Round 2 of the Six Nations looks set to provide another thrilling weekend as the stakes get even higher!

With first round action out of the way, this weekend’s fixtures should give us a much clearer idea of how the standings are likely to pan out for the rest of the tournament. Wales or England will be out of the running for a Grand Slam this weekend depending on who emerges the winner, butContinue reading “Round 2 of the Six Nations looks set to provide another thrilling weekend as the stakes get even higher!”

A quick wrap up of a thrilling opening weekend of Six Nations Action as well as a look at Canada’s opening foray in the Americas Rugby Championship

This year’s Six Nations got off to a superb start this weekend, and the tournament’s billing as one of the most closely competitive tournaments in years seemed to be spot on the money. As Tournament favourites along with England, Ireland got an exceptionally rude introduction to this year’s Six Nations as Scotland finally delivered onContinue reading “A quick wrap up of a thrilling opening weekend of Six Nations Action as well as a look at Canada’s opening foray in the Americas Rugby Championship”

After much anticipation, the 2017 edition of the Six Nations kicks off this weekend and promises a much tighter competition than that in 2016!

This year’s highly anticipated Six Nations Championship looks set to offer a much closer competition than last year. The addition of a bonus point system and the fact that all six competing nations have improved dramatically since last year’s tournament, is likely to mean that last year’s Grand Slam winners England are in for aContinue reading “After much anticipation, the 2017 edition of the Six Nations kicks off this weekend and promises a much tighter competition than that in 2016!”

The Lineout finishes our Report Cards of 2016 for the Northern Hemisphere’s top six and a precursor to this year’s Six Nations!

With this year’s Six Nations just around the corner we finish our look at the fortunes of the Northern Hemisphere’s big six in 2016 and rate them accordingly. While most of the teams struggled with the inevitable rebuilding that takes place after a World Cup, there was still plenty of excitement on hand. England clearlyContinue reading “The Lineout finishes our Report Cards of 2016 for the Northern Hemisphere’s top six and a precursor to this year’s Six Nations!”

The Lineout’s Annual Report Card for 2016 Part 2 – The Southern Hemisphere’s big Four!

We continue our look at how the teams we regularly follow over the course of the year fared in 2016. This week we look at the Southern Hemisphere’s big four – Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Without a doubt the talk was all about New Zealand’s continued dominance and South Africa’s slide intoContinue reading “The Lineout’s Annual Report Card for 2016 Part 2 – The Southern Hemisphere’s big Four!”

The Lineout’s Annual Report Card Series starts off with a quick look at Canada before we get into the top ten.

As the Christmas festivities wind down, we finally get some time to put pen to paper once more and put our heads together for our annual set of report cards for the top ten nations who compete in the two major annual Test competitions – the Rugby Championship in the Southern Hemisphere and the SixContinue reading “The Lineout’s Annual Report Card Series starts off with a quick look at Canada before we get into the top ten.”

The End of Year Test window closes this weekend as England seek to finish the perfect season against Australia and we look back at last weekend’s action and some lessons learnt!

England look set to make history this weekend, which is all the more remarkable when you consider the post-mortem that was going on this time last year after the World Cup, as they seek to finish a perfect season in their final Test against Australia. Meanwhile we look back at some of the action fromContinue reading “The End of Year Test window closes this weekend as England seek to finish the perfect season against Australia and we look back at last weekend’s action and some lessons learnt!”

As the November Test window draws to a close all eyes will be on Twickenham and Dublin as England work towards closing out the perfect season while Australia chases a Grand Slam!

There was plenty of drama last weekend and this Saturday’s proceedings look set to provide more of the same, especially as the stakes for England and Australia are now mounting rapidly as they approach their own showdown next weekend.  England look set to end the year on an unprecedented 13 game winning streak and theContinue reading “As the November Test window draws to a close all eyes will be on Twickenham and Dublin as England work towards closing out the perfect season while Australia chases a Grand Slam!”

History is once more on the line as Ireland do battle with the All Blacks in Dublin as the highlight of another great weekend of Test Rugby!

There is no question that all eyes will be on Dublin this Saturday as no matter who they support, rugby fans around the world will be tuning into what promises to be the clash of the year as New Zealand attempt to redress the upset of their defeat to Ireland in Chicago.  Ireland buoyed byContinue reading “History is once more on the line as Ireland do battle with the All Blacks in Dublin as the highlight of another great weekend of Test Rugby!”

The Lineout takes a look at some lessons learnt from last weekend’s November Internationals in terms of who’s who in the zoo!

Last weekend saw plenty of excitement as a crop of thrilling encounters took place which gave us some insight into how the New World Order of rugby is starting to emerge now the dust is well and truly settled 12 months on from last year’s World Cup. New Zealand still look the complete package inContinue reading “The Lineout takes a look at some lessons learnt from last weekend’s November Internationals in terms of who’s who in the zoo!”