We now have a few details of the third season of the Celtic Challenge. It will consist of the same six teams as last year. After a hesitant start two years ago, when teams played each other only once, the Challenge has developed promisingly, leading players forcing their way into national squads for the Six
RFU The RFU commissioned a report to establish the game’s worth to the nation. (‘Nation’ here has to be firmly understood as England). It comes up with the staggering sum of £2.03bn. The full report can be found @ rfu.widen.net/content/reb6bz57eg/pdf/Enriching-Lives—The-Social-Value-of-Community-Rugby-Union-in-England-2024.pdf?u=wkeerv A point of interest: it divides the nation into ten regions which are all given
Gloucester-Hartpury 27 Sale Sharks 12 Leicester Tigers 17 Trailfinders Women 34 Gloucester-Hartpury v Sale Sharks After their two unwelcome defeats Glos-Pury will have been silently grateful to be facing the back- markers, Sharks. Pre-match Sean Lynn preferred to comment on the touching renaming of the home stadium in honour of the MND sufferer, Ed Slater.
This round was another to stretch like chewing-gum from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. Here are the two big games. Bristol Bears v Harlequins The Friday evening game really set the cat among the pigeons. A large crowd turned out at Shafestbury Park, hoping to see their favourites confim their place among the competition’s leading
Busy, busy 1 October New world rankings published: NZ fall to third behind Canada; England 7 points ahead 1 October USA Rugby opens application window for its High School pathway 2 October Just under 4,000 people attended the first WXV1 day in Vancouver 2 October Saracens to offer in-depth coverage of all their PWR matches
Fixtures Fri 1 November: Bristol Bears v Harlequins, 19.00 Sat 2 November: Exeter Chiefs v Saracens, 13.00 Sun 3 November: Gloucester-Hartpury v Sale Sharks, 14.00 Leicester Tigers v Trailfinders Women, 15.00 The central question is who will qualify for the semis. For the moment I’m taking it for granted it will be the same four
In recent times it’s become more and more noticeable how clubs and the media pick out individual performances for highlighting. In tests we expect to see a Player of the Match, a Player of the Tournament, even a Player of the Decade. (How do you measure the correctness of that decision?) At club-league level we
Saracens v Gloucester-Hartpury With neither of these two giants sitting top of the table, one of them had the chance to put Exeter Chiefs in their place. It was a humdinger. G-H were right on top from kick-off; Mo Hunt tapped and ran, Mackenzie Carson took the ball on and Maud Muir cut a clever
Saturday saw two intense matches played, then a more one-sided affair in the north-west. Exeter Chiefs v Trailfinders The Londoners made the running at the start, taking advantage of the low sun in Chiefs’ eyes. Ella Amory kicked a threatening 50:22, but the line-out misfired. Despite appearances it was to be the set-scrum that proved
A Look at PWR’s Prospects On 8 October Belinda Moore, CEO of Premiership Women’s Rugby, announced her unexpected resignation. We don’t yet know who her successor will be. That person will have a host of hurdles to vault. The long-term aims of PWR were ambitious in the extreme: across the next decade we would see
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