Rugby

1:22 PM BST England prop Ellis Genge has said head coach Eddie Jones and himself suffered racist abuse during the tour to South Africa in 2018. The United Kingdom, along with several countries across the world, has seen the Black Lives Matter protests in various cities, which were sparked following the death of George Floyd,

11:07 PM BST World Rugby has announced the qualification process for the 2023 World Cup in France aimed at promoting a “genuine opportunity” for all unions, the game’s global body said on Monday. Twelve teams — South Africa, England, New Zealand, Wales, Japan, France, Australia, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Argentina and Fiji — have already qualified

10:35 AM BST French club Pau announced that they have dismissed former All Blacks fly-half Tom Taylor for leaving the country in March without permission during the coronavirus pandemic. Taylor, who played three tests for the All Blacks in 2013, left France on March 17 despite being asked to remain in the country in case

5:06 AM BST Crowds will be permitted to attend the opening round of Super Rugby Aotearoa this weekend, after New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed the country would shift to Alert Level 1 from midnight Monday [NZT]. In what is believed to be a first since the coronavirus pandemic put most professional sports on

6:44 PM BST Former France captain Jefferson Poirot has retired from international rugby at the age of 27 due to a lack of motivation. The Bordeaux-Begles prop said that he made the decision to retire from France duty immediately after his side’s 20-19 defeat to Wales during the Rugby World Cup in October and that

3:06 PM BST The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is seeking clarity on whether the UK government’s social distancing rules can be reduced from two metres to one so they can admit 40,000 fans into Twickenham Stadium for the November internationals, chief executive Bill Sweeney has said. Elite sport in England was given the green light

8:36 AM BST The Gallagher Premiership will aim to restart the season on Aug. 15, it announced on Friday. The league was originally scheduled to return on April 24 but has since been suspended indefinitely due to the coronavirus crisis. Last week, the UK government gave permission for elite sport to return behind closed doors

3:17 AM BST Injured rugby union player Michael Fatialofa will be discharged from a British hospital on Friday, his wife said, just five months after breaking his neck and fearing he would never walk again. “My delightful husband is coming home tomorrow night,” Fatialofa’s wife Tatiana said on her Twitter account on Thursday. “5 MONTHS

11:31 AM BST ESPN staff Two-time World Cup winner Dan Carter lobbed at Blues training on Thursday morning, five years after he left New Zealand and Super Rugby. Rumours of Carter’s impending return to New Zealand rugby emerged on Wednesday evening after a WhatsApp message from Blues coach Leon MacDonald was leaked. All that was

11:07 AM BST New Zealand Rugby is “optimistic” about hosting northern hemisphere teams in an international schedule later in 2020 as the country edges closer to lifting social distancing restrictions. New Zealand will decide on Monday whether it is ready to lower its COVID-19 alert system a notch to level 1, which would end curbs

10:00 PM BST New Zealand’s Super Rugby teams will be able to replace red-carded players and drawn matches may be decided by a golden-point tiebreaker when the country’s domestic competition starts on June 13, New Zealand Rugby (NZR) said on Tuesday. The changes are aimed at making the game more exciting for fans and will

12:05 PM BST England’s Gallagher Premiership and second-tier Championship clubs have been given the green light to resume individual training from Tuesday with strict social distancing measures, the Professional Game Board announced. Competitive sport has been suspended in the UK since March in response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 39,000 people.

5:09 AM BST Rugby Australia is in talks with the government about allowing New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina’s teams to enter the country and be based in a “hub” for a condensed Rugby Championship later in the year. After a two-month lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19, Australian authorities have allowed sports to

11:33 AM BST With South Africa moving to Level 3 of the nationwide State of Disaster lockdown on June 1, professional sports teams have been given the green light to resume non-contact training behind closed doors. As of Monday, teams and individual athletes, including rugby and football, will be allowed to train under social distancing

1:36 PM BST Resuming training is safer than visiting a supermarket and some Gallagher Premiership players and coaches are “finding all the reasons” to avoid returning to play amid the coronavirus pandemic, Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter said on Thursday. Exeter were top of the standings when the season was suspended in March

5:09 AM BST ESPN staff Major League Rugby [MLR] will welcome a new franchise from 2021 with the LA Giltinis confirmed as one of two expansion teams for next season. And they have already acquired some expertise in the coaching ranks with veteran Australian coach Darren Coleman [head coach] and former Wallabies back-rower Stephen Hoiles

12:12 PM BST World Rugby’s Executive Committee has approved 10 optional law trials for member nations to implement to minimise the risk of spreading the novel coronavirus through player contact, the global governing body said on Thursday. The trials are designed to reduce contact in rucks, scrums and mauls by 25%-50% and unions will be

11:57 PM BST World Rugby has rejected a proposal for an unofficial World Cup event next year aimed at boosting the game’s finances after the coronavirus stoppage. Former Rugby Football Union CEO Francis Baron had put forward a plan for a six-week 16-team invitational tournament in the UK and Ireland which he said could raise