Wiese comes to the rescue for Leicester

JASPER Wiese made this wet night memorable for Leicester when he bulldozed and tiptoed his way over for a match-winning try in the 51st minute.

Cup rugby needs an injection of jeopardy

THE Heineken Cup, as we knew and loved it when Friday nights at Sardis Road and Saturday afternoons at Thomond Park were almost as exotic as a weekend in Paris or Toulouse, was the place where true rugby folk felt most alive. We must therefore ask ourselves how it became the tournament where boardroom mediocrity goes to die.

Toulon have too much power for Lyon

TOULON powered into the Challenge Cup semi-finals with an emphatic win over reigning champions Lyon at the Stade Félix Mayol

Conan leads the way for Leinster

MAN of the match Jack Conan believes Leinster will need to show a big improvement next weekend if they are to see off Leicester Tigers in the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup.

Costelow grabs it for Scarlets

SAM Costelow held his nerve with a touchline conversion to win a thrilling game and send Scarlets through to a home semi-final.

Too little, too late as Quins wilt in the sun

TABAI Matson conceded his side had “a steep, tough road to climb” in order to rescue the season as Quins crashed out of Europe in the Cape Town sunshine.

Gloucester to stunning so close triumph

BRAVE Gloucester, manifestly the better side on an evening of magnificent European rugby, threatened to pull off their greatest ever European triumph but came up agonisingly short at champions La Rochelle.

Countries now battling to find their place in a new world order

THE Heineken Champions Cup has become bigger. It has more teams taking part than before the pandemic and the presence of South Africa has added weight. But has it become better?

Saracens show they can thrive in adversity

THE European Champions Cup doesn’t get mentioned very much when you’re living in Bath these days, but this year at least we had great fun at a 25th anniversary celebration of the 1998 Bath team that became the first English club to win the title.

Lam dismisses Goode criticism of club spirit

PAT Lam dismisses claims by former England fly-half Andy Goode that some of his Bristol players, including prop Ellis Genge, are not bothered about performing for the club.

Haskell: Billy can still star for England

JAMES Haskell feels the door could be open for an international recall for his former England team-mate Billy Vunipola.

A rout which should force Sweeney and O'Shea to go

THOSE who want to turn rugby union in England into a protectionist franchise sport should reflect long and hard on the way Leicester were on the receiving end of a 55-24 quarter-final drubbing by Leinster in Dublin.

Cardiff pay price for poor discipline

BENETTON became the first Italian side to reach the semi-finals of the European Challenge Cup with former Wasps wing Marcus Watson scoring the crucial try.

Brown agrees new deal with Leicester

PATIENCE finally paid off for Mike Brown two months ago when the former England full-back’s determination to show he could still cut it in the Premiership yielded a contract with champions Leicester.

Farrell can play the Jonny role, says May

OWEN Farrell can be the “Jonny Wilkinson figure” England will need to capture a second Webb Ellis Cup in France.

Itoje sets sights on toppling champions

THREE-TIME Hein- eken Champions Cup winner Maro Itoje has encountered most things in rugby but a trip to La Rochelle is a step into the unknown and one the forward can’t wait to take.

Irish galacticos on song as Leicester are sent packing

LEINSTER, supercharged by Garry Ringrose on his return from injury, strolled into the Champions Cup semi-final in a style which suggests they will be claiming a fifth title next month.

Rampant Chiefs demolish Stormers

EXETER’S farewell party for their departing stars continues in full swing after they hit the Stormers with six tries to burst into the semi-finals of the Champions Cup.

Lawrence and Tuilagi the next centres of attention?

WITH only World Cup warm-ups to come in the international game this summer before the 2023 tournament starts, it’s fair to say that there are three outstanding centre combinations in place – and that England’s is not one of them.

Stage set for a Tiger attack

THIS is the stage of the season when momentum counts.

We'll be better by World Cup - Slade

ENGLAND may have endured another underwhelming Six Nations, losing more matches than they won for the third successive year, but Henry Slade believes they will be a different proposition in the World Cup this autumn.

'Rising risk of players taking their own lives'

Fears of players taking own lives

Ruthless Chiefs slay Canes to stay on top

Super Rugby Pacific round-up

Kolbe the latest to consider his future

HEADING into the business end of France’s Top 14 season, more than on-pitch matters remain up in the air - quite a few big name players are heading into the closing weeks of the season with their futures still in doubt.

Going abroad won't make players better

REALLY am getting fed up with the constant call from players wanting to have their cake and eat it by calling for a change in the overseas players selection policy, as if that will suddenly make everything that’s wrong in the game right.

It's double delight as Lucs finish on a high

THE home support was bouncing with this result, with Luctonians completing a deserved double over second-in-the-league Clifton, in what was a brutal tussle between two of the top four teams.

It was a real honour to lead Cov to promotion

ROWING up in North Lincolnshire, Leicester Tigers were my club. I idolised the ‘ABC Club’ so to get a phone call from Richard Cock erill asking me to come down and have a trial, and to then be coached by him and Graham Rowntree after winning a two-year academy deal at Tigers was a really big thing for me. I thought they’d be very hard operators but they were very patient with us young lads and the technical detail was next level.

England hit back with win over Italy

ENGLAND got their U18s Six Nations Festival back on track with a 26-10 victory over Italy.

How I'd cut down on a blight in modern game

WHAT is happening to our game? There were plenty of cheers for Ulster hooker Tom Stewart as he made it back-to-back hat-tricks with his three-try salvo against the Dragons on Friday night. It was a performance that took his league try tally in the URC this season to a record 16, overtaking the previous highest of 14 by wings Tim Visser and Rabz Maxwane.

Steward: We want to help Ashy get to that century

MIKE Brown has been left out of Tigers’ matchday 23 for the visit of Exeter today, with Freddie Steward joined in the back-three by the soon-tobe-retired Chris Ashton.