Isiekwe agrees to stay at Saracens

ON THE BLINDSIDE BY NEIL FISSLER England lock Nick Isiekwe is the latest player to agree to a new deal to...

Andrew pads up at ECB

ON THE BLINDSIDE BY NEIL FISSLER Former England fly-half Rob Andrew is taking on a major role in English cricket after...

Hatley’s Aussie days look over

ON THE BLINDSIDE BY NEIL FISSLER Former England and Bath scrum coach Neal Hatley, below, faces an uncertain future with Rugby...

Toulon have prop Sinckler in their sights

ON THE BLINDSIDE BY NEIL FISSLER Toulon have launched a double raid on Steve Borthwick’s World Cup squad to lure Kyle...

Sale let league boys in

ON THE BLINDSIDE BY NEIL FISSLER Sale Sharks answered an emergency cry for help from England’s rugby league team preparing for...

Campbell training with Fury

ON THE BLINDSIDE BY NEIL FISSLER Former Glasgow Warriors and Jersey Reds lock Nick Campbell, the current Scottish heavyweight boxing champion,...

Dickens in jeopardy

ON THE BLINDSIDE BY NEILFISSLER LEICESTER are reportedly looking for a new backs and attack coach despite only appointing Alan Dickens...

England will struggle to replace Marler and Cole

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK Here is a prediction. England will not win another World Cup, or Six...

Why wait until 2030? Get this contest going now

The closed-shop in international rugby union was reinforced this week after the second coming of the Nations Championship was announced by...

True leaders stay calm

WHEN are the authorities and referees going to stop the increasing dissent by players in games. The latest example was Owen...

Farrell’s time is done

I WISH to take issue with Ben Jaycock’s assessment of Owen Farrell as 9/10 last Saturday. His kicking from hand was...

SA quality counted

I FEEL that all England supporters need to pause, assess, and put things into perspective. Styles and factors make games, and...

I think Smith could be England’s Faf de Klerk

THEY say: ‘hindsight is a wonderful thing’... If only we could go back and NOT change the front row against South...

Don’t panic, Sarries

WITH regards to Nick Cain’s article last week, about Saracens’ poor start to the season, without wishing to sound like too...

No problem with draw

I DO wish that rugby correspondents would stop whining about the current World Cup draw! Yes, it was unbalanced so why...

Koch clearly coming in at wrong angle

Out of line: the England/South Africa final scrum I HAVE attached the aerial shot of the last scrum in the SA...

Dream Team with Lewis Moody

The RWC 2003-winning England flanker and former Bath and Leicester player chooses the best XV he has played with or against......

Village teams which gave stars their start

SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND WHEN the Principality Stadium crowd rises to salute Leigh Halfpenny as he makes his final...

Shillcock keeps his cool to snatch win

By BEN JAYCOCK Bath .................................... 24pts Tries: Muir 14, Du Toit 54 Conversions: Russell 55 Penalties: Russell 37, 48, 71, 78...

McKellar: We were excellent from start

Leicester head coach Dan McKellar was delighted with his team’s performance as they beat Bath late on. He said: “We were...

Evans on target to cut down Bristol

By ROGER PANTING Bristol .................................21pts Tries: Vakatawa 36, Thacker 48 Conversions: Sheedy 49 Penalties: Sheedy 25, 29, 62 Harlequins ....................... 23pts...

Lam: We made far too many mistakes

Bristol's Director of Rugby Pat Lam believed this his side were their own worst enemies as they went down to Harlequins....

Baxter’s Exeter 2.0 beginning to flourish

By MARK STEVENS Exeter ................................ 43pts Tries: Fisilau 2, Frost 18, Iosefa-Scott 37, Feyi-Waboso 39, Armstrong 71, Penalty 80 Conversions: Slade...

We just weren’t at the races, admits Sanderson

Sale DoR Alex Sanderson admitted his side were ‘not at the races’ as they tasted defeat for the first time in...

Saracens get their act together at last

By LUKE JARMYN Gloucester .......................... 3pts Penalties: Barton 5 Saracens .......................... 24pts Tries: Willis 24, 49, Lewington 28 Conversions: Lozowski 25,...

