European Rugby
Australian Super Rugby teams will attempt to hold on to their momentum and keep their players match fit in June with friendly matches against Scotland, Wales and a South African Currie Cup team.
French referees said they were suing Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal for defamation after he made lurid accusations in the wake of a Top 14 defeat.
Declan Kidney has named a 24-man squad for the 2012 Six Nations with six additional players added to their training camp.
Wales have named a 35-man training squad for the 2012 Six Nations, with inside centre Gavin Henson and full-back Lee Byrne both included.
The multi-talented flyhalf and center is set to leave Durban and further his career at Bayonne.
Newcastle Falcons will be holding a press conference on Wednesday 18 January to unveil new director of rugby Gary Gold, who joins the club after four years as assistant coach at South Africa.
Jean-Pierre Elissalde’s brief reign as coach of struggling French Top 14 club Bayonne ended on Sunday after just three matches, the Sud-Ouest newspaper reported on its website.
Stellenbosch University’s Maties have defeated English club Saracens’ second team, the Storm, in a friendly game in Stellenbosch on Wednesday.
Newcastle Falcons have announced that Gary Gold has been appointed as director of rugby for the remainder of the current season.
England Caretaker Coach Stuart Lancaster has revealed his revised England Elite Player squad which has nine players who have no Test Experience.
The British and Irish Lions have revealed that three of the current Six Nations coaches will effectively be on trial for the Lions head coaching job to be announced later this year.
Wales’ Rugby World Cup captain Sam Warburton has been named rugby personality of 2011 beating World Cup winning coach Graham Henry to the title.
This one is brilliant, tears rolling down my cheeks I laughed so much. Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal can expect to hear from the Ligue Nationale de Rugby’s disciplinary officials after making some outrageous statements over the weekend.
A world club championship is on the cards after the 2015 Rugby World Cup, Premiership chief executive Mark McCafferty has claimed.
The moment Martin Johnson announced his resignation as England manager in mid-November, the attack coach Brian Smith decided he had no option but to do likewise. “It was Martin who had appointed me, so I felt my position was untenable,” he says quietly, reflecting on that supremely difficult moment.
Almost time for the Six Nations competition. First games will be played in four weeks time. Here is some History of the Championship.
Played annually, the format of the Championship is simple: each team plays every other team once, with home field advantage alternating from one year to the next.
Two points are awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss and unlike most other rugby union competitions the bonus point system is not used.
Wesley Fofana (photo) and Yoann Maestri are in line to make their international debuts after being picked for France’s RBS 6 Nations squad by new head coach Philippe Saint-André.
Clermont centre Fofana has impressed both domestically and in Europe and could start alongside club colleague Aurélien Rougerie while Toulouse’s 23-year-old man mountain Maestri is one of four second rows named.
Centre Steven Shingler is the surprise inclusion as one of six new faces in Scotland’s squad for the opening two matches of the 2012 RBS 6 Nations.
Despite being born in Swansea and playing for Wales Under-20s, Shingler qualifies for Scotland through his mother Jeanette and his impressive form for English side London Irish has prompted Andy Robinson to include him in the 36-man squad.
STUART LANCASTER last night sentenced his England squad to community service – after giving Danny Care the boot for drink-driving.
World Cup-winning South African captain John Smit is set to play more regularly at prop for his new club, Saracens.
Defending Premiership champions Saracens showed their class on Tuesday with a 19-11 victory over league leaders Harlequins at a sold-out Twickenham.
Former French international fly-half Frederic Michalak, who currently plays for the Natal Sharks in Durban South Africa has verbally agreed to join Toulon on a three-year contract.
Toulouse’s South Africa hooker Gary Botha broke his right leg in Friday’s French Top 14 win over Montpellier and will be ruled out for up to four months.
Scotland’s most-capped player Chris Paterson has put an end to his 12-year international career, but won’t hang up his boots altogether and will continue playing for Edinburgh.
England Rugby World Cup assistant coaches Mike Ford and John Wells have left the Rugby Football Union (RFU) with immediate effect.
The Irish Rugby Football Union has announced a change in the way they will manage Non-Irish qualified players from the 2013/2014 season.
Wales’s four major professional clubs have agreed to operate a salary cap from the start of next season despite seeing several leading players leave for lucrative deals with French teams.
The threat to boycott the British & Irish Lions tour of 2013 was never put forward formally, but an official was warned in passing as it emerged that the powerful “home unions” of England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland would be broken for the first time.
Springbok flank Francois Louw has been praised by rugby legend Sir Ian McGeechan for his contribution for Bath over the past two months, and hailed “a Test match animal.”
I was sent a link to this Article by our friend and fellow blogger, TonyM… it’s long, but read it!
WALES’ four regions are ready to welcome official talks with English and French club bosses about revolutionary plans to reform the world rugby calendar.
Bath owner Bruce Craig is proposing a radical overhaul of the season structure to bring the two hemispheres in line regards their domestic and international games.
England’s RFU have revealed that Ian Ritchie will become the new Chief Executive Officer of the Rugby Football Union.
Rugby World Cup winning fly-half Jonny Wilkinson has retired from international rugby union after 91 matches for England.
The RFU have revealed that Saxons coach Stuart Lancaster will be interim England coach for the 2012 Six Nations championship.
Chris Ashton was last night banned until next year for pulling the hair of a fellow rugby player.
Springbok utility back Frans Steyn could be on his way back to South Africa at the conclusion of his contract with French club Racing Metro, which expires at the end of June next year.