All posts by 234Radio

World number one, seven Six Nations titles in a row and a 25-Test winning streak in all competitions.

Heading into a home Women’s Rugby World Cup, no-one can dispute England deserve their title as tournament favourites.

A thrilling 43-42 victory over France at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, may have secured a fourth consecutive Grand Slam on Saturday, but it also brought much-needed hope to all the chasing nations that the Red Roses are not invincible.

Les Bleues, who are ranked fourth in the world, bagged six tries and outscored John Mitchell’s side 21-12 in a second-half performance that exposed defensive frailties.

“England do have chinks and if you want to be the team that can beat them then there are ways to do that,” former England fly-half Katy Daley-McLean told BBC Rugby Union Weekly.

In 2022, Australia and New Zealand joined the United States and Canada to form a four-team competition that would serve as a qualifier for the newly-formed WXV.

The tournament, which ran without Australia and the Black Ferns in 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, was first won by Canada, before New Zealand picked up the trophy in their debut season.

However, Canada produced an impressive 22-19 win over the world champions in Christchurch to win their second title last year and offer up a timely statement before WXV1.

Before playing England in a home WXV1 title decider in October, lock Tyson Beukeboom said Canada’s goal was to “win the World Cup next year”.

Errors proved costly as Canada, who are ranked second in the world despite being an amateur outfit, missed out on the opportunity to defeat the World Cup hosts, losing 21-12, but their performance added a serious contender to the mix.

All this was without influential captain Sophie de Goede, who is still recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

The Saracens number eight will likely to be back for the World Cup, where she will look to remind everyone why she is one of the best players in the world.

In March, Rugby Canada announced they were 30% of the way through a fundraising campaign to “win the Rugby World Cup 2025” in England, with the goal to raise $1m (£775,000).

If Canada and New Zealand win their World Cup pools and quarter-finals, they will face off in Bristol in the final four.

Victory for Canada would then potentially set up a re-run of the 2014 World Cup final with England, which England won 21-9.

Things haven’t gone to plan for Black Ferns head coach Allan Bunting since he was promoted from his assistant role after the team’s World Cup triumph on home soil in 2022.

Trying out new combinations and losing several players to injury contributed to defeats by Canada, France and England last year.

But this follows a similar pattern. A year out from the World Cup in 2022, the Black Ferns suffered heavy back-to-back defeats by England to raise doubts about their ability to retain their title.

Then seven months before the tournament, the Black Ferns appointed former New Zealand men’s head coach Wayne Smith to lead the women’s team, and his experience and guile helped steer the side to a sixth world title.

The big news this time round is the return of the World Cup’s record try-scorer, Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, who this month announced she would come out of international retirement to try and win a third straight World Cup.

Meanwhile, New Zealand wing Ruby Tui recently hinted “something new” is being planned by attack coach Tony Christie that will transform their chances of securing a seventh title in England.

Woodman-Wickliffe, 33, played most of her career on the wing, but featured at outside centre in the Grand Final of Super Rugby Aupiki, helping Blues Women secure the title.

Seven Black Ferns sevens players have also made themselves available for World Cup selection, including uncapped women’s world sevens player of the year nominee Jorja Miller and back-to-back Olympic gold medallist Risi Pouri-Lane.

Returning double World Cup-winners Theresa Setefano and Stacey Waaka are also eyeing a third triumph in a row.

Whether the new attacking strategy includes Woodman-Wickliffe and is used in Pacific Four Series remains to be seen – what is for sure is that you can never rule out New Zealand.

Australia, ranked sixth in the world, were hammered 41-5 by England in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 2022 and remain a good way behind.

To have any chance of closing the gap they will need to call upon their sevens stars, which is proving difficult.

The Wallaroos hoped to secure the services of world sevens player of the year Maddison Levi, but the 23-year-old’s agent Mat Rogers believes the star is being “set up to fail”.

Levi broke the record for tries in a single Olympics (14) at the Paris Games in 2024, before signing for Queensland Reds to be part of the 2025 Super Rugby season.

Injuries and sevens commitments prevented the star making her XVs debut, with head coach Jo Yapp saying it now “wouldn’t be fair” to throw her straight into a Test environment.

Ilona Maher, who has over eight million followers on social media, was also involved in Paris and won a bronze medal with the United States.

The 28-year-old has since spent three months at Bristol Bears and is hoping to make her first appearance for USA XVs since 2021 after being named in their player pool for 2025.

Helped by ‘Maher mania’, the world’s number nine side have sold more than 7,500 tickets for their Pacific Four Series opener with Canada on 3 May in Kansas City.

The Atlanta Falcons have apologised to Shedeur Sanders after their defensive co-ordinator’s son helped to prank call the young quarterback during the NFL Draft.

In video footage on social media, Sanders can be heard taking a call from someone purporting to be the New Orleans Saints’ general manager Mickey Loomis.

The caller tells Sanders the Saints will make him their next pick before saying that he is going to “have to wait a little bit longer”.

Sanders – whose father Deion began his storied NFL career with the Falcons – ended up being selected by the Cleveland Browns as the sixth pick of the fifth round and 144th overall.

