Latest news with #GregorTownsend
BBC News
6 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Thompson eager to end first Edinburgh season on a high
Ross Thompson feels he has "grown" as a player in his first season with Edinburgh and is determined to help Sean Everitt's side progress in the 26-year-old stand-off has started 16 of 18 league games since his move from Glasgow last to prior to Saturday's quarter-final against Bulls in Pretoria, Thompson said: "I think there's definitely things I can get better at, but I feel like I've grown."As the team performances have got a bit better, I feel like I've been playing a little bit better."I'm really happy here, I'm really glad I made the move and I've enjoyed this season. Hopefully there's still a few games left for us."Thompson won the last of his seven Scotland caps on the 2024 summer tour of the Americas, but is fully focused on club matters for if he had hopes of earning a recall to Gregor Townsend's squad for this summer's tour of the South Pacific, the fly-half said: "I'm not too sure to be honest, I'm not giving it too much thought. I'm just looking forward to this quarter-final and the chance to go far in knockout rugby."We did it in the Challenge Cup, got to a semi-final, and it's really exciting to be a part of."
Scotsman
19-05-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
Scotland's Six Nations 2026 fixtures announced with significant change to tournament format added
Scotland's schedule for the 2026 Six Nations has been confirmed. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Scotland now know what lies ahead for them in the 2026 Six Nations as the tournament organisers confirmed one major change. Gregor Townsend's side will kick off their competition with a trip to Rome as they face Italy on Saturday, February 7 before hosting England at Murrayfield seven days later. A visit to Wales and a home clash with France follow before the tournament wraps up with the return of 'Super Saturday' as Scotland's trip to Ireland and France's home clash with England sandwich Italy's visit to Wales. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad However, the major change in the 2026 Six Nations comes elsewhere as the first ever Thursday night fixture takes place when holders France face Ireland on Thursday, February 5. The official reason given for the earlier-than-expected start is to avoid clashing with the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, which takes place in Milan just 24 hours later. That means the first Friday of next year's Six Nations has been left free with Scotland's trip to Italy and England's home game with Wales taking place on the first Saturday of February. Another change to next year's competition sees one of the two 'rest' weekends cut from the schedule with the first three rounds taking place on consecutive weeks before a solitary free weekend is followed by the final two rounds. What has been said about the 2026 Six Nations schedule change? A statement released on the official Six Nations website read: 'The full fixture list for the 2026 Guinness Men's Six Nations has been confirmed, with the Championship set to kick off on Thursday 5th February as France host Ireland in a blockbuster opening clash. 'It will be the first time a Championship match has been played on a Thursday since 1948, when it was the Five Nations and Ireland claimed a rare win on French soil on New Year's Day. France will have three home fixtures in 2026, hosting Italy in Round Three and England in Round Five, with 'Le Crunch' serving as the final fixture of Super Saturday, on March 14th. Rugby fans in France can look forward to being part of the opening and closing acts of what is set to be another unmissable edition of rugby's most loved annual occasion.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad What are the fixtures for the 2026 Six Nations? Blair Kinghorn points the way to the tryline as Huw Jones scores for Scotland against Italy in this year's Six Nations. The centre bagged a hat-trick in the game. | SNS Group / SRU Round One: France v Ireland (Thursday 5 February - 8.10pm) Italy v Scotland (Saturday 7 February - 2.10pm) England v Wales (Saturday 7 February - 4.40pm) Round Two: Ireland v Italy (Saturday 14 February - 2.10pm) Scotland v England (Saturday 14 February - 4.40pm) Wales v France (Sunday 15 February - 3.10pm) Round Three: England v Ireland (Saturday 21 February - 2.10pm) Wales v Scotland (Saturday 21 February - 4.40pm) France v Italy (Sunday 22 February - 3.10pm) Round Four: Ireland v Wales (Friday 6 March - 8.10pm) Scotland v France (Saturday 7 March - 2.10pm) Italy v England (Saturday 7 March - 4.40pm) Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Round Five: Ireland v Scotland (Saturday 14 March - 2.10pm) Wales v Italy (Saturday 14 March - 4.40pm) France v England (Saturday 14 March - 8.10pm) Your next Scotland Rugby Union read: Edinburgh Rugby and Scotland duo celebrate British and Irish Lions call-up for Australia tour
BBC News
19-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Edinburgh 47-17 Ulster: Three things we learned
Watson is force again Save for a few worrying moments when Ulster came back at them, Edinburgh put in a meaty performance and conjured one of their best wins of the season. They were physical, creative and pretty ruthless. They stormed into the last eight and have momentum now. Their pack is firing, their backline is delivering tries, there's a fire about them that's lovely to see. A few folk typify it - Magnus Bradbury, Ben Muncaster, Jamie Ritchie and, most especially, Hamish Watson, who's been wildly impressive. He's turning back the clock. Gregor Townsend might be a different challengeThe South Africans are on an excellent run, but games against Edinburgh are usually close. The home team has won every one of them, but the margins have been narrow - 34-28 Edinburgh, 22-16 Bulls, 31-23 Edinburgh, 33-31 Bulls. The most recent meeting was only a few short weeks ago when Edinburgh beat them at the Hive in the quarter-final of the Challenge know they can do it at home, but doing it in Pretoria is a different level. They'll travel with belief, though. Edinburgh have found some steel in recent months. If they can stand up to the Sharks (and should have beaten them) then they can do the same against the answers Lions snubThe winger was a buzz bomb against Ulster; so alert, so sharp, so influential, so ruthless. Three tries and yet more confirmation that even though he has somehow missed out on the Lions, he remains one of the most exciting wings in the now on 15 tries in his 25 games this season following on eight in 10 last season and 16 in 14 the season before. That's 39 tries in his last 49 games for club and Farrell has got this one wrong.
