Rugby Archive

  • Maitland pushed into the front line
    Wednesday 30 January 2013

    Sean Maitland's recruitment to the cause and the promotion of former soldier Ryan Grant from the ranks were the key indicators of change yesterday as Scott Johnson announced his front-line troops for the forthcoming RBS 6 Nations Championship campaign.

  • Selection policy has been right, says Hall
    Wednesday 30 January 2013

    A decade after making his Test debut, and so the longest- serving member of this Scotland squad, Dougie Hall was delighted by the suggestion yesterday that, unlikely as that record might make it, his selection reflected a freshness in the selection process.

  • Kiwi winger to make Scotland debut at Twickenham
    Tuesday 29 January 2013

    New Zealand-born Sean Maitland will make his Scotland debut against England in Saturday's RBS 6 Nations Championship opener against England, the Scottish Rugby Union has confirmed.

  • Time to revise rules over player eligibility
    Tuesday 29 January 2013

    It must be something in the Scottish water.

  • Horne forced to play waiting game ahead of Twickenham opener
    Tuesday 29 January 2013

    Peter Horne's prospects of making his international debut against England at Twickenham on Saturday appeared to be hanging in the balance last night as the 23-year-old Glasgow Warriors centre battled to recover from a hand injury suffered in training last week, writes Alasdair Reid.

  • Johnson: I like my captains to get their hands dirty
    Tuesday 29 January 2013

    Having taken on a job he said he had no designs on, Scotland's interim head coach claimed yesterday to have identified like-minded support in seeking to build a Caledonian version of Plato's Republic at Murrayfield.

  • Countryman says Maitland will succeed
    Monday 28 January 2013

    Scotland import Brendan Laney last night backed Sean Maitland to prove a major hit for his adopted country, writes David Kelso.

  • Ayr still able to smile in the face of 'ugly' victory
    Monday 28 January 2013

    Peter Laverie, the Ayr assistant coach, last night expressed relief at watching his side secure a win over Heriot's which has afforded them further momentum in the chase for the Premiership title.

  • Game changer
    Sunday 27 January 2013

    It was cold that winter, a bitter and unrelenting cold.

  • FRANCE: Stepping stone
    Sunday 27 January 2013

    Philippe Saint-Andre called last year for an end to the century-old French habit of being brilliant one week and terrible the next.

  • WALES: No ordinary side
    Sunday 27 January 2013

    Three Grand Slams in eight years is the sort of statistic usually associated with the phrase "Golden Age", but it has not felt like that for Wales.

  • IRELAND: Heaslip bridges the gap
    Sunday 27 January 2013

    Declan Kidney's account of the process which led to Jamie Heaslip's appointment as Ireland captain in the autumn could almost have been interpreted as indicating that the Leinster No 8 was the last man standing.

  • ENGLAND: All Change
    Sunday 27 January 2013

    IN December 1993, Geoff Cooke and Roger Uttley accepted the BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year award on behalf of the England rugby side of which they were manager and coach respectively.

  • The view from Down Under: Sixth nonsense
    Sunday 27 January 2013

    RESPECT isn't won easily in the southern hemisphere, especially in New Zealand where ludicrously good players seemingly grow on trees and ludicrously good rugby is played on almost every field across the land.

  • ITALY: Grand designs
    Sunday 27 January 2013

    THEY may have ambitions to expand their style into a more fluid and constructive approach, but with former France forwards coach Jacques Brunel at the helm and a trio of bruisers in the back row, there is no doubt where the real heart of the Italian team lies – and it is not with subtle interplay or clever handling.

  • Gatland's Lion kings in waiting
    Sunday 27 January 2013

    Sorry France.

  • SCOTLAND: Rising from the depths
    Sunday 27 January 2013

    On the face of it, similarities between Stuart Lancaster and Scott Johnson are not exactly obvious.

  • Women's Six Nations: Driven to win
    Sunday 27 January 2013

    AS 19-year-old prospect Jade Konkel prepares for her possible Scotland Women's debut against England on Saturday in the RBS 6 Nations opener, there is no denying that she has put in the hard yards – or should that be miles – to get there.

  • Rugby's mean machines
    Sunday 27 January 2013

    They say rugby is a game for hooligans and gentlemen.

  • The joy of Six
    Sunday 27 January 2013

    Andy Robinson is gone, but his words should not be forgotten.

  • RBS Premiership: Warrior Welsh doubles up to bolster title push
    Sunday 27 January 2013

    Ayr were made to battle all the way by Heriot's at Goldenacre yesterday, but came through 22-16 to stay top of the RBS Premiership.

  • Scott hopes for smoother ride after rollercoaster debut year
    Saturday 26 January 2013

    ShOULD he have failed to realise it previously, Matt Scott learned last year that poor performances can have fateful consequences.

  • Sexton is first top Ireland player to succumb to riches on offer in France
    Saturday 26 January 2013

    Jonathan Sexton, the Ireland fly-half, is poised to join Racing Metro after the Irish Rugby Football Union confirmed he'd leave Leinster at the end of the season.

  • Clubs warming to the idea of a winter shutdown
    Friday 25 January 2013

    Ross Miller and his team-mates at Glasgow Hawks have spent this week switching between Scotstoun's astroturf and the gym hall at the High School.

  • New deal gives fans opportunity to design national team kit
    Friday 25 January 2013

    Rugby followers are not usually renowned for having a cutting edge fashion sense, but Scotland supporters are being given the chance to change that reputation for the better by submitting designs for new strip for the national team.

  • Scotland will have to travel to Twickenham with real belief
    Thursday 24 January 2013

    It was probably the only time in the 25 years I have covered Test rugby that Scotland have gone into a meeting with their oldest rivals as favourites.

  • England coach knows that underdogs often come with a nasty bite,
    Thursday 24 January 2013

    Having steered his side to victory at Murrayfield in his first match as England's caretaker coach a year ago, Stuart Lancaster is highly conscious of the danger of the tables being turned on him next week.

  • Johnson: picking Kiwi Sean Maitland for Six Nations isn't tokenism
    Wednesday 23 January 2013

    Scotland's interim coach Scott Johnson insisted there was no "tokenism" about the selection of New Zealand-born wing Sean Maitland for the RBS 6 Nations.

  • Hall: injection of new talent is a real lift for us
    Wednesday 23 January 2013

    DOUGIE HALL hopes the new faces in the camp can kick-start Scotland's fortunes and shake off his guilt over Andy Robinson's departure.

  • Beattie's gamble to relocate to France paying off in more ways than one
    Tuesday 22 January 2013

    He left only a few months ago to make a fresh start but John Beattie's homecoming could hardly have been more special as the professional assignment which has returned him to his native city came at the perfect time in the Scotland internationalist's private life.