Rugby

1:26 AM BST As sure as the Tasman Sea tides rise and fall, so too does the rugby relationship its waters reach. Thursday’s bombshell from Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan that Australia could walk away from Super Rugby Pacific may have caught New Zealand off guard, but it is in no way a surprise when

4:27 AM BST Australia and England will have a battle each other for a new rugby trophy after they agreed to shelve the 25-year-old Cook Cup named after the British explorer. Governing body Rugby Australia confirmed a Sydney Morning Herald report that the new trophy would be unveiled on the eve of the teams’ series-opener

10:21 AM BST Ireland coach Andy Farrell has named five uncapped players in an extended 40-man squad for their three-test tour of New Zealand that will gauge both nations’ progress ahead of next year’s Rugby World Cup. Exciting young lock Joe McCarthy has been included along with Leinster teammates, centre Ciaran Frawley and winger Jimmy

6:51 AM BST Former rugby international David Pocock has traded the ruck for the Australian senate after winning a seat in the upper house of parliament representing the territory surrounding the capital Canberra. One of a string of independent candidates who successfully challenged the major parties in last month’s federal election, Pocock unseated former minister

5:37 AM BST Liam Napier Debate inevitably rages following every All Blacks squad announcement. With six rookies selected for three Tests against Ireland next month, and incumbents making way for those inclusions, there is a new flavour as Ian Foster seeks to usher in swift improvement after successive defeats, and a sense of trepidation, ended

10:49 AM BST Castleford Tigers hooker Jacques O’Neill has been released from his contract in order to appear on ITV reality show Love Island. O’Neill made his debut for the Super League club in 2019 and has played 29 time since, despite being hampered by a persistent hamstring injury which caused him to miss the

9:51 AM BST Former Wales and British & Irish Lions fly-half Phil Bennett has died aged 73, his former team Scarlets announced on Sunday, prompting an outpouring of grief for the one of the country’s most beloved heroes in the sport. Bennett guided Wales to two Five Nations Grand Slams in the 1970s and played

1:00 AM BST Suliasi Vunivalu is poised to make his Wallabies debut against England after he was one of four uncapped players named in Australia’s 35-man squad on Sunday. Vunivalu joins Waratahs duo Jed Holloway and Dave Porecki, and Rebels prop Pone Fa’aumasili, as the new faces in the Wallabies squad, which has no place

8:03 PM BST Leicester will face Saracens in their first English rugby Premiership final in nine years after they survived a severe test from local rivals Northampton to emerge 27-14 winners in a bruising semifinal at Welford Road on Saturday. Leicester’s opponents in the final, Saracens, beat holders Harlequins thanks to a hattrick from flanker

2:51 AM BST Wallabies coach Dave Rennie has weighed into Len Ikitau’s three-game suspension that has scratched the centre from the Brumbies’ semifinal with the Blues, while also imploring officials to look for the initial motion of the tackled player’s head in ruling on such incidents. Ikitau had his red-card for a high tackle on

2:36 AM BST Wallabies coach Dave Rennie has confirmed his three Giteau Law picks for the upcoming series with England, while also indicating some players may miss out on his 35-man squad on Sunday with an eye on getting them game time in the Australia A program instead. Rennie was on hand as the opening

4:20 AM BST New Zealand Rugby has issued a public apology to Te Kura Ngata-Aerengamate more than six months after the national women’s hooker complained of suffering a mental breakdown following alleged criticism from her former coach Glenn Moore. A social media post by Te Kura in December triggered an independent cultural review which found

4:47 PM BST England coach Eddie Jones has called up another five uncapped players as part of a training camp squad in preparation for next weekend’s non-cap match against the Barbarians and July’s tour of Australia. Prop Kyle Sinckler, however, will miss the trip to Australia after being ruled out with a back injury. The

3:09 AM BST And then there were four. Super Rugby Pacific’s quarterfinals played out as expected over the weekend, but not before the Brumbies were forced to fight off a determined Hurricanes outfit in Canberra. Each game, in fact, saw the underdogs rally, with even the Highlanders – who had only four wins during the

12:53 AM BST The one-month countdown to the first Test between the Wallabies and England has officially begun, with anticipation of the three-game series starting to build across the country. Eddie Jones will arrive Down Under with England later this month, while Wallabies coach Dave Rennie is set to announce his own squad in the

4:13 PM BST England centre Manu Tuilagi has been ruled out of next month’s tour to Australia after undergoing a procedure on his knee, his club Sale Sharks said on Thursday. England play the Wallabies in a three Test series in their first tour of the country in six years, which gets underway in Perth

5:46 AM BST A special general meeting of New Zealand Rugby [NZR] in Auckland voted in favour of a $[NZ]200 million ($[US]129.42 million) private equity investment from U.S. firm Silver Lake on Thursday, the final step in the approval process for the groundbreaking deal. The deal, approved in a vote by a majority of the

7:01 AM BST Israel Folau will be a prized addition to Tongan rugby but will have restrictions on what he posts on social media, along with all his teammates, coach Toutai Kefu said. Folau, an evangelical Christian, will soon make his return to international rugby, three years on from the termination of his Wallabies contract