Rugby

2:37 AM BST Lock Brodie Retallick will captain New Zealand for the first time in the absence of Ardie Savea when the All Blacks take on Argentina in the Rugby Championship on Australia’s Gold Coast on Sunday. Loose forward Savea suffered a head knock in the 38-21 defeat of the Wallabies in Perth last weekend

A lot has changed in the life of Exeter club captain Jack Yeandle as he begins his 10th season with his hometown club. The 31-year-old, who has helped the Chiefs reach the last six Premiership finals as well as winning the 2020 European Champions Cup, will add to his 220 appearances for the club when

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson made the gaffe in an interview Maro Itoje during an England match last season (Getty Images) Government minister mixes up Maro Itoje and Marcus Rashford While many in UK politics are pondering  a potential cabinet reshuffle, a gaffe from one of the serving ministers has caused all sorts of headlines. Education

3:45 AM BST ESPN staff The Wallabies have moved to further acknowledge Australia’s First Nations people by adding jersey numbers in an Indigenous style for Sunday’s Rugby Championship clash with South Africa on the Gold Coast. Dave Rennie’s side will become the first Australia team, of any sport, to wear both the coat of arms

James Harrington provides everything you need to know about the incident during the match between Provence and Nevers – and what happens now The incident happened in a ProD2 match (Getty Images) Investigations into racial slur in ProD2 game explained Cameroonian rugby player Christian Ambadiang’s damning social media post, in which he exposed a racist

Rassie Erasmus’ video rant against referees could set a dangerous precedent for the grassroots game, says England head coach Eddie Jones. The Springboks boss’ hour-long critique of the match officials soured the recent series against the British and Irish Lions. A disciplinary process against Erasmus is ongoing, although Jones feels action should have already been

6:06 AM BST England coach Eddie Jones has added Richard Cockerill and Anthony Seibold to his coaching staff, England Rugby said on Friday. Former Leicester Tigers head coach Cockerill joins as forwards coach and will work alongside Matt Proudfoot, while Seibold, who most recently managed Australian National Rugby League side Brisbane Broncos, has been named

Two new appointments, in the forwards and defence, mean Eddie Jones’s coaching team to take England through to France 2023 has been finalised Anthony Seibold had a bumpy ride at the Broncos but is now looking after England’s defence (Getty) Cockerill and Seibold join England coaching team England’s coaching team to take them through to

Former Edinburgh boss Richard Cockerill has joined the England coaching staff as a forwards coach. Head coach Eddie Jones says Cockerill will work alongside current forwards coach Matt Proudfoot to “create a dominant forward pack”. The ex-hooker won 27 caps for England before a spell in charge of Leicester Tigers, where he won three Premiership

1:13 AM BST Liam Napier Strength in depth is a pillar that underpins the All Blacks, one set to be severely examined as they confront 12 Tests in the next 10 weeks. Traditionally if the All Blacks don’t hurt opposition with their starting team they have an equally dynamic threat waiting on the bench. Lose

Years of painful near misses were forgotten as Great Britain won the wheelchair rugby competition in Tokyo with sensational wins against Japan and USA in the knockouts Aaron Phipps shows the emotion of winning wheelchair rugby gold at the Tokyo Games (Getty Images) Euphoria as GB strike gold in Paralympics wheelchair rugby We’re biased of

After just one season of rugby players at a professional team saw a decline in both blood flow to the brain and cognitive function, a new study claims The University of South Wales research followed a professional rugby team over the course of a season, testing players pre-season, mid-season and post season. It will be

12:34 AM BST An emotional Ardie Savea says he has no intention of deviating from his usual approach to rugby despite being named New Zealand captain ahead of the All Blacks’ Rugby Championship meeting with Australia in Perth next weekend. Savea will celebrate his 53rd appearance for his country by taking over the captaincy after

James Harrington guides you through all the clubs in the French top flight Toulouse parade their Champions Cup and Top 14 trophies earlier this year (AFP/Getty Images) Top 14 team-by-team guide 2021-22 season The 2021-22 Top 14 season kicks off on 4 September, with Biarritz entertaining Bordeaux-Begles in the opening match. That first weekend also

Worcester Warriors have appointed Wales head of team communications Luke Broadley as part of their backroom team under head coach Jonathan Thomas. Broadley, who worked as communications manager for the British & Irish Lions this summer in South Africa, will take up the role of team manager at Sixways. He succeeds Mark Hewitt, who stepped

7:58 AM BST ESPN staff Almost a week after relations between Rugby Australia and New Zealand Rugby soured, RA have confirmed Optus Stadium in Perth will host Bledisloe III with a Father’s Day afternoon clash on September 5. This will be the first time Australia have hosted an afternoon Bledisloe clash in 25-years, with the

10:15 AM BST Australia’s Queensland state will host eight Rugby Championship tests in double-headers over four weekends from September in a revised schedule following new COVID-19 restrictions across the country and in New Zealand. Organisers had considered moving games to South Africa or the UK amid lockdowns and tightening travel curbs in Australia and New

Queensland will host eight of the remaining Rugby Championship Tests after a Covid-enforced change to the schedule. New Zealand and Australia are currently subject to lockdowns and the All Blacks cancelled two games last week including their Bledisloe Cup match in Perth. But Queensland, largely free of coronavirus, has been deemed safe to host all