Rugby

9:51 AM BST Spain hung on to beat Portugal 33-28 in Madrid on Sunday and seal a place at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France for the first time in 24 years. Spain, whose last and only previous appearance was at the 1999 tournament, will be in Group B alongside holders South Africa, Scotland,

6:50 PM GMT Ireland took full advantage of a red card for England lock Charlie Ewels after less than two minutes of Saturday’s Six Nations encounter at Twickenham to claim a bonus-point 32-15 victory that keeps them in the hunt for the title. Ewels was sent off for a head-on-head tackle on Ireland second row

8:05 PM GMT TWICKENHAM, London — It took Ireland 70 minutes to finally break England’s resolve. Having been reduced to 14 men after just 82 seconds, England showed incredible defiance to frustrate and bother Ireland and at one stage, it looked like Eddie Jones’ players were going to pull off one of the most remarkable

Mar 12, 2022 England second-row Charlie Ewels was shown a red card after just 82 seconds in their key Six Nations clash against Ireland at Twickenham. It was the earliest red card ever shown since the championship began in 1883, with the lock being sent off for a dangerous tackle after his head connected with

4:21 PM GMT Centre Chris Harris scored a brace of tries as Scotland edged to a 33-22 bonus-point victory over Italy in their Six Nations encounter at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday, inflicting a 36th successive defeat in the competition on their hosts. Centre Sam Johnson, wing Darcy Graham and fullback Stuart Hogg also crossed

10:44 PM GMT France were not at their flamboyant best but a try from flanker Anthony Jelonch helped the Six Nations leaders to a 13-9 victory over a Wales side full of fight at the Principality Stadium on Friday, a seventh win in a row for Fabien Galthie’s team. France stay on course for their

1:12 PM GMT Tom Curry will feature at open-side flanker for England against Ireland in their must-win Six Nations encounter at Twickenham on Saturday, while No. 8 Alex Dombrandt is among the replacements after he tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday. Coach Eddie Jones selected a pack he thinks can counter the Irish, who he

1:39 PM GMT Scotland’s Matt Fagerson and Hamish Watson have returned to beef up the back row against Italy in the Six Nations in Rome on Saturday as coach Gregor Townsend makes five changes to the team beaten by France a fortnight ago. Fagerson returns from injury while Watson missed out on the 36-17 rout

12:41 PM GMT France duo Romain Taofifenua and Damian Penaud have tested positive for COVID-19, forcing coach Fabien Galthie to make changes from the team who beat Scotland for Friday’s Six Nations clash against Wales. “We were notified this morning that they were positive so we had to make last-minute changes,” Galthie told a news

2:09 AM GMT Former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika is poised to coach at a third straight Rugby World Cup, with the Australian set to be unveiled as Argentina boss by the end of the week. Argentine newspaper, La Nacion, was first to report news of Cheika’s looming appointment, with the current Stan Sport panelist set

Mar 8, 2022 Ireland captain Johnny Sexton will retire after next year’s World Cup and said he wants “to go out at the top” after signing one last contract on Tuesday to lead his country to the global showpiece in France. The former world player of the year, who will be 38 by the time

4:18 AM GMT All Blacks greats Jeff Wilson and John Kirwan have taken aim at Australian rugby, suggesting the country again must cut back to four Super Rugby franchises if it can’t find a way to keep more of its top-level talent on home soil. While the New Zealand and Australia teams are still weeks

2:09 AM GMT South Africa’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus has denied he made public his now infamous 62-minute video critique of the performance of the match officials after the first Test against the British & Irish Lions last year. Erasmus was found guilty of misconduct by an independent committee in November and suspended from

11:38 PM GMT There are now just three unbeaten teams in Super Rugby Pacific, with the Crusaders, Brumbies and Reds sitting in first, second and third respectively after three rounds of the tournament. Elsewhere in Round 3, there was an historic first win for Fijian Drua, while the Blues and Hurricanes also picked up victories.

5:12 PM GMT Ireland kept the pressure on unbeaten Six Nations leaders France with a 57-6 thrashing of Italy on Sunday in a game that descended into farce after the visitors were forced to play most of it with 13 men. Ireland were 7-3 up when replacement hooker Hame Faiva, on for the injured Gianmarco

4:26 PM GMT France were at their flamboyant best as they scored six tries in thumping Scotland 36-17 at Murrayfield on Saturday to make it three wins out of three in the Six Nations this year. Two tries in the opening 13 minutes served notice of their form and status as tournament favourites, as Paul

9:09 PM GMT TWICKENHAM, London — In the end it was record-breaker Ben Youngs who brought order to the chaos. As Wales threatened the most incredible comeback, with the clock well over the appointed time, it was Youngs who kicked the ball dead to bring an end to a game which looked finished at least

6:45 PM GMT Bethan Clargo TWICKENHAM, London — Ben Youngs became England most-capped men’s player in their 23-19 Six Nations victory against Wales at Twickenham on Saturday. Scrum-half Youngs came off the bench in on 60 minutes for his 115th England appearance, breaking Jason Leonard’s 19-year record. Alex Dombrant scored England’s only try of the