Instagram account featuring Faf de Klerk recruiting players for North Korea April 8, 2026 North Korea is looking to attract British English teachers by enticing them to the dictatorial state with the promise of elite rugby contracts. A social media account that features a similar recruitment drive for Chinese rugby has posted an advert, seeking rugby players for the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea)’s Pyongyang Reds team. [...]
Gloucester Rugby asks fans for £300k as it seeks investors at £36.5m valuation April 6, 2026 Fans of Prem Rugby club Gloucester have been asked to find £300,000 to help the team reach its investment goals. The club, eighth in the 10-team English top flight, announced an investment fund raise in October that would embolden fans to generate £500,000 to “protect the future” of the Cherry and Whites. Hosted by investment [...]
Bath sell-out bright spark as Champions Cup attendances fall April 6, 2026 Bath Rugby’s return to the top flight Investec Champions Cup saw the only sell-out for an English team across the intercontinental competition. A packed Recreation Ground saw the West Country side beat Saracens and earn a spot in the quarter-finals for the first time since the single-legged round of 16 was reintroduced in the 2022-23 [...]
School of Hard Knocks and Investec celebrate spring rugby tournament April 3, 2026 Around 350 boys and girls used rugby to test their teamwork, resilience and determination as the School of Hard Knocks celebrated its latest Eton Manor RFC spring tournament. The two-day event, backed by international bank and wealth manager Investec, saw students joined by Red Roses legend Shaunagh Brown and the president of English rugby’s governing [...]
Investec Champions Cup organisers should meddle with knockouts April 3, 2026 On Wednesday the amount of tickets still available for Harlequins’ Investec Champions Cup round of 16 fixture against Sale Sharks was well over 6,000. Against their registered capacity of 14,800, that could result in an attendance of less than 9,000 – or around 40 per cent empty – come Saturday night. It is a better [...]
Bedford Blues chief: Champ Rugby clubs are investment opportunities March 31, 2026 When the RFU Council approved plans that would ringfence Prem Rugby for a number of years and create what many described as a franchise league, it is fair to say there were critics. And there still are, with many of them within the second-tier Champ. But Prem Rugby may not be a closed shop forever, [...]
PWR rugby opens door to British and Irish league March 31, 2026 Top flight English rugby could become a British and Irish league after Professional Women’s Rugby launched a tender process for potential new teams. The PWR, seen as the most advanced women’s rugby competition in the world, features nine English teams but could see that number rise after inviting expressions of interest from Wales, Scotland and [...]
Collier-Keywood WRU career decision welcomed by critics March 27, 2026 News that Welsh Rugby Union chair Richard Collier-Keywood will not look to serve another term has been welcomed by his critics. Collier-Keywood has been at the centre of criticism over plans for Welsh rugby’s governing body, the WRU, to cut the number of professional domestic teams from four to three, alongside the organisation’s chief executive [...]
Harlequins: Is owner joining board a cause for concern for Prem Rugby club? March 27, 2026 It is not uncommon for rugby clubs and their associated companies to appoint directors to their boards; it happens quite often and the more eye-catching news tends to relate to individuals who are removed from their posts. Take the departure of Lloyd’s of London’s chief financial officer Alexandra Cliff from the Saracens board after less [...]
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 – [...]