11:34 AM BST Fly-half Ross Byrne will make his first Ireland start against England on Saturday, with captain Rory Best and scrum-half Conor Murray returning to the side for their second World Cup warm-up game. Byrne will win his third international cap but starts for the first time after appearing from the bench against Italy
Rugby
11:34 AM BST Tom Curry and Sam Underhill will line up either side of Billy Vunipola in a new-look, highly mobile back row against Ireland on Saturday as England coach Eddie Jones continues to juggle his resources in the team’s penultimate World Cup warm-up match. Curry and Underhill, who have both been hard hit by
8:57 AM BST New Zealand’s team bidding for a rugby sevens gold medal at next year’s Tokyo Olympics will not include any All Blacks after several approached declined to be involved. New Zealand Rugby said on Thursday that four players — Caleb Clarke, Etene Nanai-Seturo, Salesi Rayasi and Scott Gregory — had been granted leave
8:55 AM BST World Rugby has changed a rule governing restarts in the wake of George North’s contentious try for Wales in their 13-6 win over England in Cardiff on Saturday. Wales winger North scored in the 34th minute while England had yet to send on a temporary replacement for scrumhalf Willi Heinz, who had
Aug 23, 2019 Evergreen Adam Ashley-Cooper and fledgling Jordan Petaia have bolted into the most experienced Australian squad ever named to contest a Rugby World Cup. Two midfield backs at polar ends of their careers have been included in Michael Cheika’s 31-man squad unveiled in Sydney on Friday. Boasting 45 caps per player, Cheika’s Test-hardened
6:37 PM BST Former Worcester Warriors centre Ben Te’o has signed a short-team deal with French side Toulon. Te’o was left out of England’s 31-man World Cup squad last week and has signed Toulon until November, to cover the period up until the end of the tournament. He will undergo a medical in Toulon on
10:32 AM BST With less than a month until the World Cup kicks off in Japan squad lists are starting to roll in. Hosts Japan take on Russia in the opening clash of the tournament on Friday September 20, with the final to come just six weeks later. Here we list every tournament squad as
9:35 AM BST England prop Mako Vunipola is set to make his long-awaited comeback in Saturday’s World Cup warmup match against Ireland after recovering from a hamstring injury that had sidelined him for three months. Vunipola was injured in Saracens’ Champions Cup final win over Leinster in May and the 28-year-old required surgery that ruled
3:48 AM BST Wallabies great Tim Horan has called for Jordan Petaia to be included in Australia’s World Cup squad and he is also in favour of using David Pocock as a super-sub off the bench in Japan. Michael Cheika and fellow Wallabies selectors Michael O’Connor and Scott Johnson will unveil their 31-man squad on
9:08 AM BST Springboks flyhalf Elton Jantjies says South Africa’s coaches, including current head coach Rassie Erasmus, have developed the right systems to be successful at the Rugby World Cup in Japan. Jantjies started at flyhalf as the Springboks defeated Argentina 24-18 in their one-off Test at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, with Erasmus having rested