7:53 AM GMT Brumbies favourite Christian Lealiifano will pen another chapter in a remarkable career after being named sole captain of the Super Rugby club. The Brumbies and Rebels hit Canberra’s Viking Park for the first of a swag of preseason Super Rugby trials, the hosts emerging victorious on the back of a big day

1:52 PM GMT Sam Johnson will make his international debut for Scotland in the Six Nations opening match against Italy in Edinburgh on Saturday. The Glasgow Warriors centre is one of the three uncapped players named in the Scotland squad with Jake Kerr and Gary Graham on the substitutes bench. Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend

1:45 PM GMT Ireland coach Joe Schmidt has named his team to face England in Dublin on Feb. 2. The match is the final game of the first round of the Six Nations. Leinster fly-half Johnny Sexton starts, having recovered from a knee tendon injury, and Robbie Henshaw is a surprise starter at full-back, having

10:59 PM GMT ESPN staff Fiji star Nemani Nadolo has revealed he has hung up the Fiji jersey just eight months out from the Rugby World Cup in an emotional Instagram post. Nadolo revealed both on-field and off-field issues had led to the decision to step away from international duties, but said he looked forward

1:09 PM GMT James Harrington It is now as easy to measure the countdown to the Six Nations in hours as in days, with the first match – France v Wales – kicking off in Paris on Friday evening. And that means time for you to finalise your ESPN Fantasy Rugby team is disappearing fast.

11:01 AM GMT ESPN staff Duane Vermeulen signed for the Bulls instead of the Stormers because “it was the right thing to do” after the Pretoria-based Super Rugby franchise were “the first team to reach out to me last year”. The two Super Rugby franchises were interested last year in signing the Springboks No.8 for

1:53 PM GMT Bulls and South Africa lock R.G. Snyman has undergone ankle surgery and will miss the opening two months of of the season, his Super Rugby franchise has announced . Snyman returned to the Bulls at the weekend from a brief stint at Honda Heat in Japan, where he sustained an ankle injury.

10:21 AM GMT England defence coach John Mitchell believes that Ireland will attempt to “bore the s—” out of England when the two sides meet in the Six Nations opener this weekend. Ireland defeated England in the tournament on their way to claiming the Grand Slam last year and Mitchell is convinced that Ireland will

11:07 PM GMT Wallabies veteran Adam Ashley-Cooper has signed a one-year deal to return to NSW Waratahs for the upcoming Super Rugby season. The 34-year-old outside back wants to use the opportunity to push his claims to play for the Wallabies at a fourth World Cup in Japan later in the year. Based overseas since