Big thanks to @VirginAtlantic for flying me to San Francisco for Captain’s Knock Charity Rugby Legends dinner at the @TheOlympicClub , supporting the US Rugby Foundation. Lisa Kirk and her fantastic crew made the flight a lot of fun. Thanks too to Tom Harrison and Zaida Williams-McLoughlin! #CaptainsKnock

Yes I can, AB’s won last week and came close again this week……Bok game relies a lot of regaining possession from their own kicks…if that is off they lose against NZ/Fra and maybe a couple of others on their day.

1st 40 Boks very clinical in all aspects of the game, entry and convert to points in NZ 22 world class.

Nice work Eddie Hearn as HP’s manager. Get the conversation going! The world is rich in back-row talent right now, so where does Henry Pollock rank and, more importantly, how much does he move the needle in a game? Is that worth £1m a year? Then there’s the commercial value. Could that offset a chunk of the salary? Shirts, sponsors, ticket sales, social media, new fans and wider commercial opportunities. He’s a fantastic young player. As long as he keeps performing, the conversation and speculation will continue. And I suspect that’s exactly what Eddie wants!

"The @BathRugby Bricklayer has done it for the Lions!" A brutal Test match sealed by a moment of magic from Jeremy Guscott 🪄 Brisbane | 2nd Test | 1989

Some interesting chat from the men’s Eng rugby squad…..accountability!!!! If England can keep 15 players on the pitch for 80 mins, concede less penalties and convert more opportunities they have a chance against any team

Great game NZ v France. NZ still have the most skilful rugby players 1–23, fitness is a given. They back their skillset to prevail, especially under pressure in the opposition strike zone. Credit to France for making it such a great contest.

👏🏽👏🏽

We want to thank @JeremyClarkson for sharing his #ProstateCancer diagnosis and treatment in #ClarksonsFarm, raising vital awareness with the millions of men and families watching 💙 ➡️ Check your risk in 30 seconds: bit.ly/4eddDbA 📸 (Image: Amazon Prime)

Great man 🙏🏽

Just read Jacques Nienaber’s piece in The Times. He’s one of the most respected coaches in world rugby and his achievements with the Springboks speak for themselves. That said, coaching Leinster comes with expectation. When you coach a side packed with international talent, people expect trophies. Leinster didn’t lose because of pressure from fans or media, they lost because Bordeaux were better on the day. That’s elite sport. Win together, lose together, move on.

Brilliant news. Not full screening for every man yet, but a genuine step in the right direction. The extra £18m for the TRANSFORM trial will help find the best way to screen men for prostate cancer, with all eligible Black men aged 45 to 74 invited to take part. Not a national programme, but excellent progress. Well done to all involved.

Bad news for rugby fans everywhere. Whether you’re English, South African or from anywhere else, we all want to watch the best players perform. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is one of those players and, in my humble opinion, the best player in the world right now. A real loss for the England series. Wishing him a full and speedy recovery and hoping we see him back for New Zealand. 🏉

Beautiful set of covers made from a super soft distressed leather. Given the full Welsh treatment and personalised to perfection 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 love the embroidery on these 😀😀😀😀😀

Very unfortunate for Mitchell but McParland has been playing well!

Don’t you love football? I don’t support any team, but you don’t need to. Final day in the Premier League, one side survives, one falls, and you feel every fan’s hope and heartbreak. ⚽

Max Ojomoh being left out of Borthwick’s latest England training squad feels a strange one. How do you go from man of the match v Argentina six months ago to not making a large England squad? England’s biggest issue in the Six Nations, apart from defence, wasn’t getting into the opposition 22, it was finishing once they got there. Four defeats, plenty of pressure, not enough points. So leaving out a player who creates tries, scores tries and passes the eye test feels odd. Clearly Steve Borthwick is measuring players against very specific metrics and standards behind the scenes, and whatever they are, Ojomoh hasn’t ticked enough boxes. But from the outside looking in, it’s hard to understand. Sometimes rugby people overcomplicate what’s in front of them. Ojomoh looks good enough. More than good enough, actually.

Since 2022 prize money won c$19.95m 👍🏽

The panel staying anonymous? Doesn’t sit right. If you’re accountable for a review of this size, we should know who you are. Open is better than secret, every time. Sweeney bringing in outside voices because he hasn’t got the rugby expertise himself is fair enough, that’s actually wise. But here’s the obvious question: why not just employ someone with that expertise full-time at the RFU? A proper director of rugby sat in the building, plugged in year-round. If that role doesn’t exist, create it. And on the panel itself, fewer faces, fewer voices, less noise. Bring in a big crowd and you get a big crowd of opinions, longer reviews, slower decisions. Keep it tight, keep it expert, keep it moving. Less committee. More clarity. 🏉