CATEGORIES

I'd take the rough with the smooth every time

BEFORE my first cap against Wales in 2004, they brought in some ex-internationals, Scottish rugby legends, to come and have dinner with the team on the Wednesday night and I’ll never forget Finlay Calder was sat at our table.

Fans left in dark as Viaplay row back

THE future of live Top 14 – and United Rugby Championship – rugby coverage in the UK is up in the air after TV rights-holder Viaplay confirmed this week that it intends to scale back its international operations on the back of disappointing financial results.

Southern Hemisphere given big advantage

WELL, if ever there was a sign of a true bias in the game we have just had it with World Rugby making five law changes with just under seven weeks from the start of the most important competition in the whole of the world game just after the Northern Hemisphere have ended their season.

Exeter sign O'Connor from Munster

EXETER Chiefs have signed Munster second row Eoin O’Connor. The 22-year-old moves to Sandy Park after four years with the United Rugby Championship side.

Trailfinders make Gwala statement

PREMIERSHIP Women’s Rugby newcomers Ealing Trailfinders have signed South Africa international Lindelwa Gwala.

Exeter's Benjy eyes more super success

EXETER University winger Benjy Joseland is hoping his side can go back-to-back and secure another BUCS Super Rugby title.

Attention! Get ready for the phoney war

THE phoney war is about to start next weekend when the northern hemisphere sides get into action in the World Cup warm-up period.

Cambridge confident they can match Caldy

CHAMPIONSHIP new- comers Cambridge are using Caldy’s performance last season as inspiration ahead of their debut campaign in tier two.

Hansen's hungry for another 'first'

MACK Hansen has loved linking up with his Irish team-mates for this year’s World Cup preparations, and is eager to play a big part in helping Andy Farrell’s side achieve another first when they head to France in September.

O'Brien: Sexton ban won't affect World Cup prep

IRELAND captain Johnny Sexton has been given a three-match ban that will see him miss his country's three World Cup warmup matches.

Farrell's favourite to lead the Lions

THERE has been little cheer for rugby in Australia in recent years, but the prospect of a Lions tour is always enough for the glass-half-empty brigade to imagine it full to the point of overflowing.

Smith has unfinished business at Quins

MARCUS Smith wants to repeat Harlequins 2021 Premiership triumph next season insisting he has unfinished business at the club.

Hill keen for a new adventure Stateside

BORED with the Premiership rugby landscape, former Exeter and Sale Sharks centre Sam Hill is hoping for a fresh challenge abroad.

Ludlam: It's all coming together

LEWIS Ludlam insists England are not behind the eightball heading into the World Cup despite facing a race to get up to speed for France 2023.

I was happy to fulfil my boyhood dream

GROWING up, all I wanted to do was play professional sport, whether it was rugby, football or cricket. Football was probably my first choice and I think rugby was probably my last option. But my parents decided that education was the most important thing and that’s when I went to Oakham for a couple of years and rugby and cricket are the two main sports there. Ian ‘Dosser’ Smith was coach. He never screamed or shouted but how he spoke to you sent shivers down your spine. I’ve never met anyone before or since who is better at psyching a team up. We won the Daily Mail Cup in my last year and I scored the first try with a little chip-and-chase. I’d say that is one of the top three highlights of my rugby career. You can’t beat winning stuff with your mates, especially at Twickenham.

I'm no fan of World League agenda

AM I the only one that thinks that the idea of the new World League competition may actually be very bad for the game as a whole?

70 years on, it's now tears of joy for Boston

AT HOME in Angelina Street one Friday evening during the early spring of 1953, Billy Boston thought about what he had just done and burst into tears.

The NextGen needs to be close at hand

IT WAS great to see the World Rugby U20 Championship back in full swing and it was a pretty cathartic exercise for the Welsh team. Wins over Japan and Romania may have been the highlights, but scoring five tries against a powerful Junior Wallabies team and getting within a point of New Zealand were also creditable performances. After their whitewash in the Six Nations it was proof enough that there is plenty of talent in the group.

Barrett J has keys to the kingdom

RUGBY is a game of infinite possibility, especially when it comes to dreaming up collective nouns. A “squabble of hookers” sounds about right, as does an “annoyance of scrum-halves”. And if we’re talking specifically of England coaching hierarchies stretching back to Old Testament times, how about a “catastrophe of selectors”?

Borthwick knows what he wants at 9

STEVE Borthwick, who took over from Eddie Jones as England head coach in late 2022, hasn’t had much time in the saddle but he will definitely want to put his own stamp and authority on this squad. He would already have communicated how he wants to move forward and leave the past behind. What you will find is that he will revert back to where he wants England to be when they were at their best. To start off with, it’s about being a really strong set-piece team, having stellar lineout accuracy and physicality on defence.

McKellar's tough opening with Tigers

DAN McKellar has vowed to bring success to Leicester, but they will have to do it the hard way in the Heineken Champions Cup with a trip to holders La Rochelle followed by a home encounter with the team they with the team they defeated in the final, Leinster.

French firepower subdues England

ENGLAND’S hopes of winning a first Junior World Cup since 2016 were dashed as a formidable French team fought back to claim victory in the semi-final.

We made too many mistakes, admits Chessum

ENGLAND’S tournament ended in disappointing fashion as they were beaten in the bronze medal match for the ninth time in 13 tournaments.

Fantastic France demolish Ireland

FRANCE underlined their complete supremacy at the junior level with a thumping win in the World Rugby U20 Championship Final against Ireland.

Ounsley: We want to bring home gold next time

HAVING been forced to watch her Exeter side come up just short in the Premier 15s final, Jodie Ounsley is hoping to play her part in taking the Chiefs one step further next season.

Warriors setting ambitious targets

NEW Worcester Warriors women managing director Jon Graham has high hopes for his new club going forward, with ambitious targets both off and on the field for Premiership Women’s Rugby’s (PWR) only independent team.

Ringland: Time to cut back on subs

FORMER Ireland and British and Irish Lions player Trevor Ringland has called for rugby to “de-physicalise” by reducing the number of substitutes a team can use in a game.

Misery for Jones as Argentina snatch it

EDDIE Jones’s first campaign with England resulted in a grand slam, but a whitewash beckons at the start of his second stint in charge of Australia after Juan Martin Gonzalez’s late try gave Argentina a deserved victory.

Mo'unga in control as All Blacks look in the mood for World Cup

WITH the World Cup nearly on us, New Zealand served notice they will have a big say as to who wins the Webb Ellis Trophy in October.

Delighted Searle on his way to Toulouse

BILLY Searle’s patience has finally been rewarded with a dream move to European aristocrats Toulouse, and the flyhalf can’t wait “to get stuck in” when he reports for work tomorrow.