1:09 AM BST ESPN staff All Blacks coach Ian Foster has made two backline changes for the series-deciding Test against Ireland, while also handing Roger Tuivasa-Sheck his first chance at international rugby. The former NRL star will come off the bench to make his Test debut at Sky Stadium in Wellington, while David Havili and

Jul 14, 2022 Billy Vunipola was once sceptical about psychologists but says near-daily chats with a specialist have played a major part in the England number eight’s return to top form in Australia. After a period of international exile, Vunipola produced his finest performance for his country in years on Saturday as England levelled the

11:40 PM BST Harry Wilson’s long wait for a Wallabies return has come to an end, with the Queensland Reds back-rower set to be named in the run-on squad to face England in the third and deciding Test in Sydney. Wilson has not played a Test since the opening game against France in July last

The Wallabies expect more consistency from powerhouse prop Taniela Tupou while Allan Alaalatoa is also available, boosting to their hopes of toppling England in the deciding third Test on Saturday night. After two months out with a calf injury, Tupou’s return was patchy in Australia’s 25-17 second-Test loss in Brisbane. He crashed over for a

11:16 AM BST France displaced South Africa at the top of the world rankings on Monday, while New Zealand slumped to an all-time low of fourth after a stunning northern hemisphere sweep of the major July tests at the weekend. Fourteen months before they host the World Cup, France reached the pinnacle of the rankings

Queensland outcast Lukhan Salakaia-Loto has answered a SOS from the injury-hit Wallabies, with young Waratahs speedster Mark Nawaqanitawase also called up ahead of the deciding Test against England. Lock/back-rower Salakaia-Loto is in line for a bench role for the crunch match at the SCG on Saturday after being plucked out of club rugby in Brisbane.

9:50 AM BST Namibia qualified for their seventh successive Rugby World Cup finals, comprehensively beating Kenya 36-0 on Sunday in Aix-en-Provence, France to win the Rugby Africa Cup. Namibia’s reward is a place in Pool A with hosts France, New Zealand, Italy and Uruguay at the tournament in September next year. Flanker Wian Conradie, who

8:57 AM BST Lock Maro Itoje has been ruled out of England’s third and decisive test against Australia on Saturday because of concussion. Itoje, 27, suffered a head knock in the Brisbane test and had already been ruled out of the series decider at Sydney Cricket Ground. 1 Related Flanker Sam Underhill has also been

2:41 AM BST Hand outstretched, palm up, Izaia Perese leapt into the air for an attempted intercept which would have seen him charging downfield for a potential try. Instead, the ball bounced off his fingertips and moments later he was sent to the sinbin. “Clear, deliberate knock-on… yellow card,” referee Andrew Brace said after TMO

11:00 PM BST England coach Eddie Jones has blasted the state of Test rugby, with the laws of the game again the major talking point after his side’s win over the Wallabies. Australian winger Izaia Perese and Jones’ playmaker Marcus Smith were both given 10-minute sin-bins for what were deemed deliberate knock downs when they