Rugby

3:44 PM GMT England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU) on Friday approved the application by a bidder for the planned takeover of Wasps but rejected another for Worcester Warriors after an assessment by the governing body’s Club Financial Viability Group. Financially-hit Wasps and Worcester have both been suspended for going into administration and will drop from

2:36 PM GMT Former England coach Eddie Jones will take charge of the Barbarians for their game against a World XV at Twickenham in May, the team said on Tuesday. Jones, 62, was sacked by England’s Rugby Football Union last week following a year in which England won only five of their 12 tests. 2

2:09 PM GMT Bernard Laporte, the head of the French Rugby Federation, got a two-year suspended prison sentence and a €75,000 ($79,000) fine after being found guilty in a trial over influence peddling and illegally acquiring assets, French media, including AFP, reported on Tuesday. In the same verdict, the Paris criminal court also handed top

7:48 AM GMT England captain Owen Farrell has said Eddie Jones was one of the best coaches he ever worked with and described his sacking as “unbelievably disappointing.” Jones was sacked by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) last week following a review of England’s Autumn Nations Series, with the team winning only five of their

11:30 AM GMT England head coach Eddie Jones has been sacked by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in the wake of a run of poor results, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) announced on Tuesday. The RFU announced Richard Cockerill will take over the running of the men’s team in the interim. 2 Related RFU CEO

1:16 AM GMT Warren Gatland has left New Zealand Rugby with one final piece of advice before departing for Wales, imploring the governing body to sign Scott Robertson as the next All Blacks coach. It was on Monday revealed that Gatland would be returning to Cardiff after just three short years away, the Kiwi replacing

6:07 PM GMT South Africa’s World Cup-winning winger Sbu Nkosi, who had been reported missing by his club Blue Bulls for being absent without leave for three weeks, has been found safe and sound, the Pretoria-based team announced on Monday. The Bulls said Nkosi, who has played 16 tests for South Africa and was part

12:31 PM GMT Wales’ former head coach Warren Gatland has been reappointed for the 2023 season as Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) part ways with Wayne Pivac. WRU CEO Steve Phillips confirmed on Monday that Gatland — who served as Wales’ longest standing coach when he left in 2019 after 12 years in charge — will

12:58 AM GMT ESPN staff The future of Super Rugby Pacific has been locked away until at least the end of 2030, with New Zealand Rugby and Rugby Australia rubber-stamping a plan to take the competition forward over the next eight years. After months of negotiation and more than just a few stern words, the

7:57 PM GMT Australia scrum half Nic White was allowed to continue playing after a head injury during his rugby team’s recent defeat by Ireland due to “discrepancies” in process and communication, an independent review by the organisers said on Tuesday. White was injured during the second half of Australia’s 13-10 Autumn Nations Series loss

11:10 PM GMT Bill Sweeney, the CEO of the Rugby Football Union, said he was “really disappointed” with England’s autumn series results but gave no indication that coach Eddie Jones was in any danger of being removed. England delivered a poor display and were booed off at Twickenham after being outplayed 27-13 by South Africa

10:28 PM GMT TWICKENHAM — If anyone wondered whether prematch talk about their boss’ suspension would weigh heavy on South Africa’s minds, then it was in stark contrast to the light work they showed in dispatching England in their own backyard on Saturday. The build-up to this game was dominated by talk of South Africa

6:16 PM GMT Former Scotland lock Doddie Weir has died aged 52 after battling motor neurone disease (MND) for the last six years, his family said on Saturday. Edinburgh-born Weir, who earned 61 caps between 1990 and 2000, revealed his diagnosis in 2017 to raise awareness of the condition. “Doddie was an inspirational force of

10:03 AM GMT Rugby Football Union (RFU) chief executive Bill Sweeney was accused of being “asleep on the job” following the financial crises which forced Premiership clubs Worcester Warriors and Wasps into administration. The sports’ governing bodies appeared in front of the select committee for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on

2:40 PM GMT Wales centre Joe Hawkins will earn his first cap in their final autumn international against Australia at the Principality Stadium on Saturday, while Leigh Halfpenny gets a first start since July 2021 as he takes over at fullback. Hawkins comes into the side in place of Owen Watkin, who has a knee

11:43 AM GMT England’s Tommy Freeman will start as right wing against South Africa in their final November Test on Saturday while Alex Coles comes in as blindside flanker in the team named by coach Eddie Jones on Thursday. Freeman has been in the training squad throughout November and finally gets his chance to add

1:11 AM GMT ESPN staff Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks captain John Smit has weighed into the Rassie Erasmus saga, saying the director of rugby’s ongoing social media commentary had made the South Africa team “so easy to dislike.” Erasmus was last week handed a two-game matchday ban after he published multiple posts on Twitter, highlighting

4:18 AM GMT Ireland flanker Josh Van der Flier has been named World Rugby’s Player of the Year, after helping drive his nation to the top of the world rankings through a stellar 2022 season. Van der Flier beat out Ireland and Leinster team mate Johnny Sexton, France scrum-half and last year’s winner Antoine Dupont