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 [...]
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 [...]
EPCR Investec Champions Cup and Challenge Cup pool draw in full July 2, 2024 This morning in Cardiff the draws were completed for the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup. The European competitions will see 42 teams battle it out for two trophies, with this year’s finals taking place in Cardiff’s Principality Stadium. Teams will play two teams in their pool at home and two teams away. Teams [...]
Investec Champions Cup: The final of a generation May 27, 2024 It was billed as the final we deserved, between two powerhouses of the Investec Champions Cup meeting in a showpiece for the first time ever. And what a match fans were served up. At the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, seen by many as one of the world’s greatest arenas, Leinster and Toulouse went toe-to-toe; the Dublinners [...]
Intensity at centre of Investec Champions Cup final between Toulouse and Leinster May 24, 2024 Without getting you all too excited, I do believe this weekend’s Investec Champions Cup could be one of the few finals that matches last year’s epic comeback by La Rochelle, who rallied from 17-0 down inside the opening quarter. Because Leinster versus Toulouse isn’t just Leinster versus Toulouse; it’s four-time winners against five-time winners, Ireland [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
English teams Harlequins and Northampton Saints underdogs in Champions Cup May 3, 2024 Like most people, I will look at this weekend’s Investec Champions Cup fixtures and go on to predict a final between four-time champions Leinster and five-time winners Toulouse. The two clubs are European powerhouses and it would take some upset by either Harlequins across the English Channel or Northampton Saints across the Irish Sea to [...]