Jon Newcombe

1 week ago | rugbypass.com | Jon Newcombe

As flagged months ago by RugbyPass, Experienced back-row forward Matt Rogerson has signed for Worcester Warriors after being released by Leicester. Rogerson, who turns 32 at the end of this month, has spent the last two seasons at the Tigers, making 27 appearances for the Tigers. The Lancaster-born player joined the Tigers after the collapse of London Irish, where he was club captain for two seasons and played more than 100 games.

1 week ago | rugbypass.com | Jon Newcombe

Biarritz, one of the most famous French clubs, have successfully won their appeal against relegation from Pro D2. The 2006 and 2010 Heineken Cup finalists and former Top 14 champions were demoted to the third-tier Nationale 1 for financial irregularities at the end of last month. The club failed to provide guarantees of future investment that would allow it to overcome the financial problems that have plagued the French Basque side since 2020.

1 week ago | rugbypass.com | Jon Newcombe

mens united-rugby-championship Copied to clipboard 0 Former England lock Alex Codling has been appointed as forwards coach of Munster for the 2025/26 season on a full-time basis after serving as a consultant for much of this campaign. The much-travelled Codling joined the province in November last year, working with the squad in tandem with his role with Ireland Women. Codling has coached all around Europe for the best part of two decades, working in Wales, England, Ireland and France.

1 week ago | rugbypass.com | Jon Newcombe

Gloucester Rugby CEO Alex Brown has revealed attendances at Kingsholm were up by 40 per cent in 2024/25 compared to last season. Taking the Premiership in isolation, Gloucester’s average crowd was 14,069, with sell-outs for the matches against Bath, Harlequins, Bristol and Northampton. The round six match against Newcastle attracted the lowest crowd of the league season, with just 10,604 pitching up for the 36-7 victory over the lowly Falcons.

1 week ago | rugbypass.com | Jon Newcombe

Namibia’s hopes of making it to an eighth straight Rugby World Cup have been dealt a blow with the loss of head coach Chrysander Botha on the eve of the Rugby Africa Cup qualifiers. Botha, the former Namibian full-back, has decided to stand down due to increased work commitments just seven months into the role. Weltwitschias legend, Jacques Burger, who became Namibia’s Director of Rugby last November after the departure of Alister Coetzee, will now take on the responsibilities of head coach.