Rugby

Newcastle Falcons’ promotion back to the Gallagher Premiership has been confirmed with Saracens relegated to England’s second tier. The Falcons are at the top of the Championship, 18 points clear of second-placed Ealing, and following the Rugby Football Union’s (RFU) decision to call off the rest of the 2019-20 season due to the coronavirus pandemic,

Eddie Jones is set to extend his contract with England to take him through to the 2023 Rugby World Cup, according to ESPN sources. Jones’ contract was due to finish in 2021, but he is now poised to take England through another World Cup cycle, having led them to the 2019 final. 2 Related Rugby

With rugby facing an indefinite hiatus due to the coronavirus, professional players are keeping fit from their homes and trying not to lapse into off-season mode. In England, the Gallagher Premiership is postponed until the weekend of April 24-26. As rugby waits for that deadline to likely shift further into the summer, players and staff

New Zealand Rugby has offered a grant of $[NZ]250,000 to each of the country’s five Super Rugby teams to help them get through the next three months while the game remains suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic. The intercontinental Super Rugby competition was shut down after round seven when the New Zealand government enforced two

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has taken a 25% wage deferral, along with the Scottish Rugby board, due to the growing financial impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Edinburgh Rugby head coach Richard Cockerill and Glasgow Warriors head coach Dave Rennie have taken also taken 25% salary deferrals, while Scottish Rugby chief executive Mark Dodson has

Rugby Australia [RA] stands to lose $[Aus]120 million should there be a total wipeout of the Super Rugby season and Wallabies’ domestic Test schedule due to the coronavirus pandemic. The governing body on Tuesday announced that it would be standing down 75 percent of its staff from April 1 to June 30 in a bid

The British & Irish Lions tour of South Africa in July 2021 will not be rescheduled despite a direct overlap with the new dates for the Tokyo Olympic Games that were announced on Monday. The Olympics have been pushed back a year due to the global coronavirus pandemic, and will now start on July 23,

NEW YORK — USA Rugby has decided to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy because its financial woes have been exacerbated by the coronavirus shutdown. In financial strife since 2018, USA Rugby’s recent attempt to restructure was set back this month when it had to suspend all activities indefinitely in the face of the pandemic. The

England coach Eddie Jones has accepted a pay cut of over 25% to help ease the financial burden on the Rugby Football Union (RFU) which is set to lose money due to the coronavirus pandemic. The RFU faces losses of up to £50 million over the next year-and-a-half due to the outbreak but will still

Sport is currently navigating unchartered waters, as the coronavirus wreaks havoc on fixtures, training and global participation. Rugby’s Six Nations tournament was one of the first events to feel the strain, when it was announced that Ireland vs. Italy in Dublin would be postponed at the start of March. Some matches went ahead while others

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) have announced that they expect to make a £50 million loss over the next 18 months in part due to the coronavirus. The RFU have provided support for community clubs in England with a relief package worth £7m as domestic rugby continues to feel the negative financial impact caused by

Italy flanker Maxime Mbanda has volunteered as an emergency ambulance driver in a bid to help those affected by the coronavirus outbreak. Mbanda, 27, volunteered as a driver in Parma and also joined others in Emilia-Romagna wearing a mask and protective suit. “The situation as we all can see is of full emergency, even if

England No. 8 Billy Vunipola has said he will “definitely” stay at Saracens next season despite their relegation to the Championship. The English and European champions will play in the second-tier after being relegated from the Premiership for breaching salary cap rules. Despite the sanction, Vunipola has said he intends to remain at the club

The European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) on Tuesday postponed the semifinal and final of this season’s Champions Cup and Challenge Cup tournaments due to the coronavirus pandemic. Quarterfinal fixtures of both tournaments from April 3-5 were already postponed last week. The organisers have now added the finales of the competitions, which had both been due

Gallagher Premiership organisers are determined to finish the season and could schedule multiple matches to be played behind closed doors at one venue, league chief executive Darren Childs has said. The Rugby Football Union (RFU) announced the cancellation of the remainder of the 2019-20 domestic rugby season last week, excluding the Gallagher Premiership, due to

Michael Fatialofa provided a bit of good news amid the coronavirus gloom when a video on Saturday showed the Worcester lock walking unaided 11 weeks after he suffered a serious neck injury. New Zealand-born Fatialofa was shown walking in a video posted by his wife Tatiana on Instagram. Coronavirus: Postponements and cancellations in sport “You’re

All Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) employees will take a 10% to 50% pay deferral to help the organisation save money, the rugby union announced on Friday. The deferrals will be based on an equitable sliding scale and will be effective from April. The IRFU did not give a finish date for the deferrals but

England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU) have announced the end of the 2019-20 domestic rugby season, excluding the Gallagher Premiership, due to the coronavirus pandemic. RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney said in a statement: “My thoughts and those of all of us at the RFU are with everyone impacted by COVID-19 as well as recent flooding