The Guinness Pro 14 also reaches its midpoint this weekend, well technically at halftime of each game with 21 matches to be played by each game in the regular season. It’s a weird schedule for Round 11, the first of back-to-back derby matches with three games on Saturday, three on …

The Greene King IPA Championship slips into the second half of its season with its fate seemingly already decided. Both the top and bottom teams are so by a distance, leaving the rest to shuffle about for bragging rights. Bristol remain undefeated in the Championship, crushing the Cornish Pirates 56-19 …

The Aviva Premiership hits its mid-point of the season this weekend. Defending champions Exeter are assured the top spot with an eight point gap above second place Gloucester, and with the Chiefs at despondent Northampton this week there’s no reason to think they won’t be just as far if not …

It’s the final week of the first half of the French Top 14 season, and there are two teams in position to claim the top spot pending the results of the weekend. The opening match on Friday saw Racing 92 defeat Toulouse 23-19, it guarantees a top four placing for …

The French Pro D2 steps into the second half of the season with Montauban on top of the table and odds-on favorites for promotion. Grenoble have moved into second place after defeating Bayonne 28-23 in the only game on Thursday evening. Argentine prop Juan Pablo Orlandi and Chilean lock Pablo …

Juan Imhoff has received a five-week suspension following the conclusion of a disciplinary hearing in London on Wednesday. The Racing 92 winger was sent off by referee Wayne Barnes for a headbutt on Castres scrumhalf Rory Kockott in a bizarre incident during the Champions Cup match between the two sides …

Marcelo Torrealba has been named the Chilean Rugby Player of the Year for 2017 by the independent Chilean Circle of Sports Journalists. The 21-year-old playmaker received the prestigious ‘Cóndor de Oro’ award in a ceremony on Tuesday evening. Rugby is one of 50 sports recognized by the organization. Torrealba was …

A new annual competition for Americas nations outside the Americas Rugby Championship will begin in August 2018. As initially reported in August of this year, the new tournament will provide regular fixtures for developing nations outside their regular regional competitions. World Rugby Vice-Chairman and Americas Rugby President Agustin Pichot confirmed …

Where last week we had numerous players at virtually every position to consider, this week we found ourselves scrambling for options. In some cases players simply weren’t selected, and those that were were for the most part unconvincing. It leaves us with an unusual and somewhat unique team. For the …

The Jaguares will be without one of their key attacking players for a good chunk of the Super Rugby season. Matías Moroni underwent surgery this week to repair a long-standing shoulder injury he had been carrying. He is expected to be sidelined for the next four months, which would rule …

Major League Rugby has signed an exclusive apparel deal with XBlades, the newest professional competition in the USA confirmed on Wednesday. The landmark agreement will see all MLR sides and match officials outfitted with XBlades kit for games, training, and off-field activities as well as rugby boots. Already prominent in …

Argentina’s concerns at prop have taken another significant hit with the news that Facundo Gigena has signed for Leicester Tigers. The 23-year-old loosehead from the Tala club in Córdoba will join the Aviva Premiership side in January on a deal that will take him through the end of the 2018-19 …

Welsh Rugby Union CEO Martyn Phillips has confirmed that Wales will play a two-game series against Argentina in June 2018, with matches set to take place on the first two weeks of the test window on June 9 and 16. He also revealed that the WRU are close to finalising …

Emiliano Boffelli has been awarded the prestigious Olimpia de Plata. The award is given to the best Argentine athletes among 41 disciplines as voted by the independent Association of Sports Journalists, a practice that has continued annually since its inception in 1954. It bookends a superb year for the 22-year-old …

Referees from six different national unions have been appointed to take charge of the 2018 Americas Rugby Championship. All but one match will be adjudicated by officials from the Americas. Andrew Brace of Ireland will take charge of the tourney opener which will double as the first leg of the …

Argentina will send a development side to Punta del Este, the first stop of the Sudamérica Sevens series, to take place over two days beginning on January 6. Los Pumas are in Pool C at the competition along with the Canada Maple Leafs, Ireland, and Colombia. San Luis forward Renzo …

International rugby will return to Ushuaia and Brazil will host only one match at their iconic Fortress Pacaembu. Those dates and venues have now been confirmed for the 2018 Americas Rugby Championship. Only one match remains at a venue to-be-confirmed, the fourth-round meeting between the Argentina XV and Canada. [EDIT: …

The international season is over for 2017 but that doesn’t mean Uruguay’s top players are on vacation. Los Teros have been hard at work at the National High Performance Center at the Estadio Charrúa ahead of their historic Americas 2 World Cup Qualifying series against Canada. It’s the first time …

A bizarre incident in the 64th minute of the Champions Cup match between Racing 92 and Castres Olympique on Saturday will see Juan Imhoff in front of a judiciary this week. The Argentine winger was sent off for a headbutt on Castres scrumhalf Rory Kockott, who was yellow carded at …

A Newcastle development side with six Americas players in the starting lineup suffered an embarrassing 35-29 defeat Worcester Cavaliers in Aviva ‘A’ League action on Sunday. Newcastle had named an experienced team with seven full internationals against a Worcester side composed almost entirely of academy players. The result will not …