The 2019 thread to discuss all things rugby related such as matches, players, debates and news anything to with the world of rugby and of both codes, union and league.
Leigh Halfpenny likely to miss start of Six Nations for Wales.
Edinburgh produced a stunning victory over Montpellier to earn a home quarter-final in the Champions Cup.
Wasps' England and Lions star Elliot Daly is to leave the Premiership club at the end of the season.
After confirming the adaptable back's imminent departure, Wasps director of rugby Dai Young said: "Elliot triggered a release clause in his contract.
Chris Ashton will make his first Six Nations start since 2013 when England play France at Twickenham on Sunday.
England blew France away with a first-half hat-trick of tries from Jonny May to continue their fabulous start to the Six Nations.
Back-row Ryan Wilson has been added to Scotland's long injury list and will miss the remainder of the Six Nations.
England prop Mako Vunipola has been ruled out of the rest of the Six Nations with an ankle injury.
A Pro14 rugby player has been banned for 13 weeks after admitting he "cleared the contents of his nose on to the face of an opposing player".
Nico Lee, 24, of South African side Cheetahs, committed the act against back-row Colby Fainga'a in his side's defeat against Connacht on Saturday.
I'm so pumped for Wales v England on Saturday. It’s gonna be a cracker.
I reckon it could be England just edging it from Wales.
Wales pulled off the win Saturday, as did France.....now to see what happens between Italy and Oirland in Rome....
Wales lock Cory Hill will miss the remainder of the 2019 Six Nations Championship after injuring an ankle in the 21-13 win against England.
Georgian rugby is in talks to join the Pro14 in a bid to break into the top tier of the international game. I hope they are successful in doing this as they have had no luck in joining the Six Nations despite being 12th in the world and with Italy's long losing record.
Pacific Island nations are considering a boycott of this year's Rugby World Cup in protest at plans to revamp the international Test calendar.
A World Rugby proposal suggests creating a 12-team World League from 2020 - with nations such as Samoa, Fiji and Tonga potentially not included.
Wales have recalled Ospreys lock Adam Beard in the only change to their starting team to face Scotland in the Six Nations.
The change for Saturday's game was enforced by the ankle injury suffered by try-scorer Cory Hill of Dragons as Wales beat England in their last match.
Scarlets' Jake Ball takes over on the bench from Beard in the only other alteration to the matchday squad.
Captain Greig Laidlaw has been dropped to the bench in favour of Ali Price for Scotland's Six Nations meeting with Wales at Murrayfield on Saturday.
It is one of four changes made by Gregor Townsend for Scotland's penultimate game of the competition.
Six Nations officials will attend a meeting in Dublin with an "open mind" as the concept of a Nations Championship hangs in the balance.
World Rugby wants to introduce a 12-team league from 2022 in an attempt to revamp the international calendar.
The new format would require promotion and relegation from the Six Nations, which has so far been strongly opposed.
Interesting to see Wales win against Scotland there, in the 20 or so minutes I watched they hardly seemed to touch the ball!
Maro Itoje has been ruled out of England's Six Nations finale with Scotland at Twickenham on Saturday.
The Saracens lock has not played since England beat Ireland on the opening weekend because of two knee injuries.
^
Wales were lucky against Scotland. I think Ireland could edge it in the match between them on Saturday.
Stuart Hogg, Tommy Seymour and Blair Kinghorn have been ruled out of Scotland's final Six Nations match against England.
Hogg has been missing since going off against Ireland in the second round of matches while Seymour and Kinghorn were injured on Saturday against Wales.
Ruaridh Jackson and uncapped Kyle Steyn have been called into Gregor Townsend's squad as cover.
England scrum-half Dan Robson will miss Saturday's Six Nations finale against Scotland because of illness.
Robson won his second cap and scored a try in Saturday's 57-14 win over Italy.
Saracens' Ben Spencer, who made his England debut on last summer's tour of South Africa, replaces him in the squad and gets the nod because of injuries to Danny Care and Richard Wigglesworth.
Italy v France - warm up to a great day in rugby.
Wales v Ireland - come on Ireland, should be a great game.
England vs Scotland - could be for second or it could be for the championship. Weird feeling that our hopes rely on Ireland. Can't wait for this.
Come on England.
The Principality Stadium roof will be open on Saturday at Ireland's request as Wales bid for the Six Nations Grand Slam against them in Cardiff.
The decision was confirmed on the eve of the game and came after Ireland coach Joe Schmidt suggested Wales broke protocol in asking tournament bosses to close the roof for the potential tournament decider.
is Shaun Edwards going to Wigan or not?
