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Nick Cain: Clear this fog over North for the sake of others

14 December 2016 0 comments

Northampton‘s attempt to shroud the crucial issue of George North being knocked out against Leicester last weekend in a fog of claims over TV footage […]

Martin Corry joins RFU Council

8 December 2016 0 comments

Martin Corry has been elected onto the Rugby Football Union Council taking over from Richard Hill who recently took up the position of England Team […]

Jeff Probyn: Advantage Kruis now with Launchbury left in limbo

2 December 2016 0 comments

Opportunity: it’s something everybody needs and deserves, but not all can use it to achieve their full potential. Injury has been the main driver in […]

London Welsh face job losses to keep club from the cliffs

1 December 2016 0 comments

London Welsh‘s players face an uncertain future after new chairman Gareth Hawkins revealed the troubled club are abandoning their Premiership dream. Hawkins, who took charge […]

Brookes hit with two-week ban

30 November 2016 0 comments

Northampton Saints and England prop Kieran Brookes has been banned for two weeks for making contact with the head of Newcastle‘s Scott Lawson at Franklin’s […]

My Life in Rugby: Erik Lund – former Rotherham, Leeds and Biarritz lock

29 November 2016 0 comments

Fighting Mamuka Gorgodze on my debut may not have seemed like the best career move I could have made but it earned me the respect […]

Jeff Probyn: Let’s not get carried away by win over these Boks

25 November 2016 0 comments

After a ten-year wait England have finally laid the Springbok ghost to bed with a resounding win by 37 points, including four tries, to 21 […]

Nick Cain: Stay put George, it’s your best move of all

17 November 2016 0 comments

George Ford had a weird training week as part of the England team preparing to take on South Africa. First, a rumour emerged that the […]

Jeff Probyn: Saracens prove benefits of having home-grown talent

28 October 2016 0 comments

What an unusual start to Europe, with most of the French teams not turning up mentally and suffering the embarrassing consequences with six losses out of […]

Nick Cain: Premiership gets richer; others can go swing!

6 October 2016 0 comments

Salary caps are causing strife again, with dire warnings emanating from the Premiership elite as well as from clubs in National One and below. This […]

Chris Ashton speaks out after biting ban

27 September 2016 0 comments

After the decision from an independent RFU disciplinary panel to suspend Chris Ashton for 13 weeks for biting Northampton prop Alex Waller, the Saracens wing […]

EXCLUSIVE: RFU face uproar over wage cap proposals

22 September 2016 0 comments

By NEALE HARVEY Controversial RFU plans to impose swingeing wage caps on clubs below the Championship from 2018-19 are set to meet widespread opposition, particularly […]

Jeff Probyn column: Gracie Matthews deserves support from Injured Players fund

9 September 2016 0 comments

The second National Rugby Awards took place on Thursday and what a day it was, as professional clubs, grassroots clubs, schools and referees all came […]

Guy Mercer will keep Bath honest

31 August 2016 0 comments

So here’s a question. You’ve just jetted in from New Zealand tasked with turning around the talented but clearly underperforming rugby beast that is Bath […]

All Blacks will have to dig deep to keep that No.1 tag

18 August 2016 0 comments

By the time England are next scheduled to play New Zealand in the autumn of 2017 it will have been three years since the teams […]

Jeff Probyn: Big yes to a Sevens World Cup in between Olympics

17 August 2016 0 comments

As the dust settles on Fiji‘s fantastic Olympic win and World Rugby looks forward to what it believes will be a game- changing future for […]

My Life in Rugby: Martin Cooper – former Moseley and England fly-half

9 August 2016 0 comments

If anyone had told me when I was first starting out at Wolverhampton RFC that I’d get 11 caps for England, I’d have told them […]

Jeff Probyn column: Rugby as a whole won’t benefit from this new deal

4 August 2016 0 comments

With the RFU and the Premiership congratulating themselves on reaching an eye-watering £200 million plus funding agreement, there are some voices of doubt from within […]

Leicester chief slams new Premiership deal as ‘flawed’

2 August 2016 0 comments

Leicester Tigers chief executive Simon Cohen believes Premiership Rugby‘s policy of linking the salary cap to central funding is wrong and could have wider implications […]

Clubs face meltdown in spite of cash boom

26 July 2016 0 comments

Gloucester chief executive Stephen Vaughan fears Premiership clubs face financial meltdown unless steps are taken to curb rampant wage inflation. Vaughan’s stark warning comes as […]

RFU & Premiership Rugby sign new Professional Game agreement

25 July 2016 0 comments

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Premiership Rugby Limited (PRL) have agreed a progressive new partnership for the next eight years (July 2024). The ground-breaking […]

Jeff Probyn column: Spare a thought for those on the treadmill of normal life

8 July 2016 0 comments

As the players finally get to take a break, no matter how short, given the clubs have already started pre-season training, I am torn between […]

Bath boss Bruce Craig NOT selling up at the Rec

5 July 2016 0 comments

Bruce Craig has categorically denied he is selling Bath after rumours emerged he was on the verge of offloading his controlling interest to billionaire business […]

Top agent calls for RFU to address Tier Two welfare

23 June 2016 0 comments

The supply line of Championship players to the Premiership will dry up unless England’s second tier undergoes a major overhaul.

