CATEGORIES

O'Gara keeps on driving La Rochelle

Mark Stevens talks to the former Ireland No.10 about his plans in France and what could happen next

Pollard: My future still up in the air

HANDRE Pollard is out of contract at the end of the season and Leicester hope a strong showing for the rest of the campaign will persuade the South Africa outside-half to stay.

Pirates remove break clauses

CORNISH Pirates have lifted the break clauses in player contracts which had been inserted in the summer amid concern over the ongoing funding of the club.

Saints, Quins & Tigers lead way

NORTHAMPTON Saints won in South Africa for the first time in their history by beating the Bulls away in Pretoria 30-21 courtesy of England international Tommy Freeman's brace of tries.

Start with Roebuck, Curry tells Borthwick

STEVE Borthwick has been urged to make in-form Sale star Tom Roebuck a starting winger in the Six Nations. c

Forrest sees green shoots growing for the Raiders

WITH an average age of 23, Worthing Raiders almost certainly have the youngest squad in National 2 East.

Sailing around the Med for a year is next for me

IN 18 months’ time, when my final contract with Castres expires, I will literally be sailing off into the ocean with my partner, leaving my rugby career behind.

Harrogate's ideal for Nuu as he looks to the future

RUGBY league convert Junior Nuu is on a shortterm contract with Harrogate and is eager to help the newly promoted side in their survival bid.

RFU Council must make a stand for whole game

NOW the Autumn Nation Series is over – with all four games at the Twickenham Allianz Stadium virtual sellouts with crowds close to the maximum 82,000 – the RFU should be in a good financial position.

Pope expecting to play a major role in a highly eventful month

AUSTIN Pope and his partner, Izzie, are expecting a baby any minute, but the inside centre has shown his commitment to Bishop’s Stortford in recent weeks by continuing to start matches.

Nugent is the difference

RAMS slipped to a second straight narrow defeat as they went down by two points at home to Richmond under the Friday night lights.

Gregson gets going to put Saracens in charge

SARACENS secured a second straight bonus-point victory to move second in the PWR table.

Cornish at the double to clinch it for Ealing

MATT Cornish’s double ensured Ealing Trailfinders kept up the pressure at the top of the Championship table with a hard-fought victory away at Bedford.

Get rid of the regions and call for Cotter, says Ring

MARK Ring never thought Welsh rugby would come to this; their four regional teams failing en masse to meet the modest qualifying criteria for the non-champion zone of the Champions Cup.

We're aiming to be more clinical - Evans

HAVING fallen short in recent years, the PWR’s all-time most successful side Saracens are seeking redemption this season.

Poole: Cov on right track to win promotion

CAPTAIN Jordan Poole says Coventry are on track to finish the club’s three-year plan with promotion to the Premiership this season.

Gloucester on a roll after standing up to Edinburgh

GLOUCESTER showed they can still scrum and maul as good as any side as the Cherry and Whites laid down the gauntlet in their pursuit of silverware on Friday night.

Oh, for a one-stop TV shop for the lot

HERE’S a brain teaser: if you happen to be an average Joe or Joanna struggling to make your sums add up in the blood-andguts real world, as opposed to the gold-plated one inhabited by tech gazillionaires and Saudi princes and Twickenham chief executives, and you love watching rugby union, your favourite sport, on the telly box in the corner of your living room, how much expenditure is too much?

Ibitoye must grab chance - Banahan

MATT Banahan is looking forward to watching Gabriel Ibitoye press his England claims during the upcoming European window.

My Lions team are ready for take-off

THERE is a view that picking a Lions Test team almost seven months before the 2025 Lions tour to Australia, as this week’s column does, is an empty exercise because it will bear little resemblance to the lineup in the series against the Wallabies.

Mata: It'll be like a Test match for us

VILIAME Mata is out to make up for lost time after the start to his Bristol career was delayed by injury.

Horne hat-trick seals it for Sale

GEORGE Horne scored a stunning first-half hattrick as Glasgow made a statement of intent with a thumping opening European Champions Cup victory over Sale at Scotstoun.

Bath fail to make most of chances

THREE tries in a 15-minute spell from the champions of 2022 and 2023 ensured that Bath’s European campaign got off to a losing start.

Quins leave it too late in Paris

HARLEQUINS endured a miserable night in Paris.

Chiefs fail to cash in on Sharks' mistakes

FRUSTRATED Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter admitted his side lacked a ‘clinical edge’ as they headed home from South Africa without any reward.

Saracens bounce back in fine style

SARACENS, with Tom Willis looking every inch a starting England No.8, produced their best performance in a very long time to dismiss a strong and in-form Bulls side.

Smith and Mitchell get back in the old routine

FIN Smith proved a man for all seasons as he guided Northampton to a comfortable opening win in the Champions Cup and got their show back on the road.

Time for Bristol to step up to the plate

ENGLISH clubs like Saracens, Leicester, Bath, Northampton and, to a lesser extent, Harlequins have got pedigree when it comes to the European Cup.

Winners? It's hard to look beyond Toulouse

Paul Rees talks to Chris Robshaw about the Champions Cup - and why he rates England's chances in the Six Nations

We're not afraid to get into a dog-fight, says van Graan

WHEN Johann van Graan took charge of Bath in the summer of 2022, the South African made no secret of the fact that implementing his style and a change of culture at the famous Rec would take some time.