‘He’s not from earth, he’s an alien,’ says teammate Meafou Teams meet for Europe’s premier club trophy on Saturday Toulouse are warning Leinster to beware the man they call “The ­Martian” as the French champions seek to reinforce their reputation as the world’s pre-eminent club side. Even Antoine Dupont’s own teammates cannot believe their scrum-half’s extraordinary ability and reckon the opposition will struggle to subdue him in the Champions Cup final on Saturday. The world’s best player is also due to showcase his talents for France at the Olympics this summer but his first prio ..read more

Bo Westcombe-Evans scored a stunning try during the Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby game between Harlequins and Loughborough Lightning at the Cinch Stadium. With both teams battling for 5th place, Westcombe-Evans ultimately scored four tries and secured the victory for her team ..read more

Big is not always beautiful but no European clubs currently have the talent and pulling power of Leinster and Toulouse Occasionally in sport the planets align. The two best golfers in the world teeing off together in the final round of an Open Championship, for example, or two exceptional thoroughbreds thundering neck and neck up the straight at Ascot. The champion deserves to be hailed as special but, in truth, the quality is so collectively good that everybody wins. It could just be one of those pluperfect days in rugby union this weekend. Toulouse and Leinster have already featured in a rec ..read more

Charge relates to incident at Exeter’s Sandy Park in November Former England international posted details on social media A 31-year-old man is to be charged with racially aggravated harassment of the former England international Ugo Monye. Devon and Cornwall police confirmed on Monday that the man will appear before Exeter magistrates court on 24 July following an incident at Sandy Park after the Chiefs’ victory against Gloucester last November ..read more

The Tahs packed out stadiums and tasted the ultimate success 10 years ago but a return to the glory days has never been further away “WTF is going on at the Waratahs?” It has been a painful refrain in Australian rugby circles for far too long and the lament has never been louder than right now. New South Wales, Australia’s biggest rugby province with 150 years of history and a squad studded with Wallabies, is currently sitting rock bottom last on the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific ladder. The dismal 27-7 loss to the Western Force on Saturday dropped the Waratahs to 2-10 this season and snuffed out a ..read more

Irish rugby international who went on to become one of his country’s most charismatic businessmen As Ireland’s best known and most flamboyant businessman, Sir Tony O’Reilly, who has died aged 88, was instrumental in changing the image of his country from that of a commercial backwater into one of a booming “Celtic Tiger” economy. Never notably self-effacing, he once said: “The Irish in many countries concealed their identities. I got the Irish to be rather proud of the Irish.” But the career of the titan who had once been Ireland’s richest man and a sporting hero ended in failure when, in a de ..read more

Only once since 2015 has an away side progressed to the Premiership final, with Bath and Saints hosting this season This year’s Gallagher Premiership campaign has not been short on drama and the best could still await. After a breathless Saturday afternoon when one of the season’s more remarkable away wins occurred, the upshot is a brace of semi-finals full of intriguing plot lines, not least whether Sale Sharks or Saracens can now buck the well-established historical trend of home victories in the last four. Just once since 2015 has an away side won a Premiership semi-final and that was the f ..read more

Leicester 40-22 Exeter Four tries from Tigers make sure of comfortable win Two truths concerning Premiership Rugby were illuminated by East Midlands sunshine on the final day of the season. The first was supplied by Exeter, whose disjointed show proved that eight months of hard slog counts for very little if the playoffs aren’t reached. The second was delivered by Leicester, whose attacking zeal proved that without prolonged consistency, even slick performances like this one can’t wash away the regret of a sub-standard campaign. With four tries and a morale-boosting win in front of a nearly ..read more

Harlequins 28-53 Bristol Sale’s win at Saracens sees Bears just miss top four This was never going to be boring, no matter what the stakes. Sure enough, we had another breathless, see-sawing encounter, the Premiership’s two most entertaining sides, which means very, very entertaining, running in tries against each other with abandon. The wonder is, it all came to naught. Neither side could ever feel quite comfortable with their lead, so unpredictable are both, but Bristol must have thought they had done enough. Alas, the least likely result of the day, across London, saw to it that this seve ..read more

Saracens 10-20 Sale Visitors leapfrog hosts and travel to Bath in semi-final Sale upset the odds to clinch their place in the Premiership playoffs with a dogged victory over Saracens, going some way to avenge defeat in last season’s final and leapfrogging their opponents into third. They are likely to continue their pursuit of the title without Manu Tuilagi, who limped off with a hamstring injury which is expected to spell the end of his career in England, but have secured what not long ago looked an improbable playoff spot with a fifth straight win. They were worthy winners here – their fir ..read more