Ease of Red Roses Six Nations run worries me ahead of Rugby World Cup April 26, 2025 England Rugby’s Red Roses have a problem: nobody looks remotely close to beating them in Europe at the moment. But this was the case ahead of the previous two World Cups and, in both instances, England lost in the final. This year, however, there’s no room for error, with the final set to be staged [...]
Can Italy’s challenger European rugby project win them a World Cup? January 14, 2025 Rugby authorities in Italy have reportedly submitted plans for a new European rugby competition. But can it be viable, and is the World Cup the end goal? The new president of Italy’s rugby federation, Andrea Duodo, caused a little bit of a stir recently when he confirmed that new proposals for a European club rugby [...]
Lions will smash Aussies and England will win World Cup in 2025 January 3, 2025 Happy New Year one and all! The upcoming 12 months are going to be filled with brilliant rugby moments but the Lions and England Women top the billing for me. Because 2025 has a lot going on, but the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia in July and the Women’s Rugby World Cup headline [...]
Breakaway rugby talks not a ‘distraction’ to Rugby World Cup, says chief January 1, 2025 World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin has insisted that talk of a breakaway franchise competition is not a distraction, stating that any investment talk is “fantastic”. Reports have circled of a LIV Golf-style breakaway in rugby union with both private equity and sovereign wealth backers, to various degrees. Details of the supposed competition, which some [...]
Youngs and Cole: For The Love Of Rugby duo look to 2025 December 28, 2024 Leicester Tigers duo Ben Youngs and Dan Cole review at 2024, look ahead to 2025 and discussed their podcast For The Love Of Rugby. The last 12 months has been an incredibly interesting time for rugby union for a number of reasons. Steve Borthwick’s England had a rough back end to the year but took [...]
Mayor Khan: London will be capital for women’s sport in 2025 December 23, 2024 London will be the “undisputed global capital for women’s sport” next year, the city’s Mayor Sadiq Khan has said. The Women’s Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham on September 27 will round off an exciting series of events in the city. England go into that tournament hoping to topple world champions New Zealand, and will [...]
Ollie Phillips: Dupont leads my 2024 rugby union awards December 20, 2024 For my last rugby union column of 2024 in print it’s only right that we hand out a couple of awards covering the last 12 months. Rugby has seen an Olympic Games sit front and centre of the calendar while there have been some surprises in terms of domestic winners. It wasn’t easy but I’ve [...]
Vannes shows Top 14 and France are doing it right. England should learn December 17, 2024 Matt Hardy went to Vannes this December and saw exactly why French rugby and the Top 14 is exactly what every league should aim for. Rounding a grand piano in the courtyard of a music school to reach the turnstiles at the Stade de La Rabine is not something you’d expect – posh boy stereotypes [...]
Maher social media aide to be paid more by Bristol Bears than some players December 3, 2024 Bristol Bears Women is hiring a social media specialist solely to work with new star signing Ilona Maher on a higher salary than most of the club’s players. The West Country outfit this week signed one of the most recognisable faces in rugby, American sevens sensation Maher, and saw their follower numbers leap as a [...]
RFU boss Bill Sweeney paid £1.1m despite heavy losses November 25, 2024 England Rugby chief executive Bill Sweeney was paid £1.1m in the last financial year despite the game struggling to stay on its feet. It comes as the governing body for rugby in England announced record losses nearing £40m and confirmed there would be redundancies within the organisation. The Rugby Football Union insists that their year, [...]