Indholdsfortegnelse for August 2025 i Rugby World

WHAT’S YOUR first Lions memory? Mine is from 2005, aged 11. I was in a hospital bed at the Medway Maritime Hospital having had my tonsils removed on the Friday afternoon. It was early Saturday morning on 2 July and I had an individual television screen that thankfully had Sky Sports. Eating a bag of Quavers and two slices of toast for breakfast (good for the throat, apparently), I watched Dan Carter deliver one of the greatest individual performances we have ever seen as New Zealand battered the Lions 48-18. I was already an obsessive before but it was that tour, ill-fated as it was, that convinced me that rugby was my tribe. Twenty years on and rugby’s greatest tradition (and this very excited editorial team) sets off for Australia…

8 URUGUAY Warren Gatland (below) spent three weeks with Peñarol during Super Rugby Americas 2025. The ex-Wales boss served as an adviser as the Uruguayan team secured a play-off spot ahead of the RWC 2027 qualifiers. 9 FIJI Ex-Fiji Sevens star Isake Katonibau (below) has called on Fiji Rugby to fund free education or vocational training for current and past national players. He says many players are left with no clear path forward after rugby. 10 NEW ZEALAND Portia Woodman-Wickliffe (below) became the Black Ferns’ all-time top try-scorer after scoring seven tries in a 79-14 rout of USA. It enabled them to retain their Pacific Four Series title on points difference ahead of Canada.…

What’s the club called? Ipswich YM RUFC. Up until the early 1980s, the club was called Ipswich YMCA. It should be nicknamed the ‘Village People’ but it’s not, unfortunately. Where is home? The Street, Rushmere St Andrew, Ipswich. It’s in the north-east of Ipswich and the club backs on to Ipswich Town FC’s training grounds. When and how did the club start? A hundred years ago in 1925! The club started with a few YMCA chaps having a lively discussion on the respective merits of the two football codes, as there wasn’t anywhere for school leavers, other than Public or Secondary, to continue to play rugby. Arthur Davies, one of the founding members, suggested the YMCA start a rugby club. What teams do they have? They have two men’s senior…

YES ADAM HATHAWAY REGULAR CONTRIBUTOR FOR RUGBY WORLD IN JANUARY last year, on the day Andy Farrell was named Lions coach, we were told that the tourists and Rugby Australia had signed a deal and were commercial partners in the entire series. And in that agreement was a commitment that Wallaby stars would play for Super Rugby teams in the lead-up to the first Test. The Lions admitted that a degree of trust had to be employed over this. So how’s that going then? Joe Schmidt has come out and said he would like to ringfence a group of around 25 players just for the Tests and he is wrong on many levels – for the Wallabies, the Lions and the fans. You’d think Schmidt would like to get a…

01 The Lions is a team of players selected from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales who tour every four years. They rotate between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. 02 Andy Farrell’s squad has 26 first-time tourists. Eight have participated in two tours while four players are on tour for a third occasion – Tadhg Furlong, Elliot Daly, Finn Russell and tour captain Maro Itoje. 03 The second Test will be at the MCG, Melbourne, with its capacity of 100,024. It’s expected to surpass the Lions’ biggest attendance, the first Test of the 1955 South Africa tour that drew a crowd of 90,000. 04 In the UK and Ireland, all games will be exclusively broadcast on Sky Sports/Now TV, with TalkSport the exclusive radio broadcasters. 05 This will be the tenth occasion the Lions…

GONE ARE the days where every Lion grew up dreaming of pulling on the jersey. Now it can become a professional dream rather than a boyhood one. An unbelievable opportunity when circumstances and stars align or even due to divine intervention. “I didn’t grow up dreaming of playing for Scotland or the Lions – that’s the truth,” explains Sione Tuipulotu, 28. “But this is where my path has led me. I’m all in for this Lions team, for Scotland, for Glasgow, for everything – and I genuinely believe this is where I’m supposed to be anyway. I’ve been led here for a reason.” A granny from Greenock is responsible for Tuipulotu’s rise from Australia U20 to Scotland captain. The centre was even touted as a potential Lions leader before an…

AT THE time of writing, the Premiership and Championship campaigns are drawing to a close, but below that another term of National League rugby, university rugby and community rugby is in the books. Whether you are winger William Howarth – who helped Counties Three side Old Otliensians to a league and cup double thanks to a scintillating 61 tries in 27 games – or National Two West outfit Clifton – who clinched promotion to National One for the first time in three decades – 2024-25 has been a season to remember. Let’s begin at the very top of tier three in the men’s adult game, where pride of place at the summit went to Richmond. Rob Powell’s side confirmed their return to ‘Champ Rugby’ in the early knockings of April…