“Earlier in the week, Jax Ulbrich, the 21-year-old son of defensive co-ordinator Jeff Ulbrich, unintentionally came across the draft contact phone number for Shedeur Sanders off an open iPad while visiting his parent’s home and wrote the number down to later conduct a prank call,” said a Falcons statement.

“Jeff Ulbrich was unaware of the data exposure or any facets of the prank and was made aware of the above only after the fact.

“The Atlanta Falcons do not condone this behaviour and send our sincere apologies to Shedeur Sanders and his family, who we have been in contact with to apologise to, as well as facilitate an apology directly from Jax to the Sanders family.

“We are thoroughly reviewing all protocols, and updating if necessary, to help prevent an incident like this from happening again.”

Jax Ulbrich also made an apology on social media, saying he had made a “tremendous mistake” and described what he did as “completely inexcusable, embarrassing, and shameful”.

He added: “I’m so sorry I took away from your moment, it was selfish and childish.”

Sanders, who had been tipped to be one of the first picks, eventually became the sixth quarterback selected in the draft and the second by the Browns.

“It didn’t really have an impact on me,” said Sanders when asked about the prank call.

“I think of course it was a childish act, but everybody does childish things here and there.”

Sanders’ father Deion – who had a notable career during which he played cornerback in defence as well as a kick returner and wide receiver on offence – coached his son at Colorado.

The referee initially allowing a Leicester try despite a clear knock-on in the build-up. Harlequins wing Cameron Anderson, concussed on the floor, being shown a red card. England team-mates Alex Dombrandt and Ollie Chessum squaring up.

There were plenty of flashpoints at Mattioli Woods Welford Road on Saturday.

Yet the dedicated away fans section stubbornly refused to ignite into more than mild frustration.

On the fringes, where Richard Buck, sporting a Harlequins’ striped blazer, and Phil Ellis, a slightly bewildered Leicester season ticket holder of 16 years, sat side by side, the only thing lobbed between the two were pleasantries and cheery small talk.

“I’ve been a bit ambused by this today,” Ellis smiled. “You usually get the odd smattering of away fans but this is a bit more concentrated than normal.”

‘Away ends arrive in rugby’ shouted the headlines – including our’s – last month when Premiership Rugby last announced two trial matches with specified areas for visiting supporters.

It is a story with couple of caveats though.

Firstly, they aren’t really away ends. At least certainly not the aggro-and-pyro, strict segregation scenario the phrase brings to mind in this country.

Fans are not kept apart. And neither are they forced to sit with their own tribe. The option to mix in with the hosts is still there and taken by many.

And, secondly, away ends haven’t just arrived in rugby. Travelling fan groups have been block-booking sections of opposition stands off their own backs for decades.

Quinssa – Harlequins’ supporters association – are one of the most proactive.

They have concentrated more than a thousand fans together on European jaunts, where ticket offices are more accommodating and the idea of any travelling fans is novel.

Their members, given a dedicated area because of Covid restrictions of the time, helped inspire their team’s semi-final comeback against Bristol at Ashton Gate in 2021.

“It is a great initiative,” said Leicester chief executive Andrea Pinchen, playing host.

“We want to be innovative, we want to try new things and it adds to the atmosphere with fans of both sides getting louder and louder,”

Her Quins counterpart Laurie Dalrymple, who was previously managing director of Premier League football side Wolves, agrees.

“It isn’t the catch-all that is going to fix all the challenges we have had in our sport over the past few years, but not necessarily about that,” he said.

There was certainly a diversity of opinions in the stands.

Neither Buck or Ellis thought it was necessary.

“We all should mix,” said Ellis. “I have been all over the country with Leicester and I don’t want to particularly sit with Leicester fans, I just go and look for the best seat!”

Elsewhere, there was support.

“If you are with people you know, who support the same team, you are going to be more confident,” said Megan Schroeder.

“You are going to chant more, you are going to sing more, there is more hype and enjoyment.

“Whereas if you are just surrounded by opposition fans, it makes you think you might just sit and be quiet.

“I am all for it,” added Brandon Wells.

“It builds the atmosphere, and you are more inclined to travel if you are sat with people you know and you can sing the same songs.

“I am worried our game is going to die. We need to grow the game and this is a step in the right direction.”

Nick and Joel Baker, attending with their Leicester-supporting partners and sat among the Tigers fans, summed up the split.

“I am a bit more old school,” said Nick. “I like mixing in together and having a laugh and a bit of fun. There is never any nastiness at rugby, it’s not like football where you need the segregation. I am not a great fan of it, to be honest.”

“I think it is good to have the option,” said Joel. “If you support a club and now live in a different part of the country, it is nice to sit in with your fellow fans.

As Leicester’s lead stretched out in the second half, the volume dipped on the London voices though.

The lowing sound of ‘C’mon you Quins’ and more youthful chanting of star fly-half Marcus Smith’s name become less frequent and more quiet.

Only 500-odd strong, Harlequins fans were unlikely to break through often, even if the match had been more even.

By contrast, Gloucester’s fans, congregated in the more sparsely-attended Stonex Stadium for last weekend’s first trial match, made their presence felt and voices heard with some pithy chants about the deficiencies of London life and Saracens fly-half Fergus Burke.

