Developing Nations

This week in the División de Honor Rugby Week 10 round-up: Covid claims a game and Edward looks ahead to the final round of 2020 Rugby Europe Championship. División de Honor Rugby Week 10 This week, we had planned to talk about El Salvador vs Ordizia Rugby Elkartea. As explained last week, this game is […]

With the Champions Cup called off, you could be forgiven for thinking that the only top-flight Union of note on the continent was taking place in France. However, despite Covid and Filomena, a hardy bunch have kept this Spanish Rugby Union season on the road. División de Honor Rugby: race for the Spanish crown is […]

Our series celebrating the best foreign talent to have played in the English Premiership continues. Our attention has turned to nations not so regularly represented in the English game. James Barker has selected the backline of the Emerging Nations Premiership XV, here is the forward pack. Emerging Nations Premiership XV forwards 8. Samu Manoa – […]

Our series celebrating the best foreign talent to have played in the English Premiership continues. So far, teams have been selected from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, plus the Pacific Islands of Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. But now our attention turns to nations not so regularly represented in the English game. We start with the backs […]

In the second part of this new series, we bring you the forwards selection of the best Premiership Pacific Islanders to play in England. The team is selected from those who have represented Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. These players have been selected on the strength of their contributions to their club/clubs whilst in the Premiership, […]

At the close of Kenya Cup week 13 games, Kabras stands at the top of the table. Impressive, after an energetic and exciting regular season where several teams have looked formidable. With 12 wins and a loss that brings them to a total of 60 points, it is a great yield as the season nears […]

After four weeks of trying to get a win since the 2019/20 Kenya Cup began, Nakuru RFC finally got a victory against Ngong roadside rivals. Monate Akuei’s penalty gave the hosts an early lead after 20 minutes but, Kenya Harlequins responded with a brilliant play from Lyle Asiligwa and Patrice Agunda for the first try […]

Fiji’s performance in the Rugby World Cup and in the warm up games have led to calls for Fiji and Japan to be incorporated into a tier one competition.  In the case of Japan, it could be argued their performances in the pool stages have warranted a consideration of being included in the Rugby Championship. […]

The Pacific Nations arguably produces some of the best players in world rugby but, their sides struggle to perform. A major talking point pre-World Cup was the number of players from the Pacific playing for the Tier One nations. However, Fiji showed glimpses of their world-class quality in the first half against Australia; as well […]

At the conclusion of the last Kenya Cup season, Mean Machine and Strathmore Leos got relegated while Kisumu RFC and Western Bulls earned promotion. It was riveting, so on October 26, the 2019/20 Kenya Cup is set to kick off another action-packed rugby year. After beating Kabras RFC 15-23, KCB Rugby got their third title […]

The presence of Namibia Rugby has been a feature of Rugby World Cups since they first qualified in 1999. They have consistently earned their spot as the African qualifier. The 2019 edition of the Rugby World Cup in Japan is their six successive appearance in World Rugby’s showpiece event. Despite their involvement in six tournaments, […]

Japan will become the first tier-two nation to host a Rugby World Cup this year. After stunning the world in 2015 Jamie Joseph’s side will look to repeat the experience again but this time on home turf. Rounding off David Challis’ tier two preview series we look at the potential for the Japan side. For […]

Samoan rugby has been blighted by off the field scandals over the past few years. Although the effects of corruption are not totally behind them, the rugby team is desperate to ‘set things right’ and make this Samoa Rugby World Cup campaign in Japan, their most successful ever. Continuing the tier two series, David Challis […]

The way Russia qualified for the Rugby World Cup was unconventional, to say the least. Profiting from the scandal that enveloped Spain, Belgium and Romania, Russia found themselves on their way to Japan when qualification was seemingly out of the question. As Rugby World Cup 2019 draws ever closer, David Challis continues his look at […]

Georgia Rugby; also known as the Lelos, has thus far participated in four successive RWCs since 2003. This year’s RWC will be their fifth and 2019 should be one that improves the credentials of this European rugby-power. They have also won the Rugby Europe Championship 10 times (2001, 2008, 2009, 2012-16 and 2018). A strong […]