✳ England 🏴 19 New Zealand 🇳🇿 7 Yokohama, Japan | AFP | Fly-half George Ford led the way as England ended New Zealand’s eight-year reign as champions with a superb 19-7 World Cup semi-final win in Yokohama on Saturday. Ford, restored at 10 by coach Eddie Jones, had to …
Read More »LIVE: England 10 New Zealand 0 at half-time in World Cup semi
Yokohama, Japan | AFP | An early Manu Tuilagi try helped England to a 10-0 lead at half-time against New Zealand in a breathless Rugby World Cup semi-final on Saturday. Tuilagi bundled his way through two All Black props to score under the posts with less than two minutes on …
Read More »Pressure was ‘horrendous’ says World Cup winner Mark Andrews
Paris, France | AFP | As a member of the South Africa team that won the 1995 World Cup and was later immortalised in the Clint Eastwood film “Invictus”, Mark Andrews is already assured of a place in rugby history. “We were just out of isolation, Mandela was the new president, …
Read More »Uganda rugby clubs say goodbye to ‘Papa’ Mileke
Tororo, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A delegation representing all the Ugandan rugby clubs led thousands who participated in ceremonies as Patrick “Papa” Mileke Aredo was laid to rest at Mikiya, West Budama on Wednesday. Mileke,58, was not only father to three players – Erasmus Aredo, Gabriel Aredo and Joseph …
Read More »Kenyan 7s rugby players jailed 15 years for gang rape
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | A Kenyan court on Friday sentenced two rugby players to 15 years in prison for the gang rape of a female singer at a birthday party last year. The international rugby sevens players Frank Wanyama, 24, and Alex Olaba, 23, were earlier this month found …
Read More »Hopes and fears as Rugby World Cup warm-ups begin
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Excitement will be mixed with concern when four of Europe’s leading rugby nations begin their World Cup warm-up programme this weekend. Ireland play Italy in Dublin on Saturday, with England facing Wales at Twickenham a day later. While some players can be reasonably certain of …
Read More »Kolkata: birthplace of the Calcutta Cup, and still India’s rugby hub
Kolkata, India | AFP | When England and Scotland play rugby each year, the winner hoists the Calcutta Cup — a relic of the sport’s roots in India, and a nod to the city where it is still thriving to this day. In the 1870s, when the Calcutta Rugby Football Club …
Read More »Two-try debutant Herschel Jantjies stars for Springboks
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Debutant scrum-half Herschel Jantjies scored two tries as South Africa beat Australia 35-17 Saturday in the opening match of the Rugby Championship season in Johannesburg. The Western Stormers half-back claimed the first and fourth Springbok tries before being warmly applauded when substituted 14 minutes from …
Read More »Dung and Dragons: Myanmar kids dodge cows to play rugby
Yangon, Myanmar | AFP | Sidestepping cowpats and garbage, Myanmar’s only home-grown junior rugby side train on the outskirts of Yangon, preparing to take on children from the city’s well-heeled international schools. When the Little Dragons aren’t running barefoot on the litter-strewn dirt, the makeshift field on the outskirts of Yangon is sometimes …
Read More »Orphan goes from sniffing ‘Rugby’ glue to playing for the Philippines
Manila, Philippines | AFP | Long before Lito Ramirez was one of the Philippines’ first homegrown rugby stars he was a six-year-old orphan addicted to sniffing glue, who survived on trash and begging. If there was any luck in his hellish world, it was that the brand of glue he and …
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