Owen Slot

In the aftermath of the Springboks’ team announcement and its big talking point — the seven-one forwards-backs bench split — there have been plenty of expressions of worry. Worry for Ireland and whether they will cope with the power overload of seven South Africa forwards coming en masse at them in the second half. Worry for the game and what direction rugby is going in if everyone else is now going to need a “Bomb Squad” to match.

In the city that rugby forgot, they haven’t had a professional rugby game for more than a year. They haven’t had thousands chanting “Warriors” in eternal hope over expectation

On Saturday night, we ran for the last train home from the Stade de France and counted ourselves lucky that we had just seen one of the great games. The Kiwis w

Cobus Reinach and Manie Libbok retain places as South Africa name unchanged XV, but they opt for extra replacement back compared with 2019 final against England

The panic is far from over and the Steve Borthwick project has a long way to go but, for now, we have a team with some soul. And that’s something to cheer

From illness to isolation – 20 years on from England’s victory over Australia, many of those involved on that dramatic Sydney night are struggling to leave it behind

Lionel Messi and Pat Cummins are among my ten most influential people in sport for the past year… along with Manchester City’s lawyer

The countries, who both lost narrowly in the quarter-finals in Paris, have the chance to prove they have moved on when they meet in Six Nations opener on Friday

A recent reunion of the triumphant squad brought back memories of the confrontation and camaraderie that underpinned their bond, and the sacrifices they made in pursuit of glory

Element that appeared most likely to derail Red Bull was the crisis engulfing their team principal, but after one race, Max Verstappen has shown mental strength to rise above it