FIVE NEW forwards and three new backs feature in the starting combination, from that beaten 9-6 by Scotland midweek in Newcastle. The alterations in the pack sees the all-New South…

[imagebrowser id=26] IT’S THE start of the new global calendar, with seven northern hemisphere countries down south for end-of-season tours. The July issue of Rugby World looks ahead to the…

greig laidlaw scotland

PLAYED OUT in the kind of conditions that would have drowned ducks and bent weathervanes Scotland set themselves up for a stripped down but dogged performance against Australia in Newcastle,…

Sore heads for celebrating Scotland

SCOTLAND’S FAMOUS 9-6 win over Australia in Newcastle, Sydney, in June sparked mass celebrations from Andy Robinson’s team – but these two players might have gone a little too far.…

French focus: Top 14 Semi-final play-offs

AS THE Home Nations gear up for Down Under, across the Channel in France the Top 14 is coming to the boil, writes Gavin Mortimer. The French domestic season is…

London Welsh were crowned kings of the Championship last night at the Kassam Stadium — a palace deemed unfit for the round table of Premiership rugby by the RFU, writes…

Blues coach Pat Lam welcomes back a couple of players from the squad’s lengthy injured list to the starting 22 this week. Fullback Rudi Wulf returns to the side after…

Kieran Read back for Crusaders

ALL BLACKS loose forward Kieran Read returns to the Crusaders starting line-up to face the Highlanders. Read sustained a bruised pelvis during their 28-19 defeat to the Rebels, nearly three…