Rugby

11:27 PM GMT AAP, with ESPN staff WELLINGTON — Hurricanes match-winner Ben Lam will depart at the end of the Super Rugby season to take up a contract with French club Bordeaux. Lam, 28, was a long-serving New Zealand sevens player and emerged in recent seasons as an All Blacks candidate, without getting a call-up.

12:12 PM GMT Prop Mako Vunipola will miss England’s Six Nations game against Ireland on Sunday after returning to Tonga for family reasons. Vunipola wasn’t named in England coach Eddie Jones’ 33-man squad released on Tuesday and will miss his second game of the tournament. – ESPN Fantasy Rugby is back! Click here to pick

7:28 AM GMT As Australian rugby keeps its fingers crossed for an improved broadcast deal, this was not the weekend Rugby Australia administrators were after. The Brumbies and Reds were both in positions to win their respective matches over the Highlanders and Reds, only for a lack of discipline — perhaps some dubious refereeing in

6:05 AM GMT The Stormers shot to the top of the South African conference with a breakthrough win on the Highveld as Australian teams plumbed alarming depths in the third round of Super Rugby. A last-gasp try to centre Ruhan Nel secured victory in a 33-30 thriller over the Lions in Johannesburg and ensured the

4:52 PM GMT Saracens and England prop Mako Vunipola said he has “no regrets” about entering into business ventures with the club’s former chairman Nigel Wray, speaking in the wake of its relegation from the Premiership for breaching salary cap rules. Saracens, who have won four Premiership titles and three European crowns in the past

3:45 PM GMT Allianz will end its sponsorship of the Saracens team and stadium at the end of the season, the German insurance group announced on Thursday. The company has sponsored Saracens since 2012 and it’s contract with the club wasn’t due to finish until 2021. – ESPN Fantasy Rugby is back! Click here to

3:10 PM GMT England hooker Jamie George says he will continue to play for Saracens next season despite them being relegated from the Premiership for breaching salary cap rules. The futures of several England players, including captain Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje and the Vunipola brothers Billy and Mako, were thrown into doubt when Premiership Rugby

2:46 PM GMT England coach Eddie Jones confirmed on Thursday that centre Manu Tuilagi has recovered from a groin injury and will be available for their next Six Nations fixture against Ireland. Jones also confirmed that Bath full-back Anthony Watson and Exeter centre Henry Slade remain out of action but that Slade had completed his

Feb 13, 2020 Israel Folau is set to make his Catalans Dragons debut against Castleford in the Super League on Saturday. Coach Steve McNamara named his 21-man squad on Thursday for the game at the Gilbert Brutus Stadium with Folau included at No. 4. Folau wasn’t named in either squad for the two games the

Feb 13, 2020 Harlequins have confirmed the signing of South Africa international Wilco Louw for the 2020-21 season. Louw, 25, will join from Super Rugby side Stormers at the end of the campaign. The prop is set to replace outgoing England international Kyle Sinckler who has signed for Bristol Bears. – ESPN Fantasy Rugby is

8:08 AM GMT The Hong Kong and Singapore Sevens are both set to be postponed until October due to concerns over the coronavirus outbreak, sources have told ESPN. The Hong Kong leg of the HSBC World Sevens Series was set to take place April 3-6, with Singapore a week later, but both legs are now

8:08 AM GMT The Hong Kong and Singapore Sevens will be postponed until October due to concerns over the coronavirus outbreak, World Rugby announced on Thursday. Sources had told ESPN that both legs would be rescheduled and the organisation has confirmed the Singapore tournament will take place from Oct. 10-11 and Hong Kong will run

Feb 13, 2020 The end of a Rugby World Cup year often sparks a mass exodus of players and coaches to greener pastures, and the 2019 event in Japan, won by South Africa, was no different. The Southern Hemisphere giants, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia, all have new coaches at the helm, with Jacques

8:58 PM GMT The Rugby Football Union (RFU) said on Wednesday it was cutting its funding of clubs in the Championship, the second tier of English rugby union, by almost half next season. The RFU said its contribution towards the 12 Championship clubs next season will be around 3.46 million pounds ($4.48 million), or 288,000

11:24 AM GMT France wing Vincent Rattez will miss the rest of the 2020 Six Nations after he suffered a fractured fibula in his team’s 35-22 win over Italy on Sunday. The La Rochelle player, 27, confirmed the news via an Instagram post. – ESPN Fantasy Rugby is back! Click here to pick your team!

3:25 PM GMT Wales fly-half Owen Williams has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2020 Six Nations after suffering a hamstring injury in the warm-up before his side’s 24-14 loss against Ireland. Williams, who has three international caps, was named on the bench for last weekend’s Championship defeat, but was unable to come

2:36 PM GMT South Africa’s 2019 Rugby World Cup-winning coach Rassie Erasmus has revealed what he told his side before the final in Japan in November. The Springboks won the Rugby World Cup for the third time when Erasmus’s side defeated England 32-12 in the final in Yokohama. 2 Related “You don’t have the right

4:29 PM GMT Scotland coach Gregor Townsend has said that it has been made “clear” that fly-half Finn Russell can have a future with Scottish Rugby but only if he can “accept and adhere” to the standards of the team. The comments were made by Townsend in a statement on Monday afternoon after Russell gave