Sounds like a bit of a PR mess.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/47604947
Newcastle lock Calum Green could get a ban of at least 12 weeks after he was cited for allegedly biting Sale's Rob Webber in Saturday's Premiership match.
Should they stop having Sunday matches in the Six Nations now we have BBC + ITV broadcasting?
Scotland's most-capped player Ross Ford is among seven players who will leave Edinburgh at the end of the season.
Hooker Ford, 34, who played 110 times for Scotland, leaves after 11 years and 197 appearances for the Pro14 club.
"Fordy is, and will go down in history as, one of the great Edinburgh and Scotland players. He's a credit to the game," coach Richard Cockerill said.
Two more Scotland caps - full-back Tom Brown and back row Luke Hamilton - will leave, as will scrum-half Sean Kennedy.
Sale Sharks prop Jake Pope has been banned for six months after testing positive for cocaine for a second time.
Pope is the first player to be found guilty of twice breaching the Rugby Football Union's illicit drugs policy.
He is banned from 4 December 2018, the date of his provisional suspension, until 4 June 2019.
The 21-year-old admitted a first offence after a test in September 2017 found "cocaine or its metabolites", for which he was fined £1,000.
Leicester look set for a double blow ahead of their relegation run-in, with Tom Youngs facing a six-week ban and brother Ben out for three months after shoulder surgery.
Captain Tom Youngs, 32, will plead guilty to a shoulder charge at an RFU hearing on Wednesday. Ben Youngs, 29, had surgery last week, and will be out until late June.
Disgusting comments from Israel Folau here
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/47880064
Israel Folau is to be sacked by Rugby Australia after refusing to respond to attempts to contact him following his homophobic and hateful social media outburst, ruling him out of this year’s Rugby World Cup.
Good riddance.
Shame Billy Vunipola holds these archaic views
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/47909515
Challenge Cup sixth-round draw
Salford Red Devils v Hull Kingston Rovers
Dewsbury Rams v Halifax
Warrington Wolves v Wigan Warriors
Bradford Bulls v Leeds Rhinos
Hull FC v Castleford Tigers
Catalans Dragons v Doncaster
Huddersfield Giants v St Helens
Wakefield Trinity v Widnes Vikings
Saracens and England winger David Strettle will retire from professional rugby at the end of the season.
The 35-year-old played 14 Tests for England between 2007 and 2013, scoring two international tries.
Darren Cave will captain Ulster in Saturday's Pro14 derby against Leinster to mark his retirement from the game.
Cave, 32, is retiring at the end of the season after 13 years at the club and will lead the team out at Kingspan Stadium for the last Conference B game.
Newly-promoted London Irish have signed Australia Test prop Sekope Kepu for next season's Premiership campaign.
Israel Folau has been found guilty of a "high level breach" of Rugby Australia's player code of conduct after he said "hell awaits" gay people in a social media post.
A list of all the referees. assistant referees and TMO officials that will be the Rugby World Cup:
Referees (12): Wayne Barnes (England), Luke Pearce (England), Jérôme Garcès (France), Romain Poite (France), Pascal Gaüzère (France), Mathieu Raynal (France), Nigel Owens (Wales), Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), Paul Williams (New Zealand), Nic Berry (Australia) and Angus Gardner (Australia) – 457 tests as referees
Assistant referees (seven): Matthew Carley (England, reserve referee), Karl Dickson (England), Andrew Brace (Ireland), Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand), Federico Anselmi (Argentina), Shuhei Kubo (Japan) and Alex Ruiz (France) – 130 tests as assistant referees
TMOs (four): Graham Hughes (England), Rowan Kitt (England), Ben Skeen (New Zealand) and Marius Jonker (South Africa) – 217 tests as TMOs
Leeds Rhinos have sacked head coach David Furner, who had been in charge for only 14 Super League games.
Leeds are third-from-bottom of the Super League after just four league wins this season.
England back row James Haskell is to retire at the end of the season.
The 34-year-old, who has won 77 caps and played in the past two World Cups, has struggled with ankle and toe problems with Northampton this season.
He joined Wasps in 2002 and spent seven years with the club before moving to Stade Francais, the Ricoh Black Rams in Japan and Super Rugby's Highlanders.
Israel Folau has lost his sponsorship deal with sportswear brand Asics.
Folau was found guilty of breaching Rugby Australia's (RA) player code of conduct after he said "hell awaits" gay people in a social media post.
Danny Cipriani is targeting Premiership glory with Gloucester and a place in England's World Cup training squad after winning the Rugby Players' Association Player of the Year award.
