Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2026 i Rugby World

Euro trash AS YOU read this, rounds three and four of the Champions Cup will be gracing your screens as Europe and South Africa’s club elite battle for a place in the knockouts. Except that for most of you with club allegiances, it will be a matter of waiting for it to be over, writes Joe Robinson. The 24-team, four-game pool format which was designed to funnel teams into an extra Round of 16 is not working. You’re more likely to make the knockouts than not, which means teams aren’t taking pool games seriously, especially away from home. Teams know that if they win their two home games, they should get through. It’s resulted in farcical events. In round two, only Leinster and Sale won on the road. Top 14…

What’s the club called? Wandsworthians RFC, having dropped the ‘Old’ when the school closed down over 30 years ago. They’re keeping down with the kids. Where is home? They have recently moved to Imber Court in East Molesey, which is a lovely ground – with a stand! How did the club start? It was founded in 1929 as the ‘Old Boys’ team from Wandsworth School. The club played on the pitches at Home Park in Kingston. They made their home in Claygate a few years later with a clubhouse and a few pitches that had ‘character’ in the winter. What teams do they have at the club? They only have one side. They have another invitational club inside Wandsworthians called Wendel RFC, but that’s a story for another day to…

EVERYBODY DEALS with bad news in different ways. For Henry Slade, the Exeter and England centre, a spot of half-cut horticulturalism helped cleanse the soul after Steve Borthwick’s brutal 2023 World Cup axing led to the toughest time in his professional rugby career. When he was omitted, Slade had played 30 of England’s 37 Tests since the 2019 World Cup. No Englishman had started more games in the 13 jersey in that time, so to be excluded from the 33-man group to travel to France came as a big surprise to almost everyone, including the man himself. “I didn’t take it very well, to be honest, at the start,” Slade recalls when he sits down with Rugby World in the Baxter suite at Sandy Park. “You know you see films…

MAKE NO bones about it, Ellie Kildunne wants to be the best rugby player in the world. Not the best women’s rugby player but the best player, period. She has been telling us this for a while now. Ever since she was crowned World Rugby Women’s 15s Player of the Year in 2024, she has been honest with her ambitions. You might think that is arrogant or even misguided, but you have to admire the ambition. And the portfolio of evidence that Kildunne put down during the recent Red Roses home World Cup success is pretty hard to argue against. While the phenomenal Sophie de Goede of Canada was recognised as this season’s Women’s 15s Player of the Year, it was Kildunne’s constant moments of individual brilliance through the World…

NOT MANY up-and-coming centres can say they’ve learned from a two-time World Cup-winning fly-half. Nor can many say they have picked up valuable insight outside a half-back who has played more than a decade at the top in France, England, New Zealand and Australia. Yet 22-year-old Joseph Woodward has done both. “Handré Pollard is an amazing player, a double World Cup winner, but he was very relaxed, which is something I picked up off him,” the Leicester centre tells Rugby World. “You don’t need to be really rigid like a robot. He is on it, intense, but also relaxed when he needs to be. When mistakes happened, he wasn’t on your case, he pumped you up with confidence. In the heat of the moment, like a Premiership semi-final, he was…

SINCE LEE Blackett’s appointment as attack coach, England have produced more line breaks, faster rucks and more offloads. They are threatening defences. Blackett (opposite) has an attacking philosophy he believes in but he’s very open to learning and always wanting to adapt. It’s measured ambition with an ultimate goal of winning and consistency rather than chasing the spectacle. I’ve looked at three of Blackett’s hallmarks… 1 EMPOWERING PLAYERS Blackett trusts his players to make calls on the pitch. He gives them the tools to perform and the confidence to take an opportunity when it presents itself. And as long as a player makes a good decision, he’ll back you, even if the player’s action doesn’t come off. This mindset encourages players to be bold and use their creativity and decision-making.…

Who was your first rugby hero? I loved watching HARRY ELLIS at Leicester. He had zero regard for his own body; he used to hurl himself at the kicker’s foot for charge-downs. He could have been a great England scrum-half but a knee injury ruined it for him. First rugby shirt? My old man (Troy) played for Leicester, so I had a lot of Tigers’ shirts. But the one I was spellbound by was a SHARKS one from South Africa. He was a teacher and brought it back from a school tour. I didn’t take it off for a whole summer.  Your first position? FLY-HALF. I played there at school until I was 16 – I didn’t kick goals though. I got away with playing there as I could read…

