SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE UP TO 35% Read Rugby World’s digital issue Subscribe to the Rugby World Newsletter
Posted 2 days ago
IT’S A funny old game, rugby, as Jamie Noon will testify. Son of Yorkshire, servant of Newcastle and now stalwart of Brive, the former England centre brings down the curtain on his professional career on Sunday, in Bordeaux of all places, about as far removed from Goole as you could wish to find. True, they’re both ports, but there’s not much sun, and even less wine, in the Yorkshire town where Noon was born 34 years ago.
Posted 4 days ago
LEEDS FAILED to end Newcastle’s bid to bounce back into the Aviva Premiership at Kingston Park on Sunday. After 160 minutes of rugby The Falcons, although out-scored two tries to one by the resurgent Yorkshiremen, progressed to the final by virtue of a 34-30 aggregate scoreline.
Posted 8 days ago
IT IS awards season and whether you agree with the esteemed panels or punters’ votes, there are a few players carrying off more gongs than Daniel Day Lewis. Ulster’s Nick Williams was the talk of the Celts, with the brutish No 8 claiming the RaboDirect Pro12 players’ Player of the Season as well as the same award from the Irish Rugby Union Players’ Association, a fillip for the wrecking-ball breakaway before tonight’s Pro12 semi-final against Scarlets.
Posted 8 days ago
PLAY-OFF RUGBY is as nerve shredding as it is rewarding. Months of hard work can be undone in one high-pressure showdown. It is completely different to regular-season rugby and for the four teams participating in the RaboDirect Pro12 semi-finals, winning the whole thing would mean a change in league fortunes.
Posted 8 days ago
AS FANS put the final touches to their safari outfits, 12 captains and coaches taking part in the Marriott London Sevens at Twickenham this weekend launched the tournament at Barn Elms, Barnes.
Players and coaches attended a tag rugby festival for local primary schools and the Dallaglio Foundation as children had the opportunity to get their hands on the tournament trophy…
Posted 8 days ago
AS SARACENS, Leicester, Harlequins and Northampton prepare to do battle in this weekend’s Aviva Premiership semi-finals, which set of supporters has most reason to feel optimistic?
Posted 9 days ago
IT IS, as they say, the business end of the season, with play-offs in both the Aviva Premiership and the Top 14 this weekend. The difference being that in France the top two clubs at the end of the regular season can put their feet up and look on as the four clubs below battle it out for the right to meet them in the semi-final of France’s never-ending domestic season on May 24/25.
Posted 11 days ago
FOUR CONSECUTIVE play-off appearances point to a team consistently vying for the top echelons of French rugby. Yet Castres remain the quiet outsiders as the likes of Clermont and Toulon steal much of the limelight. Christophe Samson is a man who has played at both those clubs and now, at 29, finds himself flourishing at the heart of the Castres pack.
Posted 11 days ago
THIS IS your chance to see who will be next to lift the Bouclier de Brennus at Stade de France on Saturday 1 June. TV5MONDE – the international French-language channel that broadcasts Top 14 matches live in the UK – has a pair of VIP seats to the final to give away in this great competition, as well as return UK travel, two night’s accommodation in Paris and all transfers.
Posted 11 days ago
“ANYONE WHO thinks that life is fair,” Richard M. Nixon once said, “has been seriously misinformed.” A view held, amongst others, by many of the Newcastle Falcons squad who, after 22 games, had won stage one of the Championship, by 24 points.
