The 6 Nations rest and European club competitions continue

In the United Rugby Championship, Round 11 saw little change in the leaderboard with Leinster, Glasgow Warriors, the Vodacom Bulls and the Hollywoodbets Sharks maintaining their 1 through 4 positions. Leinster remain the only club with a perfect record after 11 rounds, beating the Ospreys away from home. Munster climbed 2 spots to 5th after beating the Scarlets who dropped to 8th; Cardiff lost to Connacht and dropped 1 spot to 6th while Benetton, after beating Ulster, move to 7th pushing Edinburgh, losers to Zebre Parma, into 9th. Next Round starts on February 28.

Only one change in France’s Top 14 where Castres Olympique nudged in to the top 6 after tying with Perpignan. Stade Toulousain and Union Bordeaux-Begles switched places at the top after Bordeaux lost away to #4 Aviron Bayonnais and Toulouse won away from home at ASM Clermont. RC Toulon stay in 3ed spot after beating Montpelier (#9). Stade Rochelais dropped to 7th place after losing to Lyon Olympique who are now in 8th place. Round 17 starts on February 22nd.

With the Premiership in England on hiatus for the duration of the 6 Nations, the Premiership Rugby Cup played the last round of the pool stage matches to decide on Quarter Final slots. As a reminder, the Premiership Rugby Cup pits the 10 clubs in the Premiership against the 12 teams in the Championship, England’s second-tier club competition in a Pool stage + Knockout competition. After 6 rounds of Pool matches, the final 8 teams for the Quarter Finals have been picked, including 1 Championship side, the Ealing Trailfinders. Ealing beat London Scottish 35-15 over the weekend to finish 2nd to Harlequins in Pool 3, edging out Sacacens who despite the same (4-2) won/lost record had an inferior tally of bonus points. On Feb. 28, Newcastle Falcons host Gloucester, the winner playing the victor of the Bath vs. Harlequins match. On March 1, Exeter will play Sale and Northampton Saints will play Ealing to decide the other Semi-Final. Note that the Tigers and the Bears, #4 and 2 in the premiership failed to qualify for the QFs.

Coming up, Round 3 of the 6 Nations: Feb. 22, Wales vs, Ireland and England home to Scotland; and Feb. 23, Italy at home to France. Televised live on Peacock.

6 Nations: Round 2. Only 1 team can Grand Slam but 3 others can win the competition

Round 2 of the 6 Nations took place in generally miserable weather causing rare handling errors and giving chances to underdogs.

Match 1 saw Italy at home to Wales who were trying avoid a 14th consecutive defeat on the international circuit. In pouring rain, a scrappy first half finished 16-3 to the hosts who were measurably better but only able to score 1 converted try. In the second half, Wales scored 2 tries, one in the closing moments with Italy down to 13 men but 2 more penalties for Italy saw them run out the winners 22-15. Note that Wales provided 10 players for the last Lions tour to Australia 12 years ago but today, the national team is a shadow of its great past.

Match 2 pitted France against England at Twickenham where the hosts were justifiably the underdogs. Damp conditions (hardly a rarity in Europe in February) caused a first half of handling errors and wasted opportunities with the first score, a try for France not coming until the 29th minute. Despite more possession by Les Bleus, ENG drew level at the half with a converted try, 7-7. H2 saw a more spirited match with both sides going at each other hard cheered on by over 80,000 fans. ENG stayed behind until the 70th minute scoring a converted try (19-18) only for France to score their own 4 minutes later (19-25). But ENG weren’t done and a last minute try by veteran Eliot Daley converted by Finn not Marcus Smith took England to the showers as victors, 26-25. A great match for everyone.

The last match of the weekend had the only 2 teams left who could win a Grand Slam and hopes were high at Murrayfield that Scotland would convert their recent run of form to a victory over the #2 side in the world. The Irish 15 had a very different view of the occasion and roared out of the gates with a 5th minute try and were 5-17 up at the half. Sexton replacement Prendergast has slotted into his #10 role well (21 years old) to the dismay of Ireland’s opponents and he and the team scored 2 more tries and a penalty to run out 18-32 winners. Scotland were not helped by fly half Finn Russell being substituted due to injury but Ireland are really tough to beat anyway.

Ireland are on top with 2 bonus point wins and 10 pts with France and England joint 2nd on 6 pts, Scotland in 4th with 5 pts and Italy 5th with 4 pts. With 3 matches left, Ireland’s main test comes against France on March 8 between Wales and Italy; France have Ireland and Scotland (in Paris) a slightly more tricky route than England who have Scotland at home on Feb. 22 followed by Italy and Wales. Even Italy, with bonus point wins against France, England and Ireland could win but …… unlikely. So lots to play for but for anyone other than Ireland to be hoisting the trophy, France NEED to win in Dublin on March 8.

Next up, on February 22: WAL vs. IRE and ENG vs. SCO, February 23: ITA vs. FRA.

Six Nations kicks off; order is maintained, for now?

The first weekend of the 2025 Six Nations competition went off without a hitch, with 20 tries scored in front of full houses of local and traveling fans, and the top “seeds” France, Ireland and Scotland, all winning their opening matches.

If Wales had been intimidated by the performance of the French clubs in the Investec Champions Cup recently, their experience at the hands of the French national side justified their fears. The Stade de France crowd of 80,000 + saw their team at full flight as they put 7 tries past WAL and conceded none, winning 43-0. WAL, deep in rebuilding phase played hard but the speed and flair of Les Bleus was overwhelming. One blot on the result was the red card received by starting fly-half Romain Ntamack who will hear his fate later this week. However, FRA have strength in depth and will be favored for their trip to ENG at Twickenham on Feb. 8.

Second on the menu were Scotland hosting Italy at Murrayfield in Edinburgh. Scotland are increasingly favored as a top European side and this would be a tough test against the ever-improving Italians. Starting strong, the hosts scored 3 tries in the first half but indiscipline from SCO allowed the visitors to stay in touch, down 19-9 at the half. Within 5 minutes of the restart, a penalty and converted try brought ITA level and the game was on. However, SCO buckled down and with 2 more tries from center Huw Jones (giving him a hat-trick), ran out comfortable winners 31-19. Next up, SCO at home to IRE and ITA host WAL in Rome.

