9:37 AM BST England captain Owen Farrell has tweaked his tackling technique in training to avoid getting sent off during the Rugby World Cup, defence coach John Mitchell has said. Farrell went unpunished following two incidents of “no-arms” tackles against South Africa and Australia last year, and the 27-year-old is mindful of the new disciplinary

7:44 AM BST Dealing with the extreme humidity during the World Cup in Japan will not be child’s play for any team, so Wales are keen to avoid slip-ups by splashing baby oil on rugby balls in training. Warren Gatland’s side begin their campaign against Georgia on Sept. 23, and lubricated balls are one of

9:03 AM BST Former Wales captain Gareth Thomas has revealed he has been living with HIV “for years” and appealed for support to “break the stigma” around the condition. Thomas, 45, said in a video posted on Twitter that he had been moved to go public about his health because he had received emails threatening

7:27 AM BST All Blacks loose forward Luke Jacobson has been ruled out of the Rugby World Cup due to a delayed onset of concussion and will be replaced by Shannon Frizell, the team said on Friday. The 22-year-old Jacobson had played just 20 minutes off the bench against Argentina before he was named in

Sep 13, 2019 Almost four years to the day, a relaxed Michael Cheika sat in the MacDonald Bath Spa Hotel. There were maybe 10 or so journalists who’d made the trip to the west country, half of whom had travelled north from Australia to cover what many believed could be the Wallabies’ shortest World Cup

12:51 AM BST Legendary flanker George Smith wants Wallabies coach Michael Cheika to persist with his recent back row combination, even if it means putting David Pocock on the bench. The veteran loose forward returned from a calf injury to play his first Test of the year in Australia’s final pre-World Cup hit out against

9:30 AM BST Gloucester fly-half Danny Cipriani and former England captain Dylan Hartley have told of their desperation to have been called up to head coach Eddie Jones’ 31-man Rugby World Cup squad last month, with both having been omitted from the final selection. Cipriani, 31, who was named Premiership player of the year and

2:32 AM BST The Wallabies set up camp in Odawara, in the shadow of Mount Fuji, at the start of the week and have since begun acclimatising to Japan’s warm autumn conditions ahead of the Rugby World Cup. Michael Cheika’s 31-man squad – plus change – hit the training paddock at 8am on Wednesday morning

7:56 AM BST Former Wales captain Sam Warburton has warned that a professional player could die on the pitch unless rugby union takes preemptive measures to improve safety. Warburton’s autobiography Open Side is being serialised in The Times and he has written of his concerns about rugby’s fatality rate in recent years. The 30-year-old cited

12:14 PM BST Craig Dowd Close Craig Dowd played 60 Tests for New Zealand between 1993 and 2000, including in two World Cups, and he was part of the All Blacks team that won their first series in South Africa in 1996. He played for the Blues and Auckland in New Zealand domestic rugby, and