9:01 PM GMT The incomparable reign of Steve Hansen as All Blacks coach will finish after next year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan. Hansen has announced next year will be his eighth and last in charge of the world champions, ending with what he hopes is the successful defence of the Webb Ellis Cup. The

11:56 PM GMT Accomplished All Blacks outside back Ben Smith will leave New Zealand to play rugby in France after next year’s Rugby World Cup. The classy 76-Test wing/fullback has signed to play for French Top 14 club Pau, which has contracted numerous former New Zealand Test players in recent years and is coached by

6:30 AM GMT ESPN staff Champion back-rower David Pocock is backing under fire Wallabies coach Michael Cheika but says he has concerns of a different kind over his own neck. Pocock, who won two Rugby Union Players’ Association awards on Wednesday, offered his support for Cheika as Rugby Australia continues a review of the Wallabies’

10:50 PM GMT Premiership Rugby are set to finalise a £200 million-plus deal with CVC Capital Partners before Christmas, according to reports on Tuesday. The 13 members of Premiership Rugby, comprising of the 12 top-flight clubs and London Irish, are close to agreeing to the deal, which would sell a 30 percent share of the

1:41 PM GMT Johnny Sexton has signed a contract extension with the Irish Rugby Football Union which will see him play rugby in Ireland up to the end of the 2020/21 season. The IRFU announced Tuesday that Leinster fly-half Sexton, who was recently named 2018 World Rugby player of the year, had extended his stay.

Dec 11, 2018 ESPN staff Pote Human has been appointed head coach of the Bulls’ Super Rugby team, replacing John Mitchell after the New Zealander departed the Pretoria-based franchise in September to take up a position as England’s defence coach. Human’s appointment for the 2019 season was something of a shock even though he had

Dec 11, 2018 ESPN staff Rassie Erasmus will step down as Springboks coach after the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. Erasmus made the announcement in an exclusive and wide-ranging interview with SuperSport commentator Matt Pearce, in which he reflected on his first year in charge as both head coach of the Boks and Director

2:17 PM GMT South Africa will play just two home Tests next year during a curtailed build-up to the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, with Johannesburg and Pretoria set to host the matches. There is no June international window in World Cup year and the Rugby Championship has been cut to three fixtures per

10:29 AM GMT Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill has said the England job can be “a hiding to nothing” amid speculation he could succeed Eddie Jones. A number of names, including Warren Gatland and Stuart Lancaster, have been linked to the position since interim RFU chief executive Nigel Melville told reporters that the search to

8:04 AM GMT Maro Itoje is expected to be fit for the start of the Six Nations in February after Saracens’ director of rugby Mark McCall said the England forward does not need surgery to repair a knee injury. Itoje, 24, was injured at England’s training camp in Portugal before the start of the November