England started their campaign against Ireland at the Aviva in Dublin and put the hosts under pressure right from the whistle. Despite a yellow card for #10 Marcus Smith after an accumulation of team offenses around the goal line, England went in at the half up 10-5. However, by the 50th minute IRE had scored through Aki and in the next 20 minutes scored 2 more tries going ahead 27-10. Perhaps IRE eased up on the gas pedal a bit as ENG scored 2 late tries, not enough to win but enough to gain a consolation Bonus Point which may be valuable later in the competition. Final score 27-22; next up IRE at Murrayfield against the in-form Scots, and ENG at home to FRA.

The Table after 1 round gives an opportunity to review the rules. 4 points for a win, 2 for a draw; bonus points for scoring 4 or more tries and losing by 7 points or less. In the event of a tie in the number of match points, the ranking will be decided by the difference between points scored and conceded. Therefore, the rankings are: 1) France 5 points (point differential +43); 2) Scotland 5 pts (+12); 3) Ireland 5 pts (+5); 4) England 1 pt. (-5); 5) Italy 0 pts (-12); 6) Wales 0 pts (-43).

Live streaming and replays on Peacock.

Domestic bliss - a weekend of local rugby before the 6 Nations

After 2 action-packed weekends of Investec Champions Cup rugby and before the annual 6 Nations competition kicks off on January 31, the Premiership, United Rugby Championship and Top 14 in France rejoined for a week, providing some thrilling matches but only minor changes in the leader boards for those respective competitions.

In England’s Gallagher Premiership, Harlequins beat the Northampton Saints with a 77th minute try taking them to 6th; Gloucester gained 2 spots to 3rd after beating the Tigers who stay 4th; Exeter won their 2nd match of the season beating Saracens, who drop to 5th; and Sale dropped a place to 7th after losing to top-of-the-table Bath. Bristol Bears stay in 2nd after beating bottom team Newcastle. Round 12 takes place March 21 after the 6 Nations is complete.

In the URC, Leinster remained unbeaten besting the Stormers and staying 11 points clear of 2nd place Glasgow Warriors who beat #11 Connacht. The Vodacom Bulls beat the Emirates Lions in SA and moved up to 3rd while Hollywoodbets Sharks beat Cardiff taking the 4th spot and pushing the Welsh team back into 5th. Munster entered the top 8 by beating the Dragons and the Scarlets beat Edinburgh, both teams staying in the top 8, for now. Next round February 14,15 & 16.

No change at the top of the French Top 14 with Union Bordeaux-Begles, Stade Toulousain and RC Toulon in 1st, 2nd and 3rd despite UBB losing at home to Lyon’s LOU side. Stade Toulousain beat Montpelier and RC Toulon beat 6th place Stade Rochelais. Next round on February 15 and 16.

Many of the top European clubs were depleted by calls from their national teams ahead of next weekend’s 6 Nations. The competition kicks off on Friday January 31 with France at home to Wales, followed on February 1 by Scotland at home to Italy and, in the marquee match, Ireland at home to England.

Finally, the first HSBC SVNS (7-a-side) tournament of 2025 took place in Perth, Australia (3rd round of the annual event) and now moves on to Vancouver (Feb. 21-23), Hong Kong (March 28-30), Singapore (April 5-6) and the Grand Final in LA (May 3-4). After events in Dubai, Cape Town and Perth, in the Men’s event, Fiji, Argentina and Spain are tied on points for 1st place with South Africa in 4th and France in 5th. The Great Britain team lies 8th and the US 11th in a field of 12. In the Women’s competition, New Zealand, with 1 win and 2 seconds, leads Australia by 2 pts (2 wins and one 4th). France are in 3rd and the US in 4th. On to Vancouver.

Everyone out of the Pool

At the start of the weekend, only 7 of the 24 competing teams in the Investec Champions Cup had secured a spot in the last 16 and of the remaining 17, all but 2 or 3 had a mathematical chance of qualifying for the knockout phase. Union Bordeaux-Begles, Stade Toulousain and Leicester Tigers in Pool 1; Leinster in Pool 2; Northampton Saints in Pool 3; and RC Toulon and Glasgow Warriors in Pool 4 were guaranteed a spot but had home field advantage to play for - an appetizing prospect.

By Sunday night on January 19, 3 teams remained unbeaten after the 4-game pool stage: Union Bordeaux-Begles; Stade Toulousain and Leinster. RC Toulon won Pool 4 losing, surprisingly, to Sale Sharks who by virtue of that victory made the last 16. But in an emphatic demonstration of who the favorites are for the title, UBB put up 66 points against the South African Sharks, Toulouse beat the Tigers 80-12 at home and Leinster beat Bath 47-21 at the Aviva. And emphasizing the flourishing state of rugby in Ireland and France, the top 2 teams in the English Premiership (Bath and Bristol) were eliminated and none of the 3 South African teams in the competition made the last 16 either.

There is a big break until the knockout round starts April 4, 5 and 6. The top 2 teams in each Pool have home field advantage and the match-ups are as follows: UBB vs. Ulster; Leinster vs. Harlequins; Saints vs. ASM Clermont; RC Toulon vs. Saracens; Stade Toulousain vs. Sale; Castres Olympique vs Benetton; Glasgow Warriors vs. Leicester Tigers; and Stade Rochelais vs. Munster. (6 French; 3 Irish; 5 English; 1 Scots; 1 Italian team.)

Note: the teams that didn’t make the knockout stage were: Exeter Chiefs; DHL Stormers; Racing ‘92; Stade Francais Paris; Vodacom Bulls; Bristol Bears; Bath; Hollywoodbets Sharks.

Meanwhile, the English Premiership (R11), URC (R10) and Top 14 (R15) get back to business on January 24 but just for a week until the 6 Nations competition kicks off. The recent results in the Investec Champions Cup illustrate a huge gap between Ireland and France on the one hand, and everyone else. Leinster, almost the Irish national team in club colors lead the URC by 10 clear points and UBB and Stade Toulousain, similarly stacked with international representatives, are on top of France’s Top 14. So Ireland and France will start out as favorites for the 6N crown but Scotland are not without a chance and even England might pull a rabbit out of the hat especially if they start strong against Ireland in Dublin on February 1.

Live-streaming of the Premiership on the Rugby Network; URC and Top 14 on Florugby.com.

The Second Half

The three European/SA club rugby programs are just beyond the halfway point in the 2024/25 season and the gap is widening between contenders and also-rans.