A PILLAR OF Saracens and England, Maro Itoje offers a rare combination of athleticism, tactical awareness and relentless defensive work. The Lions captain is not just a powerful athlete but a strategic leader – a player who changes games through both intelligence and athletic moments. He is able to turn the momentum of matches via his actions, particularly through his defensive work in the tackle and at breakdowns. I’ve highlighted a few of his qualities… 1 ATHLETICISM & PHYSICALITY Itoje combines size, strength and fitness in a rare way for a forward. His ability to dominate in the contact area, make big carries and disrupt play in defence with his physicality is elite. He uses his huge wingspan and incredible arm strength to target the ball against attackers, opposition mauls…

FRIDAY 20 JUNE British & Irish Lions Lions v Argentina (8pm, Aviva Std) TV Live on Sky Sports French Top 14 Semi-final TV Live on Premier Sports FRI 20-SAT 21 JUNE Rugby Europe Women’s Sevens Conference 1: Ordino, Andorra SATURDAY 21 JUNE Men’s International England v France (3.15pm, Allianz) Super Rugby Pacific Grand Final TV Live on Sky Sports Asia Men’s Championship South Korea v UAE (Incheon) County Championship All games at Allianz Stadium Men’s U20 Div One final (10am) Women’s Division One final (noon) Men’s Division One final (5.15pm) French Top 14 Semi-final TV Live on Premier Sports LIT Super Sevens Series National Pub 7s, Harpenden RFC SAT 21-SUN 22 JUNE Rugby Europe Men’s Sevens Conference 1: Ordino, Andorra Conference 2: Pristina, Kosovo SUNDAY 22 JUNE Asia Men’s Championship…

THERE’S A lot of change brewing in rugby, with confirmation that the Club World Cup, or the Rugby World Club Cup to give it its formal name, will launch in 2028. It’s a four-yearly competition with the Champions Cup quarter-finalists going up against seven Super Rugby Pacific sides as well as a Japan Rugby League One team. Anything that brings in a new audience, and with that new revenue streams and thus more money into the game, is positive and good. The drawback is the impact it has on the players. In particular, how it’s set up and how it affects the season. Rugby’s answer to everything is let’s just play more matches, but we don’t have more players. The problem is you want the same players playing all the…

BACK THREE ELLIOT DALY Saracens & England Why selected In three words: experience, versatility and timing. Daly was in very few provisional Lions squads until his match-winning cameo off the bench for England against France sparked a run of game time in the Six Nations. Now a three-time tourist, Daly has seen it all at the top level. His ability to cover the entire back three and outside-centre may be priceless if the Lions deploy a 6-2 forwards bench split. With a monster left peg, he’ll also slot long-range goals. Did you know? Daly played against the Lions for the Barbarians in Hong Kong in 2013. He’s one of just five players – soon to be six with James Lowe – to have played for and against them. Test prospects A…

OR THE best part of five months, Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt was in virtual hiding as a blockbuster British & Irish Lions series quickly approached Australian shores. Since the moderately successful tour of Europe in November, in which the Wallabies beat England (42-37) and Wales (52-20), Schmidt has been an invisible man. Unlike his media-savvy predecessor Eddie Jones, Schmidt likes to keep a low profile. On this occasion, there was good reason. As Rugby Australia searched for Schmidt’s replacement – he announced in February he would be leaving after this year’s Rugby Championship – the Wallabies boss wanted to stay out of the media, conscious not to be seen as interfering with the formal process. Schmidt didn’t deem it appropriate to provide ongoing commentary to the country’s rugby journalists. Getting…

ON THE day he was named as the Lions captain, Maro Itoje referred to how rare and wonder-making that touring squad can be. “There’s only three of us – myself, Elliot, Tadhg – from the last real tour.” Itoje, Elliot Daly and Tadhg Furlong, along with Finn Russell, drafted in briefly in 2017, were the only three-time Lions announced in the initial squad for Australia. Thirteen players from the 2021 tour to South Africa were named in Andy Farrell’s 38-man group. Due to Covid-19 restrictions during that tour, players were largely confined to hotel rooms and the team room when not training and competing. Tadhg Beirne is now a two-time Lion but eager to take in what a full-blown Lions tour has to offer. “Whether it is going out with…

BIGGER IS BETTER The English Premiership should be 21 teams, with everyone playing each other once a season. Ten home and away games each. Two teams promoted and relegated via the Championship. That way more teams and players could get high-quality rugby, increasing depth. And teams would have less pressure to avoid relegation as there would be more teams. So teams could develop more youth and spend less. Teams like London Scottish and Coventry could be in the English Premiership. Rory Smith, Rhyl, North Wales LOVING THE NEW LOOK New-look Rugby World, could be interesting. Still a great mag, keep it up! Colin Wickham, Manchester RW SAYS: Be more like Colin… A STEP FORWARD I’m pleased to see Adidas release its first women’s-specific rugby boot. It’s great that designers are…

