RFU - News, interviews, analysis and opinion

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Bill Beaumont named interim chairman at RFU as Tom Ilube resigns amid scandal

20 December 2024 0 comments

Sir Bill Beaumont has been appointed Rugby Football Union chairman on an interim basis following the resignation of Tom Ilube. Ilube stepped down on Friday […]

Tom Ilube resigns as RFU chairman amid pay controversy

20 December 2024 0 comments

Tom Ilube has resigned as chairman of the Rugby Football Union amid controversy over executive pay. The move follows an outcry over RFU chief executive […]

Grassroots revolt triggers vote over futures of RFU chief executive and chairman

19 December 2024 0 comments

Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney and chairman Tom Ilube are facing motions calling for their removal after a grassroots revolt gathered enough support […]

Cornish Pirates remove break clauses

15 December 2024 0 comments

By Sam Jackson Cornish Pirates have lifted the break clauses in player contracts which had been inserted in the summer amid concern over the ongoing […]

Promotion still needs too much hoop-jumping

15 December 2024 0 comments

SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO: The Rugby Paper, Tuition House, St Georges Road, Wimbledon SW19 4EU email: [email protected] I’m very pleased to see the possibility of […]

Hundreds of voices cannot be ignored

15 December 2024 0 comments

FOLLOWING Nick Cain’s TRP articles and others in the national press, and the calls from the three former RFU chairmen for a challenge to the […]

Calls for change gather support

15 December 2024 0 comments

THE process of convening an SGM of the RFU is a convoluted procedural affair, and this could be a useful ally for the likes of […]

Knights start well but Caldy fight back to deny bonus point

15 December 2024 0 comments

■ By GUY WILLIAMS Doncaster ………22pts Tries: Olowofela 3, Smith 15, Bennett 28 Conversions: Bennett 3, 28 Penalty: Bennett: 40 Caldy ……………….. 0pts DONCASTER may […]

Luc Jones talks up National League One as ‘one of the best in UK’

15 December 2024 0 comments

By Ben Jaycock Richmond scrum-half Luc Jones believes the entertainment value of National One reflects what used to make the Championship so great before teams […]

I can’t believe the RFU chiefs will walk away

15 December 2024 0 comments

JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME I CANNOT believe that anyone would expect that Bill Sweeney or Tom Ilube will willingly walk […]

Having a strong 2nd XV is crucial

15 December 2024 0 comments

Coach to coach Steve Hill talks to Dan Orwin, below, the head coach at Preston Grasshoppers in National Two North Why did you get into […]

Calls for RFU chiefs to quit at fever pitch

8 December 2024 0 comments

Mounting calls for RFU chiefs to quit By Nick Cain Calls for Bill Sweeney, the RFU chief executive, and Tom Ilube, the RFU Board chairman, […]

Jack Nowell: I’m loving life on and off the pitch at La Rochelle

8 December 2024 0 comments

By Brendan McGilligan As Jack Nowell stepped off the plane to start his La Rochelle career, he was stepping into the unknown challenges that would […]

‘Enforcer’ Udwin oversteps the mark

8 December 2024 0 comments

THE quango-like blindness to accountability in the top echelon of this RFU administration, and their erosion and disregard the democratic conventions embedded in the RFU […]

What we need is good leadership from the RFU

8 December 2024 0 comments

WE represent 50 former Blackheath Rugby Club players – the world’s oldest open club – including Doug Hursey, President of Kent. We write in response […]

World 7s is a waste of time and money

8 December 2024 0 comments

WHY do we participate in the travelling circus that is the World Sevens Series? Rugby 7s is now very rarely played in clubs, never discussed […]

Without a doubt, we are living in the ‘shameless era’

8 December 2024 0 comments

IT was even worse than we first thought. To recap. The RFU were emerging from a ruinous Covid period, some of England’s big professional teams […]

RFU Council must make a stand for whole game

8 December 2024 0 comments

By Jeff Probyn – A front row view of the game Now the Autumn Nation Series is over – with all four games at the […]

Do simple things well is my mantra

8 December 2024 0 comments

Coach to coach Steve Hill talks to Alex White, below, the head of rugby at Syston and Loughborough University backs and attack coach Why did […]

Pressure builds on RFU chief to resign

1 December 2024 0 comments

By Nick Cain Tom Ilube’s tenure as RFU Board Chairman, and his financial credentials, will come under increased scrutiny with the news that Crossword Cybersecurity […]

Forbidden fruit is now too tempting

1 December 2024 0 comments

Just when you thought that it couldn’t get any worse at the RFU, CEO Billy Sweeney receives a ‘bonus’ of £358,000, taking his salary for […]

Great to see Coventry doing so well

1 December 2024 0 comments

Last Saturday I went to Butts Park Arena to watch Northampton Saints edge out my team Coventry by 19-10 in the Premiership Cup clash, the […]

Tough for clubs to get permission for 10,001

1 December 2024 0 comments

I HAVE every sympathy with my old friend Simon Halliday, the outgoing Chairman of the Championship Board, and the Championship clubs having read his comments […]

It’s time for a root and branch clearout at RFU

1 December 2024 0 comments

By Nick Cain – Read his expert opinion every week In what sort of world does the wage packet of one administrator in a sports […]