10 down with 8 to go in the Gallagher Premiership and Bath are 6 points clear at the top, with the Bears hanging on to 2nd despite losing 2 on the bounce. Sale Sharks, after clobbering Bristol on 12/27 lost a thrilling game to resurgent Gloucester and fell 3 places to 6th as a result. Saracens, smoked by Bath (68-10) at Christmas beat the Bears at home and moved to 3rd. Bonus points are key (1 for scoring 4 tries or more; 1 for losing by 7 points or less); the Bears are 2nd with a 6-4 record (Bath are 8-2) but have 11 bonus points; Gloucester have a 5-5 record but with 10 bonus points are 5th in the table. Round 11 is January 24-26 after which a long break for the 6 Nations, resuming on March 22.

The URC has played 9 of 18 matches and Round 10 starts on January 24. Leinster remain well ahead of the pack with a 9-0 record, 7 bps and a 149 pt. scoring differential. Glasgow Warriors (6-3) lost to Edinburgh (8th) at Christmas and are 10 pts. back in 2nd; Cardiff (5-1-3) stay in 3rd after a draw with the Ospreys (14) and 28 pts., and Vodacom Bulls (5-2) are in 4th with 25 pts. and 2 games in hand over the top 2 clubs. Round 11 will start on Feb. 14; R12 on Feb. 28; and R13 on March 21.

France’s Top 14 have completed 14 of their 26 matches. Over the January 4 weekend, only 2 teams managed away wins (Bordeaux over SF Paris and Clermont over Vannes) and the top 3 teams are pulling away from the pack. 2024 losing finalist Union Bordeaux-Begles is top with an 11-3 record, 6 bps and 50 pts, followed by Top 14 champions Stade Toulousain, 9-1-4, 9 bps. and 47 pts. RC Toulon are 3rd (9-5). Losing semi-finalist last year Stade Francais Paris are in 13th place with a 5-9 record and only 3 bps. The heavier schedule of the Top 14 means fewer weeks off during the 6 Nations; Round 15 Jan. 15; R16 - Feb. 15.

For the next 2 weekends, Investec Champions Cup rugby returns to the stage at the end of which the Round of 16 will be set. 7 teams lead their pools with 2-0 records, as follows: Stade Toulousain play the Sharks (1-1); Union Bordeaux-Begles vs. Exeter (0-2); Stade Rochelais vs. Leinster; Northampton Saints vs. Stade Francais Paris (0-2); Saracens vs. Munster (1-1); and RC Toulon vs. Harlequins (1-1).

Live-streaming of Investec CC on Florugby.com

Rugby Players prepare for the busiest time of the season.

After a 5-week break for the Autumn Internationals, teams throughout Europe got ready for action in the Gallagher Premiership, the URC, the Investec Champions Cup and, in the New Year, the 6 Nations Championship.

On November 29, the Premiership and URC got back to business, playing Round 7 in their 18-Round season. Not much changed on the Prem’s leaderboard with Bath still at #1, tied on points with Bristol but with a better (6-1) record. Leicester Tigers dropped to 3rd after losing to Sale (#6) and Saracens, despite losing to resurgent Newcastle, stayed #4. Quins dropped 2 spots to #7 after losing at home to Bristol and Gloucester moved to #5 after beating the Northampton Saints. Newcastle have won 2 of their last 3 and Exeter are bottom with an 0-7 record. Round 8 will be played December 20-22, the first of 3 consecutive weekends of English club rugby.

The URC follows the same calendar as the Prem and after 7 Rounds sees Leinster on top with a 7-0 record plus 6 bps giving them a 7 point lead over #2 Glasgow Warriors, 5-2 with 7 bps. The Vodacom Bulls, despite still having a game in hand are 5-1 in 3rd and Cardiff (4-3) are in 4th. The URC play 2 more Rounds before the end of the year and then break until January 24-26.

The reason for the 2-week break between Rounds 7 and 8 is the Investec European Champions Cup which, starting on December 6, plays 4 pool stage games (2 in December and 2 in January) and then starts a knockout process the first week of April. Four pools of 6 teams comprise the starting lineup, fighting for a place in the last 16 on April 4. With only 1 Round played there’s a long way to go but defending champs Stade Toulousain won, as did the beaten finalists, Leinster; Northampton Saints, the Premiership champions and Glasgow Warriors who won the URC also came out on top.

So, plenty to excite rugby fans over the holidays: 4 Rounds of English Premiership through the end of January (shown on the rugbynetwork.com); 3 Rounds of URC (florugby.com); and 2 Rounds of Investec Champions Cup (also on florugby.com). Then the 6 Nations Championship starting in early February, live-streamed on Peacock.

Autumn Internationals confirm the rankings

With just one match remaining in the series (Ireland vs. Australia on 11/30), the rest of the Southern hemisphere teams are returning home after a pretty satisfying month up North.

#1 ranked South Africa had an unblemished 3-0 record having beaten the 3 Brtitish teams that at time tested the Springboks but never seemed to worry them too much. For the record, however, they did not play the two teams closest to them in the rankings, Ireland and France.

New Zealand go home 3-1, beating England, Ireland and Italy and losing to France by a single point at the cauldron called Stade de France. While not perfect, the All Blacks certainly dealt with Ireland, and England convincingly.

Argentina were 1-2, beating Italy but losing to the 2 teams the Boks didn’t play, France and Ireland and reinforcing their reputation as a serious, top-tier side with enough young talent to be taken seriously in 2027 in Australia.

And Australia, who came to Europe with their tails between their legs, will go home with at least 2 wins to their credit, against England and Wales and having out on a good show against Scotland at Murrayfield. This has reignited interest in next summer’s Lions tour Down Under, a massive spectator occasion.

For the hosts, France topped out the European teams with a 3-0 record, beating Japan, New Zealand and Argentina. Home fixtures in France have a tangible advantage and locals will be disappointed not to have seen a revenge match against the Springboks who beat France in the RWC Q Final last October by just 1 point.

Scotland finished 3-1 but did not play any teams above them in the ranking, beating Fiji, Portugal and Australia. Nonetheless they have had a good 2024 putting them in contention for the next 6 Nations.

Ireland (with 1 match to play) are 2-1, playing well but the loss to the All Blacks showing they’re still in a post-Sexton adjustment phase. As reigning 6 Nations champs they will want to put in a dominant performance against Australia on November 30.

England continued to disappoint winning just 1 of 4 matches, against Japan. Despite having a wide array of talent in the squad, New Zealand, Australia and S. Africa were better on the day, making February’s 6 Nations a key tournament for players and coaches alike. As of now, England rank #4 out of 6 in that competition.

