12:55 PM GMT Wales coach Wayne Pivac has opted for midfield muscle and selected Jonathan Davies to play at inside centre alongside George North in the Six Nations clash with England at the Principality Stadium on Saturday. Davies will make his first appearance of 2021 after being recalled to the side, while North, 28, is

2:43 PM GMT Sports minister Roxana Maracineanu threatened to withdraw the French team’s authorisation to play in the Six Nations if the rugby federation (FFR) does not properly investigate the origin of a COVID-19 outbreak within the squad. France’s game against Scotland was postponed after 11 French players, as well as staff, including head coach

2:40 PM GMT England have suffered another Six Nations injury blow with Courtney Lawes ruled out for the rest of the championship. The forward wasn’t due to feature for Eddie Jones’ side against Wales this weekend and sustained a pectoral injury in England training on Wednesday which has ruled him out for the rest of

1:38 PM GMT Having navigated through the opening two rounds of the 2021 Six Nations unscathed, we’re a match down this weekend after Sunday’s championship match between France and Scotland was postponed. France have been battling a growing number of COVID-19 cases in their squad and there was optimism the match would take place through

12:55 PM GMT The 2023 Rugby World Cup will kick off with a mouth-watering Pool A clash between hosts France and three-time champions New Zealand, organisers said on Friday. England will start their Pool D campaign against Argentina on Sept. 9 in Marseille, where world champions South Africa will take on Scotland the day after

2:22 AM GMT Auckland’s City Kickboxing is resisting a request from the UFC to remove the silver fern logo from its fighters’ uniforms, including middleweight champion Israel Adesanya who next weekend also fights for the light heavyweight title against Jan Blachowicz. ESPN understands the UFC was contacted by someone at New Zealand Rugby [NZR] over

3:45 PM GMT Italy coach Franco Smith has named an unchanged side for the visit of Ireland in Saturday’s Six Nations match. Young half-back pair Stephen Varney, 19, and Paolo Garbisi, 20, are again entrusted by Smith, with Juan Ignacio Brex earning his third cap at centre alongside Carlo Canna, who will reach a half

11:34 AM GMT Ireland refreshed their pack for Saturday’s Six Nations trip to Italy and welcomed Johnny Sexton back after the captain missed the loss to leaders France in a disappointing start to the tournament. – Play ESPN’s Rugby Pick’em for FREE Ronan Kelleher, who scored one of only two Irish tries in their opening

5:23 AM GMT Rugby Australia [RA] remains confident of striking a deal to screen Super Rugby AU into the United Kingdom and Ireland, after New Zealand Rugby confirmed Super Rugby Aotearoa would be shown into those markets via RugbyPass. Despite describing the response to Super Rugby AU’s opening weekend of action across the Nine Network

1:39 PM GMT France’s Six Nations match against Scotland in Paris will go ahead on Sunday as planned after the hosts reported no further positive COVID-19 tests for a second consecutive day, organisers said on Wednesday. “Further to a meeting of the Six Nations Testing Oversight Group (TOG) this morning to review the latest test