CATEGORIES

I always wanted to play an exciting form of rugby

THERE were periods of my career where I felt like I was playing well enough to earn a shot with England. However, if you look at the way England’s gone, even with Marcus Smith now, he gets taken off when he is playing fantastic rugby just because he’s more of a flair player and as a result has a stigma attached.

England must find a way to deliver

WITH Christmas fast approaching, it’s time for us all to look forward to better things and hope we achieve them.

I've still got plenty to give, says Beaumont

JOSH Beaumont prepares to put his body on the festive front line again in the Sale cause revealing his biggest “regret” has been not winning an England cap.

Saracens fight back to overcome Bears

SARACENS secured a pulsating victory over a Hannah Botterman-inspired Bristol Bears to move to within a point of the summit of the table.

Hopkins in snatch it

AFTER the resignation of their popular head coach Toby Booth earlier in the week, Ospreys were given a huge boost when replacement Iestyn Hopkins crashed over with the clock in overtime to condemn their fiercest rivals to yet another defeat in Swansea.

No Mostert? That's got to be a mistake

HERE'S a funny thing: one of the more prominent rugby sites on the world wide web super information highway thingy has just published its list of the 100 best players in the sport. And no, the Spring-bok lock Franco Mostert isn't in it. ALLOWED

Tompkins hits the 200-mark for Saracens

MARK McCall has hailed Nick Tompkins, who makes his 200th appearance today for Saracens against champions Northampton at StoneX Stadium, as the epitome of a player the club aims to produce.

Anguish for Chiefs as Sale march on

GEORGE Ford’s educated right boot proved hugely instrumental as Sale subjected rock-bottom Exeter to yet more misery and gloom.

Rampaging Bears tear Tigers apart

BRISTOL produced a memorable display of attacking rugby which left Leicester thoroughly shaken and stirred.

England's outsiders deserve a chance niveste cu

IT’S just six weeks before the start of the 2025 Six Nations, and since Steve Borthwick became England head coach his main message to the media has been we want to get better. However, by the end of the autumn series, Borthwick had become a bit more critical, saying that England were not fit enough, and were not carrying what they had been doing in training into matches.

Defeats will spur us on - Randall

HARRY Randall believes Bristol’s two Champions Cup defeats against Leinster and La Rochelle this month will help them in their quest to win the Premiership for the first time.

Steward leads calls for Cheika to stay at Tigers

MICHAEL Cheika will hold talks with Leicester after Christmas over his future having signed a one-year contract with the East Midlands club.

Speedster Ollie ends the year on a high

OLLIE Sleightholme will not be among those glad to see the back of 2024 – a year in which he made his England debut, marked the birth of his daughter, Lyra, and won the Premiership with Northampton.

Willis: I'm loving my life with Toulouse

WHILE some sides would consider the tag of defending champions as a target on their backs, it appears Toulouse see it more as a badge of honour having started their European campaign in ominous fashion.

Call to axe Sweeney 'as soon as possible'

BILL Sweeney’s tenure as RFU chief executive is in a precarious position after Bill Beaumont’s announcement as an interim RFU Board Chairman resulted in increased unrest among over 200 clubs calling for a Special General Meeting.

Ring fence has made English rugby go soft

THE most positive aspect to come out of the opening round of the European Cup was that, despite six out of the eight English clubs losing, it can get better and relatively quickly.

The global travellers who light up game

THERE is nothing especially funny about short-term memory loss, but it may just have an upside when it comes to rugby.

Battling Bath looking to revive cup campaign

JOHANN van Graan is braced to take on the Italian national team in all but name as Bath look to revive their Champions Cup campaign.

Off-target Gloucester get lesson in finishing

KIWI Michael Ruru scored two early tries and put in a silky display as Vannes created a famous night in their history, securing a first ever Challenge Cup win over a misfiring Gloucester.

We're happy to be the hunted, says Beckett

SARAH Beckett admits Gloucester-Hartpury have made an underwhelming start to their title defence but believes that's partly due to competition across the PWR being at an alltime high.

Heard takes charge to keep out Sarries

GLOUCESTER-HARTPURY secured a pulsating victory over Saracens to leapfrog the Londoners in the PWR table.

Hellfire Corner gives a warm welcome to all

RUGBY was undergoing a massive boom 150 years ago so we shouldn’t be surprised so many teams are celebrating their sesquicentennial anniversary as those who glory in long words like to call it.

My fierce Tigers are roaring-Howison

A RUTHLESS second-half display saw Sheffield Tigers come from behind to score 29 unanswered points and seal a vital bonus point win against bottom of the table Billingham.

Brave Lupus banking on Mo'unga class

THE fourth season of Japan Rugby League One kicks off this week, with the tournament opening with the clash between Mie Honda Heat and Ricoh Black Rams Tokyo on December 21.

Oyonnax must live without El-Abd

OYONNAX’S seven-try 53-10 bonus-point win over ProD2 rivals Soyaux-Angouleme on Friday – their first victory since October 25 – was a relief in more ways than one. In fact, relief probably doesn’t cover it.

Darge: We're all set for Toulon challenge

SCOTLAND flanker Rory Darge believes Glasgow’s 2023 Challenge Cup final defeat by Toulon proved pivotal in their progression to URC champions last season as they prepare for a tasty Champions Cup reunion in the south of France today.

Slade: We have to be all in this together

THE importance of playing what’s in front of you rather than on reputation alone is not lost on Henry Slade, Exeter Chiefs’ most experienced Champions Cup player, as the Premiership’s only winless team prepare to take on sixtime winners and reigning champions Toulouse.

Powerful Tigers take Sharks apart with ease

LEICESTER made light work of despatching a depleted Sharks team back to South Africa in a predictable one-sided encounter last night.

Dombrandt leads the fight for Quins

ALEX Dombrandt proved a real powerful force of nature as the No.8 helped Quins smash their South African rivals into submission with eight tries in front of a watching Steve Borthwick.

It's time for Bath to take control

BATH need to make a statement against Benetton at the Stadio Monigo today if they are to progress to the last 16 of the European Cup, and have a realistic hope of a home draw.