7:53 AM BST After all that has happened in Australian rugby over the past 18 months, it seems fitting that a new competition will begin with the nation’s oldest rugby rivalry – in a game that promotes the best of its ‘generation next’. Friday night’s Super Rugby AU opener between Queensland Reds and NSW Waratahs

12:24 AM BST England lock Maro Itoje says the singing of ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ by fans at Twickenham makes him uneasy but the Rugby Football Union (RFU) should try to educate supporters on its origins rather than ban the popular anthem altogether. The song, believed to have been written by a slave in the

4:00 PM BST England internationals Courtney Lawes and Lewis Ludlam have signed contract extensions at Northampton Saints, the club announced on Tuesday. Fellow England teammates Teimana Harrison, Piers Francis and George Furbank also extended their deals at the club, while Wales fly-half Dan Biggar and Scotland centre Rory Hutchinson also agreed new terms. This year’s

12:50 PM BST New Zealand were awarded the men’s and women’s World Sevens Series titles on Tuesday after World Rugby cancelled the remainder of the season because of the coronavirus outbreak. Tournaments in London, Paris, Singapore and Hong Kong were cancelled on the men’s tour, while the women’s circuit lost rounds in the United States,

1:28 AM BST NSW Rugby chief executive Paul Doorn has played down reports of player strike action, saying the Waratahs, at least, are 100 percent committed to Super Rugby AU and helping the code survive in the state amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On a day when NSW Rugby announced an organizational restructure, which includes the

6:02 AM BST ESPN staff Wallabies legend Matt Giteau has denied any reports he has signed with Los Angeles-based Major League Rugby team LA Giltinis. Speaking on the Tight Five podcast, Giteau dismissed reports from The Sydney Morning Herald that he was the latest high profile rugby player eyeing a move to the U.S. league.

1:18 AM BST Super Rugby Aotearoa Round 3 saw wins for the Blues and the Crusaders, though the scorelines may have been a little closer than many had predicted. Both matches went down to the wire, with the Highlanders and Chiefs each having the chance to steal victories on the road inside the final few

6:12 PM BST Former Scotland international Josh Strauss has left the Super Rugby Bulls after a salary cut caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and amid an overhaul of the squad by new coach Jake White. The 33-year-old loose forward, who was in Scotland’s squad at the 2015 World Cup, spent just six months at the

11:25 AM BST The Champions Cup and Challenge Cup knockout stages, which were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, will take place in September with the respective finals on Oct. 16 and 17, European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) announced on Thursday. The quarterfinals of both competitions will be played on the weekend of Sept. 18-20

9:41 AM BST The Rugby World Cup held in Japan last year was the most economically successful World Cup to date, attracting some 242,000 international visitors and adding £2.3 billion to the country’s GDP, a report said on Wednesday. It was also “the biggest single-sport event ever held in Japan,” said the report, which was