Dozens of players in search of a contract

A SQUAD’S worth of Premiership players are still without a contract with just three weeks to go before the start of the 2024/25 season.

Freeman: We will be ready for All Blacks

TOMMY Freeman has an international date on November 2 circled in his diary and has urged England to make home advantage count that day.

Six-try Fiji prove too strong for Samoa

FIJI started their bid for a sixth Pacific Nations Cup title with a 42-16, six-try win over arch rivals Samoa in Suva on Friday

James will prove to be a star at Racing

HERE'S a little prediction that will either leave me with egg on my face or looking like Nostradamus come next June.

BBC will be covering all 32 World Cup games

WORLD Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin believes a groundbreaking partnership with the BBC will ensure a 'generational moment' for women's rugby is seized at next summer's World Cup.

Youngsters were quick to take their chances

Ben Jaycock caught up with England U18s assistant and backs coach Will Parkin

Rae: Good to see promotion back

WITH promotion a realistic possibility for Championship clubs heading into the new season it has created renewed excitement levels across the league.

Boulton's respect for game he loves

COLIN Boulton of Derby County stands astride the Himalayan peaks of Football League champions, the only uncapped goalkeeper to have been a permanent fixture throughout two triumphant campaigns.

Robertson needs to redress the balance

IT WAS a cheap shot, admittedly, but only a pacifist or a fool would spurn the opportunity to kick the New Zealanders when they're down. \"What's the difference between the All Blacks and an arsonist?\" your columnist asked a radio host during a breakfast broadcast in 1998, eventually breaking an unnervingly long silence with the punchline: \"No arsonist would lose his last five matches.\"

Ospreys are improving every season - Booth

TOBY Booth has his eyes on a prize for his ever-improving Ospreys this season and if he achieves his ambitious goal it will scratch an itch that has been with him for almost 20 years.

Rosslyn Park show Barnes how it's done

NATIONAL One Rosslyn Park illustrated their league superiority by dispatching their London rivals Barnes 52-12.

Move to Glasgow suits Schickerling

IT wasn't all that long ago that Patrick Schickerling was being ear-marked as a potential England bolter, a player who was set for an exciting and dazzling career on the international stage.

Revived Genge is raring to go

ELLIS Genge spent a rare summer off fishing and intends to make a ‘turbot’ charged start to the coming campaign after missing out on England’s summer tour to New Zealand because of a calf injury sustained in Bristol’s final match of the season.

Playing in Cardiff will help us - Lam

PAT Lam has told Bristol supporters who are unhappy next season’s home Premiership fixture against Bath has been moved to Cardiff’s Principality Stadium that they should remember what happened to Worcester, Wasps and London Irish.

It's going to be a thriller van Graan

JOHANN van Graan is predicting a Gallagher Premiership 2024/25 season to set pulses racing.

Blow for England as Jones quits

BACK-TO-BACK World Cup-winning defence coach Felix Jones has left his role with England after sources revealed he was unsettled by an unstable working environment.

PGP deal is looking good for all - Baxter

EXETER Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter remains hopeful that plans being drawn up as part of the new Professional Game Partnership between the RFU and Premiership Rugby will ultimately prove fruitful for all sides.

Women aiming to hit 100,000 mark by World Cup

ENGLAND women returned to their roots, visiting local clubs across the country with Alex Teasdale, executive director of the women's game at the RFU, revealing they hope to reach 100,000 female participants in the build-up to next year's World Cup.

England get in right mood for SA crunch

ENGLAND overcame a shaky first half to score 17 unanswered second-half points to beat an impressive Georgia outfit on Friday.

Caluori grabs his chance but Ireland on top

NOAH Caluori burst onto the scene on his international debut but his wonder try wasn't enough as England were well beaten by Ireland in the opening round of the series on Monday.

Playing England 7s was an incredible experience

I KNOW I'm going to be on the sidelines for a very long time after I retire so while the body is still willing-which it is at the moment just about at 45 then I'm going to continue playing as long as I can.

Bath out to go one step further this time around

TWO years after finishing bottom of the Premiership, Bath were a score away from the title.

Prop Tayack returns after horror year

JAY Tayack, grateful to be back fit and healthy, was unveiled to supporters as Cornish Pirates' latest signing at their Meet The Players evening on Thursday.

An age-old problem for Farrell and Lions

THIS time next year Andy Farrell will know if he got his selection matrix right for the 2025 Lions series against Australia, because it will either be a triumphal return for the head coach - or the Wallabies springing one of the biggest upsets in sport.

Titans hit six ahead of return to National One

FOLLOWING their enthralling National Two North title race last season, Rotherham and Leeds Tykes met once again with the Titans coming out on top 40-7.

No scrums? No problem Springboks for

LAST week in Brisbane Pieter Steph Du Toit famously asked Luke Pearce: \"Where's the scrum?\" when presented with a choice of three separate penalties.

Once again, Pumas fail to back it up

ONE of the question most able truisms in rugby is that wet weather is a great leveller.

Classy Jordan shows the way as All Blacks get back in old routine

WILL Jordan continued his try-a-game scoring spree as the All Blacks avenged last week's reverse to Argentina and made it 50 undefeated matches at their Garden of Eden.

Aussies on a long road to recovery

EXPECTATIONS in Australia will be pretty low after back-toback defeats to South Africa in the opening rounds of the Rugby Championship, but, given the way the Wallabies played in the 2023 World Cup, there was no reason for them to be sky-high heading into the tournament.

South American sides facing unfair hurdles

AFTER World Rugby confirmed the qualification process for the 2027 World Cup, among frustration South American nations was tempered only by the fact that they were expecting nothing better.