5:27 AM BST One of the great fixtures on New Zealand’s rugby calendar is at last again a reality, with the North Island vs. South Island game set to be played at Wellington’s Sky Stadium on Saturday evening [NZT, 3am ET]. The rugby season, like all other sporting competitions in 2020, was turned on its

1:20 PM BST England’s rescheduled match against the Barbarians will be played on Oct. 25 with 20,000 supporters set to attend the game at Twickenham pending approval from public health authorities, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) said on Wednesday. The match, originally scheduled to take place on June 21 was postponed amid the coronavirus pandemic

9:28 AM BST ESPN staff A four-game Bledisloe Cup series is firming as the likely scenario for Test rugby in New Zealand and Australia this year with the chances of the Rugby Championship proceeding shortening by the day, according to Newshub. While SANZAAR remains bullish about the prospects of the tournament going ahead from Nov.

4:07 AM BST Reuters with ESPN staff SANZAAR has dismissed reports that world champions South Africa are to join an eight-team competition in Europe later this year rather than play in the Rugby Championship. World Rugby vice-president Bernard Laporte told French newspaper Le Progres that the Springboks would replace Japan in the European tournament, which

7:46 AM BST There is no-one more deserving of a salary-boosting six-month stint in Japanese rugby than Michael Hooper. The incumbent Wallabies captain has, for more than a decade, thrown himself into breakdown after breakdown, defensive line after defensive line, with little regard for his body. He has won countless key turnovers and scored the

3:28 AM BST ESPN staff Wellington’s Sky Stadium will play host to New Zealand’s North vs. South match but the game will be played behind closed doors, NZ Rugby confirmed on Wednesday. Originally slated for Aug. 29 at Eden Park in Auckland, the match was thrown into uncertainty when New Zealand experienced a second wave

3:24 AM BST South African rugby side Southern Kings will not take part in any competitions for the remainder of 2020, due to financial issues, officials confirmed on Tuesday. The Kings have faced crippling financial woes in recent months after a failed takeover bid, leading South Africa Rugby to assume control in June. The Kings,

2:53 AM BST Former All Blacks captain Kieran Read is to make a surprise return to New Zealand rugby for Counties Manukau in the country’s Mitre 10 Cup provincial championship that starts next month. Read, 34, left New Zealand after last year’s Rugby World Cup and played under his former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen

8:29 AM BST Australian rugby has made great strides over the last couple of months, and the inclusion of their Super Rugby teams in a joint competition with New Zealand is the next logical step, All Blacks coach Ian Foster believes. New Zealand and Australia have held their own editions of Super Rugby this year

1:57 AM BST Crusaders coach Scott Robertson said he has asked about joining the coaching staff of fellow New Zealander Warren Gatland when he leads the British & Irish Lions tour of South Africa next year. Robertson, who missed out on the All Blacks coaching job last year, said a role on the Lions tour