Henson set for Cardiff ruby debut

2011-12-22T10:30:26Z

Wales' Gavin Henson is set to make his Cardiff Blues debut in Friday's Celtic League clash at home to local rivals Newport Gwent Dragons after being selected at full-back.

Best known as a centre, ...

Toulouse end Harlequins' winning run

2011-12-09T21:30:13Z

Four-time champions Toulouse brought Harlequins' 14-match winning run to an end on Friday with a muscular and stylish 21-10 European Cup victory which nudged the French giants closer to the quarter-finals.

Fijian winger Timoci Matanavou scored both of Toulouse's tries at the Twickenham Stoop in the first of a Pool Six double-header which expos...

Quins, Toulouse lead way in European Cup rugby weekend

2011-12-09T02:30:15Z

Harlequins, with 14 successive wins in all competitions this season, tackle four-time champions Toulouse on Friday on a European Cup weekend where the top two sides in each of the six pools clash.

Harlequins, the English Premiership leaders, welcome the French Top 14 pace-setters to the Twickenham Stoop, in the first of a double-header which s...

All or nothing in Euro Cup final for O'Driscoll

2011-05-02T02:30:26Z

Brian O'Driscoll has promised to pull out all the stops when his Leinster side face Northampton in the final of the European Cup at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium later this month.

O'Driscoll was a try-scorer in the Irish province's 32-23 sem...

Johnson tells England to relish 'hostile' Cardiff

2011-01-31T17:30:36Z

Martin Johnson has urged his players to embrace "the most hostile atmosphere in the Six Nations for an Englishman" when they begin their quest to win the tournament away to Wales on Friday.

England's last three visits to

Wales' Gethin Jenkins out of Six Nations

2011-01-10T14:30:28Z

Wales's Six Nations hopes suffered a setback when prop Gethin Jenkins was ruled out of the whole tournament with a toe injury on Monday.

The 30-year-old Cardiff loosehead is due to have surgery on the long-standing problem on Wednesday, meaning ...

Aironi stun Biarritz, Saints keep up perfect record

2010-12-11T20:30:40Z

Italian side Aironi recorded a famous victory in their maiden season of European Cup competition on Saturday when they beat last season's finalists Biarritz 28-27.

French full-back Julien Laharrague's drop goal two minutes from time gave Aironi, comprising elements of the old Viadana side and other teams in the Parma region, their triumph.

Biarritz stay top of the pool but...

A visitor's guide to the Millenium Stadium, Wales, UK

2010-11-29T16:06:08Z

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Storm brews as Steve Borthwick heads off to beer festival

2010-09-27T05:03:32Z

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Cardiff see off Toulon to claim Welsh rugby first

2010-05-23T10:15:41Z

Cardiff Blues became the first Welsh side to win a European title when they beat French club Toulon 28-21 in the Challenge Cup final on Sunday.

The cosmopolitan French club had dominated the first half but failed to convert massive possession and territorial advantage into real points.

Turning around for the second period at South Africa named two new caps Saturday in an experimental team for a one-off Test against Wales on June 5 in Cardiff.

The reigning world champions chose Gio Aplon from Super 14 finalists Western Stormers on the right wing and franchise team-mate ...

Cardiff sting Wasps to reach Challenge final

2010-05-01T14:16:01Z

Cardiff Blues defeated hosts London Wasps 18-15 in the European Challenge Cup semi-final on Saturday to set up a final clash against Toulon.

Blues will face the big-spending French side at Marseille's Scotland wing Thom Evans's progress from a second neck operation has "delighted" surgeons, team doctor James Robson said on Friday.

Evans was carried off on a stretcher at the Millennium Stadium last Saturday after a sickening collision with

France's Marconnet out of Wales contention

2010-04-16T07:02:22Z

&lt;div&gt;&lt;p&gt;France prop Sylvain Marconnet was on Friday ruled out of the Six Nations match against Wales in Cardiff next weekend.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Th...

Most Commented

2010-10-25T04:23:14Z

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Dallaglio sets off on Six Nations challenge

2010-10-25T04:23:13Z

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Wales's Peel promises to be back in 'weeks'

2010-04-16T07:31:08Z

Wales scrum-half Dwayne Peel said he hoped to be back training in "a couple of weeks" after a scan revealed his groin injury was not as severe as first feared.