What a fascinating Men’s Six Nations this will be. Not only does the championship start on a Thursday (for the first time since 1948), it’s a week shorter than usual. It’s also proving impossible to predict. England storm into the tournament on an 11-game winning streak, while Ireland hope to reverse the tide of an ageing squad. Scotland continue to stumble against the stiffest competition as pressure mounts on Gregor Townsend. Then there’s Wales, at the start of a new era under Steve Tandy. Reigning champions France tend to do well in post-Lions tour championships. They have star scrum-half Antoine Dupont back fit and enter as favourites. Meanwhile, Italy look as good as they have ever been. To whet your appetite, we bring you six conversations with six players set…

“I WORK four days a week for Leading Edge Performance, one day a week at Sale Sharks and coach at Sedgley Park – I’ve been out of playing rugby for about six months now and it’s a completely different world! “I was living in Leamington Spa when I was at Wasps and Rob Miller and I used to volunteer in a soup kitchen on Thursdays a few years ago. We got chatting to one of the volunteers, Patrick Marr, and he is MD of the company and that is how I got introduced to them. “A lot of what the company does is high-performance insights into business and I was doing that alongside playing for about six years. When I knew I was retiring, I said I’d like to go…

IT’S HUGELY disappointing for Welsh rugby to lose two international captains in Jac Morgan and Dewi Lake. Both Ospreys stars have signed for Gloucester in the PREM from next season and will move to Kingsholm this summer. For two standout players, and particularly Jac as one of our few truly world-class players, to be leaving Welsh rugby is a hammer blow. For them it’s a massive opportunity to grow and improve as rugby players. The decision has probably been difficult for them, but it will have been made a little bit easier by the uncertainty caused by the WRU’s proposal to lose a region. I think the uncertainty has forced the players’ hands more than anything to make a decision to leave. There’s still a lot up in the air…

THE AUTUMN Nations Series saw Scottish heartbreak, Wales being back and then finished again, and South Africa reminding everyone why they’re the world’s best. But for all the great rugby, one storyline took the focus away from the players: the refereeing. From the opening week to the final match, the discussion after every game was dominated by a card decision and whether it should have been a yellow, red or nothing at all. The state of officiating in rugby has reached an all-time talking point. With a record number of cards and TMO referrals, the flow of the game is being consistently interrupted. And contentious decisions are changing the game. Examples include Tadhg Beirne’s red card against New Zealand, Franco Mostert’s red against France and Japan’s Harry Hockings’s red against…

THERE ARE very few opportunities that are worth missing an England World Cup win at home for. But a weekend in Brive with Joe Worsley on his inaugural FR-UK tour softened the blow of missing the Red Roses ascend to their throne. It’s also potentially a fitting metaphor for how heads are turning on English shores as French rugby goes from strength to strength. As the playing exodus of England internationals across the Channel gathers at steady pace, the demand for access to watching the Top 14 and Pro D2 increases back home. For those who don’t know, FR-UK is a venture set up by Worsley, the former England flanker, who most recently was defence consultant at Brive, and EggChasers podcaster Tim Cocker, a former BT Sports man. FR-UK obtained…

“THE NAME, ‘The Greatest Rivalry’ says a lot. I hope people don’t see that in an arrogant way, but the history between us and New Zealand is really rich. For us to call it ‘The Greatest Rivalry’ is not to say it’s better than other competitions, but it speaks to the deep history between us and New Zealand.” Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus is long enough in the tooth to know that international rugby’s newest showpiece will knock a few noses out of joint but when you are ranked first and second in the world and have shared the last four men’s World Cups between you, you’ve probably earned the right to be a bit bolshy with your branding. After all, in the ever-narrowing world we live in where the attention…

BACK IN 1991, Canada were a rugby powerhouse, qualifying for the quarter-finals of the World Cup before losing to reigning champions New Zealand 29-13. Throw forward 20 years and the Canucks were still competitive on the world stage. A side containing the likes of DTH van der Merwe, Jamie Cudmore and Jebb Sinclair were knocked out in the group stage in the World Cup, but recorded a victory over Tonga and a draw with Japan. Since then, Canadian men’s rugby has been on an alarming decline. In 2015 and 2019, they were dumped out in the group stage with barely a whimper. Then, in 2021, disaster struck as defeat over two legs to Chile meant they failed to qualify for rugby’s premium tournament for the first time in their history.…

