It’s little surprise that Sean Lynn has taken his time announcing his 38-strong squad for the Six Nations. Everyone with a heart wants to see Wales rise again from the depths. A third consecutive wooden spoon would only add to the agonies the nation’s rugby is suffering on all fronts. Sunny side up One optimistic
This weekend sees the start of the 2026 Rugby European Championship. Here is the schedule: 28 March: Spain v Belgium, Madrid Netherlands v Portugal, Amsterdam 11 April: Portugal v Spain, Oeiras Belgium v Netherlands, Dendemonde 18 April: Netherlands v Spain, Amsterdam Belgium v Portugal, Dendermonde This brief schedule reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the
The pick of the Round 16 matches, the last before the Six Nations break, brings Saracens up against Sale Sharks. Its unique feature is the venue, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It forms part of an innovative arrangement agreed between Spurs and Sarries. This is the sixth time the ‘Showdown’ has been hosted in the 62,000-seater stadium,
Let’s start with the Wallaroos’ fixture list. It’s about five times longer than usual, and it starts this week. 27 March v Fijiana, Canberra Pacific Four 11 April v Canada, Sacramento 17 April v USA, Kansas City 25 April v NZ, Sunshine Coast (doubles as Part One of O’Reilly Cup) 22 August v NZ, Auckland
Whitney Hansen has just published her choice of 30 players to represent the Black Ferns in this year’s Pacific Four Series. It’s vital she does well, not just for her own sake or her team’s, but for women’s rugby in general. All around the world the men who run national unions look askance at placing
We now have the first dribble of news from World Rugby about fixtures for their innovative new series (henceforward the WXVGS). We might wonder why the details are appearing piecemeal. The answer must be the massive size of the enterprise. The First Choices Even the three fixtures we now know about are open to question.
Sale Sharks v Bristol Bears This was a match Bears simply had to win. Eighth out of nine was no place for a club of their standing. It couldn’t possibly live up to the high drama of earlier in the day. Play was too often patchy and error-ridden for comfort. All the same, the tension
Loughborough Lightning v Gloucester-Hartpury Let’s start at the end. Alev Kelter drives over the line for Lightning to bring the scores level. Helena Rowland converts. Time is nearly up. 38-36. Glos-pury’s first loss of the season awaits. Helen Nelson kicks her drop-out return long, but Sarah Beckett makes a huge thrust upfield. Mia Venner finds
The match took a familiar shape. Tigers clawed at the Chiefs’ tent, but couldn’t tear the canvas open. They won a string of penalties, charged two clearance kicks down, but without success. There is a lack of match-awareness that keeps stopping them short of the line. Cliodhna Moloney-Macdonald put Maisy Allen away nearly to the
Quins v Trailfinders The game had the strangest start. Georgia Ponsonby and Alana Borland collided under pressure and both had to leave the field. Cristina Blanco and Emma Taylor, a late replacement, spent little time on the bench. For TF to persist to the end and squeeze out a victory spoke volumes for their attitude.
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