Rugby news

• Bluck earns Rugby League World Cup call from Wales

  28-09-2026 11:28 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Hannah Bluck is set for international honours in a fourth sport, one of six uncapped players in Wales' squad for October's Rugby League World Cup.
  
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• Bristol Bears’ revenge mission complete as Pat Lam’s side hammer Northampton Saints

  04-10-2026 05:45 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  Pat Lam and Louis Rees-Zammit reflect on Bristol Bears’ painful 94-33 defeat by Northampton Saints last season that fuelled their 41-26 revenge win at Ashton Gate.
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• Bristol’s revenge mission

  04-10-2026 05:00 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  PAT Lam’s Bristol rapped out a warning to the rest of the Prem with a 41-26 six-try beating of reigning champions Northampton. ■By ADAM HATHAWAY And Lam revealed it was the humiliation of Bristol’s 94-33 defeat to Saints last season that was the major motivation for yesterday’s performance. Lam, right, closely studied the video of […]
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• World Cup place is my dream – Skinner

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  HARVEY Skinner aims to persuade Steve Borthwick it is time to open the England door and let him charge through it over the coming weeks and months. ■By GARY FITZGERALD The fly-half has been knocking for some time and many felt his performances in Exeter Chiefs’ impressive Twickenham-reaching campaign deserves some kind of international recognition. […]
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• Without scrums the game doesn’t work, insists Flatman

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  ■By BEN JAYCOCK DAVID Flatman has hit back at rugby’s scrum critics and insists the set-piece remains one of the sport’s greatest spectacles and that the game “doesn’t work” without them. The former England and Bath prop believes the perception that supporters are fed up with scrums, resets and the technical complexity surrounding them has […]
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• Willis is voted the best in France

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  JACK Willis has retained his award as the best player in France, becoming only the second player to do so after France captain Antoine Dupont. On receiving the award the Toulouse flanker, who last played for England at the 2023 World Cup, jokingly challenged reporters to find him a way back into Test rugby. Willis, […]
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• Why I’m going for Ellis Genge at No. 8

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  DREAMTEAM BEN YOUNG, THE FORMER LEICESTER LIONS FLY-HALF WHO NOW PLAYS FOR OUNDLE, SELECTS THE BEST XV HE HAS PLAYED WITH OR AGAINST...AINST... 1. James Whitcombe – James came on loan to us at Leicester Lions from Tigers and was an absolute gun. You could immediately see the quality he had. He was a really […]
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• We were inaccurate in the big moments, says McFarland

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  NEWCASTLE head coach Dan McFarland admitted feeling gut wrenched after losing despite seeing his Red Bulls side pound at Leicester’s try line for the final 10 minutes. He said: “We were a little too inaccurate in the big moments. “I said before the game it was key to build our connections over a period of […]
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• We need talk about a 20-team league…

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  HISTORIANS tell us the Black Death ravaged medieval Europe for a mere seven years, although it must have felt plenty long enough at the time. Welsh domestic rugby’s marathon descent into the fires of hell has been going on for more than three decades and if we’re stretching a point, we might call it the […]
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• Watch out for the SA teams, warns Dallaglio

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  James Harrington looks ahead to the Champions Cup and hears the former Wasps star predict better things from South Africa CHAMPIONS Cup powerhouses in England, Ireland and France should not underestimate South African sides in this season’s date-shifted and rule-tweaked Champions Cup, two-time winner Lawrence Dallaglio has warned. “South Africa are the best [international] side […]
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• Underhill injury blow

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  BATH flanker Sam Underhill will be sidelined for “a few months” after rupturing his biceps in the opening Prem victory at Harlequins last week. Underhill, below, went off in the 48th minute at The Stoop and had surgery on Thursday. Bath expect the 30-year-old to be out until December or January, meaning ruling him out […]
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• Treble-top Nayalo puts Cov into over-drive

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  ■By FRANK HOLLAND Nottingham ......26pts Tries: Ward 12, Williams 18, Ecclesfield 67, Crane 80 Conversions: O’Leary 13; Mitchell 67, 80 Coventry .......... 64pts Tries: Nayalo 3, 9, 45; Davidson 25, 31; Barton 34, Houston 40, Graham 57, Bacon 74, Rhodes 76 Conversions: Houston 4, 26, 35, 41, 59, 75, 77 COVENTRY produced a clinical attacking […]
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• Time for England to access all areas

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK NICK CAIN OPINION is divided on whether Jack Willis, the Toulouse back row talisman recently crowned double French Top 14 Player of the Year, should be allowed to play for England. The same applies to his brother Tom, who England ignored last season despite the central contract awarded to […]
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• THE SURVEY

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  ... Continue reading... Access all our premium content from as little as 14p per day! SUBSCRIBE Already a subscriber to our website? Login
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• Ten-try thriller ends all square

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  ■By JOHN FLEMING Glasgow .........33 Ulster ...............33 GEORGE Horne hit the post with a late penalty as Glasgow were held to a draw at Scotstoun after Juan Augustus had come off the bench to score a late leveller for Ulster. Ulster went close to a late winner but Zac Ward was bundled into touch just […]
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• Sorry, Brendan, can you say that again?

