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Stuart Lancaster, the former England head coach, has admitted that he would be open to joining Warren Gatland’s coaching team for the 2021 British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa. Rugby fans can book British and Irish Lions Tour Tickets on our website on exclusively discounted prices. It was Gatland who effectively ended Lancaster’s reign as England boss when Wales won 28-25 at Twickenham in the 2015 World Cup, which would lead to the hosts crashing out in the group stages. Lancaster has since rebuilt his reputation in a more hands-on role as Leinster senior coach under Leo Cullen. Under Lancaster, Leinster has established themselves as Europe’s most dynamic attacking team, and before the coronavirus lockdown, they had won 19 games from 19 this season. Gatland is also likely to be in the market for a new assistant attacking coach. Rob Howley, who filled that role in the 2013 and 2017 Lions tours, is serving an 18-month ban for gambling breaches. Rugby fans can boo...

The British and Irish Lions are to continue pressing Premiership Rugby to move their Gallagher Premiership final from its scheduled slot on June 26, 2021, so that they can play a £10million match in the UK, probably at Twickenham, ahead of departure for South Africa for the three-Test series. Rugby fans can book British and Irish Lions Tour Tickets on our website on exclusively discounted prices. Talks have been ongoing but have yet to find any resolution, even though the official schedule for the eight-match trip is to be officially released at 9 am on Wednesday. Pro14 has already complied with a request from the Lions to free up that weekend before their departure so that a match can be staged to help raise funds as well as give those players not involved in the end-of-season finals extra preparation time. The Pro14 final that season will now be played on June 19. There has been a huge concern that Lions tours have been stripped back to the bare bones with the agreed...

World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont believes that the "spirit of collaboration" the sport has witnessed in response to the coronavirus pandemic will lead to a new international calendar. Rugby fans can book British and Irish Lions Tour Tickets on our website on exclusively discounted prices. The former England captain was behind plans for a new two-tier Nations Championship encompassing Europe's Six Nations and the southern hemisphere Rugby Championship that collapsed last year amid reports that the likes of Scotland were concerned by the risk of relegation from what is currently a "closed" event. But Beaumont, who must see off a challenge from Argentinian vice-chairman Agustin Pichot if he is to be re-elected, believes the ongoing global shutdown of the sport caused by the virus has caused many within the game to rethink their views. This week saw the world governing body launched a US$100 million (S$142.2 million) virus relief package and Beaum...

Having left the half-backs behind with our look at the fly-half position, we now turn our attentions to the midfield proper, with an examination of the roles and responsibilities that are required at inside centre. Rugby fans can book British and Irish Lions Tour Tickets on our website on exclusively discounted prices. There is scope for a number of different playstyles at the position, which make locking down the key attributes at 12 challengings, though there are some that are absolutes and that any player playing the position must have if they want to thrive in the role. As ever, we have identified five of those key attributes below and highlighted the players who currently best exhibit those qualities on the pitch. One of the primary abilities an inside centre needs to bring is success at the gain-line as a ball-carrier. It doesn’t have to be by running through and over defenders, although with space often limited at the position by aggressive defences, there needs...

Over the past 30 years, the British and Irish Lions have had a consistent diary, whereby they tour one of South Africa, Australia or New Zealand every four years. Rugby fans can book British and Irish Lions Tour Tickets on our website on exclusively discounted prices. This structure may be in jeopardy though, as World Rugby chairman candidate Augustin Pichot seeks to expand the Lions tour from ‘The Big Three’ to a worldwide scale. This is a reasonable desire of his given the growth and development of the game in other parts of the world, such as Argentina, as well as Japan, who have never played the historic team before. A potential fixture between the Lions and the Brave Blossoms has been discussed recently, which could take place before the 2021 tour to South Africa. It seems inevitable that the schedule of the Lions will change again in the coming the years, as, after all, even the concept of a tour of Australia was ...

The Lions finished the 2013 tour to Australia with a 2-1 series victory before splitting the 2017 series in New Zealand 1-1-1. To keep the unbeaten streak alive, the Lions will need to bring a massively physical effort if they're to withstand the brutality of South Africa over three games. Rugby fans can book British and Irish Lions Tour Tickets on our website on exclusively discounted prices. Head coach Warren Gatland, in charge of his third B&I Lions tour, will surely look to field a side chalked full of physicality, but possessing enough firepower to put points on the board. As we all saw in the World Cup final when the Boks manhandled England, South Africa will back itself on winning the collisions, controlling the set-piece, and dominating territory. It's truly far too early to make these decisions, but if the first test was this weekend, here's how we'd pick the Lions: 1. Mako Vunipola | England Vunipola is the definition of a workhorse, c...