So 2024’s major internationals are done and the World Rankings are clear with back-to-back RWC winners, South Africa at #1 and plenty of top talent trying to move up the table to challenge rugby’s orthodoxy. The top 11 (in deference to Wales): 2) Ireland; 3) New Zealand; 4) France; 5) Argentina; 6) Scotland; 7) England; 8) Australia; 9) Fiji; 10) Italy 11) Wales.

In addition to Ireland v. Australia the Premiership restarts on 11/29 with Quins v. Bristol Bears and the United Rugby Championship gets back into gear with Glasgow Warriors v. Scarlets and Ulster v. Leinster. The Prem live streams on therugbynetwork.com and the URC on florugby.com.

Europe regroup, mostly, but South Africa remain at the top

In the third weekend of the Autumn Internationals, two of the European sides gained hard fought victories over southern hemisphere powerhouses and another two took on rising European teams in matches that augur well for the future of the international game.

Ireland steadied the ship after last week’s loss to the All Blacks by beating a tough Argentina side 20-19 at the Aviva in Dublin. Scotland recovered from their thrilling loss to South Africa by thumping emerging Portugal 52-19 at Murrayfield. England continued to struggle against the world’s top sides losing 20-29 to South Africa at Twickenham. In the last 5 years, England have lost a Word Cup Final, a World Cup Semi Final and now an Autumn International to the Springboks. The games have been tight but the South Africans always find a way to win. Generally, England has much to work on with only 4 wins out of their last 11 major internationals and the upcoming Six Nations In February 2025 will have everyone under the spotlight.

France pipped the All Blacks in another tight match in Paris 30-29 and Australia continued their recent resurgence putting 52 points against 20 past Wales in Cardiff.

And in a sign that European rugby is growing from the bottom, Georgia gave Italy a stiff test including 2 scintillating tries before losing 20-17 in Genoa.

So South Africa continue to show remarkable skill, depth and resilience and reinforce their #1 ranking in world rugby. With just one match left in 2024, against Wales in Cardiff, only a Welsh miracle will stop them closing the year on a dominant high.

After this weekend’s results, the World Rankings have only seen a minor change; South Africa stay at #1 but New Zealand drop to #3, replaced by Ireland at #2. The other rankings are: 4) France; 5) Argentina; 6) Scotland; 7) England; 8) Australia; 9) Fiji; 10) Italy.

Next up: (11/22) France vs. Argentina; (11/23) Ireland vs. Fiji; Wales vs. S. Africa; Italy vs. New Zealand; (11/24) Scotland vs. Australia; England vs. Japan. Streaming Live and with all replays on Peacock.

Autumn Internationals underway and the Southern Hemisphere is smiling

With all of the major international sides having played, and England, Scotland, New Zealand and Fiji having played twice, it is clear who has the upper hand (for now) and the world rankings have moved accordingly.

All 4 southern hemisphere teams have a clean record thus far: New Zealand’s All Blacks are 2-0 having beaten England 24-22 in the opening match and Ireland 23-13 in Dublin. The All Blacks move up a spot to #2 in the world as a result. South Africa’s Sprinhgboks won their opening match 32-15 against Scotland at Murrayfield in Edinburgh and move to #1. Argentina are also 1-0 beating Italy in Udine 50-18 moving up a spot to #5 while Italy drop to #10 from #8. And Australia’s Wallabies, whose fortunes on the rugby field have been dismal of late won a terrific match against England at Twickenham 42-27 with a last minute try that sealed the win. Australia move up to #8 from 10 and England drop 2 spots to #7.

England are 0-2, at home, a disappointing start for a team that showed real spark in the latter stages of the 6 Nations and in the summer internationals. Next weekend’s opponent is South Africa which will probably pose a greater test of England’s resolve. Scotland are 1-1 having won their first match against Fiji and then ran into the best team in the world. However, the combination of results moves them up a spot to #6. Ireland fall 2 spots to #3 after losing to New Zealand at the Aviva Stadium and France, who had a comfortable 52-12 win against Tier 2 nation Japan in Paris stay at #4. Fiji are 1-1 and stay at #9 after losing 57-17 to Scotland in their opener and then edging Wales 24-19 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. Wales remain outside the top 10 rankings at #11.

Highlights include: home advantage has been of little value to the European sides when they’ve met the stiffest opposition although Scotland’s performance against the Springboks was inspired by fantastic support. England’s return to Twickenham (now known as the Allianz Stadium) was welcomed by sell-out crowds who so far have little to celebrate. Those who have been writing off New Zealand saw 2 exciting and hard-fought wins that reminded opponents not to give them an inch. Ireland would love to take on the Boks at home after their early departure in the World Cup last year but may be regretting not having a chance to play them in this series. The South African team has proven that even when not operating on all cylinders (they conceded a lot of possession against Scotland’s high intensity defense) they still manage to win. A victory against England at Twickenham on November 16 will keep them #1 through year-end and it is hard to see who unseats them in the short run. Their use of a 7-1 split in favor of forwards on the bench essentially renews the entire pack in the second half, enough to blunt Scotland’s brave performance. Very tough to beat.

Next up: 11/15 - Ireland vs. Argentina; 11/16 - England vs. South Africa, France vs. New Zealand, Scotland vs. Portugal; 11/17 - Italy vs. Georgia, Wales vs. Australia

Live streaming and replays on Peacock.

Premiership 1st Block done; the Autumn Internationals draw near

The first block of 6 games in England’s Premiership is complete and the teams you might expect to be high on the leaderboard are there, bar one. Bath are on top with a 5-0-1 record and 25 pts, followed by Leicester Tigers, also at 5-0-1 but with 1 less bonus point, and the Bristol Bears, 4-0-2 but 8 bps. All 3 moved up 1 rung from the previous week. Saracens, top of the table after Week 5 fell 3 spots to 4th after losing at home to the Tigers in a squeaker 29-32. Bath’s move to top spot came after a 6 try victory over Sale, now 8th in the table. The Bears beat the Saints 31-23, the loss away from home pushing last year’s champs to 7th. Gloucester (36-7 over Newcastle) and Harlequins (19-36 at Exeter) both had bonus point wins and moved to 6th and 5th respectively.

With the international break upon us, the next Premiership match features Harlequins at home to Bristol on Friday, November 29, which, given the rate of try-scoring currently (37 just last weekend) should be a feast for fans of imaginative, attacking rugby.

The Autumn Internationals kick off next Saturday (November 2) with England at home to the All Blacks. England’s fans will be keen to see if the attacking flair shown in the latter stage of the 2024 Six Nations will be continued against a side which while still ranked #3 in the world, has fallen slightly from its peak. The slew of top flight matches taking place in November will have an impact on the rankings, which are currently: Ireland #1; South Africa #2; New Zealand #3; France #4; England #5; Argentina #6; Scotland #7; Italy #8; Fiji #9; and Australia #10. All of these teams are playing internationals during November although arguably, the Irish and English schedules are the toughest.

