Rugby

1:03 AM GMT Super Rugby Aotearoa roared into life over the weekend, with wins for competition favourites the Crusaders as well as the team that might finally be able to push them, the Blues. Super Rugby AU was into its second week and again it was the title fancies, the Reds and Brumbies who triumphed,

6:54 PM GMT Wales remained on course for the most unlikely of Six Nations Grand Slams after they beat an indisciplined England 40-24 in a controversial match in Cardiff on Saturday. – Play ESPN’s Rugby Pick’em for FREE Wales led 17-14 at half-time with tries by Josh Adams and Liam Williams — the first after

5:53 PM GMT Ireland scored six tries in a 48-10 bonus point victory over Italy on Saturday to earn their first win of this year’s Six Nations and condemn the hosts to a 30th consecutive defeat in the tournament. Tries from Garry Ringrose, Hugo Keenan and Will Connors gave the visitors a seemingly unassailable 24-point

2:43 PM GMT Sports minister Roxana Maracineanu threatened to withdraw the French team’s authorisation to play in the Six Nations if the rugby federation (FFR) does not properly investigate the origin of a COVID-19 outbreak within the squad. France’s game against Scotland was postponed after 11 French players, as well as staff, including head coach

2:40 PM GMT England have suffered another Six Nations injury blow with Courtney Lawes ruled out for the rest of the championship. The forward wasn’t due to feature for Eddie Jones’ side against Wales this weekend and sustained a pectoral injury in England training on Wednesday which has ruled him out for the rest of

1:38 PM GMT Having navigated through the opening two rounds of the 2021 Six Nations unscathed, we’re a match down this weekend after Sunday’s championship match between France and Scotland was postponed. France have been battling a growing number of COVID-19 cases in their squad and there was optimism the match would take place through

12:55 PM GMT The 2023 Rugby World Cup will kick off with a mouth-watering Pool A clash between hosts France and three-time champions New Zealand, organisers said on Friday. England will start their Pool D campaign against Argentina on Sept. 9 in Marseille, where world champions South Africa will take on Scotland the day after

11:01 AM GMT England have made two changes for their trip to Wales on Saturday in the Six Nations with uncapped George Martin named among the replacements. Jamie George and Mark Wilson return to England’s starting XV for the match in Cardiff, while Martin could make his England debut if given the chance from the

12:55 PM GMT Wales coach Wayne Pivac has opted for midfield muscle and selected Jonathan Davies to play at inside centre alongside George North in the Six Nations clash with England at the Principality Stadium on Saturday. Davies will make his first appearance of 2021 after being recalled to the side, while North, 28, is

11:34 AM GMT Ireland refreshed their pack for Saturday’s Six Nations trip to Italy and welcomed Johnny Sexton back after the captain missed the loss to leaders France in a disappointing start to the tournament. Ireland boss Andy Farrell has made seven changes from their disappointing start to the tournament. Ronan Kelleher, who scored one

3:45 PM GMT Italy coach Franco Smith has named an unchanged side for the visit of Ireland in Saturday’s Six Nations match. Young half-back pair Stephen Varney, 19, and Paolo Garbisi, 20, are again entrusted by Smith, with Juan Ignacio Brex earning his third cap at centre alongside Carlo Canna, who will reach a half

9:14 AM GMT France’s Six Nations game against Scotland was in doubt again on Thursday after the French rugby federation (FFR) suspended training due to another player testing positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number infected to 11. The entire squad was now isolating, FFR said. After two days without a new case in the

2:22 AM GMT Auckland’s City Kickboxing is resisting a request from the UFC to remove the silver fern logo from its fighters’ uniforms, including middleweight champion Israel Adesanya who next weekend also fights for the light heavyweight title against Jan Blachowicz. ESPN understands the UFC was contacted by someone at New Zealand Rugby [NZR] over

1:39 PM GMT France’s Six Nations match against Scotland in Paris will go ahead on Sunday as planned after the hosts reported no further positive COVID-19 tests for a second consecutive day, organisers said on Wednesday. “Further to a meeting of the Six Nations Testing Oversight Group (TOG) this morning to review the latest test

11:06 AM GMT Five more players from France’s Six Nations squad — including captain Charles Ollivon — have tested positive for COVID-19, the French rugby federation (FFR) said on Monday, bringing the number of infected players to 10. Cyril Baille, Peato Mauvaka, Romain Taofifenua, Brice Dulin and Ollivon were the players who returned positive tests

8:22 PM GMT Associated Press France’s star scrum-half Antoine Dupont and four other first-team players who tested positive for COVID-19 are out of the squad for next Sunday’s Six Nations match against Scotland. The French rugby federation (FFR) said on Sunday that further tests carried out on Saturday showed that prop Julien Marchand and center

1:20 PM GMT New Zealand’s World Cup-winning fly-half Dan Carter announced on Saturday his retirement from professional rugby after an illustrious 19-year career. The 38-year-old, capped 112 times by New Zealand, played his last test in 2015 when he produced a man-of-the-match display to help the All Blacks to victory over Australia in the World

5:57 PM GMT France scrum-half and star player Antoine Dupont is set to miss his side’s Six Nations game against Scotland after testing positive for COVID-19 on Friday. All the players in the 31-man squad had been tested and so far 11 had been negative, with Dupont the only one to return a positive test,