Rugby

4:54 AM BST All Blacks coach Ian Foster has shuffled his reserves with the return of Beauden Barrett and Brodie Retallick but kept his starting 15 unchanged as the home side look to turn the tables on Argentina in Saturday’s Rugby Championship clash. The All Blacks suffered their first ever defeat to the Pumas on

2:31 AM BST The man who made the Wallabies No. 11 jersey famous around the world has challenged Marika Koroibete to take his game to another level again, after the winger’s brilliant man-of-the-match showing in Adelaide last weekend. Rugby World Cup winner and 101-Test Wallabies great David Campese was full of praise for Koroibete after

6:44 AM BST Young Wallabies playmaker Noah Lolesio has been urged to shed his ‘nice guy’ image and ramp up his assertiveness as he works to nail down the crucial No.10 role. Attack coach Scott Wisemantel says the 22-year-old was “solid” in Australia’s 25-17 win over South Africa last weekend, but he wants to see

2:46 AM BST The 2022 Rugby Championship continues to throw up surprises, as Argentina recorded a second history-making win in two years, only this time they defeated the All Blacks on their home patch. The Pumas’ stunning 25-18 victory in Christchurch followed the Wallabies’ impressive 25-17 triumph over the Springboks, who only improved that scoreline

4:19 AM BST Reuters with ESPN staff All Blacks coach Ian Foster said his team needed to be better at keeping their composure late in matches after they lost to Argentina on home soil for the first time in Christchurch on Saturday. Traditionally strong finishers, New Zealand looked to have the game in the bag

3:38 AM BST Argentina stunned the All Blacks by beating the three-times world champions for the first time on New Zealand soil with a 25-18 victory in a Rugby Championship Test in Christchurch on Saturday. The Pumas achieved their first ever win over New Zealand just two years ago in another championship match in Sydney

1:05 AM BST Liam Napier The All Blacks and Michael Cheika have history. From the 2015 World Cup final, when the then Wallabies coach was captured at his side’s captain’s run at Twickenham brandishing a sheet of paper with apparent plans to “rattle” Kieran Read and target wings Julian Savea and Nehe Milner-Skudder, to his

9:28 PM BST The Wallabies have made yet another change at fullback, recalling Reece Hodge to the starting side to face the Springboks at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday afternoon. Hodge replaces Tom Wright in the No. 15 jersey, after the Brumbies flyer started both of Australia’s Tests against Argentina at the back, which the

8:12 AM BST Quade Cooper is backing dumped playmaker James O’Connor to regain form and force his way back into the Wallabies’ ranks in time for next year’s Rugby World Cup. Cooper, who has been sidelined since rupturing an Achilles tendon in Australia’s Rugby Championship clash with Argentina earlier this month, has been joined on

2:30 PM BST South Africa have made two changes to their starting line-up for the Rugby Championship clash with Australia at Adelaide Oval on Saturday as coach Jacques Nienaber also cut a member from their famous ‘Bomb Squad’ on the bench. Warrick Gelant will start on the right wing in the place of the injured

6:33 AM BST Recalled Wallabies playmaker Bernard Foley says he isn’t sure why Australia failed to develop a group of playmakers between the past two Rugby World Cups, but that he is happy to help bring on a talented emerging fly-half cohort while also pushing for a third World Cup appearance of his own. Foley

2:53 AM BST Quade Cooper’s Achilles injury appears to be the one problem the Wallabies have no answer for as the Rugby World Cup creeps ever closer and coach Dave Rennie again looks to the past for a solution at No. 10. But a bigger problem perhaps lies within Australian rugby’s inability to sufficiently develop

6:21 AM BST Bernard Foley is back in the Wallabies fold for the first time since 2019, the playmaker named as part of a 35-man squad to face the Springboks as coach Dave Rennie wrestles with the position of fly-half — a problem that has now seen James O’Connor dropped. Rennie on Thursday afternoon confirmed

2:27 AM BST Former Wallaroos captain Grace Hamilton has been sensationally dumped from the side’s opening O’Reilly Test against the Black Ferns. Just months after she lost the Australia captaincy to former Sevens star Shannon Parry, the back-rower has failed to gain selection in the matchday 23 with coach Jay Tregonning instead picking young Brumbies

3:40 AM BST ESPN staff Ian Foster has been retained as All Blacks coach following a New Zealand Rugby [NZR] board meeting on Wednesday. Foster’s position has been the subject of huge speculation following an inglorious start to 2022, which included a 2-1 series loss to Ireland on home soil. But the weekend’s 35-23 victory

2:36 AM BST Corey Norman’s rugby league career could be over with the former Queensland State of Origin player being given a lengthy Super League ban for “inappropriate contact”. Norman has been hit with an eight-game ban after being found guilty of intentionally placing a hand between the buttocks of Warrington’s Oliver Holmes during a

6:02 AM BST It’s one win apiece after two rounds in the 2022 Rugby Championship, which may yet prove to be the most keenly fought edition of the tournament to date. The Pumas and All Blacks flipped the script on the Wallabies and Springboks respectively, their victories coming in contrasting fashion in San Juan and

11:47 PM BST Reuters with ESPN staff All Blacks forward Ardie Savea insisted Ian Foster has the full backing of his players after their 35-23 win over South Africa in Johannesburg on Saturday eased some of the pressure on the embattled coach. But New Zealand Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson on Sunday afternoon [NZT] refused