The Sale number nine suffered the injury during Saturday's European Cup defeat by Cardiff Blues and has been ruled out of Wales's Cardiff stayed in the hunt for places in the last eight of the European Cup on Saturday with deserved victories.

Clermont outclassed previous Pool Three leaders Ospreys 27-7 in France to put them second behind new leaders Leicester, who trounced Italian side Viadana 47-8.

Clermont need...

Six Nations Tickets

2010-10-14T14:00:06Z

Six Nations Championship

The format of the championship is very simple championship is played annually, each team plays with every other team once, with home field advantage alternating from one year to the next. Two points are awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. Unlike many other rugby union competitions the bonus point system is not used.

If a team wins all its games, they are said to have won a 'Grand Slam'. Back to back Grand Slams have been achieved on ...

Leicester keep European Cup quarter-final hopes alive

2010-04-16T08:15:41Z

Triple champions Leicester reignited their European Cup quarter-final push with a 20-15 win over Clermont on Saturday, avenging a 40-30 defeat they suffered against the French side last weekend.

The Tigers led 13-9 at half-time after Anthony Allen's converted try and two Toby Flood penalties, but the win was sealed when

Thomas can't save Cardiff from European Cup defeat

2010-04-16T08:15:52Z

Former Wales and British and Irish Lions skipper Gareth Thomas, who announced on Saturday that he was gay, was unable to save his Cardiff Blues side from European Cup defeat.

Thomas, 35, came off the bench in the dying moments against former club <...

French sides suffer rugby away day blues

2010-04-16T08:27:00Z

Stade Francais and Toulouse added to the impression that French sides do not travel well as they both went down to defeats in the latest set of European Cup matches on Saturday.

Stade Francais - who have yet to reward owner Max Guazzini's multi-million euros investment with the trophy - went down 23-13 to 1999 winners Ulster...

Delon Armitage's Lions hope

2010-10-21T10:39:58Z

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Alan Quinlan faces Lions ban after 'gouging' Leo Cullen

2010-10-21T10:38:40Z

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Nervy times for Ian McGeechan at Irish Lions' Croke clash

2010-10-21T10:38:37Z

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Blues celebrate cup success

2010-10-21T10:37:26Z

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Cardiff stun Toulouse to reach European Rugby Cup semis

2010-04-16T15:38:46Z

Cardiff Blues reached the European Cup semi-finals on Saturday with a battling 9-6 triumph over three-time champions Toulouse.

The Welsh team gained sweet revenge over a French side who had crushed them 41-17 at the same stage last season and will now tackle either Leicester or Bath for a place in the final.

All of Cardiff's...

Toulouse star quartet doubtful for Cardiff clash

2010-04-16T15:36:51Z

Three-time European Cup winners Toulouse have injury doubts over a quartet of French internationals ahead of their tough European Cup quarter-final with Cardiff in Wales on Saturday.

French international fly-half David Skrela and fellow international Clement Poitrenaud were unable to train on ...

Police cautions Wales rugby centre Henson

2010-04-16T15:51:42Z

Wales centre Gavin Henson has been cautioned by police for his behaviour after celebrating a Six Nations victory, police announced Wednesday.

Henson, already reprimanded by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) for the February incident, was ...

'Cursed' Henson considering playing future

2010-04-16T15:51:16Z

Wales centre Gavin Henson admitted Wednesday he was considering his rugby future after another injury setback left the Ospreys star feeling "cursed".

Henson's hopes of touring South Africa with the British and Irish Lions were all but ended on Tuesday ...

Cardiff progress pleases Young

2010-10-21T10:36:02Z

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Blues battle past Northampton

2010-10-21T10:36:04Z

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Kidney beams but no Grand Slam talk

2010-10-21T10:34:53Z

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Castres propel Toulouse into last eight after beating Wasps

2010-04-16T15:11:26Z

Three-time European champions Toulouse and Bath fought out a tough 3-3 draw on Sunday though any pre-match tension had gone out of it as both sides were assured of a place in the last eight of the European Cup.

The loser of their match had been in danger of going out but English outfit Wasps' surprise 21-15 loss to Castres in France earlier on Sunday assured both sides of progressing.