England statement: Joe Marler

16 June 2016 0 comments

The RFU can confirm Joe Marler has been issued with a formal warning following his comments made on social media about former Wallaby coach Bob […]

My Life in Rugby: Andrew Small – former RFU elite panel referee

14 June 2016 0 comments

Refereeing the Army-Navy game in front of a full house at Twickenham, with my wife and kids in the crowd, was a brilliant way to […]

We’re backing England insist Wasps, despite foreign legion

8 June 2016 0 comments

Wasps insist they remain committed to developing England-qualified players despite falling well short of RFU targets for season 2015-16. The Coventry-based outfit reached semi-finals in […]

EXCLUSIVE: Championship playoffs set to be scrapped

7 June 2016 0 comments

By NEALE HARVEY The controversial Championship play-offs are set to be discarded as part of a new £220m, eight-year agreement between Premiership Rugby and the […]

SRU pulls out of London Scottish partnership

31 May 2016 0 comments

The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) Board has ended the Development Partnership they had been operating with London Scottish since January. However, the Exiles Chairman Sir […]

Jeff Probyn column: Modern pros would do well to remember the old days

20 May 2016 0 comments

With the season over for all but the chosen few in the Premiership playoffs or the various tours in the next couple of months, it […]

Martin Corry: Sam Underhill must come home to prove himself

11 May 2016 0 comments

Sam Underhill must put aside his loyalty to the Ospreys and join a Premiership club if he is to fulfil his England ambitions, according to […]

Nick Cain column: Andrew Cosslett’s new broom sweeps out Rob Andrew

5 May 2016 0 comments

Rob Andrew’s departure from the RFU as their professional rugby director may have been presented as a long-planned exit, but his so-called “resignation” has been […]

Neal Hatley named England scrum coach

28 April 2016 0 comments

England head coach Eddie Jones has added scrum coach Neal Hatley to his backroom staff. The 46-year-old will join the England set-up at the end […]

Jeff Probyn column: Sorry Jerry Guscott, but I disagree with your Pro12 prognosis

28 April 2016 0 comments

I read with interest last week’s article by Jerry Guscott and his thoughts on why he thinks the Pro12 has failed to register any teams […]

Nick Cain Column: Refs must crackdown to prevent this abuse

20 April 2016 0 comments

The growing unease in English Rugby Union’s refereeing ranks about the rise in football-style abuse of officials, as well as a marked decline in sportsmanship […]

Referee abuse is on rise and ‘must be curbed’

12 April 2016 0 comments

A leading English match official claims referee abuse is rising sharply and has urged the RFU and Premiership Rugby to act before someone is hurt. […]

Jeff Probyn column: I see Italy becoming a real powerhouse of the North

8 April 2016 0 comments

Brendan Gallagher’s feature on the future of Italian rugby last week got me thinking – and not just about the Azzurri and their future but […]

Kevin Maggs urges RFU to make Tier Two level playing field

6 April 2016 0 comments

Moseley boss Kevin Maggs has urged the RFU to have another look at Championship funding to ensure a more level competition. Maggs believes a greater […]

Argentina to take on the Wallabies at Twickenham

5 April 2016 0 comments

History will be made at Twickenham on October 8 when Argentina take on Australia in the Rugby Championship. The match marks the first in the […]

England and Wales in £10m match deal

5 April 2016 0 comments

England and Wales have struck a deal worth up to £10m to play two more matches immediately before the next World Cup. The cooling of […]

Jeff Probyn column: Treating players like men helped win Grand Slam

30 March 2016 0 comments

Reflecting on last week’s Grand Slam I can’t help thinking how much the team has changed from the latter days of the Lancaster reign despite […]

Peter Jackson: Phew, a Grand Slam at last and not yet another grand shambles

23 March 2016 0 comments

And so ‘Fast Eddie’ has lived up to his name. A Six Nations Grand Slam at the first attempt made all the more significant given […]

George Smith cited for kneeing James Hook

8 March 2016 0 comments

George Smith will appear before an RFU Disciplinary panel tomorrow after being charged with striking James Hook to the head with his knee. The incident […]

Corbisiero and Perry join RFU coaching staff

8 March 2016 0 comments

Former England prop Alex Corbisiero and international scrum-half Shaun Perry have joined the RFU as part-time positional coaches. The pair will support the England age-grade […]

Dusty Hare calls for Eddie Jones to help kids get game time

8 March 2016 0 comments

Dusty Hare has urged England boss Eddie Jones to lend his support for a radical overhaul of the playing programme for Premiership youngsters after branding […]

VIDEO: What’s being done to stop doping in rugby?

1 March 2016 0 comments

Healthspan Elite, the UK’s leading supplier of high-quality vitamins and supplements for professional sport, recently hosted a roundtable discussion in London, covering the issue of […]

Nigel Wray: Saracens ‘punished’ for producing England stars

4 February 2016 0 comments

Chairman Nigel Wray has described the compensation system for producing England players as “a complete nonsense” after revealing Saracens are set to be denied upwards […]