England’s Rugby World Cup 2015 opener: Riding early storm is pivotal in overpowering Fiji, insists Courtney Lawes September 16, 2015 England second row Courtney Lawes has predicted a gruelling contest lies in wait for his side in Friday’s Rugby World Cup opener against Fiji at Twickenham but insists their superior fitness will prove the decisive factor. Pacific Nations Cup champions Fiji won their sole warm-up clash against Canada at the Stoop on 6 September, although [...]
Bring on New Zealand, insists England head coach Eddie Jones as he backs RFU stance to face All Blacks March 19, 2017 England head coach Eddie Jones insists his side are itching to face world champions New Zealand after backing governing body the Rugby Football Union’s (RFU) stance on arranging an out-of-window match between the two heavyweights. The teams are not scheduled to play each other until the autumn of 2018 but the RFU confirmed last week [...]
England v Wales in Rugby World Cup 2015 thriller: Geoff Parling defends Chris Robshaw penalty call in England defeat September 27, 2015 England skipper Chris Robshaw may live to regret his decision to spurn a late kick at goal which could have levelled matters against Wales on Saturday, but second-row Geoff Parling has pointed the finger elsewhere. Robshaw shouldered responsibility for England opting against a penalty kick with three minutes of their 28-25 demise against Wales remaining, [...]
O2 pins hopes on England Rugby World Cup 2015 win: CEO Ronan Dunne on playing the long game September 20, 2015 If you were compiling a list of the most successful sponsorship partnerships in sport over the past 20 years, the one between O2 and England Rugby would have to be very near the top. Timing is everything of course, but when Cellnet, O2’s previous incarnation, decided to get involved in rugby union in 1995, [...]
Power play: How Duracell intends to capitalise on 2015 Rugby World Cup with ranking system August 23, 2015 A recent documentary on Britain’s double Tour de France winner Chris Froome, was subtitled “the untold story of power is the ability to go harder and longer than anyone else”. In the offices of Duracell batteries, the marketing team nodded sagely at each other. Power and longevity: their two watchwords. After all, that Duracell bunny [...]
Rugby World Cup 2015: England loss vs Australia could wipe £3bn off stock market by depressing investors’ mood October 1, 2015 Around £3bn could be wiped off the UK stock market in a single day if England lose their crunch Rugby World Cup game against Australia this Saturday, with investors' outlook depressed by the disappointing result. Read more: Rugby World Cup's economic impact likely to be limited England face Australia at Twickenham knowing that anything less than [...]
Rugby World Cup 2015: Paris audition doesn’t faze cool Luther Burrell August 21, 2015 England centre Luther Burrell has denied he is feeling the heat ahead of his latest audition for a place in head coach Stuart Lancaster’s Rugby World Cup squad. Lancaster has claimed the “spotlight” will be on Burrell after naming the Northampton centre in his starting XV for England’s World Cup warm-up clash against France in [...]
TfL issues travel advice for the 2015 Rugby World Cup: Delays expected as one million spectators descend on London September 17, 2015 Transport for London has warned London's commuters to expect delays for the next six weeks as one million spectators descend on the capital for the Rugby World Cup, which starts on Friday. Between Friday 18 September and Saturday 31 October, there will be 17 matches across three London venues, at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park [...]
New Zealand v Argentina: Eight reasons why the All Blacks will win the Rugby World Cup 2015 (and three why they might not) September 20, 2015 The haka, the jet black shirts, the collection of some of the game's best ever players – New Zealand are the Rugby World Cup's scariest side and odds-on favourites to win. Here's eight reasons why they'll lift the Web Ellis Cup for a third time: 1. They're the best… …and have been for six years according [...]
Great British Bake Off 2015 final attracts bigger audience than any England Rugby World Cup game with 13.4m viewers October 8, 2015 It turns out Britons are more in thrall to baking than brawn and prefer scrumptiousness to scrums, after last night's Great British Bake Off final attracted more viewers than any of England's games at the Rugby World Cup. England's disastrous World Cup campaign, exclusively broadcast by ITV, pulled in a peak audience of 11.6m viewers during the team's loss to [...]