Many of these internationals are being streamed on Peacock, starting with England/NZ on Saturday at 8:00 AM Pacific.

In the United Rugby Championship (URC), Leinster continue to lead with an unblemished record 6-0-0 which with 5 bps gives them a 6 point lead over Glasgow Warriors on 23 with a 4-0-2 record and 7 bonus pts. Still a game behind, 2 of the South African teams, the Vodacom Bulls and the Emirates Lions are 3rd and 4th with 4-0-1 records and just 3 and 2 bonus points respectively. Like the Premiership, the URC clubs have the month off, restarting on November 29 although some of the top clubs will have plenty of players away on international duty. The demands of international rugby for teams like England, Ireland, and South Africa could well have a negative effect on clubs in both Premiership and URC when they start their club campaign again at the end of the month.

In France after 8 rounds of Top 14 action and with 1 more to go before their international “break”, the top 6 clubs are largely the same although 3 lost away from home and slid slightly in the rankings. Last year’s champions, Stade Toulousain are on top with a 6-0-2 record and 29 pts including 5 bonus pts; runners-up Union Bordeaux-Begles are second with a 6-0-2 record and 4 bonus pts. Aviron Bayonnais, 3rd in the table were the only major club to win away last weekend (an unusual event in France) beating LOU Rugby 38-49. Stade Rochelais, RC Toulon and ASM Clermont all lost away and slid to 4th, 5th and 6th respectively.

Week 4 in the Prem and URC; Week 6 for the French

Derby weekend in the Gallagher Premiership adds a little spice to the regular season match-ups and the games this weekend did not disappoint. Leicester Tigers ground out a low-scoring win against Northampton Saints; Exeter’s young team scored 35 pts but lost to the tough and skillful Bristol Bears; Gloucester played some thrilling rugby but their 4 tries were comprehensively beaten by Bath’s 8; and in a tight game marred only by a terrible injury to Saracens flanker Onyeama-Christie, Harlequins beat the “other” London team for the first time in 4 years, 17-10. The results caused minor changes in the early-season leader board with Bristol moving to #1 after putting 6 tries past Exeter (total 21 in 4 games). Saracens loss drops them to #2 while Bath stay in 3rd after scoring 8 tries against Gloucester; Leicester Tigers dropped to 4th after a win, but no bonus point, over the Saints. The Northampton loss drops them to 7th in the table with Quins moving past them to 6th after their exciting win over Sarries.

Game 4 in the URC saw no change in the top 2 spots with Leinster beating Munster 26-12 and Glasgow over Zebre Parma 33-3. But two of the South African teams, still a game behind their European opponents due to a late start in the season, are doing well so far. Both the Lions and the Bulls are 3-0-0 and with 2 bonus points apiece move into 3rd and 4th spot, bumping Munster, Connacht and Cardiff all of whom lost at the weekend. (Note, however that the other 2 S. African teams, the Sharks and the Stormers both lost this weekend, to Benetton and Edinburgh respectively.) Glasgow, with a 3-0-1 record stays ahead of the S. African teams only because of their better bonus point tally. Leinster remain on top with a perfect record, 4-0-0 and 4 bps.

In France’s Top 14 it is understood that playing at home is a real advantage and this weekend’s results bear that out. Among the top 5 teams in the table, those who played at home won, and those who played away lost, as follows: #1 Union Bordeaux-Begles (HOME) beat Perpignan 66-12; #2 Stade Rochelais (AWAY) lost to Aviron Bayonnais 37-7; #3 Castres Olympique (AWAY) lost to Section Paloise 33-26; #4 RC Toulon (AWAY) lost to Racing ‘92 22-6; and #5 Stade Toulousain (HOME) beat Clermont 48-14. The effect on the table is thus: UB-B stay #1 with a 5-0-1 record and 23 points; Stade Toulousain move from joint #3 to #2, 4-0-2 and 20 pts; Stade Rochelais drop from #2 to #3 with 4-0-2 and 18 pts.

Note the Premiership and the URC have 2 more weekends of competition before the International break and will resume 11/29 France’s Top 14 has 3 more weekends and then a break, restarting on 11/29 also.

Streaming services for US viewers: Gallagher Premiership - therugbynetwork.com; URC and Top 14 - florugby.com

2024/25 Rugby season underway: early standings and Internationals to come

The Gallagher Premiership, England’s 10-team professional league is 3 rounds into its 18 game season. While early days, some teams are stating their intentions with the promise of an exciting tussle ahead. Saracens head the table with a 3-0-0 record and 15 points including 3 bonus points. The Bristol Bears lie second, at 2-0-1 and 12 pts (4 bps)and Leicester Tigers and last year’s Runner-up, Bath are in third with 10 points and 2 bps apiece. Of particular note is the number of tries scored so far; 52 by these top 4 clubs alone including 15 by Bristol, no doubt pleasing for the spectators. Last year’s champions, Northampton Saints lie 5th in the table with 9 pts.

The URC, with teams from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, S. Africa and Italy, are also 3 games into their 18 game season and Irish powerhouse, Leinster are on top. With a 3-0-0 record and 3 bonus points they sit at 15 pts ahead of defending Champion Glasgow Warriors, Munster, Connacht and Cardiff, all with 2-0-1 records, 3 bps and 11 points apiece. The South Africans have yet to make their mark being a game behind due to an international season that stretched into late September. The Lions, Sharks, Bulls and Stormers will soon be in the headlines, no doubt. An abundance of tries here too with 73 scored so far by the top 5 teams.

France’s Top 14 started their season earlier than the others and are 5 games into their 26 match season. Union Bordeaux-Begles, last season’s runner-up, are on top with a 4-0-1 record and 18 pts sharing the honors with Stade Rochelais. 3 Teams have 3-0-2 records and 15 points: Castres Olympiques; RC Toulon and Stade Toulousain, last season’s Investec and Top 14 Champions.

After an intense Rugby Championship, South Africa have reinforced their standing as the best team in the world (even if World Rugby says its the Irish), dominating the opposition (except for 1 defeat in Argentina) and winning the competition by 8 points. New Zealand’s All Blacks have looked vulnerable losing twice to S. Africa and once to Argentina and were only able to take second place based on higher scoring than Argentina. Australia had a miserable campaign losing 5 of their 6 matches amid growing apprehension about the British & Irish Lion’s visit next year.