Skivington: Defeat was an anomaly

Gloucester boss George Skivington labelled the West Country side’s heavy defeat  to Saracens “an anomaly” after it brought their seven game...

Pearson: I’m lucky to end up at Saints

By PAUL REES PREVIEW... Newcastle v Northampton Today. Kick-off 3pm, Kingston Park Tom Pearson did not have to think for long...

Two defeats but Codling seeing a lot of positives

By LUKE JARMYN “Entertaining our fans, working unbelievably hard, and getting a better mutual understanding” is the mantra that Alex Codling...

It’s time to decide who we really are

CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED JUST the other day, during a sandstorm stoppage at a Cricket World Cup match, the commentators on...

Choosing the right word is not easy

CHRIS HEWETT Does language matter? We are not talking Bongi Mbonambi-Tom Curry here, although no one should underestimate the importance of...

Small steps, but it may be a quiet revolution

Paul Rees is pleased to see World Rugby introduce three changes which will help grow the global game World Rugby is...

Why we won’t see the likes of this victory again

What the planned changes will not do is revive the old-fashioned international tour that used to be a feature of the...

Dunn: I want to win stuff with Bath

By JON NEWCOMBE While the 2023/24 Premiership season is only in its early stages, for Bath stalwarts like Tom Dunn, the...

McCall won’t rush his England players back into action

By JON NEWCOMBE Mark McCall insists he won’t be rushing his England contingent back into action en masse, despite the club’s...

‘Pence’, the most humble superstar

PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW When the curtain comes down on his international career next Saturday, Leigh Halfpenny...

Final bow for these veterans

PETER JACKSON Now that the World Cup has come and gone, so, too, has a distinguished team of veterans with matching...

60 years on and what a day it was!

PETER JACKSON Monday marks the 60th anniversary of surely the greatest single act of giant-killing by a club team against the...

Red Roses: Alex Matthews

Position: Flanker DOB: 03/08/93 Community Club: Camberley Rugby Club Club: Gloucester-Hartpury Birthplace: Camberley, Surrey Red Roses Debut: November 2011 vs France Caps:...

England in mood for All Blacks

By PAUL EDDISON England ........................... 45pts Tries: Kildunne 8, Atkin-Davies 37, 41, 51, 57 Breach 69, MacDonald 71 Conversions: Aitchison 9,...

Scotland back on course

Scotland ..........38 Japan..................7 Lisa Thomson hailed ‘a new era for Scotland women’ after helping her side complete an unbeaten WXV 2...

New Zealand run riot

Wales.......................7 New Zealand...... 70 Ruby Tui ran in four tries as world champions New Zealand bounced back from defeat to hammer...

Bleues stunned by Wallaroos

France....................20 Australia.............. 29   Eva Karpani powered to a sensational hat-trick as Australia pulled off a huge upset with a 29-20...

Ireland edge Spain to earn WXV 3 promotion

Ireland.............. 15 Spain.................. 13 Ireland launched a stirring second-half fightback to see off Spain 15-13 and claim top spot in WXV...

Chiefs cut down Tigers in thumping win

Leicester T......... 7 Exeter Chiefs.. 61 By DAVID BALLHEIMER Exeter Chiefs Women, the defending Allianz Cup holders, put Leicester Tigers Women...

Johnes on fire as Bears reach half-century

Sale Sharks....... 7 Bristol Bears...50 By STEWART MCCULLOGH Manon Johnes was in supreme form for Bristol as they dismantled a resilient...

Lightning strike again with Trailfinders victory

Loughborough Lightning...31 Ealing................. 12 By JAMES GALLAGHER Lightning made it back to back wins in the Premiership Cup after comfortably beating...

Saracens sweep into semis

Saracens..........38 Gloucester-H... 31 By HARRY SCOTT-MUNRO Saracens Women secured a home semi-final in the Allianz Cup, as they edged past Gloucester-Hartpury...

Hodge out for five months

EXETER Chiefs full-back Josh Hodge could be out for up to five months after finding out he needs surgery on the...

Ben banned for six weeks

CAMBRIDGE hooker Ben Brownlie has been charged with conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game after he made contact with...

Brain study revealed

A STUDY of former rugby players’ brains has found that those who played for longer were more likely to develop a...