Rugby

Dec 8, 2020 Argentina won’t forget their 2020 tour of Australia anytime soon. The Pumas’ Tri Nations campaign may have come to a disappointing end on Saturday, when the curtain came down on the tournament at Bankwest Stadium, but the 16-all draw against Australia will be merely a footnote of their rollercoaster few months Down

10:28 AM GMT England will host world champions South Africa at Twickenham during their 2021 Autumn International series, a rematch of the 2019 Rugby World Cup final in Yokohama which the Springboks won to secure their third title. Eddie Jones’s side will play Australia the week before and are lining up a third match against

10:30 PM GMT New Zealand’s twice Rugby World Cup-winning captain Richie McCaw was named Men’s 15s Player of the Decade by World Rugby. McCaw, who led the All Blacks to back-to-back World Cup titles in 2011 and 2015, saw off competition from former team mates Dan Carter, Kieran Read, Brodie Retallick and Beauden Barrett, as

8:30 AM GMT Eddie Jones has accused his critics of “disrespecting the players and the game” on Sunday after facing repeated questions about England’s playing style en-route to winning the Autumn Nations Cup. Jones admitted that his team had not been at their best and lacked sharpness as England beat France 22-19 at Twickenham with

6:50 PM GMT The sight of Owen Farrell handing out winners’;; medals to his England teammates — having taken 95 minutes and two halves of extra time to put a hugely inexperienced France to bed — was a fitting, surreal end to the most bizarre of years. This match between England and France saved the

4:54 PM GMT England won the Nations Cup final in the most dramatic way on Sunday, as Owen Farrell landed a “golden point” penalty in sudden-death extra time to secure a 22-19 victory over a young French team who had been seconds away from a glorious Twickenham triumph. Farrell converted a Luke Cowan-Dickie try with

12:45 PM GMT SYDNEY — If a draw is like kissing your sister, then the Wallabies might be in line for some difficult questions concerning their familial relations following another forgettable evening of Test rugby. Australia’s 16-all draw with Argentina at Bankwest Stadium on Saturday night was the team’s third deadlock for the rearranged 2020

2:22 PM GMT Fiji’s powerhouse wing Nemani Nadolo marked his return to international rugby with a hat-trick of tries as they celebrated a late entrance into the Nations Cup with an emphatic 38-24 victory over Georgia at a wet Murrayfield on Saturday. Fiji forfeited their three pool matches due to coronavirus cases in their squad

8:21 PM GMT Coach Wayne Pivac has said better days are ahead for his side after a tough Autumn Nations Cup, and the blooding of younger players will ultimately benefit the team as they look to “have a crack” at the Six Nations next year. Wales won only three of their 10 tests in 2020,

Dec 5, 2020 No. 8 Taulupe Faletau proved the creative spark as three tries in the final 22 minutes helped Wales hold off a spirited fight from Italy to secure a 38-18 victory in Llanelli on Saturday and fifth place in the Autumn Nations Cup. It was a far from perfect display by Wales, whose

2:55 PM GMT England prop Mako Vunipola has been ruled out of the Autumn Nations Cup final against France at Twickenham on Sunday due to a calf injury. The Saracens forward suffered the injury against Wales last week and has not recovered in time. 1 Related “Mako picked up an injury in last week’s game,”

1:03 PM GMT France coach Fabien Galthie named an inexperienced and youthful team as expected to face a seasoned England side in the Autumn Nations Cup final, making six changes for Sunday’s clash at Twickenham. An agreement between the federation and the Top 14 meant that no player could be involved in more than three

11:57 AM GMT Anthony Watson will replace injured Bath teammate Jonathan Joseph on the wing for England’s clash against France in the Autumn Nations Cup final on Sunday in the only change from the team who beat Wales last time out. Watson, who overcame his own injury to start on the bench against Wales, came

1:13 AM GMT ESPN staff Former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika hasn’t given up hope of one day returning to the role, despite a lack of success across his closing years in charge and an ugly fallout with Rugby Australia. Speaking to The Australian, Cheika has clearly lost none of the self-belief that helped fire the

4:09 PM GMT Fit-again captain Johnny Sexton will return when Ireland take on Scotland in their Autumn Nations Cup clash at the Aviva Stadium after coach Andy Farrell named the squad on Thursday. Sexton was forced off the field with a hamstring problem that he sustained in their opening win over Wales and replaces the

2:34 PM GMT Debutant Jaco van der Walt is one of six Scotland changes to face Ireland in the Autumn Nations Cup at the weekend as coach Gregor Townsend rung the changes after their home loss to France last month. South African-born Van der Walt has been training with the team over the last month

3:28 AM GMT Disgraced Pumas skipper Pablo Matera has been reinstated as captain but will not face the Wallabies in Saturday night’s final Tri Nations clash in Sydney. Matera was sensationally stripped of the captaincy and stood down from the Bankwest Stadium Test, along with teammates Guido Petti and Santiago Socino, after racist tweets at

4:04 AM GMT Wallabies coach Dave Rennie says he feels no obligation for his side to entertain in Saturday’s Tri Nations finale, instead setting his sights on a “quality performance” to round out his first season in charge. Australia face Argentina at Bankwest Stadium on Saturday night, the Tri Nations crown all but out of