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Nine-try Cardiff grab top seeding, Gloucester miss out

2010-04-16T15:12:22Z

Rampant Cardiff Blues made it a perfect six wins out of six European Cup outings with a nine-try, 62-20 demolition of Calvisano on Friday to grab top seeding for the quarter-finals.

In the night's other Pool 6 clash, Gloucester's slim hopes of claiming a place in the last eight as a best runner-up ended in a demoralising 24-10 defeat by Biarritz who are also eliminated.

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It's time the haka posture is put out to pasture

2010-06-12T12:08:20Z

All those who agree, stick out your tongues and roll your eyes in grotesque mime.

New Zealand's rugby haka has had its day. The stunt has been rumbled. The haka has become tiresomely irksome; an occasional and once diverting wheeze has long passed its sell-by date. Both rugby codes have been subjected this month to a tedious basinful of this now charmless ey...

Munstrous carnival

2010-04-16T14:47:04Z

No end of hot air already surrounds next month's rugby internationals in which each of the 'home' countries look to repel boarders from the southern hemisphere. Those contests round off a long tough season for all the visiting teams; for us in the north I suppose these autumn openers will establish an early pecking order for the betting on next year's World Cup in France -- as well as, doubtless, heap more insecurities on the holders of that t...

Pick'n'mix

2010-04-16T14:48:32Z

Anthem is as anthem does. What with the rugby internationals last weekend and the ongoing Commonwealth Games, a mad medley of various national anthems has been grating around the airwaves. Some find them uplifting. For me, the jingoistic jingles jar, particularly as extended overture to the rugby when the camera, with ingratiating reverence, pans along the line of cauliflower-eared shaven heads whi...

Blair gives Bath the boot to take Blues into semis

2010-04-16T15:02:39Z

Cardiff Blues became the first club through to the semi-fnals of this competition last night when, in Pool B, they beat their fourth English side in a month - but only after a mighty struggle and a Bath fight-back which got them to within three points as the game went into injury-time.

The Blues had already beaten

Wonderful Wembley just beats character-filled Cardiff

2010-04-16T13:32:31Z

It must have been a good Wembley weekend, because this week's Monday morning blog is 24 hours late. But a fair few of the supporters I spoke to in London remained nostalgic for the contrasting appeals of staging the Challenge Cup final in Cardiff.A St Helens fan heading west from Baker Street on the Circle Line summed up the general tone, pointing out that "after a game at the

Brawl leaves Harlequins facing suspensions

2010-04-16T16:49:48Z

Seven players have been summoned to appear at a disciplinary hearing tonight to explain their roles in a mass brawl at the end of Saturday's stormy Super League match between Catalans Dragons and Harlequins in Perpignan, leaving the Dragons in danger of lo...

Crusaders unconcerned by move of Magic weekend

2010-04-16T16:49:49Z

Celtic Crusaders, the Welsh club who hope that the Catalans Dragons' success will persuade the RFL to seek further expansion of the Super League's geographical spread by awarding them a three-year licence next week, are confident that the decision to move the Magic weekend from Colin Montgomerie sits behind the Ryder Cup trophy during a news conference with U.S. team captain Corey Pavin, not pictured, at Cardiff Airport in Cardiff, Monday, Sept. 27, 2010. The U.S. team arrived ...

BRITAIN DOUGLAS JONES HOSPITAL

2010-07-23T07:16:09Z

Actress Catherine Zeta Jones plays with Catrin Verdin, aged seven, from Aberavon, Wales, in the children's play room during a visit to the Children's Hospital for Wales in Cardiff, where she and her husband British Prime Minister Gordon Brown holds a question and answer session with listeners of Dragon FM at the Swalec Stadium in Cardiff, Wales while on the General Election campaign trail Wednesday April 21 2010. Britain goes to the polls in a general election May 6. (AP Photo/Stefan Rousseau/PA W...

Wales v New Zealand

2010-03-30T06:49:22Z

CARDIFF, WALES - NOVEMBER 07: A general view of play during the Invesco Perpetual Series Match between Wales and New Zealand at The Millennium Stadium on November 7, 2009 in Cardiff, Wales. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Sebastien Loeb of France and Citroen Total WRT talks to the media after winning the World Championship and the Wales Rally GB at Cardiff Bay on October 25, 2009 in Cardiff, Wales. (Photo by Paul Gilham/

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