Alan

With bold ambitions, Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 has officially become the current Rugby World Cup host and is already cementing its status as an event of firsts. The first Rugby World Cup under the new hosting model, the first women’s edition to feature multiple venues the length and breadth of the host nation and …

The world champion Springbok rugby team will embark on a four-day Trophy Tour to major regional population centres from Thursday, SA Rugby announced on Sunday. The team will attend the gala World Rugby Awards ceremony in Paris on Sunday night before leaving France for South Africa on Monday morning. The Boks arrive back in South …

A former Wales head coach and globally renowned Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) expert, the Chief Financial Officer of FTSE 250 plc financial services firm, Rathbones, and a 94-times capped double-Grand Slam winner have joined the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) Board. Amanda Bennett, Jennifer Mathias and Jamie Roberts have all been appointed to independent Non-Executive …

The Springbok Women have shown glimpses of their ability against top-10-ranked teams in the world and according to head coach Louis Koen, that bodes well for the future of the team and future WXV competitions. The South Africans completed their WXV 2 campaign with a hard-fought, but deserved 33-7 victory over Samoa – their first …

If Round 2 proves to be anything like Round 1, then the Vodacom URC is set to provide some right royal entertainment. The opening weekend of the league season produced an average of 62 points per match, with no fewer than 67 tries scored across the eight fixtures. Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld saw the highest tally …

Ospreys v Zebre Parma (13h00 UK & IRE / 14h00 SA & ITA, Saturday) Ospreys coach Toby Booth says matching the power presented by Zebre will be the big challenge at the Swansea.com Stadium. Booth was impressed by the way the Italians performed against Ulster last weekend, coming tantalisingly close to ending their 26-match losing …

The teams for Round 2 fixtures of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship have been named with all details of match officials and broadcast information below. TEAM NEWS HEADLINES #OSPvZEB The Ospreys will be celebrating Justin Tipuric’s 200th appearance in this game, which he picked up against Connacht last week, and on the bench Nicky Smith …

Edinburgh Rugby welcomes the return of six internationalists to its matchday squad for tomorrow evening’s BKT United Rugby Championship home opener against Emirates Lions at Hive Stadium (Saturday 28 October, kick-off 5pm) – live on Viaplay. Blair Kinghorn (full-back), Grant Gilchrist (lock), Hamish Watson (openside flanker), Viliame Mata (number 8), Ewan Ashman (replacement hooker) and …

Kyle Rowe will make his competitive debut for Glasgow Warriors in Galway tomorrow afternoon, after the winger was named in the starting XV for this weekend’s BKT United Rugby Championship clash with Connacht at The Sportsground. The Scotland international – a summer arrival from London Irish – is selected in a lineup showing four changes …

In my last column, I called for Australia to play more aggressively. Three wins on the spin and successive scores of more than 350 later, it is safe to say they have done just that. They have shown more energy with bat and ball and when you do that, the fielding comes along for the …

For the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, they are the terrific 12. For the opposition, they’d be the terrifying 12. Whatever the description, those 12 Springboks who will play the All Blacks in Saturday’s World Cup final in Paris are 12 of the most awesome ambassadors of the Vodacom URC. These 12 emphasise the quality of …

World Rugby has launched T1 Rugby, the world’s first non-contact sport that fully reflects the unique characteristics of rugby, to supercharge participation and engagement by making the sport more relevant and accessible to young people. With the mantra of ‘a game for everyone, played by anyone’, T1 Rugby has an emphasis on fun, fitness and …

The DHL Stormers will be looking to build on their strong start to the third season of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship when they host Scarlets on Saturday – the only game in South Africa with the Hollywoodbets Sharks, Emirates Lions and Vodacom Bulls playing abroad. Returning to Stellenbosch for their round two clash against …

Ben Healy and Huw Jones have really hit the ground running on their rapid return from World Cup duty with Scotland. They picked up Player of the Match awards for Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors respectively last weekend as they helped their teams get their Vodacom URC campaigns off to winning starts. That was all the …

‘The global value of grassroots rugby’ report, unveiled by World Rugby at its General Assembly in Paris on 26 October, finds that rugby participation contributes US$8.4 billion in value globally and leads to players feeling happier, healthier and more connected. Global rugby participation contributes US$8.4 billion in value to society and saves healthcare systems US$1.5 …

Dwayne Peel insists there is no need to press the panic button as his Scarlets head into another testing Vodacom URC assignment out in South Africa. Peel’s team conceded nine tries as they went down to a thumping 63-21 defeat at the hands of the Vodacom Bulls at Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld last Sunday. It doesn’t …

Scottish Rugby is to award an additional 18 retrospective caps to honour players who wore the thistle in international competition. Earlier this year, the Scottish Rugby Union Custodian Board announced some 57 male players would be capped retrospectively. The players had represented Scotland in the Services and Victory internationals during and after the Second World …

WXV 2 delivered on so many fronts in the Springbok Women’s quest for improvement, that words can hardly describe the gratitude to all involved in bringing this showpiece event to the Western Cape in its inaugural season. What it has not brought yet – and that issue is something that can be sorted against Samoa …

World Rugby has today revealed the first shortlists for the prestigious World Rugby Awards 2023, which will be presented at the Opéra Garnier in Paris on Sunday, 29 October. Winners in 11 categories are set to be honoured in a star-studded showcase taking place just hours after the conclusion of a record-breaking Rugby World Cup …