As the Top 14 clubs start returning this week from their summer holidays to begin preparing for the new season next month, Gavin Mortimer runs an eye over the comings…
Tournaments
Top 14: Leigh Halfpenny in an amazing comeback for Toulon
Sport can be cruel. And don’t Clermont know it. The club who’ve won just one of their 12 Top 14 finals were beaten in the dying minutes of extra-time in…
Saints and Sinners: The weekend’s talking points
The Saints Lam’s the man Two seasons ago, Connacht finished tenth in the Guinness Pro12. Now they are the champions and much of the credit for that astonishing turnaround must…
Guinness Pro12 final: Connacht 20-10 Leinster
Connacht achieved the near-impossible by not only winning their first ever final, but by doing it playing a brand of scintillating, attractive rugby. Three sumptuous tries from the men in…
Aviva Premiership final: Saracens 28-20 Exeter Chiefs
Two tries in five first-half minutes gave Saracens a commanding lead which Exeter Chiefs were never able to overcome. Saracens led 9-3 on the half-hour but were 23-3 up by…
‘Tour of Hell’ lies ahead for France
France coach Guy Noves has to take on Argentina with a weakened squad
Scotland sevens back from the brink with a trophy
With less than 20 seconds to go it seemed all too impossible: Scotland had to snaffle the kick-off, hold on to it without drawing the ire of the referee, break…
Saints and Sinners: The weekend’s talking points
The Saints Gone in 30 seconds Dougie Fife and the Scotland Sevens squad are up among the all-time ultimate Saints this week after a truly astonishing performance at the London…
Analysis: Two defining moments from the Premiership semi-finals
One was a straightforward win on an artificial surface in dry conditions, the other a harum-scarum humdinger amid pouring rain and a driving wind. The weekend’s pair of Premiership semi-finals looked vastly different.…
People’s champions: Players’ player at each Premiership club
For any sportsman, indeed for any professional, the endorsement of peers represents the most satisfying coup possible. With that in mind, one award at swanky end-of-season dinners is coveted more dearly than…