The fly-half topped the poll of his fellow professionals after guiding Gloucester into the play-offs.
Hull FC kept on course for a third Wembley appearance in four years as they beat Castleford to reach the Challenge Cup quarter-finals.
Dragons have appointed Dean Ryan as their director of rugby in a role that will see him assume a board position.
The region have created the role for Ryan, who joins from the Rugby Football Union where he has been working as head of international player development.
Ryan had been expected to be announced as head coach and his new role means interim head coach Ceri Jones reverts to his previous job as forwards coach.
Castleford Tigers ended their four-game losing run with a five-try Super League thrashing of struggling Leeds Rhinos at Headingley.
Mako Vunipola will miss the climax to double-chasing Saracens' pursuit of the Premiership title after being ruled with a "significant" hamstring injury.
Vunipola was forced off after half an hour of last Saturday's Heineken Champions Cup final win over Leinster.
But Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall insists the British & Irish loose-head will be available for England's World Cup campaign.
Israel Folau's contract has been terminated by Rugby Australia after he said "hell awaits" gay people in a social media post.
The full-back, 30, was sacked in April but requested a hearing, which was heard by a three-person panel.
The panel found him guilty of a "high level breach" of RA's player code of conduct and upheld the dismissal.
Folau, who had a RA deal until 2022, has 72 hours to appeal against the ruling and is considering his options.
Glasgow Warriors were in irresistible form as they scored seven tries to dismiss Ulster and book a place in next Saturday's Pro14 final at Celtic Park by winning 51-20.
Leaders St Helens produced a stunning late salvage job to beat Salford in an entertaining Super League contest by winning 32-30.
Catalans Dragons celebrated their Nou Camp adventure with a thumping five-try Super League win against Wigan by winning 33-16.
Premiership Play-Off Semi-Finals:
Saracens v Gloucester 1:30
Exeter Chiefs v Northampton Saints 4:30
Who do you think will win?
Also on Saturday, it is the Pro14 final between Glasgow Warriors and Leinster which will be live on Premier Sports for viewers in the UK.
Who do you think will win?
On Saturday & Sunday, it is the Rugby League Super League Magic Weekend taking place in Anfield, Liverpool.
Live coverage will be on Sky Sports.
Line-Up:
Wakefield Trinity v Catalans Dragons 25 May 2019 14:00 BST
Hull F.C. v Huddersfield Giants 25 May 2019 16:30 BST
Wigan Warriors v Warrington Wolves 25 May 2019 19:00 BST
Salford Red Devils v Hull KR 26 May 2019 13:00 BST
Leeds Rhinos v London Broncos 26 May 2019 15:30 BST
St Helens v Castleford Tigers 26 May 2019 18:00 BST
Gloucester fly-half Danny Cipriani has been crowned the Premiership Player of the Season to secure an awards double.
The 31-year-old had already won the Rugby Players Association's annual award earlier this month.
Super League has extended its sponsorship deal with betting company Betfred for a further two seasons.
The current three-season deal started in 2017 and will now run until the end of the 2021 Super League campaign.
Premiership Play-Off Final
Exeter Chiefs v Saracens
Who do you think will win?
Challenge Cup quarter-final draw
St Helens v Wakefield
Bradford v Halifax
Hull KR v Warrington
Hull FC v Catalans Dragons
Quarter final schedule
Thursday May 30 - Hull FC v Catalans Dragons (19:35 BST)
Friday May 31 - Hull KR v Warrington Wolves (19:35 BST)
Saturday June 1 - St Helens v Wakefield Trinity (15:15 BST, live on BBC One)
Sunday June 2 - Bradford Bulls v Halifax (14:45 BST live on BBC Two, followed by semi-final draw)
Wales will play the Barbarians in an historic double-header at the Principality Stadium in November.
Warren Gatland will coach the Barbarians men in Wayne Pivac's first Wales match in charge after the World Cup in Japan.
The Barbarians will also face Wales women for the first time on 30 November.
A major sponsor is to voice concerns to rugby club London Irish over the signing of former Ulster and Ireland fly-half Paddy Jackson.
Diageo, which owns Guinness and is the team's main sponsor, said his signing was "not consistent with our values".
Jackson was found not guilty of rape last year, but had his contract revoked by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU).
London Irish confirmed they are in "ongoing dialogue" with sponsors.
Warren Gatland will become just the second man to lead three British and Irish Lions Tours after he was announced head coach for the Tour of South Africa in 2021.
Does he ever shut up?
Sacked Australia full-back Israel Folau says "the devil" is trying to influence the debate over transgender rights.