The major southern hemisphere teams will head north in November for a series of internationals against the cream of the northern. hemisphere crop. Key European home team matches are as follows:

ENGLAND: New Zealand 11/2; Australia 11/9; S. Africa 11/16; Japan 11/24

IRELAND: New Zealand 11/8; Argentina 11/15; Fiji 11/23; Australia 11/30

FRANCE: Japan 11/9; New Zealand 11/16; Argentina 11/22

SCOTLAND: S. Africa 11/10; Australia 11/24

WALES: Australia 11/17; S. Africa 11/23

ITALY: Argentina 11/9

Results and updates to follow.

The Rugby Championships - Round 2

New Zealand come back into form and South Africa? Well, South Africa plays and stays as Number 1 in the world.

After last weekend’s loss in Wellington, the All Blacks hosted a fired-up Argentina in the impregnable fortress of Eden Park in Auckland. Would the 30 year, 49 test unbroken record celebrated by New Zealand at this park be broken? No. In miserable conditions (pouring rain and gusty winds) the All Blacks returned to form and gave Los Pumas a serious lesson in attacking rugby in the first 40 minutes. Scoring 5 converted tries (the first in the 5th minute), returning backs Will Jordan (2) and Caleb Clarke (1) plus Ardie Savea and Beauden Barrett put on a sparkling show, against a single penalty from the visitors. In the second half each tea scored a try with Argentina fighting hard to the end, but to no avail. Final score 42-10; the All Blacks gaining a bonus point. Notes: New faces in the second row for New Zealand did well, with Retallick and Whitelock (who played together 64 times) no longer in the squad. Sam Cane, back to fitness, earned his 94th cap coming in off the bench.

Similar torrential rain welcomed the Springboks to Optus Stadium in Perth, W. Australia for the 2nd of their ties against the Wallabies and while the Aussies put in a much tougher performance, the Boks were too deep and too powerful, despite making 10 changes to the starting line-up. A tight H1 saw the hosts down 9-11 at the break but a try early in H2 by the visitors and their suffocating defense left Australia with only a penalty to show for their effort, with a final score of 12-30. South Africa earned a bonus point giving them 10 points in the Championship and the lead. Note: injuries to Australia’s front row contingent led to uncontested scrums in the second half. But Australia can take heart from their better performance - losing to this South African squad is no disgrace - they are that good.

So, after 2 Rounds, the Table is South Africa 10 pts; New Zealand 5 pts; Argentina 4 pts; Australia 0. Next matches will be played on August 31: the Springboks at home to the All Blacks; and Los Pumas at home to the Wallabies.

The Rugby Championship - Round 1

The southern hemisphere’s annual tournament got off to an exciting start last weekend with an almost surprising result in New Zealand and a confirmation of South Africa’s dominance in Australia.

New Zealand’s All Blacks hosted Argentina’s Los Pumas at the Sky Stadium in Wellington. This locale is not a favorite of the All Blacks given they’d only won 1 of their last 6 matches there, and “the hoodoo continued”. New Zealand with a mix of veterans and relative newcomers started well in H1 scoring 2 converted tries and 2 penalties to go in at the break up 20-15. However, Argentina’s try in the 37th minute gave spectators an inkling of what would happen in H2. Despite an additional try and 2 penalties for New Zealand, Los Pumas outfought the hosts and 2 converted tries and 3 penalties saw them run out the winner 38-30, the highest score against their opponents ever. NZ were leading with 12 minutes left but a try under the posts by 109-cap Creevy and a penalty after 2 botched passes in the NZ 22 gave the visitors 10 late points and the win. A curiosity of the game was the first scrum took place in the 60th minute! So Argentina get the win and 4 points; NZ zero points. (Winners can get a bonus point if they score 3 or more tries than their opponent; Losers can get a BP for a loss by 7 points or less.)

At Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, the Wallabies took on RWC Champions South Africa and any hope that the Springboks might be off the boil were soon dashed. In a dominant and efficient H1, the Boks scored 3 converted tries with no answer, helped by a lot of penalties from Australia, not that they seemed to need it. The power of the scrum and the enterprise of their backs made the lack of an established 9-10 partnership an irrelevance. MVP of the World Cup Final, Pieter-Steph du Toit, now playing #5 was everywhere and scored a great try as did 2 other pack members in their 5-try victory. A curiosity of this game was South Africa receiving 3 yellow cards in the last 15 minutes meaning that Australia had a 2-man advantage for that period, only scoring 1 try and losing 33-7 at the whistle. South Africa took 5 points from the win with a bonus point and Australia none.

Next round, Australia play South Africa in Perth, Western Australia (sold out) and New Zealand play Argentina at their stronghold, Eden Park (a few tickets remaining). Streamed on Florugby.

Southern Hemisphere’s Rugby Championship + The Barbarians

The Northern Hemisphere teams may be taking a break but the 4 Tier 1 teams down south are about to start their annual feast of international rugby, The Rugby Championship.

Played over the next 7 weeks, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa will play 2 matches against each other to determine the 2024 Champion. For the last 4 tournaments, New Zealand’s All Blacks have taken home the trophy but South Africa, back-to-back World Cup winners and with their pride slightly dented by a tied series at home against Ireland in July, will be fired up to repeat their win of 2019, the same year they won the Webb Ellis trophy in Japan.

Starting on August 10, Australia play South Africa and New Zealand take on Argentina. These fixtures repeat on August 17. Round 2 on August 31 sees South Africa vs. New Zealand and Argentina vs. Australia; repeated on September 7. Round 3 on September 21 has Australia vs. NZ and Argentina vs. SA; repeated on September 28 with the home teams now playing away.

Flo Rugby are scheduled to livestream the games - please note that the Round 1 games between Australia and South Africa can be seen on Friday evening on the West coast as long as you don’t mind a late night.

In June of 2024 the Barbarians FC played a game for the Killik Cup against the Flying Fijians at Twickenham in London. Tied 17-17 at the half, the BaaBaas (as they are affectionately known) scored a total of 7 tries in the game to run out winners 45-32. The existence of the club is a testament to the power of rugby’s “community” in several ways; started in 1890, the club has never had a home ground or a clubhouse. It is invited to play by clubs and unions and in turn, invites players to join its ranks for single games; for example, when a touring side is playing in the UK, and tradition requires a game against the Barbarians, often a team stacked with top quality players. The criteria for being invited are simply this: the player must be of a good standard and be of good behavior both on and off the field. The Selection Committee cast their net far and wide and pick players from all over the world to “enjoy the camaraderie of the game and play attacking, adventurous rugby without the pressure of having to win.” In the game against Fiji, players from 11 clubs representing 5 countries (NZ, France, England, Australia and Japan) played a match notable for the Fijians ability to break tackles, plenty of tries, few kicks and great handoffs - 30-man rugby and a treat to watch.

