By JON NEWCOMBE PREVIEW… Exeter Chiefs v Toulouse Today. Kick-off 5.30pm, Sandy Park THE importance of playing what’s in front of you rather than on […]
HIGHLIGHTS of the latest round of Champions League football ran for 80 minutes on BBC1 last Wednesday. Contrast that to the terrestrial TV coverage for […]
ULSTER’S quartet of under-used Ireland forwards – Iain Henderson, Rob Herring, Tom O’Toole and Cameron Izuchukwu – returned from Test duty itching for the ultimate […]
By James Harrington Oyonnax’s seven-try 53-10 bonus-point win over ProD2 rivals Soyaux-Angouleme on Friday – their first victory since October 25 – was a relief […]
Ulster centre Stuart McCloskey admits he preferred the Champions Cup’s previous format, with the current structure leaving some teams with an “absolutely terrible draw”. Teams […]
WHERE have all the full-backs gone? Well you could start looking for them at Toulouse. When Belgium’s Matias Remue made an accomplished debut for Toulouse […]
By Peter Ryan – @PeterRyanSports The most significant competition in club rugby kicks off this weekend as the Champions Cup gets underway. Teams from the […]
By Jeremy Guscott – Outspoken and unmissable every week… An assessment of where Scotland and England are after the autumn series, with another Calcutta Cup […]
By Jim Short Ulster…………….20 Leinster…………27 Leinster’s second string proved far too strong for Ulster to make it seven wins on the spin. “Squad depth is […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN IS there an early winter equivalent to the idiom about solitary swallows and the impending arrival of summer? Because – whatever […]
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER IT’S THE World Rugby annual awards tonight, held of course in that […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Hat-trick man: Toulon wing Gael Drean runs in to score against Bayonne PICTURE: Getty Images IN April 2019, then-France coach Jacques […]
CROWD numbers in French rugby’s top two professional leagues have risen to record levels, according to figures released from the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). […]
Darcy Graham has been ruled out of Scotland’s showdown with South Africa on Sunday after failing to pass head injury protocols. The prolific wing left […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Not wanted: Charles Ollivon has been omitted from the France squad by coach Fabien Galthie PICTURES Getty Images FRANCE head coach […]
It seems a criminal waste that players of the calibre of flanker Jack Willis and winger Henry Arundell are unavailable for England this autumn. They […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN HOW do you solve a problem like Matthieu Jalibert? The 25-year-old Bordeaux fly-half is, undoubtedly, one of the talents of French […]
THE rugby world was awash with tributes, praise and thanks from grateful coaches – many English as it happens from Stuart Lancaster downwards – who […]
MY LIFEIN RUGBY MATT CORKER THE CANTERBURY HEAD COACH AND FORMER WASPS, LONDON WELSH & RICHMOND FORWARD TO play professional rugby was such a privilege […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN THE November break cannot come quickly enough for Stade Francais, no matter what happens against Clermont in Paris on Saturday night […]
Exeter lock Dafydd Jenkins will miss Wales’ autumn internationals as he recovers from knee and shoulder operations. The 21-year-old, Wales captain throughout the Six Nations […]
By Adam Hathaway Joe El-Abd, England’s new defence coach, revealed his time with Toulon’s Galacticos helped him realise you need more than talent and money […]
SCOTLAND second row Richie Gray will leave Glasgow at the end of November to pursue a playing opportunity abroad. Glasgow say the 35-year-old’s move to […]
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN FOUR weeks into the Top 14 season and six weeks out from France’s opening Autumn Nations Series match, Fabien Galthie is […]
By Peter Ryan – @PeterRyanSports Rugby union has evolved by leaps and bounds since its conception in the small English town where the sport’s name originated. […]