silverguide.site –

Highs and lows of the 2025-26 European season

Best games attended
1) 14 March, France 48-46 England. Thirteen tries – including four for Louis Bielle-Biarrey – and a last-gasp winning penalty from Thomas Ramos. Truly magnifique.

2) 12 June, Northampton 45-31 Leicester. Cracking Prem semi-final atmosphere and a belting game.

3) 10 April, Bath 43-41 Northampton. Saints started brilliantly but still couldn’t deny Bath a place in the Champions Cup semi-finals.

Teams of the year
1) Bordeaux-Bègles (in the Champions Cup, not the Top 14!)
2) England’s World Cup-winning Red Roses
3) Northampton Saints

Champagne moments
1) Rhys Carré’s solo try for Wales against Ireland.
2) Finn Russell’s quick-thinking kick-off that led to a try for Darcy Graham and saved Scotland’s bacon in Cardiff.
3) Christ Tshiunza’s sidestepping try for Exeter Chiefs in their semi-final win over Bath. Wooaah!

Top coaching brains
1) Phil Dowson and Sam Vesty (Northampton)
2) Rob Baxter (Exeter Chiefs)
3=) John Mitchell (England women) and Noel McNamara (Bordeaux attack coach)

Men’s players of the season
1) Louis Bielle-Biarrey
2) Maxime Lucu
3=) Tom and Jack Willis, Matthieu Jalibert

Most consistent Prem players
1) Tom Willis
2) Henry Slade
3=) Alex Coles and Tommy Freeman

Women’s players of the season
1) Meg Jones
2) Ellie Kildunne
3) Sophie de Goode

Best matchday experience
1) France v England, Paris. The pre-match son et lumière was almost as good as the game.
2) Champions Cup semi-final – Bordeaux-Bègles v Bath. Bordeaux is increasingly a must-visit European club rugby destination.
3) Champions Cup final – Bordeaux-Bègles v Leinster, Bilbao. Head to the Basque Country for the rugby and stay for the cheesecake and tortillas.
4) Women’s World Cup final, London. A high-water mark for women’s rugby.

Best media operation
Northampton Saints

Best interviewee
Joe Heyes (Leicester and England). What a top guy.

Good to see …
1) The return of creative running fly-halves. For a while there we thought we’d lost them.
2) Smiling faces back at Exeter Chiefs, both on the field and on the stage …
3) More effort to promote England’s second-tier Champ. There are some wonderful clubs and rugby people outside the Prem.

Could do better …
1) Sending love and hugs to all at the Stade de France but being denied entry to the ground on the opening night of the Six Nations wasn’t ideal.
2) At some stage the Rugby Football Union needs to acknowledge that not picking a player or two based in France, especially in a World Cup year, is a massive own goal.
3) World Rugby is about to trial a remote “TMO hub”, based in Basingstoke, to “improve” decision-making in this summer’s second-tier Nations Cup and World U20 tournament. The “robot ref” era draws ever closer.

Most inspirational rugby people
1=) Lewis Moody, Ed Slater, Matt Hampson.

Gone but not forgotten …
Warren Abrahams, Shane Christie, John Doubleday, Matt Gallagher, Scott Hastings, Fred Howard, Brian Jones, Arthur Lewis, Ian McCrae, Matt Salter, Fergus Slattery, M J K “Mike” Smith, Roger Spurrell, Peter Squires, Mike “Spike” Watkins, Alex Wyllie.

Most looking forward to in 2026-27?
1) Everyone in Welsh rugby finally agreeing on the best collective way forward.
2) Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, AKA the upcoming full tour of South Africa by New Zealand.
3) Northampton Saints drawing either Toulouse or Bordeaux at home in the Champions Cup pool stages.
4) Where Shaun Edwards – seven Six Nations titles and counting – goes next.

The 2025-26 season in 15 quotes

“My first cap was away in Swansea when we lost to Wales and there must have been 40 people in the crowd. If you’d told me then that in 2025 I would be playing in a World Cup final at a sold-out Twickenham, I could not even have contemplated that.” England’s Abbie Ward on the growth of the women’s game.

“It [the World Cup] didn’t just raise the bar, it has gone stratospheric, broken records, changed perceptions and showcased the very best of our sport and our players.” The Red Roses head coach, John Mitchell.

“You watch the way the French play and I think they’re changing the game a little bit. If you didn’t get them under pressure their transition game just ripped teams to pieces. And they won the title despite conceding 96 points in their last two games. Is something changing there?” England’s former World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson.

“England’s underperformance across the Six Nations was not the result of a singular failure or issue.” RFU statement following England’s disappointing fifth-placed finish.

“We let ourselves down, we let people down. There is no other way to say it – we’re massively disappointed with what we put on the field today.” The Wales captain, Dewi Lake, following his side’s Six Nations defeat to England.

“I heard him address the team this morning. He talked about when the team were 14- or 15-year-old boys, dreaming of playing here against teams like New Zealand. The boys took those dreams on to the pitch today and they were outstanding.” Steve Borthwick hails Maro Itoje’s pre-game words prior to England’s autumn victory over the All Blacks.

“I was born in this country of Nigerian descent and I think it’s ridiculous to say Great Britain has been colonised by immigrants because that is so far from the truth. I think it’s wrong.” Itoje responds to comments made by Manchester United’s co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

“We’ve got to wake up and smell the coffee. Whether you like it or not professional sport is all about money. We need money to survive.” Exeter Chiefs’ longtime chair, Tony Rowe, on the prospect of fresh US-based investment.

“He’s a TikTok dancer and he plays a little bit of rugby on the weekend. His main gig is to be on social media.” The former Springbok Schalk Burger on England’s Henry Pollock.

“When I came back from holiday last summer I’d walk down the street in Bath and nine or 10 people would say: ‘Good to see you’ve got your clothes back on.’” Alfie Barbeary reflects on his enthusiastic post-Prem title celebrations last summer.

“She thought I was Joe Marler, which was quite upsetting. She said: ‘You’re awfully funny on TV.’” The England tight-head Joe Heyes on being mistaken for Marler by Princess Anne before the Calcutta Cup match at Murrayfield.

“A law change where they have to make a genuine attempt to catch the ball would be really positive. It probably lacks a bit of skill just being able to throw your body in and flail an arm.” Leicester and England’s Freddie Steward.

“Geoff’s not happy about that.” Craig Doyle, the TNT Sport presenter, after Leicester’s head coach, Geoff Parling, pushed him off the field during the warm-up at Villa Park.

“You could come to Cornwall and buy into golden beaches, Poldark, castles and romance as well as rugged, gritty farmers and fishermen. You wouldn’t have to spend much money to own a fantastic piece of olde England.” Cornish Pirates’ chief executive, Sally Pettipher, on the club’s hunt for fresh investment.

“Without that article I wouldn’t have called. It gave me an insight into what was going on in English rugby and piqued my interest.” Kenn Moritz, the president of the America-based private equity firm Stonewood Capital.

Memory lane

24 June 1995 | Thirty-one years ago Ellis Park hosted a match that went beyond sport. South Africa strangled Jonah Lomu tactically, Joel Stransky’s golden boot secured the extra-time win, and Nelson Mandela handed the trophy to Francois Pienaar on the afternoon a newly unified South Africa fell in love with a green-and-gold jersey.

Still want more?