Premiership enjoys attendance bounce, but figures little for rugby to cheer about May 9, 2023 Premiership rugby’s average match attendance is close to returning to pre-pandemic levels as the sport shows signs of recovery following a turbulent period. Average attendance in the Premiership this season was 12,569, up by more than 1,000 on last year and almost back to pre-Covid-19 levels, according to data crunched by City A.M. The figures [...]
Worcester fan group: We don’t want ‘cuckoo club’ Wasps May 9, 2023 A new fan group representing recently purchased rugby team Worcester Warriors have called on the sport’s governing body to block a proposition that would see fellow strugglers Wasps move to their stadium. Following the completion of a deal between the Atlas consortium and administrators Begbies Traynor for Worcester Warriors, it emerged that Wasps owner Chris [...]
Opinion: Worcester Warriors and a defence of the RFU May 5, 2023 Governing any sport is never easy. It is a slog of monstrous proportions where failure to please the masses is almost guaranteed. The Rugby Football Union (RFU) cannot claim to have an unblemished record but, so far at least, in the case of Worcester Warriors, they haven’t put a foot wrong. English rugby’s bigwigs have [...]
‘Gloucester cannot blame injuries, they’ve fallen off a cliff in 2023’ May 5, 2023 Alongside the coaches, players, fans and pundits, I have no idea how Gloucester have fallen so fast and hard in the Premiership table. And I am not having injuries as an excuse. Third after five games, seventh after eight and 10th after 19; the fall from grace has been pretty dramatic. And it’s not the [...]
Red Roses appoint John Mitchell as new England coach May 4, 2023 Former England men’s assistant coach John Mitchell has been named the new Red Roses head coach. The ex-All Blacks coach is currently defence coach with Japan and will take up his new post after this year’s World Cup in autumn. Former England captain Sarah Hunter – who retired during this year’s successful Six Nations campaign [...]
Rugby World Cup Barometer: Kerr-Barlow to cross Tasman Sea? May 4, 2023 | Sponsored In the lead up to the 2023 Rugby World Cup, City A.M. has put together a barometer in partnership with City Index to look at whose form is hot and not in the race to be part of the tournament in France later this year. Player of the week Rugby’s hottest new trend is the [...]
Exclusive: Wasps apply to RFU to use Worcester Warriors’ Sixways Stadium May 3, 2023 Former Premiership club Wasps have applied to the Rugby Football Union to play at Worcester Warriors’ Sixways Stadium from next season, City A.M. understands. The Coventry-based club fell into administration just weeks after the Warriors but with news of the Atlas consortium’s purchase of Worcester earlier today, it is understood that Wasps have asked the [...]
D-Day for Worcester Warriors as deadline looms for rugby club May 2, 2023 It is D-Day for former Premiership rugby club Worcester Warriors with the deadline between the proposed owners Atlas Consortium and administrators Begbies Traynor set to expire today. The administrators, who took over the club in September, swapped contracts with Atlas – led by former Worcester chief executive Jim O’Toole and ex-player James Sandford – on [...]
Challenge Cup Rugby: West Wales infected with ‘Scarlets fever’ April 29, 2023 Deep in the west of Wales sits a market town in Carmarthenshire called Llanelli which will this weekend, at a ground named Parc y Scarlets, play host to a European semi-final. For the Welsh rugby region Scarlets are on the march and aiming to be one of the few beacons of light amid a torrid [...]
Wembley turns 100: Iconic stadium reaches century of existence (in multiple forms) April 28, 2023 It has been home to England’s only World Cup final victory, hosted the likes of Live Aid and songstress Adele and was built on the site of a tower which was supposed to make the Eiffel Tower look like a garden ornament. Wembley Stadium as a site turns 100 today, and it’s fair to say [...]