Rugby

9:00 AM GMT Premiership Rugby will be allowed to access texts, emails and bank statements of players and club officials to maintain the integrity of a salary cap system and avoid another scandal that led to former champions Saracens being relegated this year. Saracens, winners of four Premiership titles in the past six years, were

7:46 PM GMT Top-ranked England and France have been drawn in the same pool for next year’s women’s Rugby World Cup, while hosts New Zealand were drawn with trans-Tasman neighbours Australia at a ceremony in Auckland on Friday. Third-ranked Canada and inaugural champions the United States will be in Pool B for the 12-team tournament

6:50 PM GMT Georgia coach Levan Maisashvili has named a new half-back pairing to face Wales in their Autumn Nations Cup fixture in Llanelli on Saturday in a major change to the side that was trounced 40-0 by England last weekend. The experienced Vasil Lobzhanidze comes in at scrumhalf to partner Tedo Abzhandadze in the

Nov 19, 2020 James Botham, grandson of former England cricketer Ian Botham, was among three uncapped players named by Wales in their side to face Georgia in the Autumn Nations Cup on Saturday. Cardiff Blues flanker Botham, 22, goes straight into the team despite having only been brought into the squad at the start of

11:27 AM GMT England coach Eddie Jones has reverted to his World Cup back row of Tom Curry, Sam Underhill and Billy Vunipola for Saturday’s Nations Cup match against Ireland at Twickenham. The powerful trio are reunited for the toughest game England have faced since the restart after easy wins over Italy and Georgia. Maro

2:48 PM GMT Warren Abrahams at his official unveiling as the newly appointed Wales Rugby Women Head Coach. WRU/Huw Evans Agency The Welsh Rugby Union appointed Warren Abrahams as the new Wales women’s national team coach on Wednesday, making him the union’s first Black national coach. South Africa-born Abrahams, a former United States women’s Sevens assistant

1:26 PM GMT Johnny Sexton’s understudy at Leinster, Ross Byrne, will start in place of the injured Ireland captain in Saturday’s clash with England as coach Andy Farrell made four changes from his side’s opening Autumn Nations Cup win over Wales. Byrne made his only Ireland start in last year’s World Cup warm up game

7:44 AM GMT England flanker Jack Willis got a close-up view of how coach Eddie Jones operates on Tuesday when, days after scoring a try on his debut in a 40-0 win over Georgia, the Premiership player of the year was omitted from a 25-man squad for Saturday’s match against Ireland. In an area of

10:39 PM GMT ESPN staff All Blacks captain Sam Cane has hit out at some of his team’s fans following the shock loss to Argentina last Saturday, saying some supporters have little idea of what they’re talking about. The fallout from the three-time world champions’ 25-15 defeat in Sydney has shown no signs of slowing

2:46 PM GMT New Zealand Rugby chairman Brent Impey said on Tuesday that he would be resigning from a similar position with SANZAAR at the end of the year to make way for an independent head of the southern hemisphere’s governing body. Impey has spent the last five years as chairman of SANZAAR, a joint

10:44 PM GMT Lance Peatey “Wake up Growdy, wake up! It’s half-time, and we’re back on.” He certainly wasn’t the only one nearly dozing off on set, and all could be forgiven. It was 2am AEST on a Sunday morning in February of 2013, and as part of its live Six Nations coverage ESPN Australia/New

11:20 AM GMT Ireland captain Johnny Sexton and centre Robbie Henshaw will miss Saturday’s Autumn Nations Cup clash with England through injury, a major blow for Andy Farrell’s side ahead of the potential Pool A decider. Sexton left the opening 32-9 win over Wales after less than half an hour with a hamstring strain and

9:53 AM GMT In a famous victory that will go down in rugby history, Argentina defeated the All Blacks 25-15 for the first time in 30 years and sunk New Zealand to their first back-to-back defeats since 2011. The tears from players and coach Mario Ledesma and the celebrations on the pitch and within the

5:10 PM GMT Hooker Jamie George scored a hat-trick of identical rolling maul tries as England swept aside a spirited but limited Georgia 40-0 in their opening Autumn Nations Cup match at a rain-lashed and eerily quiet fan-free Twickenham on Saturday. Flanker Jack Willis marked his debut with a try, while Elliot Daly, in a

Nov 14, 2020 Six Nations champions England turned up the heat in the second half to beat France 33-10 in the first of their two November internationals at the Stade des Alpes in Grenoble on Saturday. The victory means England are now the No. 1 ranked team in the world. Hooker Amy Cokayne got England

Nov 14, 2020 Scotland dug deep to overcome Italy 28-17 at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence, coming from behind through tries from Zander Fagerson, Scott Cummings and George Turner to record a fifth successive win for coach Gregor Townsend. A visibly fired-up Italy led 11-7 at half time, through two penalties from the 20-year-old

9:53 AM GMT After 402 days of waiting, months of lockdown and weeks of quarantine, Argentina returned to the Test arena and made history, defeating the All Blacks 25-15 in a game that will be remembered for years to come. Written off by everyone in the rugby community, the Pumas headed to Bankwest Stadium anticipating

1:15 AM ET ESPN staff Argentina served up one of the biggest upsets in Test rugby history when they stunned New Zealand 25-15 in the Tri-Nations on Saturday, beating the three-time world champions for the first time in 30 attempts going back to 1985. Flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez scored all of Argentina’s points with a try,