Once again a superb stats-driven thread by Sam!

France's 2026 Six Nations strip revealed early I see...

1/ World Rugby is pushing the size 4.5 ball trial into elite #HSBCSVNS. Claims of designing the game "in its own right" aren't enough. We demand the science! Is this an enhancement or a limit? Read our full demand & analysis: scrumhalfconnection.com/2025/11/26/s... #WomensRugby #DataNow

Obviously a huge shame to see Dow retire from an England point of view. (But from an engineer's point of view, great to see her returning to Mechanical Engineering). www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-...

Looks like Sunday’s Elite 1 match between Bordeaux and Blagnac will be broadcast by TV7. Seems to be accessible online at sudouest.fr/lachainetv7 without geo block or needing to open an account.

🍿 Watch live all the action from Harlequins 🆚 Scarlets ⤵️ 📺 www.quins.co.uk/video/live-harlequins-v-scarlets 📱 www.quins.co.uk/download-the-harlequins-app #COYQ | #HARvSCA

Off-the-charts drama between Netherlands and Belgium in the Rugby Europe U20 Championship. Late changes of lead, iffy refereeing decisions, Netherlands fighting back with only 13 players on the pitch and sudden death extra time. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYbN...

Morgane Bourgeois has thoughts on why England Women are outperforming France. Among them: - 🌹experienced squad - 🌹number of players with previous 7s experience - 🌹winning mentality - in France poor pathway from junior to senior level Bourgeois also suggests France should have a development squad.

ALLEZ LES BELGES!

As soon as the new calendar dropped, I knew I wanted to talk to players caught up in the reshuffle. So here’s the story of three of them, on the new hand they’ve been dealt. A huge thank you to all of them for sharing their thoughts with me. alicesoapbox.substack.com/p/the-hand-t...

Trailfinders vs Bristol should be an absolute treat - two teams that love to run the ball and work on the basis of "whatever you score, we'll score more."

They’ve woken up a beast now

Steve Borthwick 🤝 Emma Raducanu -- New coach every month --

I wrote a piece about Movember and how I'm not a mental health advocate. www.threeredkings.com/when-novembe...

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I don't know. It's a fact that rugby is always going to have borderline decisions and that there will often be a subjective element in decision-making. Changing the process (eg bunker vs on-field decision) won't change that reality, and there'll still be complaints from aggrevieved fans and pundits.

This was a thought-provoking interview too. I get the worry, but wonder the situation might not be as bad as Snowsill fears. It feels there has been recruitment of players from other Unions for a long while. Jenny Hesketh and Nancy MacGillivray would be recent examples who played for England U20...

This is an interesting article. I'm keen to dive further into how the various football codes crystallised in the Nineteenth Century. I'd agree with Hattie that rugby is somewhat exclusive by nature but I'm interested as to why it became popular with working classes in some places but not others.

A couple of days ago the YouTube algorithm pointed me to a live stream of the Canadian University Sports rugby final for women. It's an entertaining match with a very close finish, played to a high standard. I'd guess comparable to UK BUCS and better than US college. www.youtube.com/live/kWM6dGa...

Emma Sing doing Emma Sing things

Had this whole thread of my thoughts on the Autumn Nations Series games vanish in the ether because this app doesn’t have a draft posts option 😑 Basically: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Roebuck best in the air in the world? Pollock looking at himself in the big screen 😂 25m maul 😍 England getting really good at the basics

Anyone want to see a conversion attempt hit the woodwork not once, not twice, not three times but FOUR TIMES on its way between the sticks. Crossbar Challenge Level: Impossible. Hannah Brink for the US Naval Academy team

The Rugby4Cast algorithm did rather better than me last weekend, and I'm inclined to agree with their predictions for round 2. Sale and Quins likely to achieve closer margins than these but I'd agree with Loughborough and Sarries to get the wins.

The URC's communication about this controversial incident remains very amateurish IMO. It's widely reported that Wessels' appeal has been rejected (other than a 1 week reduction to his ban) but there doesn't seem to be any official URC communique on the subject...

The Women's ODI World Cup semifinal between India and Australia is heading for a nailbiting finish...

In case anyone is interested, here’s the match replay from 2018. A very entertaining match and an absolute roll call of Red Roses and other internationals www.youtube.com/live/MRPBlS2...

