France

The second division of the French domestic championship – the Pro D2 – starts a new season today. Competing for the right to earn promotion to the Top 14 will be sixteen clubs. Eleven of them are in France’s south-west, the traditional hot bed of French rugby. But with large cities taking …

A new season of Pro D2 rugby begins on Thursday. The opening round kicks off two months after the 2016 final. With there being 30 rounds and playoffs to be juggled alongside test rugby and European club rugby it is a long, long season. The new season sees Oyonnax and Agen back …

Despite the French summer far from being over the country’s rugby season is set to start. Just 57 days after last season’s final Week 1 of the 2016-2017 Top 14 season gets underway on Saturday. With players have briefly rested before returning to training they are now set to play …

PRO Rugby year one is in the books. The Denver Stampede are inaugural champions, lifting the unnamed trophy, and the verdict from American fans is unanimous – they want more. More teams, more players, more games, more exposure. It’s onwards and upwards from here. Before we look at where things …

The French domestic championship – the Top 14 – starts a new season on Saturday. Competing for the ultimate prize in France will be clubs from large cities and small towns. They come from far and wide with the competition increasingly being nationwide as south-west small town representation has deteriorated. In the …

A new season of Top 14 rugby begins on Saturday. The opening round kicks off less than two months after the 2016 final was played in Barcelona. The quick turnaround is due to Rugby World Cup 2015 having delayed matches in the early part of the 2015-2016 season. With there being …

For the first time two Chilean players will compete in the top division of French rugby. Bayonne have confirmed that prop Ramón Ayarza will continue with the club this season after signing as a medical joker at the end of last season’s championship run in Pro D2. Together with second …

Ohio Aviators bookend Jamie Mackintosh is headed back to France. The one-time New Zealand All Black prop joined PRO Rugby after spending time as a medical joker with Montpellier last season. With his former provincial side Southland opting not to offer him a Mitre 10 Cup contract, Mackintosh will instead …

Fiji have done it. A masterful performance in the Gold Medal final saw them overwhelm Great Britain by a score of 43-7. The captain Osea Kolinisau crossed less than a minute into the match and by half-time the result was all but written at 29-0. Like Japan, Great Britain simply …

Gastón Revol sparked an improbable comeback for the Pumas as they rebounded from a 21-0 deficit to win 26-21 and earn a spot in the 5th place final. It was the captain Revol who led the way with a try on each side of half time and 16 points in …