As the search continues for another England manager, Toby Booth, has said that whoever replaces Martin Johnson will have to be extremely passionate. The London Irish boss has been named as a possible candidate himself but it seems the RFU have approached Nick Mallett for the job. However, France's defence coach and former colleague of Booth, Andy Ellis believes the Irish boss is the best man to take control of the England team.


Credit: Nick Heath/Rugby Media

England and Gloucester centre, Mike Tindall, has had his fine reduced to £15,000 from £25,000 and has been reinstated into the England squad.

After an exciting weekend of Aviva Premiership rugby in Week 9 of the competition, the coaches and players all had something to say. Fortunately, Talking Rugby were on hand to catchup with Alan Tait and Conor O'Shea at the Twickenham Stoop and Nick Heath chatted to Richard Cockerill at Kingsholm.

I recently met up with Willem de Jong, the new president of the Netherlands Rugby Union, to talk about Dutch rugby. I quizzed him on his ambitions to make the men (and women) in Orange a force in European rugby.

I started off by asking Willem about the current state of rugby in the Netherlands and how he sees things developing in the next few years.

Willem de Jong (WdJ): There are now over 10,000 registered players in the Netherlands, that’s double the number from just five or six years ago. One of the main drivers for this big increase is the introduction of rugby in schools.

The last time these two sides met was back in 2009 when Australia dominated the invitational side by fifty-five points to seven. But as the fixture returns to Twickenham it seems the much anticipated encounter will provide a fantastic display of rugby for the world to see.

After the late call-up of Wigan Warriors star, Sam Tomkins, along with the other world class names such as Victor Matfield and Bryan Habana, the Barbarians will surely be the dominant force. The Wallabies will hope to round off what was a fairly successful year of rugby off the back of a bronze medal in the Rugby World Cup.

Sam Tomkins is a widely recognized name in both the world of rugby league and ever more so in the world of rugby union. He is a star player for Wigan who many rugby union stars have come from.

Tomkins has been called up to represent the Barbarians as they face the mighty Wallabies who achieved bronze at the Rugby World Cup.Tomkins is currently only playing rugby league but many believe he will get signed for a union club like his brother, Joel, who recently signed for Saracens.

Russell Hargreaves from the RFU.com podcast, caught up with Sam Tomkins ahead of the match which will take place at Twickenham on Saturday.

After another exciting round of Heineken Cup action we have a selection of audio from Leicester v Ulster and Gloucester v Harlequins, courtesy of Talking Rugby. Click 'more' to listen to interviews with Conor O'Shea, Richard Cockerill, Brian McLaughlin, Bryan Redpath and Mike Brown after this weekends games.

Ulster travelled to Welford Road to take on the might of Leicester Tigers in Round 2 of the Heineken Cup. This seasons Heineken Cup pool stages were already looking to be very competitive after some near upsets in the first round. The first half was a dull forty minutes of rugby but midway through the second half, Ben Youngs made his return from injury and did so in style.

After the announcement of Martin Johnson's resignation, a press conference was held and Rob Andrew and Martin Johnson discussed the decision. Johnson said he had no regrets about his England coaching career and you can hear both Martin Johnson and Rob Andrew talking during the press conference by clicking more...

England manager, Martin Johnson, has stepped down from his job after a disappointing World Cup. The 41 year old led England in the Rugby World Cup but their off-field controversies reflected on a less than impressive performance on the field. Having won the Six Nations with England everything looked good for Martin Johnson but as the World Cup came along the media widely publicized England's failures which identified problems in the England coaching team.

The RFU and the England coaching team face a tough task in finding the next star fly-half for England. Jonny Wilkinson is coming towards the end of his career after a less than impressive World Cup kicking display despite complaints about the balls that were used. Toby Flood is a possibility but can he become the star that Wilkinson was and can he become more consistent to prove he deserves the starting No. 10 shirt?