Available on FloRugby (June 22) and check out their website - barbarianfc.co.uk

Summer International Update, Paris Olympics and the upcoming season

In June and July, several nations packed their bags and played in friendly fixtures around the world. These “off-season” matches are designed to entertain the fans, try out some new players looking for permanent spots on their national squads and keep them in good condition for the new European season just a few weeks away.

Starting in late June, England went to the Pacific, winning in Japan and losing 2 tight matches against New Zealand. The All Blacks have a new coach and several untested players and were not at their best but were able to hold off a new-look England who have played a much more attack-focused game since the middle of the 6 Nations earlier in 2024.

Wales visited South Africa and Australia and despite coming away with 3 losses played some entertaining rugby and must have higher hopes for next year’s 6 Nations. Scotland played a series of Tier 2 countries and returned home 4-0 with wins against Canada, the US, Chile and Uruguay. But the biggest series on the summer card was world #2 Ireland playing world #1 South Africa in Pretoria and Durban, with Ireland heading back home having drawn the series, a terrific feat in the home of the Springboks.

Fiji had 2 major matches, against the Barbarians in London and against New Zealand in San Diego, US, losing both but entertaining everyone with their style of play. Argentina and France played 2 tests in Argentina, with 1 win apiece and the US played 1 other international against Tier 2 Romania, also losing that match.

At end of the summer season the World Rankings are essentially unchanged: 1) South Africa; 2)Ireland; 3) New Zealand; 4) France; 5) England; 6) Scotland; 7) Argentina; 8) Italy; 9) Australia; 10) Fiji. Wales is ranked #11; Japan #14 and the USA #19.

In America’s Major League Rugby, the Final will be played on August 4 at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego between the Western Conference winners, the Seattle Seawolves, and the Eastern Conference winners, the New England Freejacks, last year’s champions.

At the Paris Olympics, the Men’s Rugby 7s tournament finished on July 27 with hosts, France defeating Fiji for the Gold Medal and South Africa taking Australia for the Bronze. Great Britain didn’t even qualify for the Olympic tournament, and the USA lost in the Quarters as did Ireland, another disappointing result for one of the top squads in the world. In the Women’s tournament, New Zealand repeated as gold medalists defeating Canada in the Final, an unfavored team at the start of the tournament but who dispatched France and Australia enroute to the Silver medal. The USA won Bronze with a win over the Aussies.

The rest of the northern hemisphere’s professional rugby population gets to take some well-deserved time off now ahead of the start of the new season in the Fall. Details are:

In France’s Top 14, Round 1 of a 26 match season starts on September 7 with 5 matches including losing finalist Union Bordeaux-Begles against quarter-finalist, Stade Francais Paris

In England’s Gallagher Premiership: Round 1 of 18 starts September 20 with Newcastle v. Bristol and a replay of last season’s Final with Bath at home to Champions Northampton Saints

The United Rugby Championship: also kicks off Round 1 of 18 on September 20 with Edinburgh v, Leinster and Cardiff v. Zebre Parma

The Investec Champions Cup starts on December 6 with Bath Rugby v. Stade Rochelais

Northern Hemisphere Rugby Wrap 2023-2024 Season

And so the rugby union season draws to a close in Europe and South Africa with various bits of silverware settling in at new locations, drawing admiring glances from fans and investors. Of course, the “off-season”, always brief will be even more so this year with the Paris Olympics Rugby Sevens kicking off on July 24 amid the usual host of friendly internationals already underway.

European rugby finished on June 28 with the Final of the Top 14 French season in Marseille between Investec Champions Cup winners Stade Toulousain and Union Bordeaux-Begles, first-time visitors to the Final. Toulouse came out of the blocks fast and put Bordeaux under tremendous pressure for the entire match. With stars like Dupont, Ntamack and Willis playing at the height of their powers, Bordeaux were unable to get anything going, not helped by a yellow- card in the 6th minute followed by concession of a try. The Toulouse team’s strength and speed overwhelmed Bordeaux who were down 22-3 at the Half. Sadly, the penalty scored by UBB in the 10th minute would be the only points they would score while Toulouse scored 9 tries, 6 in the second half and ran out 59-3 winners. Bordeaux enjoyed a great season (#3 in points scored) but were unable to get their backs in gear and what opportunities they did create were lost to poor handling or other mistakes. Antoine Dupont joins the French Olympics 7s team with 2 major championships under his belt - more excitement and rewards to come?

2023/2024 RUGBY RESULTS:

Six Nations - Ireland won but were denied a repeat of their 2023 Grand Slam by losing to England who finished 3rd.

English Gallagher Premiership Final - Northampton Saints, beat Bath in the final 25-21

Investec Champions Cup Final - Stade Toulousain beat Leinster in the Final by 31-22

EPCR Challenge Cup Final - South Africa’s HollywoodBet Sharks beat Gloucester Rugby 36-22

URC Final - Glasgow Warriors beat Vodacom Bulls, in Pretoria, 21-6

France Top 14 Final -Stade Toulousain beat Union Bordeaux-Begles 59-3.

DATES FOR THE 2024/2025 SEASON:

Gallagher Premiership - fixtures announced 7/23/24

URC - first fixtures 9/20/2024

Investec Champions Cup - first fixtures 12/6/2024 4 Pools of 6 teams, as follows: 1) Toulouse; UBB; SA Sharks; Exeter; Leicester; Ulster 2) Leinster; Clermont Auvergne; La Rochelle; Bristol; Benetton; Bath 3) Saints; Munster; SA Bulls; Stade Francais; Saracens; Castres 4) Glasgow; Racing ‘92; Sale Sharks; SA Stormers; Toulon; Harlequins

EPCR Challenge Cup - first fixtures 12/6/2024 3 Pools of 6 teams: 1) Cardiff; Connacht; Toyota Cheetahs; Perpignan; Lyons; Zebre Parma 2) Montpelier; Paloise; Newcastle; Dragons; SA Lions; Ospreys 3) Vannes; Black Lions (Georgia); Aviron Bayonnais; Scarlets; Edinburgh; Gloucester.

