Rugby

1:39 PM GMT Scotland’s Matt Fagerson and Hamish Watson have returned to beef up the back row against Italy in the Six Nations in Rome on Saturday as coach Gregor Townsend makes five changes to the team beaten by France a fortnight ago. Fagerson returns from injury while Watson missed out on the 36-17 rout

12:41 PM GMT France duo Romain Taofifenua and Damian Penaud have tested positive for COVID-19, forcing coach Fabien Galthie to make changes from the team who beat Scotland for Friday’s Six Nations clash against Wales. “We were notified this morning that they were positive so we had to make last-minute changes,” Galthie told a news

2:09 AM GMT Former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika is poised to coach at a third straight Rugby World Cup, with the Australian set to be unveiled as Argentina boss by the end of the week. Argentine newspaper, La Nacion, was first to report news of Cheika’s looming appointment, with the current Stan Sport panelist set

Mar 8, 2022 Ireland captain Johnny Sexton will retire after next year’s World Cup and said he wants “to go out at the top” after signing one last contract on Tuesday to lead his country to the global showpiece in France. The former world player of the year, who will be 38 by the time

4:18 AM GMT All Blacks greats Jeff Wilson and John Kirwan have taken aim at Australian rugby, suggesting the country again must cut back to four Super Rugby franchises if it can’t find a way to keep more of its top-level talent on home soil. While the New Zealand and Australia teams are still weeks

2:09 AM GMT South Africa’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus has denied he made public his now infamous 62-minute video critique of the performance of the match officials after the first Test against the British & Irish Lions last year. Erasmus was found guilty of misconduct by an independent committee in November and suspended from

11:38 PM GMT There are now just three unbeaten teams in Super Rugby Pacific, with the Crusaders, Brumbies and Reds sitting in first, second and third respectively after three rounds of the tournament. Elsewhere in Round 3, there was an historic first win for Fijian Drua, while the Blues and Hurricanes also picked up victories.

5:12 PM GMT Ireland kept the pressure on unbeaten Six Nations leaders France with a 57-6 thrashing of Italy on Sunday in a game that descended into farce after the visitors were forced to play most of it with 13 men. Ireland were 7-3 up when replacement hooker Hame Faiva, on for the injured Gianmarco

4:26 PM GMT France were at their flamboyant best as they scored six tries in thumping Scotland 36-17 at Murrayfield on Saturday to make it three wins out of three in the Six Nations this year. Two tries in the opening 13 minutes served notice of their form and status as tournament favourites, as Paul

9:09 PM GMT TWICKENHAM, London — In the end it was record-breaker Ben Youngs who brought order to the chaos. As Wales threatened the most incredible comeback, with the clock well over the appointed time, it was Youngs who kicked the ball dead to bring an end to a game which looked finished at least