Rugby

12:42 PM BST Murrayfield will allow in 16,500 spectators when the British & Irish Lions face Japan on June 26 ahead of their tour to South Africa this year, the Lions said on Wednesday. The move to let fans attend amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was made after consultations with the Scottish government. 1 Related

The top five scores from European rugby’s showpiece game, featuring French flair and Irish wit Peter Stringer dives over to score for Munster against Biarritz in 2006 (Getty Images) Greatest Champions Cup Final Tries The European Champions Cup final is often thought of as a tight and tense affair, filled with penalties, scrums and muddy

A crowd of 16,500 is set to watch the British and Irish Lions’ warm-up match against Japan at Murrayfield. The game in Edinburgh on 26 June (15:00 BST) will be the Lions’ first warm-up for the tour to South Africa. The last international rugby match attended by fans in Scotland was during the Six Nations

Midweek Premiership rugby returns as Chiefs take on Exiles Exeter Chiefs’ Alex Cuthbert breaks against London Irish (CameraSport/Getty Images) London Irish v Exeter live stream: How to watch the Premiership match online from anywhere Exeter Chiefs are aiming to reclaim second spot in the Gallagher Premiership table with a win over London Irish tonight. Supporters

Bristol (13) 39 Tries: Malins, C Piutau, Earl, Hughes, Radradra Cons: Sheedy 4 Pens: Sheedy 2 Gloucester (7) 7 Try: Carreras Con: Twelvetrees Red card: Alemanno Premiership leaders Bristol Bears comfortably beat 14-man Gloucester, despite having eight tries ruled out. After Matias Alemanno was sent off, Max Malins’ try helped the Bears to a 13-7

Fans are back at Ashton Gate for this West Country derby Bristol’s Andy Uren passes during February’s win over Gloucester (Getty Images) Bristol v Gloucester live stream: How to watch the Premiership match online from anywhere Fans return to Ashton Gate for the first time in over a year for tonight’s Gallagher Premiership West Country

11:28 AM BST The French rugby federation (FFR) will allow transgender women to play women’s rugby as of next season, going against governing body World Rugby’s guidelines, it said on Monday. Last year, World Rugby said that after months of research, it had “concluded that safety and fairness cannot presently be assured for women competing

Dual code international Kyle Eastmond has announced his retirement from professional rugby just five games into the 2021 Super League season. The 31-year-old only returned to rugby league with Leeds Rhinos in March after nine years playing rugby union with Bath, Wasps and Leicester. He made two appearances for Leeds prior to his decision to

Leicester Tigers (29) 35 Tries: Scott, Genge 2, T Youngs Cons: Ford 3 Pens: Ford 2, Henry Harlequins (12) 29 Tries: Earle 2, penalty try, Marchant, Northmore Cons: Smith Leicester Tigers checked Harlequins’ play-off hopes with a thrilling 35-29 win at Welford Road. Tries from Matt Scott, Ellis Genge and Tom Youngs, between a Nathan

The Springboks coaches face a juggling act ahead of epic series, with player management paramount. Jon Cardinelli reports Rassie Erasmus, RG Snyman and Willie Le Roux with the World Cup (AFP/Getty Images) Insight: South Africa’s preparations for Lions tour Social media exploded this past week after the British & Irish Lions squad for the tour

Bath (17) 20 Tries: Redpath, Bayliss Cons: Priestland 2 Pens: Priestland 2 Sale (17) 24 Tries: JP du Preez, McGuigan, Hammersley, Langdon Cons: MacGinty 2 Sale survived simultaneous sin-binnings as they came from behind to get a late bonus-point victory at Bath and boost their Premiership play-off bid. The two sides were tied 17-17 at

10:54 AM BST The 2021 British & Irish Lions schedule has been revised to keep matches either in Johannesburg or Cape Town, with organisers admitting the new-look fixture list has been put together on the basis matches “will take place behind closed doors.” The eight-match schedule sees the tour start in Johannesburg and Pretoria, before

Two members of Eddie Jones’s back-room team step down Jason Ryles with England head coach Eddie Jones (Getty Images) Changes to England coaching team Simon Amor and Jason Ryles have stepped down from their coaching roles with England. Amor has been part of the RFU set-up since 2013 when he became head coach of the

5:10 PM BST Scotland will host Japan in the final match of the autumn series at Murrayfield in November, Scottish Rugby said on Thursday. Japan will pay two visits to Scotland this year as they are due to face the British & Irish Lions at Murrayfield on June 26, as part of the latter’s preparations

Saracens and England full-back Alex Goode has returned from his season-long loan in Japan in time to aid their Championship promotion chances. Goode, who can also play at fly-half, will be available for the last three regular season games and a potential two-legged promotion play-off in June. Saracens are third in the table behind leaders

After 32 successive Six Nations defeats, Italy’s place in the tournament has never been more precarious. Hence this question for our Face-off debate from our May 2021 issue Winless Italy had a points difference of minus 184 during this year’s Six Nations Championship (Inpho) Should the Six Nations introduce relegation? BERNARD JACKMANYES, says the former

How you can watch this year’s matches against Japan and on the tour to South Africa, including free-to-air coverage  Lions supporters on the 2017 tour (Getty Images) British & Irish Lions 2021 TV Coverage The 2021 British & Irish Lions will play a pre-tour match against Japan in Edinburgh followed by eight matches in South

The British and Irish Lions’ warm-up Test against Japan will be shown on Channel 4 as live coverage of the team returns to terrestrial television for the first time since 1993. As well as the match at Murrayfield on 26 June, Channel 4 will also show highlights of all three Tests against world champions South