Some player stats from PWR week 1: With so many tries scored, perhaps surprising there were no hat-tricks. Tess Feury and Kelsey Jones leading the charts so far. Overall a good weekend for US Eagles, with try scorers in five of the eight teams by my count.

PWR try highlights from Week 1 here ⬇️ Kristin Bitter getting to experience the full range of emotions: an excellent crossfield kick to set up Tess Feury's try, but also getting outpaced by Sale lock Erica Jarrell-Searcy. Amelia Williams's 50 run-in also a highlight for me youtu.be/9V10VaH2GjQ?...

PWR reporting increased attendance numbers in round 1 of the new season: www.thepwr.com/news/the-pwr...

Oh what do I know? Trailfinders’ galacticos not yet clicking at all, and although Exeter looked rusty they at least know the way to the try line. 14-24 an excellent result for the Chiefs, but an early blow to Trailfinders’ hopes of a top 4 finish.

Lots to enjoy about this ding-dong match between Quins Women and Loughborough. But a highlight has to be a 50m run-in by Lightning prop Amelia Williams. Score 47-42 with 5 minutes to go.

These look like good predictions for last season's form and teamsheets, but based on lineups this weekend I'd suggest: - Trailfinders will be warm favourites over Exeter - Sale will dominate Leicester - Saracens likely to be closer to Glospury than 11 points (but Glospury still to win)

PWR Quins vs Loughborough this evening at 7:30 on BBC Sport / iplayer Tomorrow Trailfinders vs Chiefs at 3pm and Sale vs Tigers at 7pm, both on Youtube. www.youtube.com/live/8CFBWPS... www.youtube.com/live/HUCQ8Mh...

Another good PWR preview and predictions here. www.rugbypass.com/news/2025-26... Millie David's named as Bristol's key player. Personally I think it'll be whoever gets most time at fly half - hopefully Meryl Smith. Bears have lost both Amber Reed and Holly Aitchison - big boots needing to filled.

Saracens not wanting to be upstaged by the noisy neighbours

Does the URC publish its Disciplinary decisions? I don't think so, but they really should. Tough for fans to interpret decisions without the full facts. www.unitedrugby.com/latest/disci...

Squidge taking a flamethrower to Rugby's Hindenburg

Ooof - big signings for Quins Women! Rugbypass describes the two signings as “injury cover” (not sure who for, but there’s some big names missing from tomorrow’s team sheet) and that the players will be at Quins to March next year.

I thought this was a very good summary of how the various RWC teams fared over the last year, as well as providing the current status of coaching positions.

SR Aupiki moved later in the year: ✅ Avoids the 7s series ✅ Could include PWR players ❌ Clashes with NRLW Timing should identify talent & form ahead of WXV/Lions/RWC. Looks like the FPC will once again be denied Ferns squad members, which is a great shame.

Loads of Elite 1 information here:

This is another of Matt's excellent articles. Without spoiling anything for other readers, I politely disagree re Gloucester-Hartpury. Really looking forward to how things work out in practice!

Matt Merritt @inthecheapseats.co.uk has been putting out some great articles on the PWR. This one discusses the various comings and goings of players ahead of the coming season. Leicester, Bristol and Loughborough look like net losers. Trailfinders net winners. www.rugbypass.com/news/pwr-pla...

I'm not sure if anyone has posted this, so if not, here's the replay of the final of the Farah Palmer Cup championship. A very hard-fought, close game! youtu.be/bG3UMfxdiqk?...

For my UK followers! actionnetwork.org/letters/scra...

Building building building. www.springboks.rugby/news-feature...

According to the Sutton Trust, Women's rugby isn't too bad a reflection of the overall UK demographic. 10% educated outside the UK, 9% at private schools and virtually all the rest at comprehensives. The proportion that went to Uni is however high compared to the UK norm (around 50% I think)

Highlights of the Elite 1 match between Toulouse and Bordeaux are up on YouTube: youtu.be/b5MNcrg6PKY?...

Just in case anyone is still following this issue, World Rugby did publish the written decision of the Disciplinary Committee and... I guess the main "additional evidential submission" was Berthoumieu admitting biting. resources.worldrugby-rims.pulselive.com/worldrugby/d...