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  Talking point: Brendan Venter with Fergus Burke and Max Malins last weekend PICTURE: Getty Images IT IS just possible that Saracens feel they are in genuine need of a “head of rugby culture and wine consultant”: the Londoners have long moved in mysterious ways, their wonders to perform. What we know for sure is that […]
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• Smart: We must be clinical

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  ■By BEN JAYCOCK PREVIEW... Blackheath v Doncaster Knights Today. Kick-off 4pm, The Utilita BLACKHEATH back row Josh Smart knows greater accuracy is a must if the newly-promoted side are to earn their first Champ victory against Doncaster Knights today. The Londoners came into round three in 12th after two defeats in their first season back […]
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• Skiv: We can be better than that

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  GLOUCESTER head coach George Skiving-ton was upbeat about his side’s effort but says there is still improvement to come. “I was expecting a good performance but I wasn’t expecting a nilling, which is very hard to do in the Prem,” he said. “Nilling a team is outstanding and shows great character. We have worked hard […]
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• Sharp Roue makes sure for Ampthill

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  ■By LUKE JARMYN Hartpury ........... 24pts Tries: James 18, Allsopp 32, 69; penalty 43 Conversion: Bazalgette 70 Ampthill ............33pts Tries: Roue 28, Timpson 36, Browning 40+1, Adegbemile 56, S Smith 75 Conversions: Roue 29, 37, 40+2, 57 FLY-HALF Will Roue put in a phenomenal try-scoring performance as Ampthill produced some real magic to continue their […]
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• Sharks battle hard to deny Leinster

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  ■By OLLIE FRY Sharks ............26 Leinster ..........20 SHARKS claimed a thrilling bonus point at Kings Park to make it consecutive wins to start the season. Boasting a lineup full of returning Springboks, the home side held off a fierce fightback from the champions to take the spoils. Sharks established an early foothold, using their forward […]
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• Segun can knock on the England door, says Shaw

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  ■By GARY FITZGERALD PREVIEW... Saracens v Sale Sharks Today. Kick-off 3pm, StoneX Stadium ROTIMI Segun has never banged on the England door louder or harder...now he just needs Steve Borthwick to let him inside camp in the build-up to the World Cup. The wing turns 30 at the end of the year and he knows […]
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• Saracens pay for Venter’s silence

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  IT can be only a matter of time before Brendan Venter’s vow of silence prompts speculation of his having been spotted in the cloistered surrounds of a Trappist monastery. The monks at Caldey Abbey off the Pembrokeshire coast could have taught him a thing or two about keeping shtum. There again, Venter might have taken […]
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• Sale edge Tykes in War of the Roses battle

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  Leeds Tykes ...17 Sale FC..............21 ■By BEN CROPPER A BUMPER Friday night crowd at The Sycamores saw Sale FC edge Leeds Tykes. The hosts opened the scoring when Eddie Crossland landed a penalty, and those three points gave Leeds the impetus to dominate until the break. After 27 minutes the referee awarded a penalty try […]
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• Rory’s the boy to grab winner

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  By SAM JACKSON Edinburgh ....... 17 Stormers ......... 13 RORY McHaffie marked his home debut with the winning try as Edinburgh make it two wins from two. The 19-year-old struck with nine minutes remaining, gathering James Grayson’s low pass before beating the cover to score. Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt said: “I’m just proud of […]
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• Revealed: What DORs really think

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  THE Premiership returned last weekend no less madcap than when it went into the summer break: the five matches produced 52 tries and eight scoring bonus points with Sale and Harlequins each missing out by one try. Wales internationals Dewi Lake and Jac Morgan, ex-Ospreys no longer playing for a side with a death sentence […]
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• Rees-Zammit lights the Bristol fireworks

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  ■By ADAM HATHAWAY Bristol Bears ....................41pts Tries: Oghre 6, Rees-Zammit 35, 60; Jordan 42, Randall 51, penalty 80 Conversions: Williams 36, 43, 52 Penalty: Williams 15 Northampton Saints ..... 26pts Tries: Hendy 9, 40+1; Mitchell 63, Kemeny 67 Conversions: F Smith 12, 40+2, 63 LOUIS Rees-Zammit lit the blue touchpaper as Bears made it two […]
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• Radwan’s return has Tigers on front foot

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  ■By LUKE JARMYN Newcastle Red Bulls .....19pts Tries: Ene 2, McGuigan 56, Jordan 72 Conversions: Connon 56; Henry 73 Leicester Tigers ............ 24pts Tries: Moli 11, Radwan 21, Hurd 67 Conversions: Searle 12, 22, 68 Penalty: Searle 28 ADAM Radwan may be the home-grown hero that Newcastle fans love to hate, but the Leicester winger […]
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• Priddey grabs the glory for Camborne

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  ■By BILL HOOPER Camborne .........38pts Tries: Priddey 15, 33, 79; Roderick 37, Sheppard 45, Nowell 77 Conversions: Honey 16, 34, 46, 78 L Scottish .........26pts Tries: Earnshaw 10, Clayton 22, 55; Butler 80 Conversions: Butler 23, 56; Yandall 80 CAMBORNE’S National 1 apprenticeship continued with a first win of the season in front of their […]
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• Prem bonus point system is flawed

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  HAVING watched Northampton Saints thump Newcastle Red Bulls 59-26 for my Friday night viewing on the box last week, a glaring issue with our game stood out. Despite being comprehensively hammered and conceding nine tries, the North Easterners still walked away with a try bonus point for crossing the whitewash four times. This perfectly highlights […]
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• Pirates keep their cool to stun Ealing

  04-10-2026 04:59 via therugbypaper.co.uk
  
  ■By CÓILÍN DUFFY Cornish Pirates .........35pts Ealing Trailfinders ...33pts Tries: Everett 8, Nelson 18, Palmer 38, Lilley 54, Pritchard 80 Conversions: Robson 8, 19, 39, 55, 80 Tries: Gibbons 3, 57, Moore 25, Hatherell 40, Cornish 74 Conversions: Johnson 3, 25, 40, 75 CORNISH Pirates produced a dramatic finish at the Mennaye to claim their […]
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