The Herald Scotland
19-05-2025
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
Scotland 2026 Six Nations fixtures confirmed
Gregor Townsend's side will then take on England in a Calcutta Cup showdown at Scottish Gas Murrayfield on Valentine's Day, Saturday, February 14. A trip to face Wales at Cardiff's Principality Stadium - where a 22-year winless run was ended in 2024 - awaits Scotland in the third matchday on Saturday, February 21. A week's break follows before Scotland host France at Murrayfield on March 7, before the final match of the competition for Scotland will be an away trip to take on Ireland in Dublin on Saturday, March 14. The matches will be shown by BBC Sport and ITV after a four-year partnership for the rights for the Six Nations was agreed, which will run concurrently from 2026 to 2029. The 2026 Six Nations is the first to feature only one fallow week rather than the customary two. First announced in 2023, the removal of one break week is to assist with the alignment of the new global rugby calendar. In another significant break with tradition, the Six Nations starts on a Thursday evening rather than the customary Friday or Saturday slots. This change has been made to avoid a clash with the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics on February 6. Champions France will kick-start the championship as they host 2023 and 2024 winners Ireland in Paris. Read more: Scotland Six Nations fixtures 2026 Italy vs Scotland - Saturday, February 7 - 2.10pm Scotland vs England - Saturday, February 14 - 4.40pm Wales vs Scotland - Saturday, February 21 - 4.40pm Scotland vs France - Saturday, March 7 - 2.10pm Ireland vs Scotland - Saturday, March 14 - 2.10pm.
BBC News
07-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
BBC's Andy Burke answers your Scottish rugby questions
BBC Sport Scotland rugby reporter Andy Burke has been answering some of your questions as Andy Farrell prepares to name his Lions squad on Thursday. David asked: With all the recent performances in Six Nations and Europe, my prediction is 30 out of 37 of the Lions squad will be Irish or English. Farrell will go safe and what he knows. Do you think I'll be far wide of the mark? Andy answered: I'd like to think the spread of players across the nations will be a little more even than that. Andy Nicol, Tom English and I made our squad predictions on this week's BBC Scotland Rugby Podcast and I had 13 Irish, 12 English, nine Scots and four Welsh players. That may be a little on the hopeful side (I had 11 Scots in my original draft!) but the beauty of the Lions is it's four countries coming together, not one or two dominating with a smattering of players from the other nations. Scotland have been where Wales are now and it's horrible when you don't see your country well represented in a Lions squad. All that being said, Farrell won't be too concerned if he upsets a few folk with his selections. He'll pick whoever he feels is best placed to get the job done Down Under. Jamie asked: Given we could have as many as eight Scottish backs picked for the Lions tour, with five realistically with a chance of playing in the opening Test match, how telling is it that Gregor Townsend hasn't made the coaching squad but Johnny Sexton has? Andy answered: Well firstly we don't know if Townsend was offered a role with the Lions. I suspect having toured as part of Warren Gatland's backroom team to South Africa in 2021, Townsend may not have fancied another stint as someone else's assistant. That's just a personal view. I've no idea if he was offered a role or not. It is testament to Townsend's work with the Scotland backs that so many of them are in Lions contention. The appointment of Sexton was a real surprise. What does that tell us? That Sexton and Farrell are incredibly tight, view the game the same way and Farrell believes the Ireland legend has something to offer, be it his rugby brain or ability to drive standards. Let's hope Sexton has an appreciation for the abilities of some of those Scottish backs.
