2:33 AM BST ESPN staff World Rugby has reinforced its commitment to improving player welfare with the introduction of guidelines for the amount of contact and set-piece training undertaken each week. In conjunction with International Rugby Players [IRP], World Rugby has created guidelines that will seek to reduce the amount of injuries “while maintaining or

4:14 PM BST Sara Cox is set to make history as the first woman to referee a Gallagher Premiership game, at Twickenham on Saturday. In 2016, Cox became the first referee who is female in the Rugby Football Union, and in 2020 became the first to work as an assistant referee in English rugby’s top

9:00 AM BST England boss Eddie Jones has named eight uncapped players in a 45-player squad for the next training camp, but there is no place in the mix for Saracens quartet Mako Vunipola, Billy Vunipola, Jamie George or the injured Elliot Daly. The large squad will meet for a two-day training camp next week

6:26 AM BST All Blacks forwards coach John Plumtree is expecting a “titanic” battle up front when New Zealand and South Africa meet in their 100th Test match in the Rugby Championship on Saturday. Plumtree, who coached for many years in South Africa, did not expect the Springboks to vary much from the strategy that

12:12 PM BST The African qualifiers for the 2023 Rugby World Cup will be staged as a knockout tournament in France next year, organisers said on Monday. The top eight African teams compete in the Rugby Africa Cup 2022 in France, which will serve as the last qualifying round for the 2023 World Cup. The

7:34 AM BST Rugby will be dead in five years if more teams copy South Africa’s approach to the game, England’s World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward said, criticising the world champions’ reluctance to run with the ball and heavy reliance on the set piece. South Africa, who play Australia in the Rugby Championship on Saturday,

3:47 AM BST Damian McKenzie will make his first Test start at fly-half for three years against Argentina in Brisbane on Saturday after All Blacks coach Ian Foster completely overhauled his team for their fourth Rugby Championship clash. The fleet-footed playmaker, who has made all his Tests starts since 2018 at fullback, came off the

2:39 PM BST Sale Sharks director of rugby Alex Sanderson has urged players to get vaccinated as Premiership Rugby introduced relaxed rules for teams with high coronavirus vaccination rates. On Monday, Premiership Rugby said in a statement that clubs would be allowed to loosen COVID-19 restrictions, such as relaxing social distancing measures and removing the

10:46 AM BST South Africa will be without key lock Lood de Jager for the second Rugby Championship Test with Australia in Brisbane on Saturday. This is one of two changes by coach Jacques Nienaber for the must-win game. De Jager suffered a concussion in the 28-26 defeat in the Gold Coast on Sunday and

11:39 PM BST Aaron Smith has played his last game for New Zealand in the Rugby Championship this year, with the scrum-half to remain at home for the birth of his second child. The All Blacks No. 9 did not travel to Australia with the squad ahead of the Test with the Wallabies in Perth,