2nd Championship decided and Finalists for the 3rd are picked

In another busy weekend for northern hemisphere rugby, the URC Final took place and the 2 semi-finals for France’s Top 14 were held in Bordeaux, deciding the finalists for Europe’s last major trophy this season.

In the URC, the Glasgow Warriors, in 4th place at the end of the regular season traveled down south to Pretoria, South Africa to take on the Vodacom Bulls (#2) in front of 50,388 spectators. The teams only met once during the season, in S. Africa, with the Bulls running out winners 40-34 and, given the long trek down to Pretoria and the altitude of the Loftus Versfeld stadium (4,400’ above sea level) the Bulls were favored. However, despite a strong start by the home team with the Warriors conceding too many penalties , Glasgow managed to keep the Bulls in sight scoring a converted try just before halftime, down just 13-7. The Bulls slotted a penalty after 50 minutes to go 16-7 ahead but that was it for the home team. 2 more converted tries (and another disallowed) took Glasgow to a 16-21 lead with over 15 minutes to go and despite intense pressure from the Bulls and a man in the bin at the close, Glasgow held on to win. A decisive factor was the power and efficiency of Glasgow’s maul, driving 2 tries over the line after lineouts, a feature of their entire season and especially satisfying against a powerful South African pack.

Meanwhile in France, the 2 semi-finals of the Top 14 took place in Bordeaux; Stade Francais Paris vs. Union Bordeaux-Begles and Stade Toulousain vs. Stade Rochelais. In the first contest, the Parisian team, #2 in the regular season took on local favorite UB-B (#5) in a tight, nervy game that saw a lot of kicking and tries scored by the pack rather than the backs. Paris opened the scoring with a penalty but were down 3-10 after 16 minutes and never regained the lead. Union were up 10-17 at the half and scored another unconverted try at 55 minutes (10-22). Paris fought back hard scoring 2 unconverted tries to get to 20-22, the second at 80 + 4 minutes. The conversion would have tied the game and forced extra time but the kicker missed and the final whistle blew. A great finish to the match and Union Bordeaux-Begles go to the final after 3 consecutive defeats in the semi-finals!

The second semi-final pitted #1 team and Investec Champions Stade Toulousain vs. #5 finisher Stade Rochelais. This was star-studded affair with both teams fielding French Internationals and other luminaries- Toulouse with Dupont, Ntamack, Baille, Ramos, Scot Blair Kinghorn and English favorite Jack Willis; La Rochelle with Alldritt, Atonio, Danty, Thomas, Skelton and Jack Nowell, coached by Irish legend Ronan O’Gara - and for much of the 80 minutes, it lived up to its billing. In a busy 1H, both teams cored 2 tries but La Rochelle went into the break up 15-20 with one more penalty and both tries converted. La Rochelle were under pressure immediately in H2 when star prop Atonio was red-carded for a dangerous tackle and within 10 minutes Toulouse had scored 2 more tries to go ahead 29-20. As in the English Premiership Final, being a man down didn’t take La Rochelle out of the game completely until in the 60th minute a scuffle between two forwards led to a 2nd red card for La Rochelle (head-butting) and that was the ball game. Another penalty and another converted try saw Toulouse run out 39-23 winners. and off to their 23rd championship final.

England got off to a strong start of their summer international tour beating Japan in Tokyo by 52 - 17. After a slow start, England scored 8 tries, 6 of which were converted in a continuation of the latter stages of this year’s 6 Nations Tournament where their attacking skills were given free rein. Off to New Zealand for 2 Test matches on July 6 and July 13 which will no doubt provide a sterner test of England’s capabilities. England’s best advantage lies in the fact that the All Blacks are in a major transition phase with several of their long-term stars departing, including Aaron Smith, Brodie Retallick, Sam Whitelock, Richie Mo’unga and potentially Sam Cane at the end of the season. However, when has that made a difference? Streaming on FloRugby.

URC and Top 14 knockout phase

The French national league (Top 14) and the United Rugby Championship clubs moved deeper into the final stages of their competitions with quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively played this weekend.

The URC Grand Final pairing was decided after two tight matches that dealt double blows to Irish hopes and set the stage for a South Africa vs. Scotland final in the high veldt of Pretoria, SA. The first semi-final saw the #2 Vodacom Bulls at home to the Irish international-stacked team from Leinster (#3). While the Bulls had finished the season with a slightly stronger record (both teams were 13w vs. 5l but the Bulls had 1 more bonus point) and therefore had home-field advantage, Leinster with a starting 15 who had all recently appeared for Ireland and a star-studded bench, were given a strong chance butonly had the lead in the first quarter after a James Low try. After that, they trailed throughout apart from a brief period in H2 when they tied the score at 17-17. The hosts scored 3 terrific tries showing how dangerous they can be with ball in hand and Leinster were disappointed to be playing second fiddle to an SA team again as the Bulls won 25-20.

The second semi-final had league #4 Glasgow Warriors visiting #1 (and defending champions) Munster at Thomond Park, Limerick. Despite tremendous support from the home crowd, Munster were unable to make much headway in a tight, tough first half and even though Glasgow had a man in the bin for half of the first half they were up 3-7 at the break. H2 was equally tight with Glasgow scoring again only for Munster to get one back 5 minutes later. With the crowd roaring them on, Munster tried, but were unable to breakdown Glasgow’s defense and a red card in the 73rd minute was the final straw. Glasgow ran out winners by 10-17.

So Glasgow head to Pretoria to face the Vodacom Bulls on Saturday June 22nd at Loftus Versfeld, 4,400 feet above sea level and a test for the fittest of teams. Televised by Flo Rugby and by URC TV.

Meanwhile, in France, the Barrage round took place to select the 2 semi-finalists to face league #1 (Stade Toulousain) and #2 (Stade Francais Paris) on the 21st and 22nd of June. Union Bordeaux-Begles (#3) beat Racing ‘92 (#6) but in a small surprise RC Toulon (#4) lost to Stade Rochelais (#5) setting up their battle against league leaders and Investec Cup Champions, Stade Toulousain. The final will be held on June 28th, all 3 matches streamed on Flo Rugby.

Finally, the summer international series get underway on Saturday June 22 when England play Japan in Tokyo streamed on RugbyPassTV. It will be a busy summer for teams from all over the world - stay tuned.

Finally, the RFU in England announced changes to be introduced in the 2025/26 season including a playoff between the bottom-ranked Premiership club and the Championship winner, plus a "relaxation of minimum operating standards that should open the door to more aspiring Championship clubs.