BEST VALUE AWAY? Holiday Swoop, ADAM ASHLEY-COOPER. He’s just a different beast and I’m always his minder! HARDEST HITTER? WYCLIFF PALU. When you look across the huddle and he’s in your team, you feel a bit safer. MOST INTELLIGENT? AL BAXTER. We used Al instead of Google in court. If he answered right, you skulled, but if he wasn’t he drank! FUNNIEST? Me! It’s hard to pick one but JEREMY PAUL has been head and shoulders above everyone else in the Classic Wallabies. COACH’S PET? ADAM ASHLEY-COOPER. That’s probably why he went on and played 121 Tests for Australia! FASTEST? LACHIE TURNER. He won the invitational sprint against all the other sports athletes in Australia. FITTEST? MATT GITEAU. He’s always fit and still is the fittest. I tip my hat to him. Every…

FAREWELL JAC AND DEWI Welsh captains and Ospreys legends Jac Morgan and Dewi Lake have decided the Welsh rugby psychodrama is a bit too much for them and have signed contracts across the border for Gloucester. I don’t blame them! Why wait around to watch your club side get the chop and have to deal with the fallout when you could be enjoying your rugby elsewhere? Their career is short, so make the most of it and get paid properly in return. They join Tomos Williams, Louis Rees-Zammit and Dafydd Jenkins in our list of stars not touching the Welsh regions with a barge pole. It’s an embarrassing state of affairs. Gwynn Powell, Pontardawe A DIFFERENT CLASS There are some sportspeople whose natural ability is so electric it can be…

1 CANADA Canada’s Asia Hogan-Rochester has joined Sale Sharks. The wing scored five tries at last year’s Women’s World Cup, two of them in the final against England. “Manchester was my favourite place to visit during the World Cup and I loved the buzz in the city,” says the 26-year-old (below). Their national coach, Kévin Rouet, has joined Saracens Women as attack coach where he worked with DoR Alex Austerberry at the World Cup. 2 AUSTRALIA World Rugby and Gilbert have extended their long-standing partnership to 2033 – and unveiled the official match ball for RWC 2027. The agreement means Gilbert will be the Official Ball Supplier for the next four World Cups, in Australia (2027 & 2029) and USA (2031 & 2033). The RWC 2027 ball (above) features “a…

What’s the funniest thing you’ve seen on the pitch? This is tough because I don’t remember any moments from games I’ve played in… This is not necessarily that funny but we were playing Bristol away and Sladey (Henry Slade) got absolutely hammered in a tackle (by Viliame Mata). I tried my hardest not to laugh. What really annoys you? I’m a pretty chilled person, but I’m one of the younger lads in the team and some of the older wingers like to hide my stuff. So if I get a new pair of boots and leave them by my section in the changing room, they’ll take them out and hide the boots. One will go in the bin and one will be put on a shelf in the showers. Anywhere…

THE FESTIVE period is a notoriously busy time in the rugby calendar but it is good to see that down in Bristol, some still find the time to give back. “Bears Giving Back Day is a really special day in the Bristol Bears calendar,” Jamie Skinner, chief executive of the Bristol Bears Foundation, tells Rugby World. “It’s not just the men’s squad but women’s squad and staff going out into the local community and visiting partners of the foundation, whether that’s young people in schools, older adults at work, foodbanks. Our players giving up their time to visit these people at a time when it is needed most.” Two weeks before Christmas, during a busy Champions Cup and PWR block, 60 members of the elite men’s and women’s squads, alongside…

THE SPRINGBOKS have never been stronger or more dominant than they are right now. Since Rassie Erasmus was appointed head coach in 2018, the Boks have won back-to-back World Cups, a Test series against the Lions and three Rugby Championship titles. The 73-0 thrashing of Wales in November boosted South Africa’s win record to 86% – their best return for a season since 1998. Under Erasmus and a crack coaching staff, which includes out-of-the-box thinkers such as Tony Brown and Felix Jones, the Boks favour an all-court game plan that few have been able to match. Plans to develop the wider squad with a view to the 2027 World Cup have gathered momentum, with Erasmus selecting 50 players (including eight debutants) over the course of 15 games in 2025. And…

CHAMPRUGBY.The proving ground. The home of broken dreams and empty pockets. But also new shoots and optimism. Bags of it. Rugby World has taken a trip to Castle Park for a tasty-looking fixture, Doncaster Knights v Worcester Warriors. A large crowd is expected and as we arrive and an attendant parks us up, he tells us about the day the Maori All Blacks played here and some people came along just to watch the haka. We’re here early to meet Steve Lloyd, Doncaster’s president and co-benefactor. He is charming and generous with his time. Lloyd comes from coal-mining stock and made his fortune establishing residential schools for children with special educational needs. His joined the club as a tighthead prop in 1975 and one of his trusty team-mates, Tony de…