Rugby

3:13 PM GMT England fly-half George Ford will leave Leicester at the end of the season to join Sale, the Premiership club have confirmed. Ford, who has won 77 England caps, has signed a three-year contract with Sale after declining to extend his stay at Welford Road. The 28-year-old has made 113 appearances for Leicester

12:16 AM GMT Liam Napier A humbling loss to Ireland has the All Blacks hurting, and rightly so. Not since the 2019 World Cup semifinal have they been so comprehensively outplayed. Worryingly, many of the same crippling flaws England brutally exposed that evening in Yokohama remain prevalent. A response this weekend, in the final Test

9:28 PM GMT ESPN staff Wallabies skipper Michael Hooper has been ruled out of his side’s season finale in Cardiff after suffering a foot injury in Saturday’s loss to England. Hooper left the field in the 54th minute of the 32-15 loss at Twickenham, before scans on Monday confirmed the flanker had suffered a grade

4:47 PM GMT Captain Owen Farrell and hooker Jamie George will miss England’s final autumn test against South Africa on Saturday due to injuries sustained in last weekend’s 32-15 win over Australia, the Rugby Football Union said on Monday. Farrell suffered an ankle injury that forced him off in the second half, while George hurt

2:39 PM GMT England’s Maro Itoje will challenge Australia captain Michael Hooper and teammate Samu Kerevi for the men’s player of the year, while scrum-half Antoine Dupont became the first Frenchman to be shortlisted for the award since 2012, World Rugby announced on Monday. Itoje won his 50th cap in the victory against Australia at

1:57 PM GMT Ireland captain Johnny Sexton will miss their final autumn international series test against Argentina after being ruled out for between four to six weeks due to injury, the Irish Rugby Football Union said on Monday. The fly-half, 36, twisted a knee and ankle in the win over New Zealand in Dublin at

11:19 PM GMT The Wallabies have six days to work out “how to get something going” or risk having the green shoots they sowed on home soil shriveling up on what has fast become a disappointing tour of the United Kingdom. Saturday night’s 32-15 defeat by England was perhaps the most deflating Australian loss of

5:43 PM GMT Hooker Ryan Elias scored two tries as Wales laboured to a flattering 38-23 victory over sparkling Fiji, who received a first-half red card but showed plenty of fight in their autumn international clash at the Principality Stadium on Sunday. Scrum-half Kieran Hardy, full-back Liam Williams, and wings Alex Cuthbert and Louis Rees-Zammit

3:19 PM GMT France geared up for next weekend’s much-awaited clash with New Zealand by labouring to a 41-15 victory over Georgia in Bordeaux on Sunday. Les Bleus lacked their usual precision but prevailed thanks to six tries, two each by flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert and hooker Peato Mauvaka, one from winger Damian Penaud and a

8:14 PM GMT Kathleen McNamee There were still two minutes on the clock when James Lowe sank to his knees, raised his arms into the air, and roared with delight. Ireland were six points up and referee Luke Pearce had just awarded the home side a penalty. Lowe knew what the raucous Aviva Stadium knew:

9:41 PM GMT There was barely any danger of the Wallabies’ hoodoo ending at Twickenham on Saturday. If Australia losing to Eddie Jones’ England felt familiar before, the visitors will leave London thinking it is almost grimly inevitable. As victories go, this was straightforward for England in a slippery match where errors from both sides

10:35 PM GMT Sam Bruce & Tom Hamilton There are some huge Tests across Europe this weekend, but none bigger than the one at Twickenham between England and Australia. Much has changed since Eddie Jones’ side triumphed 40-17 at the 2019 World Cup, with both teams seeing a transition in personnel while also riding the

4:36 PM GMT England rugby boss Eddie Jones has sent a letter to British tennis star Emma Raducanu to explain the comments he made about her form and commercial work, saying they were not meant to be interpreted as criticism. Jones caused a backlash earlier in the week after he told England’s young fly-half Marcus

11:32 AM GMT England have made three changes ahead of Australia on Saturday with Owen Farrell returning to the side, Marcus Smith starting at fly-half and Manu Tuilagi shifting to the wing. Farrell captains the side from inside centre, while Tuilagi replaces Adam Radwan on the wing and Smith comes in for George Furbank at

8:22 PM GMT Liam Napier Five weeks on from the Springboks and the All Blacks are set to face their greatest challenge since splitting successive Tests against the world champions. After notching a century against the USA; blowing the weakened Welsh away in the final quarter and spluttering to an ugly win over Italy last

1:55 AM GMT Wallabies scrum-half Nic White has dubbed Eddie Jones the “king of mind games” ahead of Saturday’s clash at Twickenham, after the England coach wasted little time whipping up a pre-match sideshow on multiple fronts to start the week. It has already been a busy week for Jones, after he referenced US Open

12:59 PM GMT England prop Joe Marler has tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss Saturday’s autumn international series test against Australia, the team said in a statement on Tuesday. Marler, 31, returned a positive lateral flow test on Monday and the result was confirmed through a PCR test on Tuesday. He will be required

10:38 AM GMT A spectator who ran onto the field and disrupted proceedings in South Africa’s 23-18 win over Wales at the Principality Stadium on Saturday has been identified as a registered player who will now be banned from the venue by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU). British media reported that the spectator ran onto