Rugby

3:56 AM BST Hoskins Sotutu will make his first start of the year when the All Blacks take on the Wallabies in their Bledisloe Cup Test in Melbourne, with coach Ian Foster naming him to replace star No.8 Ardie Savea. New Zealand were forced to name a new-look back-row with Savea to miss Thursday night’s

10:57 PM BST Springbok flyhalf Elton Jantjies will return to South Africa for personal reasons ahead of the Rugby Championship test against Argentina on Saturday, South African Rugby said on Sunday. The Rapport newspaper said Jantjies, who is married, and Springbok team dietician Zeenat Simjee stayed together in a guest house ahead of the squad

3:29 PM BST Three of French rugby’s most prominent figures went on trial on Wednesday accused of offences linked to suspect commercial deals. National federation president Bernard Laporte and top division club Montpellier’s owner Mohed Altrad are charged with influence peddling in connection with sponsorship of the national team. Prosecutors allege that Laporte used undue

2:01 PM BST France centre Virimi Vakatawa is not allowed to continue playing in France because of a heart condition, his Top 14 club Racing 92 said on Tuesday. Vakatawa is suffering from a condition likely to put him at risk when playing high-intensity sports according to Racing team doctor Sylvain Blanchard, a member of

8:29 AM BST Sam Bruce Close ESPN Associate Editor Sam was brought up on long drives and the dusty fields of north-west New South Wales, where he developed his love of rugby from an early age. He joined ESPNscrum after a five-year stint heading up Fox Sports Australia’s digital rugby coverage. Brittany Mitchell Close ESPN

7:54 AM BST Australia captain James Slipper wants his Wallabies teammates to remember the pain inflicted on them by South Africa on Saturday as the world champions claimed a 24-8 Rugby Championship win over their hosts in Sydney. The Springboks bounced back from a defeat against the Australians in Adelaide on Aug. 27 to hand

2:06 AM BST All Blacks coach Ian Foster called his team’s crushing 53-3 bonus point victory over Argentina on Saturday “ruthless” as New Zealand bounced back from their first-ever loss on home soil against the South Americans last week. Foster picked the same line-up for the comprehensive win in Hamilton as had been defeated by

2:49 PM BST For the first time in 2022 the Wallabies played the same starting fifteen two weeks in a row as they desperately looked for consistency. Instead, the team that shot out of the blocks in Adelaide, struggled under the Springboks’ relentless kicking game and lost the territory battle to fall 24-8. Playing the

4:54 AM BST All Blacks coach Ian Foster has shuffled his reserves with the return of Beauden Barrett and Brodie Retallick but kept his starting 15 unchanged as the home side look to turn the tables on Argentina in Saturday’s Rugby Championship clash. The All Blacks suffered their first ever defeat to the Pumas on

2:31 AM BST The man who made the Wallabies No. 11 jersey famous around the world has challenged Marika Koroibete to take his game to another level again, after the winger’s brilliant man-of-the-match showing in Adelaide last weekend. Rugby World Cup winner and 101-Test Wallabies great David Campese was full of praise for Koroibete after

6:44 AM BST Young Wallabies playmaker Noah Lolesio has been urged to shed his ‘nice guy’ image and ramp up his assertiveness as he works to nail down the crucial No.10 role. Attack coach Scott Wisemantel says the 22-year-old was “solid” in Australia’s 25-17 win over South Africa last weekend, but he wants to see

2:46 AM BST The 2022 Rugby Championship continues to throw up surprises, as Argentina recorded a second history-making win in two years, only this time they defeated the All Blacks on their home patch. The Pumas’ stunning 25-18 victory in Christchurch followed the Wallabies’ impressive 25-17 triumph over the Springboks, who only improved that scoreline

4:19 AM BST Reuters with ESPN staff All Blacks coach Ian Foster said his team needed to be better at keeping their composure late in matches after they lost to Argentina on home soil for the first time in Christchurch on Saturday. Traditionally strong finishers, New Zealand looked to have the game in the bag

3:38 AM BST Argentina stunned the All Blacks by beating the three-times world champions for the first time on New Zealand soil with a 25-18 victory in a Rugby Championship Test in Christchurch on Saturday. The Pumas achieved their first ever win over New Zealand just two years ago in another championship match in Sydney

1:05 AM BST Liam Napier The All Blacks and Michael Cheika have history. From the 2015 World Cup final, when the then Wallabies coach was captured at his side’s captain’s run at Twickenham brandishing a sheet of paper with apparent plans to “rattle” Kieran Read and target wings Julian Savea and Nehe Milner-Skudder, to his

9:28 PM BST The Wallabies have made yet another change at fullback, recalling Reece Hodge to the starting side to face the Springboks at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday afternoon. Hodge replaces Tom Wright in the No. 15 jersey, after the Brumbies flyer started both of Australia’s Tests against Argentina at the back, which the

8:12 AM BST Quade Cooper is backing dumped playmaker James O’Connor to regain form and force his way back into the Wallabies’ ranks in time for next year’s Rugby World Cup. Cooper, who has been sidelined since rupturing an Achilles tendon in Australia’s Rugby Championship clash with Argentina earlier this month, has been joined on

2:30 PM BST South Africa have made two changes to their starting line-up for the Rugby Championship clash with Australia at Adelaide Oval on Saturday as coach Jacques Nienaber also cut a member from their famous ‘Bomb Squad’ on the bench. Warrick Gelant will start on the right wing in the place of the injured