to do it by beating five-times winners Toulouse in their own back yard. Director of rugby Billy Millard’s men pulled off the shock of the weekend, beating Bordeaux-Begles 42-41 on the Atlantic coast on Sunday, in a match [...]
Gloucester and Ospreys to battle in hope of finding consistency April 12, 2024 If, at the turn of the new year, you thought Gloucester would win one of the three competitions they were competing in, many would have laughed. They were on a rotten run in the Premiership but unbeaten in the domestic and European cup competitions. A season of inconsistency. That has continued, in part, through until [...]
Vodacom Bulls have chance at shock Champions Cup upset April 12, 2024 And then there were eight. The Investec Champions Cup round of 16 threw up a couple of incredible ties as those with hopes of lifting club rugby’s most prestigious trophy were tested to the nines. So with four tantalising quarter-final ties ahead of us here are my predictions for the quarter-finals, as well my outside [...]