Champions Cup: Leinster vs Toulouse is the final we deserve, and want deserved 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 [...]
Fans vote with feet as Champions Cup semi-final weekend set for bumper attendance bums on seats When Dublin’s Croke Park and Toulouse’s Le Stadium play hosts to this weekend’s Investec Champions Cup semi-finals, it’ll mark a bumper weekend of attendance figures for European rugby’s governing body EPCR. Because the sell-outs across the Irish Sea – for Leinster’s clash with Northampton Saints – and the English Channel – for Toulouse’s tie against [...]
Meet Daniel Loitz, the man trying to resurrect London Irish rugby legacy interview When London Irish went bust in 2023 many thought that was the end of one of Premiership Rugby’s famous clubs. But businessman Daniel Loitz wants to buy the club. What does the Bernadotte Dynasty of the Swedish royal family, a Kazakh steel works company, an Uzbek railway project, the Berlin Wall and the fall of [...]
RFU and Premiership Rugby close in on £264m funding deal April 29, 2024 The Rugby Football Union, RFU, and Premiership Rugby have finally agreed a new Premiership Game Partnership, worth £264m, which will shape the English game for the next eight years. It is understood that legal details are all that remain between now and the new deal being signed, with the Telegraph suggesting the central policy will [...]
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 [...]
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.
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 [...]
Champions Cup sponsors Investec team up with School of Hard Knocks charity April 11, 2024 Investec, the leading financial services group and title sponsor of the Investec Champions Cup, has today announced a three-year partnership with School of Hard Knocks (SOHK), a social inclusion charity that uses sport to teach valuable skills to underprivileged people. Through the partnership, Investec will provide participating children with career insights and development days. It [...]
Leicester Tigers fined £47,000 for breaching salary cap April 1, 2024 Premiership Rugby club Leicester Tigers have been fined £47,000 for breaching the salary cap in the 2019-2020 season. The club has accepted and paid an overrun tax with the club’s chief executive Andrea Pinchen stating: “While disappointed to again have historic salary cap spending relating to 2019/20 season result in this overrun tax, as was [...]
Can recycled rugby balls help sport’s fast fashion-style dilemma? April 1, 2024 Rugby balls are set to go green after major manufacturer Rhino announced they will produce balls made of recycled rubber. The initiative, which is set to be fully in place by the end of the decade, will look to bring an end to a sport’s version of fast fashion, whereby a high churn culture does [...]