Folau, 30, is taking legal action after having his Rugby Australia contract terminated over a social media post saying "hell awaits" gay people.
In a church sermon on Sunday, he again criticised homosexuality.
Folau also said "kids in primary school" were being allowed to "change their gender" because the government was taking away input from parents.
Champions Cup 2019-20 draw
Pool One: Leinster, Lyon, Northampton Saints, Benetton
Pool Two: Exeter Chiefs, Glasgow Warriors, La Rochelle, Sale Sharks
Pool Three: ASM Clermont Auvergne, Ulster Rugby, Harlequins, Bath
Pool Four: Saracens, Munster, Racing 92, Ospreys
Pool Five: Toulouse, Gloucester, Connacht, Montpellier
Challenge Cup 2019-20 draw
Pool One: Castres Olympique, Worcester Warriors, Dragons, Enisei-STM
Pool Two: Scarlets, RC Toulon, London Irish, Bayonne
Pool Three: Wasps, Edinburgh Rugby, Bordeaux-Begles, Agen
Pool Four: Stade Francais Paris, Bristol Bears, Zebre Rugby Club, Brive
Pool Five: Cardiff Blues, Leicester Tigers, Pau, Rugby Calvisano
London Broncos climbed off the bottom of Super League at the expense of Hull KR with a third straight win by 26-24.
Leaders St Helens were made to work for their 17th Super League win in 2019 but had enough quality to come out 36-10 winners against Leeds.
Leicester Tigers has put itself up for sale and is seeking a price of about £60m.
The move follows private equity firm CVC's investment in the sport in December, which the club says has led to several approaches from new investors.
St Helens came from behind to beat closest rivals Warrington in an intense game to go eight points clear at the top of Super League by 21-10.
Joe Marler has come out of international retirement and been named in England's World Cup training squad.
The 29-year-old Harlequins prop retired from England duty in September 2018 having won 59 caps.
But he has reversed that decision and is included in a 35-man training squad for this year's tournament in Japan.
Opening Premiership fixtures
Bristol v Bath (19:45 BST, Friday, 18 October)
Exeter v Harlequins (15:00 BST, Saturday, 19 October)
Sale v Gloucester (15:00 BST, Saturday, 19 October)
Saracens v Northampton (15:00 BST, Saturday, 19 October)
Worcester v Leicester (15:00 BST, Saturday, 19 October)
Wasps v London Irish (15:00 BST, Sunday, 20 October)
Super League leaders St Helens easily pulled off their third derby win of the season to beat in-form Wigan Warriors and move 10 points clear at the top by winning 32-10.
Great Britain will play in both the men's and women's Olympic Sevens in Tokyo next year after England won their qualifying tournaments.
England were nominated as the chosen home nation to represent GB in the qualification events, and the women's team beat France to reach the final.
They then saw off hosts Russia 19-0 in Kazan to win the tournament.
In the men's event in Colomiers, England also faced the hosts in the final, beating France 31-7.
Billy Vunipola says he is determined not to disrupt England's World Cup preparations and regrets the impact on his Saracens team-mates after defending Israel Folau's anti-gay comments.
In April, Vunipola, 26, was warned by the Rugby Football Union for his support of Australian Folau's post which said "hell awaits" gay people.
Liam Farrell scored a hat-trick to help Wigan move to fourth in Super League with an eight-try win against a beleaguered Wakefield Trinity side by 46-16.
New Zealand held off a spirited Argentina to claim victory in their first Rugby Championship match of the season in Buenos Aires by 20-16.
Danny Cipriani has been left out of England's latest training camp in Treviso, Italy.
The Gloucester fly-half was named in the official World Cup training squad earlier this month.
But the Premiership player of the year is not among a 38-man group travelling to Italy on Monday for a 12-day camp.
"We have left some good players doing work at their clubs and they must be ready if called up," said head coach Eddie Jones.
St Helens head coach Justin Holbrook is expected to be named the new coach of the Gold Coast Titans in Australia's NRL within the next 24 hours.
Holbrook, 43, who joined Saints in 2017, has guided them to a first Challenge Cup final in 11 years after they overcame part-time Championship side Halifax on Saturday.
The Merseyside club are also 10 points clear at the top of the Super League.
Holbrook is expected to see out the rest of this season with Saints.
Bradford hooker George Flanagan could be banned for more than eight games after being charged with a Grade F 'attack to the testicles' in Saturday's Championship loss to Toronto Wolfpack.
The 32-year-old appeared to make contact with Toronto full-back Hakim Miloudi in a tackle on 31 minutes.
Bradford hooker George Flanagan has been banned for eight games for a Grade F "attack to the testicles" in his side's Championship loss to Toronto on 4 August.