Whatever Burke made of it, other players have been supportive of the idea.

Harlequins flanker Will Evans, who has spoken about the benefits of away support for visiting teams and the league as a whole, notably offered up applause to the Quins section.

Leicester’s players also relish focused pockets of support when on the road, according to Pinchen.

Whether they will see more of it on next season’s travels will depend on how Premiership Rugby, who will rebrand the competition for the next campaign, and its clubs’ leaders, not all of whom have initially been keen, assess these two experiments.

Played 10, lost 10. That is the miserable performance of Wales’ two national teams at the 2025 Six Nations in 86 challenging days.

It has been a miserable and turbulent three months, from the 43-0 Friday night Paris mauling France’s men’s side of Wales in January to the 44-12 hammering by Italy’s women in late April.

If Welsh rugby’s new performance director Dave Reddin had needed a reminder of the enormous task he is tasked with, he would have simply had to observe what is happening in Parma on Sunday.

The first women’s team to lose all five of their Six Nations matches was Sean Lynn’s team.

Wales won the Six Nations title in 2024 and 2025, and the men have a record of doing so in recent years.

In the 20 matches that have been played in the four competitions over the past 16 months, only one victory has been won: Wales women’s sneaky victory over Italy at Principality Stadium in April 2024, a success that was greeted as if the hosts had won the World Cup.

In his opening press conference last week, Reddin used expressions like “low ebb” to describe Welsh rugby. He did not violate the law.

With at least 11 more games on the 2025 schedule, the former FA and Team GB performance expert now has the unenviable task of changing Wales’ ailing national sides.

Warren Gatland, who left after the Six Nations defeat to Italy in Rome in February, will be replaced by Reddin, who will be in charge of finding a permanent men’s head coach from Rome until September.

Matt Sherratt, the new coach for Cardiff, oversaw three more defeats.

If the new coach isn’t in place in time, Sherratt might be asked to take Wales to Japan in July.

The successful candidate will begin with the lowest possible starting position.

With 17 successive international defeats, the most by a tier-one nation in the history of professional football, this Wales team has become the unwanted history boys, matching Scotland’s losing streak between 1951 and 1955.

Their most recent test victory came in the World Cup in Nantes in October 2023 when they defeated Georgia.

The most recent setback was a record-breaking defeat by England in Cardiff in March, 68-14.

With 11 consecutive Six Nations losses to their name, Wales became the first to lose every game in two different competitions. As a result, they won the Wooden Spoon.

Wales are 12th in the world rankings, just one place ahead of Eddie Jones’ Japan team, who they face this summer.

2025 Six Nations

Friday, January 31; France 4-0 Wales; Paris

Italy 22-15, Wales, Rome, Saturday, February 8th.

Wales 18-27 Ireland, Cardiff, Saturday, February 22.

Scotland 35-29 Wales, Edinburgh, Saturday, March 8, 2018.

Saturday, 15 March, Wales 14-68 England, Cardiff

The last items are fixtures.

Saturday, July 5, 2018, Kitakyushu (TBC) vs. Japan and Wales

Japan v. Wales, Kobe (TBC) on Saturday, 12 July.

Wales vs. Argentina matchup on November 9 at Cardiff (15:10 GMT).

Saturday, 15 November, Wales v Japan, Cardiff (17: 40 GMT)

Wales vs. New Zealand match on Saturday, November 22 at Cardiff (10:10 GMT).

Wales entered the 2025 tournament optimistically given that the WRU had chosen Sean Lynn as their new women’s head coach despite the wooden spoon from the previous year.

In three seasons with Gloucester-Hartpury that won the league, this man only lost six games.

Even his “family” culture and his winning mindset were unable to save Wales from its deepest despair.

Lynn watched his team being outclassed and outmuscled in their final four matches despite a promising start with a respectable defeat against Scotland.

The scale of the scores against Ireland and Italy, two rival nations that Wales had previously defeated, was most alarming.

Lynn made it abundantly clear that things must change, including some of the players, who he claimed were insufficiently skilled to compete internationally.

For the summer’s two-test tour of Australia in July and, more importantly, the World Cup, he has a few weeks to change the starting lineup.

Wales will face Scotland, Canada, and Fiji in the group stage, with the goal of reaching the quarter-finals, during the two-day international competition that will take place in England in August and September.

Given how unemployed Wales have been for the past two months, that may not be enough time.

Six Nations 2025

Scotland 24-21 Wales, Saturday, 22 March, Edinburgh

Saturday, 29 March, Wales 12-67 England, Cardiff

Saturday, 12 April, France 42-12 Wales, Brive

Sunday, 20 April, Wales 14-40 Ireland, Newport

Sunday, 27 April, Italy 44-12 Wales, Parma

The last items are fixtures.

Australia v. Wales, SE Queensland (TBC) on Saturday, July 26.

Australia v. Wales, Sydney (TBC) on Friday, August 1 (TBC).

Wales v. Scotland, Salford on August 23 (14:45 BST).

Saturday, 30 August, Wales v Canada, Salford (12: 00 BST)