Ollie Phillips: Dupont leads my 2024 rugby union awards Sport For my last rugby union column of 2024 in print it’s only right that we hand out a couple of awards covering the last 12 months. Rugby has seen an Olympic Games sit front and centre of the calendar while there have been some surprises in terms of domestic winners. It wasn’t easy but I’ve [...]
Ollie Phillips: My Autumn Nations Series end-of-term report for home nations Sport With just one fixture remaining of this year’s Autumn Nations Series it is fair to say that the four home nations have had varied results. While strong performances on the continent from France, and even Italy at times, show growth across the Channel it appears that back home the four teams – whose players are [...]
Cheer up England rugby fans, you could support Wales Sport England may be on a bad run, but Wales are looking as if they’re looking into a deep abyss. Ollie Phillips writes that sacking Gatland, however, is not the answer. You’ve got to go back to 1973 to find an England rugby team who lost four home matches on the bounce. Steve Borthwick’s team have [...]
Wales 11 rugby match losing run in full November 17, 2024 Wales were defeated 20-52 by Australia on Sunday in Cardiff as Warren Gatland’s men extended their winless run to 11 matches. Ben Thomas and Aaron Wainwright scored for the home side but the Wallabies crossed eight times to condemn Wales to yet another defeat. Tom Wright scored a brace and Matt Faessler got himself a [...]
Pressure mounts on Gatland after 10th Wales loss in row November 10, 2024 A new wave of pressure is mounting against Warren Gatland after his Wales outfit extended their winless run to 10 games against Fiji on Sunday in the Autumn Nations Series. The Pacific Island nation toppled Wales 24-19 to win their first ever rugby match in Cardiff, and did so despite a red card for Semi [...]