At the independent tribunal hearing, the 32-year-old was deemed to have made contact with Toronto full-back Hakim Miloudi while making a tackle.
Flanagan has also been fined £250 and will miss the rest of the season.
In addition, the ex-Hunslet player will miss the opening five games next term.
Challenge Cup finalists Warrington suffered a fifth straight Super League defeat as they lost to Wigan for the first time in four meetings in 2019 by 20-6.
Ben Te'o's England career is over after he signed a short-term deal with French Top 14 side Toulon.
The centre, who has 18 caps, was left out of Eddie Jones' World Cup squad last week, but will now be ineligible for a call-up if there was an injury.
The Rugby Football Union has reiterated its selection policy with regards to foreign-based players.
Mako Vunipola is set to miss England's final Rugby World Cup warm-up game against Italy with a hamstring injury.
The prop suffered a small tissue tear against Ireland, shortly after making his long-awaited comeback from another hamstring problem.
He is only expected to be out for around 10 days which shouldn't affect his involvement in the World Cup.
South Africa wing Aphiwe Dyantyi faces a four-year ban after testing positive for performance-enhancing substances.
The 25-year-old - World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year in 2018 - failed a doping test on 2 July but requested a second sample be tested.
The South African Institute of Drug Free Sport (Saids) confirmed on Friday that the B sample also tested positive.
Dyantyi, not named in the Springboks squad for the World Cup, denies taking a prohibited substance.
The wing, who plays for the Golden Lions in Johannesburg, was provisionally suspended after the first sample was found to contain multiple anabolic steroids.
Stuart McInally has been named Scotland captain for the Rugby World Cup, but centres Huw Jones and Rory Hutchinson are among the squad's major omissions.
Forwards Josh Strauss, Matt Fagerson and Magnus Bradbury also miss out after coach Gregor Townsend announced his 31-man squad on Tuesday.
Edinburgh hooker McInally has been chosen ahead of John Barclay and Greig Laidlaw to captain the Scots in Japan.
England brought their World Cup preparations to a winning end after a lively second-half performance against Italy in Newcastle by winning 37-0.
London Broncos suffered relegation from Super League for the second time in five years as they were beaten by rivals Wakefield Trinity at Belle Vue.
Salford Red Devils reached their first Super League Grand Final after upstaging five-time champions Wigan Warriors at the DW Stadium by 28-4.
Newcastle Falcons centre Johnny Williams has received treatment after being diagnosed with testicular cancer.
The ex-London Irish back, 22, completed his final round of chemotherapy on Tuesday and hopes to return to rugby.
Toronto Wolfpack won promotion to Super League after overcoming Featherstone Rovers in the Million Pound Game by 24-6 on Saturday.
Premiership champions Saracens will appeal against a 35-point deduction and £5.36m fine for breaching salary cap regulations over three seasons.
The punishment comes after an investigation into business partnerships between chairman Nigel Wray and some of the club's players.
Saracens head coach Mark McCall says a comment to hooker Jamie George by one of Munster's medics caused a brawl involving almost 30 players.
Assistant coach Alex Sanderson had told BT Sport during Saracens' 15-6 Champions Cup win that it was related to George's weight.
"As far as I know, one of their medical team said something which wasn't all that good," said McCall.
Munster say they do not know what caused the fight.
Former Wales backs coach Rob Howley has been banned from rugby for 18 months, with nine suspended, for betting on matches, including Wales games.
The suspension is backdated to his withdrawal from Wales' World Cup campaign, on 16 September 2019.
The panel who judged Howley found that from 14 November, 2015 to 7 September, 2019 he put "363 bets on rugby union, featuring 1,163 matches in total".
Exeter boss Rob Baxter says he is not a "career coach" after ruling himself out of an England role until at least 2023 by signing a new contract.
Baxter had been backed as a successor to current England boss Eddie Jones.
The new deals also rule Exeter head coach Ali Hepher out of a position with England in the near future.
"International rugby isn't the be-all-and-end-all for everybody - especially when you are maybe a younger coach," Baxter said.
Back-row forward Shane Lewis-Hughes has signed a long-term contract extension with Cardiff Blues.
The 22-year-old was man-of-the-match after Blues' 19-16 Pro14 Welsh derby win at Ospreys on Saturday.
Munster doctor Jamie Kearns has been given a suspended three-week ban for his role in a brawl involving almost 30 players at Saracens in December.
An independent panel found that Kearns "verbally abused" Saracens player Jamie George during the Champions Cup game.
Powered by Invision Power Board
© Invision Power Services