CATEGORIES

Lively Reed lights the spark to ignite Sharks

AARON Reed proved to be Sale’s pivotal weapon, and the perfect foil in both attack and defence to ensure Sharks came out on the right side of a nine-try nailbiter on Friday.

Ace Smith has Saints back on right road

FIN Smith won the battle of the No.10s against namesake Marcus as the champions secured backto-back victories after their rocky start at Bath.

Second-best Bath trumped by Bears

BRILLIANT Bristol turned the formbook on its head with a statement win over their keenest rivals before a sell-out crowd at The Rec.

Time for Marcus and Ben to link up

THERE’S speculation that Alex Mitchell and George Ford are unlikely to feature for England in the early stages of the autumn internationals due to injuries, but usually you would look at the team that finished the last game for nearly all the starters.

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I'd be happy to step up at 12 - Atkinson

GLOUCESTER’S Seb Atkinson aims to show he can be the solution to England’s problem at No.12.

England is still my target Spencer

BEN SPENCER will continue to put his best foot forward – either his left or his right, it makes no odds – in his bid to become England’s No.9 this autumn.

Centurion Skinner out to join elite club

EVER since Harvey Skinner made his debut for Exeter eight years ago, players from the club have been capped in every position – except his own.

JVP 'better than ever' after his year of hell

ENGLAND head coach Steve Borthwick will see a new, improved Jack van Poortvliet when he pitches up at national training this week.

Cowan-Dickie tipped for an England return

SALE Sharks boss Alex Sanderson has backed hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie to play a prominent part in England’s autumn, and stay in the Premiership as a result.

Albion make most of generosity of the host

‘THIS was a first half to forget for us’, summed up Stortford head coach Tom Coleman, when he said his side made far too many errors and gave Plymouth a big foothold in the contest to emerge victorious.

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I came on against Italy and made a difference

I’M currently five years into being master in charge of rugby at Barnard Castle School, which is where it all began for me on my journey to becoming a professional rugby player.

6 mins |

Etzebeth has final word as Springboks claim crown

SOUTH Africa claimed the Rugby Championship for the first time since 2019 with a commanding display in Mbombela on a special day for legendary second row Eben Etzebeth.

Hawkins still has Wales in his sight

JOE Hawkins insists he still harbours dreams of representing Wales again at international level.

Thomas leads the charge for Cardiff

CARDIFF turned around an early 15-0 deficit to claim a second successive bonus point victory and gain revenge for last season’s two defeats to the Scarlets.

Fiji deserve to play with best in world

EVERY underdog has its day, as Daniel Dubois reminded us in knocking an entire cathedral’s worth of bells out of Anthony Joshua in London – or, as the capital city is now sycophanticallyknown by those who make the biggest bucks from the fight game, Riyadh-on-Thames.

Captaining Tigers is an honour Chessum

IT WAS quite the comeback for Ollie Chessum, not just personally, but collectively, as Leicester Tigers kicked off their new Premiership season with a lastgasp victory at Exeter Chiefs.

Wade rolls back the years with hat-trick

CHRISTIAN Wade rolled back the years with a hat-trick of tries as Gloucester won a bizarre thriller for a first victory at Ashton Gate after six consecutive defeats.

Falcons show spirit but Quins do enough

HARLEQUINS duly secured the bonus point win that most pundits expected but Newcastle will have been far from downhearted as they made the long coach journey home.

New-look Saints still have what it takes

THE champions might have lost the talismanic Courtney Lawes and Lewis Ludlam to France but this new-look team were still too good for Exeter.

Lozowski puts the boot into Sharks

GEORGE Ford handed England boss Steve Borthwick an autumn injury scare pulling up after just five minutes as Saracens handed Sale a bonus point beating.

England should be aiming for treble top

THE autumn internationals against the traditional southern hemisphere big three, and Japan, are next on England’s agenda and I still fancy the leading Six Nations teams when they are at home against the southern hemisphere sides.

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Dugdale intent on proving his worth

DOGGED back row Sam Dugdale is determined to build his legacy in the game on the unseen, hard work which complements the big name stars around him.

Christie's happy to step up to the plate

SARACENS director of rugby Mark McCall has revealed how Scotland flanker Andy Onyeama- Christie has helped fill the leadership void left by Owen Farrell and co.

Augustus: I fight to stop feeling sick

SAINTS fans’ favourite Juarno Augustus leaves nothing in the tank on the pitch and is close to emptying his stomach off it every weekend because of a bad bout of prematch nerves.

Offiah Snr backing his boy to hit the heights

TYLER Offiah has been backed to make his senior debut for Bath this season – by his try-scoring legend father Martin.

Top four finish is our goal Randall

HARRY Randall feels Bristol Bears can go one step further this year and secure a play-off place which may put the scrumhalf into the fold for further England honours.

El-Abd steps up to replace Jones

OYONNAX head coach Joe El-Abd has been appointed England’s defence coach, replacing Irishman Felix Jones.

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Two matches, two defeats but Diamond keeping the faith

HARLEQUINS ran in four tries yesterday to condemn Newcastle Falcons to a 28-14 defeat at The Stoop – their 23rd straight Premiership reverse following their loss at home to Bristol on the opening night.

Sio: Lions are in for a shock

SCOTT Sio is backing the Wallabies to give the Lions a fright next summer after their recent upturn under Joe Schmidt.