Canada v Scotland Canada were made to work hard for their victory, in worthy contrast to other games played today. The result was a tribute to the Scots, who are unlikely ever to build a squad with a similar depth to their opponents’. Florence Symonds made an early break to which the pack added with
A huge crowd at a breezy Brighton watched England start their last group-stage match with a string of errors. Was it nerves, or over-confidence or wrong selections? Amy Cokayne failed to find her line-out target three times; Meg Jones threw two wild passes. As they regained possession in deep defence, they ran the ball out
You can take your pick of the most emotionally charged fixture of the coming weekend, but here’s my choice, Ireland v New Zealand. Allan Bunting had paid the Irish the highest compliment: none of Amy Rule, Kennedy Tukuafu, Maria Joseph, Ayesha Leti-I’Iga or Theresa Setefano find a place in the starting XV. He has given
This is the 23 John Mitchell has summoned for the third and last round of the preliminaries: 15 KILDUNNE 14 DOW 13 JONES 12 HEARD 11 BREACH 10 HARRISON 9 HUNT 1 BOTTERMAN 2 COKAYNE 3 MUIR 4 GALLIGAN 5 WARD 6 TALLING 7 KABEYA 8 MATTHEWS (captain) 16 ATKIN-DAVIES 17 CLIFFORD 18 BERN 19
It’s a sad fact that alphabetical order once again reflects the standings of the four nations: E, I, S, W. Wales alone have failed to qualify for the quarters. With turmoil continuing in every corner of Welsh rugby, it’s hard to see light at the end of the tunnel. Wales Their last fixture is against
We already know seven of the eight quarter-finalists: Canada, England, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and South Africa. They are the teams with two blameless victories. The fun starts with the thrilling 31-31 draw between Australia and the USA. The Wallaroos are the short-odds favourites to advance: they have 5-point lead in the pool table
Full house! 1 August. HIH Princess Akita, Patron of JRFU, to attend two Japan matches 1 August. Deborah Griffin elected first female President of the RFU 1 August. Australia 36 Wales 5 (Sydney) 2 August. France announce 32 players for 2025 RWC 3 August. South Africa 5 New Zealand XV 24 (series 1-1) 4 August.
The game of the tournament. Two sides with high ambitions, but not yet at the top of the class. A win could help make a safe passage through to the quarters. Few of the large crowd at York imagined the drama to come. The Wallaroos made the first move. The forwards drove hard, and the
Cymru were on a hiding to nothing, and even the fates turned against them. Who could imagine both their newly-minted co-captains, Alex Callender and Kate Williams, succumbing to injury? Beth Lewis took charge. As so often, they started well; they reached to two metres from the line; but Canadian confidence shone through as Alex Tessier
If you watched Scotland playing around a decade ago, you wouldn’t recognise the present product. It’s far from perfect, but marks a huge advance. They have a pack that can look after itself and backs, led by Emma Orr and Francesca McGhie, who score the bulk of their tries. Fiji weren’t there to make up
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