Rugby

1:38 PM GMT Having navigated through the opening two rounds of the 2021 Six Nations unscathed, we’re a match down this weekend after Sunday’s championship match between France and Scotland was postponed. France have been battling a growing number of COVID-19 cases in their squad and there was optimism the match would take place through

2:40 PM GMT England have suffered another Six Nations injury blow with Courtney Lawes ruled out for the rest of the championship. The forward wasn’t due to feature for Eddie Jones’ side against Wales this weekend and sustained a pectoral injury in England training on Wednesday which has ruled him out for the rest of

12:55 PM GMT The 2023 Rugby World Cup will kick off with a mouth-watering Pool A clash between hosts France and three-time champions New Zealand, organisers said on Friday. England will start their Pool D campaign against Argentina on Sept. 9 in Marseille, where world champions South Africa will take on Scotland the day after

8:35 AM GMT The second season of New Zealand’s Super Rugby Aotearoa got off to a cracking start when the Crusaders held off the Highlanders 26-13 in Dunedin on Friday evening. Tries from Codie Taylor, Bryn Hall, Sevu Reece and Brodie McAlister earned the reigning champions their first four points of the season in front

11:01 AM GMT England have made two changes for their trip to Wales on Saturday in the Six Nations with uncapped George Martin named among the replacements. Jamie George and Mark Wilson return to England’s starting XV for the match in Cardiff, while Martin could make his England debut if given the chance from the

12:55 PM GMT Wales coach Wayne Pivac has opted for midfield muscle and selected Jonathan Davies to play at inside centre alongside George North in the Six Nations clash with England at the Principality Stadium on Saturday. Davies will make his first appearance of 2021 after being recalled to the side, while North, 28, is

11:34 AM GMT Ireland refreshed their pack for Saturday’s Six Nations trip to Italy and welcomed Johnny Sexton back after the captain missed the loss to leaders France in a disappointing start to the tournament. Ireland boss Andy Farrell has made seven changes from their disappointing start to the tournament. Ronan Kelleher, who scored one

9:14 AM GMT France’s Six Nations game against Scotland was in doubt again on Thursday after the French rugby federation (FFR) suspended training due to another player testing positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number infected to 11. The entire squad was now isolating, FFR said. After two days without a new case in the

2:22 AM GMT Auckland’s City Kickboxing is resisting a request from the UFC to remove the silver fern logo from its fighters’ uniforms, including middleweight champion Israel Adesanya who next weekend also fights for the light heavyweight title against Jan Blachowicz. ESPN understands the UFC was contacted by someone at New Zealand Rugby [NZR] over

1:39 PM GMT France’s Six Nations match against Scotland in Paris will go ahead on Sunday as planned after the hosts reported no further positive COVID-19 tests for a second consecutive day, organisers said on Wednesday. “Further to a meeting of the Six Nations Testing Oversight Group (TOG) this morning to review the latest test

11:06 AM GMT Five more players from France’s Six Nations squad — including captain Charles Ollivon — have tested positive for COVID-19, the French rugby federation (FFR) said on Monday, bringing the number of infected players to 10. Cyril Baille, Peato Mauvaka, Romain Taofifenua, Brice Dulin and Ollivon were the players who returned positive tests

8:22 PM GMT Associated Press France’s star scrum-half Antoine Dupont and four other first-team players who tested positive for COVID-19 are out of the squad for next Sunday’s Six Nations match against Scotland. The French rugby federation (FFR) said on Sunday that further tests carried out on Saturday showed that prop Julien Marchand and center

1:20 PM GMT New Zealand’s World Cup-winning fly-half Dan Carter announced on Saturday his retirement from professional rugby after an illustrious 19-year career. The 38-year-old, capped 112 times by New Zealand, played his last test in 2015 when he produced a man-of-the-match display to help the All Blacks to victory over Australia in the World

5:57 PM GMT France scrum-half and star player Antoine Dupont is set to miss his side’s Six Nations game against Scotland after testing positive for COVID-19 on Friday. All the players in the 31-man squad had been tested and so far 11 had been negative, with Dupont the only one to return a positive test,

5:56 PM GMT Wales have called up prop WillGriff John to their Six Nations squad to replace the injured Dillon Lewis, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) announced on Friday. Lewis will miss the rest of the Six Nations campaign after sustaining a neck injury. – Play ESPN’s Rugby Pick’em for FREE Sale Sharks’ John, 28,

11:14 AM GMT Nine minutes of brilliance were all the Queensland Reds needed to spark the new-look Super Rugby AU season into life during a crushing 41-7 home win over the NSW Waratahs. The hosts had scored 24 of their points by the 18th minute but only after the Waratahs had scored first – their

11:26 AM GMT Ireland’s Caelan Doris is unlikely to return for the remainder of the Six Nations after coach Andy Farrell said the Leinster back-rower would be out for the “foreseeable future” because of concussion symptoms. Doris, 22, had been named in the initial 37-man squad for the tournament but was withdrawn after reporting symptoms

12:12 PM GMT The Wallabies at last have options at No. 10 but the team is crying out for one or more of them to stamp their authority on Super Rugby AU in the same way that Richie Mo’unga made an irresistible All Blacks case across the Tasman with the Crusaders. The opportunity is there