All Blacks selector Grant Fox is preparing for the possibility of an 18-month season when domestic and international rugby returns to action following the global coronavirus lockdown. Rugby fans can book British and Irish Lions Tour Tickets on our website on exclusively discounted prices. Speaking to Sky Sports, the former All Blacks first-five confirmed that the coaches and selectors of the national side are beginning to view this elongated break to the 2020 campaign as a new "off-season". Super Rugby remains suspended after being brought to a halt three weeks ago after seven rounds of the regular season. Rugby fans can book British and Irish Lions Tour Tickets on our website on exclusively discounted prices. No date has been set for the competition's return, and international tours from northern hemisphere sides travelling south of the equator in July have been put on hold. Wales and Scotland were set to face the All Blacks across three test matches ...

The British & Irish Lions are still keen to add a ninth match to their tour to South Africa in 2021 a lucrative 'home' fixture - but Premiership Rugby continue to block the idea. Rugby fans can book British and Irish Lions Tour Tickets on our website on exclusively discounted prices. The Lions will announce their fixture list on Wednesday morning, and as Sportsmail has reported previously the trip will consist of eight games in five weeks; down from 10 on previous tours. It is believed they still hold out hope of adding one extra game on home shores - possibly to be played at Twickenham - for Saturday June 26, 2021. That is the date of the Premiership final, so they would need the English league to move their showpiece a week back like the Pro14 have done. At present, though, Premiership Rugby will not budge to allow the Lions an extra week's preparation and the chance to make around £10m from the home game - which could be fed back to the clubs and un...

Every four years the British & Irish Lions unveil a tantalizing tour schedule and invite thousands of supporters to sign up for the trip of a lifetime, in this instance to South Africa in 2021. Rugby fans can book British and Irish Lions Tour Tickets on our website on exclusively discounted prices. A three-Test series on Springbok soil remains one of the sport’s truly great adventures but seldom has there been a stronger sense of the golden goose being potentially suffocated by the constraints of self-interest and the global calendar. Amid all the anticipation of a gripping three-Test series against the reigning world champions which could break all previous box office records, it is important to examine the small print. Not only have Premiership Rugby now formally slammed the door shut on any possibility of shifting the date of its 2021 final on 26 June to accommodate crucial extra preparation time but the scheduling of only two early midweek games sums up the fast-...

British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland wants his team to play a warm-up match against the All Blacks before their tour of South Africa next year. Rugby fans can book British and Irish Lions Tour Tickets on our website on exclusively discounted prices. Rugby, like most other sports, has been halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Gatland, who coached the Lions in their drawn series in New Zealand in 2017, said the one-off 'decider' could generate much-needed revenue when the sport resumes. The 56-year-old added that he had broached the subject of the Lions playing the All Blacks to New Zealand Rugby CEO Mark Robinson but that they could play New Zealand Maori as an alternative. Rugby fans can book British and Irish Lions Tour Tickets on our website on exclusively discounted prices. "I've spoken to Mark Robinson about a warm-up game for the Lions and he was potentially talking about the New Zealand Maoris," Gatland told Sky Sports New Zealan...

Then have a look at the old photo of a nine-year-old  Billy sitting at a table, a boy of precocious heft towering over his fellow East Wales Schools Under-11s players, including future Wales wing Harry Robinson. Rugby fans can book British and Irish Lions Tour Tickets on our website on exclusively discounted prices. And for good measure, note that the Saracens number eight has known Wales and British and Irish Lions back-row Taulupe Faletau so long that the two regard each other as family, albeit unofficially. Vunipola was born in Australia to Tongan parents and moved to Wales aged five when his father, Fe'ao Vunipola, signed for Pontypool in 1998. A year earlier, Kuli Faletau joined another Gwent club, Ebbw Vale, and moved his family including then six-year-old son Taulupe - with him to south Wales. "A lot of the Tongan community kind of started their roots in Wales," Vunipola tells the BBC Scrum V podcast. When my dad came over a few in the community ...

World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont believes the unity has shown in the global game during the coronavirus pandemic will finally lead to a new international competition along the lines of last year’s Nations Championship proposal. Rugby fans can book British and Irish Lions Tour Tickets on our website on exclusively discounted prices. Beaumont, who faces a challenge for his job from Argentine vice-chairman Agustin Pichot in an election later this month, said securing agreement over a global season was one of his main ambitions for a second four-year term. A proposal for a 12-team competition bringing together the Six Nations and the Rugby Championship with the addition of two other nations was scuppered last year because of a relegation element feared by weaker European nations. Beaumont thinks that many around the rugby world may have reconsidered their positions in the light of the financial hardship unions are suffering in the wake of the shutdown of the sport during...