BEFORE THE compression socks are rolled on and the squad head towards a long-haul Monday flight to Hong Kong and the British and Irish Lions, the Barbarians have the small…
Rugby World
Aviva Premiership final: an old-fashioned tear up
"AMBUSH AT the Allianz" could be a way of describing the Aviva Premiership semi-final between Northampton Saints and Saracens. That would do a disservice to Saints, though, who maintained an…
Lions 2013: Surviving finals and the Lions run-in
STAYIN’ ALIVE by the Bee Gees was a late 70s sentiment so powerful that it generated an eponymous follow-up movie to Saturday Night Fever in which John Travolta hustles to…
The rise of Brazilian rugby before Rio 2016
RUGBY SEVENS is known for its pace and excitement and now it is attempting to steal the limelight away from its bigger 15-man rival by being part of Rio Olympics…
Hotshot: Koree Britton (Gloucester)
Tell us about your rugby background. I was born in Torquay and my dad, Dave, took me to Dartmouth minis when I was four. He played prop for them. I…
Hotshot: Jordi Murphy (Leinster)
You were born in Barcelona. Is your family Irish? Yes. In the late 1980s my parents moved to Spain and my sister and I were born there, but we came…
The Championship blog – Play-offs: Final Round 1
NEWCASTLE HAVE one foot back in the Aviva Premiership following their 9-18 win over Bedford in the first leg of the Championship final at Goldington Road on Thursday night. But…
Armitage is not the first, nor the last, to taunt the opposition
WHAT'S ALL the fuss about? Or put another way: what’s so different about what Delon Armitage did to Clermont’s Brock James from what Josh Lewsey did to Damian Traille during…
Vern Cotter to Scotland could make for some serious drama
GREEK THEATRE is fabled for its two set genres of play, the tragedy and comedy. In sport, as in life, though, there can be both elements coming together in a…
Lions 2013: Will Wallabies be able to hold court without their jesters?
THE PRESSURE on Will Genia and James Horwill may be great as we slide towards the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, but not for the reasons many would…