Time for RFU to put those tin hats on

1 December 2024 0 comments

If there has been an unusual amount of activity in one corner of the commodities market over recent days, blame Twickenham, where the governing classes […]

Cup games were pretty tough on us, admits Cornish Pirates coach Gavin Cattle

1 December 2024 1 comment

By Mark Stevens As clubs across English rugby’s top two divisions return to league action this weekend, questions continue to be asked about just how […]

Several clubs are battered by Storm Bert

1 December 2024 0 comments

By Luke Jarmyn A number of rugby clubs across England and Wales have been left “devastated”, decimated and at risk of disappearing altogether after Storm […]

It’s hard to recall when the RFU was so ineptly run

1 December 2024 0 comments

YOU know something really bad is afoot when an annual report reads like an expensive defence document being presented at the High Court. I’m almost […]

Our club ethos is to build from within

1 December 2024 0 comments

Coach to coach Steve Hill talks to Tim Robinson, below, head coach at Scunthorpe in Regional North East 1 Why did you get into coaching […]

Greening and Byrne join head injury lawsuit

1 December 2024 0 comments

NEWS EXTRA BRITISH and Irish Lions Lee Byrne and Phil Greening are among 390 rugby union players taking part in the concussion lawsuit against the […]

RFU give support for Maher visa application

1 December 2024 0 comments

OLYMPIC bronze medallist Ilona Maher could appear in this season’s Premiership Women’s Rugby after the RFU said it had supported her visa application. USA sevens […]

We’ll reject changes to promotion, vow Championship clubs

24 November 2024 0 comments

By Nick Cain Championship clubs are refusing to accept late changes to promotion-relegation regulations. They assert it contravenes the RFU Council’s decision in June to […]

Hard to see how the top brass are surviving

24 November 2024 0 comments

THE mantra being chanted within Twickenham’s walls is that the RFU’s finances are rosy despite it being about to make a record annual loss of […]

Paul Sheehan

24 November 2024 0 comments

French show how it’s done AFTER five successive defeats, should England get rid of its overseas player rule? While they’re about it, the RFU should […]

We need an agenda for regeneration and change

24 November 2024 0 comments

SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO: The Rugby Paper, Tuition House, St Georges Road, Wimbledon SW19 4EU email: [email protected] SACKING head coach Steve Borthwick and RFU CEO […]

Mega-league will struggle to take off -Baxter

24 November 2024 0 comments

By PAUL REES ROB Baxter believes reported plans for a world franchise league that would sign up 280 players, with the top 40 on £1m […]

Baker plans to measure up at Hornets

24 November 2024 0 comments

By BEN JAYCOCK COREY Baker admits he’s gone from being a big fish in a small pond to the polar opposite in the dizzy heights […]

Hartpury, Gordon’s through to final

24 November 2024 0 comments

By TOM JEFFREYS SOUTHERN dominance continued in the RFU ACE League as Gordon’s and Hartpury booked places in the grand final. The two sides, who […]

England A set up is ‘critical’ for development – Mark Mapletoft

22 November 2024 0 comments

By Ollie Aust Mark Mapletoft was at the helm for the first England A fixture of the season, as they ran out 38-17 winners over […]

We’re going in right direction – Steve Borthwick

17 November 2024 0 comments

By Adam Hathaway at Twickenham England boss Steve Borthwick is not fearing the chop – despite adding a 29-20 defeat to South Africa to their […]

Cheslin Kolbe’s double piles the pain on England

17 November 2024 0 comments

By Nick Cain England………………………….20pts Tries: Sleightholme 4, Underhill 26 Conversions: Smith 5, 27 Penalties: Smith 16, 52 South Africa………………… 29pts Tries: Williams 11, du Toit […]

England are being outsmarted too often

17 November 2024 0 comments

PAUL REES ENGLAND’S revival under Steve Borthwick was designed to be built on defence, but South Africa’s decisive try yesterday was created by Damian de […]

I fear that young players will be lost to the game if chances missed

17 November 2024 0 comments

I REFER to Geoff Stalker’s letter of October 27 regarding schools rugby. Some points perhaps need to be amplified so that RFU leadership hear or […]

England look like a clueless rabble

17 November 2024 0 comments

Another one bites the dust: England feel the pain against Wallabies I WATCHED with a g rowing sense of bewilderment as England yet again took […]

Two great games in one day

17 November 2024 0 comments

I SAW two of the best matches of the season last Saturday. The first was “live” between Stow on the Wold and Longlevens, a Level […]

Building blocks for England’s future

17 November 2024 0 comments

England A’s fixture against their Australian counterparts at The Stoop at 2pm today is an essential building block for any head coach to assess the […]

You need to have that buzz on pitch

17 November 2024 0 comments

Coach to coach Steve Hill talks to Tom Coleman, below, head coach at Bishop’s Stortford Why did you get into coaching and how did you […]

England still can’t hold it together

17 November 2024 0 comments

JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME Class act: Marcus Smith has brought a new dimension to England’s attack PICTURE: Getty Images SO […]

Danny Cipriani says Eddie Jones ‘not someone that I’d want to lead my country’

14 November 2024 0 comments

Danny Cipriani has become the latest former England player to criticise Eddie Jones’ coaching methods, accusing the Australian of an overly confrontational approach and insisting […]