1 IRELAND The IRFU has disbanded its men’s sevens programme to cut costs – prompting an angry response. Ireland Sevens star Terry Kennedy (below) called the move “nothing short of a disgrace”, pointing out that the signing of foreign players to Irish provinces on fat contracts hardly points to a lack of finances in Irish rugby. The IRFU’s accounts showed an €18m deficit in 2023-24. The union said the decision aligns with “key initiatives” in their strategic plan. 2 UNITED STATES USA Rugby has awarded pro contracts to their women’s team to help them prepare for the World Cup. Thirty-eight players have been contracted in a three-tier format from April to the end of September. “It’s a massive step forward and creates a sense of stability,” said Eagles captain Kate…

“MY BOYHOOD dream was to play rugby and I got a professional contract straight from school, but you need a plan B. I lived with Stuart McInally in the early years and he started to take his pilot’s licence. With the lifestyle of rugby, being on the road, I was always at airports and found it fascinating. “Stuart told me to go on an experience flight at a small airfield in Fife and from then on I thought it was what I wanted to do after rugby. “I did my private licence, part-time, in 2017-18. In 2021, I was contracted to Scotland Sevens and I started the commercial pilot training alongside a job with a charity, Switch the Play, which supported sportspeople in their transition out of sports. It was…

1 ELLIOT WILLIAMS AGE 18 (29 MAY 2007)//BORN STAINES, GREATER LONDON//POSITION LOCK//CLUB HARLEQUINS//COUNTRY ENGLAND When did you first play rugby? I was five or six, my dad took me down to my local club, London Irish, to play tag. My family always watched it but were more of a basketball family! My parents both played that to a relatively high level from their teens. What attracted you to rugby as a youngster? Just burning off steam with my mates really! How did your journey progress? I was at London Irish for about ten years. I always enjoyed my time there, especially when my dad started coaching me for about five years as I could ask him anything. Positions played? I played wing for five or six years from U12 or…

ONE OF the firsts for this Lions tour is a new Official Nutrition Partner. Science in Sport (SiS), which has its HQ in Blackburn, has been formulating industry-leading nutritional products since 1992 and supplies more than 350 pro sports teams and individuals. Saracens, Fiji and, ahem, the Wallabies are among their clients. Their chief operating officer is Dan Lampard, who used to be a keen second-row. One day his rugby coach didn’t turn up as arranged, so Lampard wandered into a nearby gym for a workout. It was a sliding doors moment because he went on to become a professional bodybuilder. When we speak, Lampard is about to fly to Chicago for the HYROX World Championships, the fitness craze that is sweeping the planet. “I’m in the ‘older man who…

SIMON EASTERBY IRELAND The Irishman will hope for better fortunes than his one previous Lions tour in 2005, when he won two Test caps as a back-rower in the whitewash by New Zealand. His coaching career has been a bed of roses in comparison, initially graduating from the Scarlets head coach job to the Ireland set-up in 2014. He has been in charge of Ireland’s forwards and, for this year’s Six Nations, was interim boss, but his greatest expertise lies in defence and it’s that role that he will fulfil for the Lions. Quiet but direct, Easterby has been instrumental to Ireland’s glory years over the past decade and he will be a trusted confidant for Andy Farrell. “He’s unbelievably diligent,” says the head coach. RICHARD WIGGLESWORTH It has been…

I ANMcGEECHAN – the Lion King himself – ticks off the components it takes to make a successful British & Irish Lions tour. The head coach needs to select the right people as well as the best players for the trip. Disrupters need not apply. The squad size has to be calibrated correctly so every player can be given sufficient playing minutes to state his case for a Test place. And as the tour takes shape, the squad must, despite its multinational constituency, evolve into a band of brothers. In one sense a Lions tour is a four-yearly social experiment, throwing together rivals, stirring with a giant spoon and seeing what comes out at the end of the process. It is amazing, though, how often it works. When it does,…

FASTEST TEAM-MATE From 2009? I mean SHANE WILLIAMS could move. He was sharp and could cut a move. BEST FRIEND RONAN O’GARA. A Lions tour brings people together. But I hated playing against him! BEST TRAINER Those doing closed skills. Stephen Jones and PAUL O’CONNELL put the graft in. MOST LIKELY TO BE A MILLIONAIRE JAMIE ROBERTS or Brian O’Driscoll. Both are smart, savvy and switched on. BIGGEST HITTER I got hit by Euan Murray, the Scottish prop. That stuck. And the Irish flanker, DAVID WALLACE. COACH’S PET A few Welsh lads. STEPHEN JONES and O’Gara again. The fly-halves are always sidling up. BEST TRAVEL BUDDY I’m a sleeper, so I need a quiet roomie. GETHIN JENKINS just kept his headphones on, perfect! BEST SKILLS Everyone had a game plan except…