Toulon and England fly half Jonny Wilkinson talking to Russell Hargreaves of the RFU.com Podcast about his new autobiography. Speaking at a book signing at Twickenham Stadium this weekend, Jonny discusses his career, the book and the many intriguing issues that arise from it. Click read more to hear an extract from the interview. 

Following a thrilling weekend of Heineken Cup action its time to see what the coaches and players had to say about it all. Talking Rugby were on hand to catch loads of post match interviews and reaction. Click read more to listen...

Toulouse probably expected an easy Round 1 game against Gloucester but it was far from that. Gloucester fans both in France and at home would have been elated with 10 minutes to go as Trinder scored what looked to be the winner but a Poitrenaud try just a few minutes later denied the West-Country side victory.

Burns missed the opening opportunity of the game just a few minutes in but Gloucester showed their attacking hunger as Tindall struck a huge territorial kick. In the end, Toulouse countered and hammered away at the Gloucester defence...

Ronan O'Gara was the hero of the hour as he sent his side to a thrilling victory late on. The game went deep into injury time and for almost half an hour play, Northampton led by no more than a point. James Downey who gave them that narrow lead would have thought that with 80 minutes played he had done the job for Saints but O'Gara dropped a goal in the 83rd minute to seal a sensational victory at Thomond Park.

England centre, Mike Tindall, has been removed from the England Elite squad after off-field antics made him an embarrassment to the RFU. Tindall, who currently plays for Gloucester, has also been fined £25,000 but has appealed the decision. Discussion has been taking place on Twitter and many people are saying the fine is harsh but his international career is effectively over anyway...

This weekend we will witness the first round of Heineken Cup fixtures from all across Europe. From the Stoop to Vicarage Road and Parc y Scarlets to the Liberty Stadium this first weekend of European fixtures will be an exciting one! Click read more to view the full Round 1 preview.

Movember is a cause aiming to raise awareness of prostate cancer. Many rugby players take part in the event and below are some videos of Harlequins' Danny Care, Chris Robshaw and Joe Marler. Click read more to view the videos...

Welsh referee, Nigel Owens, is a well respected figure in the world of refereeing and has been involved in many rugby matches on the world stage. He became an international referee in 2005 and the first game he took control of was Ireland v Japan later that year.

In 2008 Nigel Owens refereed the Heineken Cup final between Munster and Toulouse and took control of the final the following year, this time between Leinster and Leicester. He remains the only official to referee two successive Heineken Cup finals.

The last time Western Province have won a major competition in South Africa was back in 2001 when they beat the Sharks to win the ABSA Currie Cup. The 5 years after this saw them struggle to find any sort of form or make it to the semi-finals. Since 2007 with Rassie Erasmus and Allister Coetzee at the helm things have changed.


5 years ago the Stormers/WP struggled to reach the top half of the Super Rugby log and were lucky if they reached the semi-finals of the Currie Cup. Then Rassie took over as coach and soon handed the reigns to Allister as he become director of coaching. Together they formulated a 5 year plan that would see the WP/Stormers win at least one major trophy. 4 years later in 2010 they reach both the Super Rugby and Currie Cup finals but lost out to the Bulls and Sharks.

As a new Heineken Cup season draws ever closer, it's time to decide who will be the ones to watch. As ever, we have a fantastic selection of players and teams from many different European countries that will impress us even more round-by-round. Click read more to view our top 5 players to watch, with one surprise pick included!

As the South African rugby season comes to an end, it is time to reflect on what was. 2011 will not be remembered as one of South Africa’s finest with more down's than up’s, but as a proud rugby nation, we will rebuild and grow in 2012. Let’s look back on some of the highlights and lowlights:

The Rugby Football Union's acting chief executive, Martyn Thomas, is set to step down from all his current positions with the Union. The decision comes after a meeting with the RFU management board and the former chairman has also stepped down from the committee organising the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England.

So the new Rugby World Cup 2015 advert has already been produced. It features Lawrence Dallaglio, Will Greenwood, Jonny Wilkinson and Ben Kay. There has been mixed reactions so far but what do you think? Click read more to view the new video.