Gerard Meagher

London

Sports Journalist and Sub-editor at The Guardian

Rugby union for @guardian_sport. Timaru, Tipperary and Twickenham. Views mine

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Articles

Premiership’s disjointed sprint finish begins with playoff battle bonanza

6 days ago | msn.com | Gerard Meagher

Microsoft Cares About Your PrivacyMicrosoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
Premiership’s disjointed sprint finish begins with playoff battle bonanza

6 days ago | theguardian.com | Gerard Meagher

The Premiership season is rounding the final bend and entering the home straight. Organisers like to call this point in the campaign “The Run-in” and they could hardly have wished for a better set of fixtures this weekend to begin it with. Sixth host fourth when Saracens entertain Gloucester, fifth go to seventh with Sale travelling to Harlequins and on Sunday, second and third lock horns with Bristol facing Leicester.
Johnny Sexton makes surprise move to join Andy Farrell’s Lions coaching staff

1 week ago | msn.com | Gerard Meagher

Microsoft Cares About Your PrivacyMicrosoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
Johnny Sexton makes surprise move to join Andy Farrell’s Lions coaching staff

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Gerard Meagher

Johnny Sexton has been added to the British & Irish Lions coaching staff for the summer tour of Australia in a surprise move that raises further intrigue over the fly-half selection debate following his previous criticism of Finn Russell and endorsement of Owen Farrell. Sexton was not named by Andy Farrell when the head coach unveiled his assistants for the tour last month but will now join Simon Easterby, John Dalziel, Andrew Goodman, Richard Wigglesworth and John Fogarty on the coaching ticket.
Steve Diamond’s season-ending ban was for profanity aimed at match officials

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Gerard Meagher

Steve Diamond’s season-ending ban was meted out because he called a group of matchday officials “cunts” before telling the TMO he should retire. The Newcastle director of rugby was slapped with a six-match suspension last week after a disciplinary hearing into an incident that took place in the dying throes of the Falcons’ late defeat by fellow struggles Exeter last month.
Rugby World Cups aren’t adding up for the best teams and there is no easy fix

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Gerard Meagher

The starting gun has been fired on the race to host the 2035 and 2039 Rugby World Cup tournaments. Expressions of interest have been made: Spain’s proposal has piqued interest, Italy’s too, while the Middle East stalks along as the elephant in the room. The idea of going back to Japan within 20 years of a first World Cup in Asia is a popular proposition. News came over the weekend, however, that South Africa has all but ruled out a bid for either edition of the tournament.
The Breakdown | Rugby World Cups aren’t adding up for major unions and there is no easy fix

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Gerard Meagher

The starting gun has been fired on the race to host the 2035 and 2039 Rugby World Cup tournaments. Expressions of interest have been made: Spain’s proposal has piqued interest, Italy’s too, while the Middle East stalks along as the elephant in the room. The idea of going back to Japan within 20 years of a first World Cup in Asia is a popular proposition. News came over the weekend, however, that South Africa has all but ruled out a bid for either edition of the tournament.
World Rugby finds no medical evidence to outlaw 7-1 bench splits

2 weeks ago | irishexaminer.com | Gerard Meagher

World Rugby insists there is no medical evidence that 7-1 bench splits will lead to more injuries and the governing body has no plans to outlaw the tactic as a result. France deployed a bench of seven forwards and one back to devastating effect in three matches during the Six Nations, particularly during the 42‚ÄĎ27 victory against Ireland in Dublin.
World Rugby finds no medical evidence to outlaw 7-1 bench splits

2 weeks ago | msn.com | Gerard Meagher

Microsoft Cares About Your PrivacyMicrosoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
No evidence that 7-1 bench splits increase injury risk, insists World Rugby

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Gerard Meagher

World Rugby insists there is no medical evidence that 7-1 bench splits will lead to more injuries and the governing body has no plans to outlaw the tactic as a result. France deployed a bench of seven forwards and one back to devastating effect in three matches during the Six Nations, particularly during the 42‑27 victory against Ireland in Dublin.