Six Nations to be extended
THE Six Nations is now set to be completed nearly a week after originally planned, with the postponed France v Scotland match taking place on Friday, March 26.
Reports in France suggest that date is close to being agreed, with English and French clubs prepared to release their international players despite the match being outside the international window.
It means Wales could potentially have to wait six days to discover their Six Nations fate, unless they beat Italy and France to secure the Grand Slam.
This year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup is set to be postponed until 2022 due to the implications of the coronavirus pandemic, World Rugby has announced.
World Rugby said the “challenging global Covid-19 landscape” had led them to recommend a delay in the tournament, which is due to take place in New Zealand from September 18 to October 16.
The recommendation will be considered by the Rugby World Cup board and World Rugby’s executive committee at a meeting next week.
NEWPORT County slipped to eighth place in the League Two table after a 1-0 defeat at Prenton Park.
An early strike from Tranmere’s Liam Feeney was enough to condemn Michael Flynn’s side to their third loss in a month.
The Exiles were in the automatic promotion places for most of the first half of the season, but their recent loss of form has really hurt their promotion chances.
Despite this, they are only a point off the League Two play-off places.
Newport dominated the majority of the game, but failed to break down a resolute and well-drilled Tranmere defence.
The Exiles fell behind after a mere seven minutes with Priestley Farquharson losing possession in midfield allowing former Cardiff man Feeney to surge forward, before finding the bottom left corner with a driven finish.
Newport’s response was a strong one as they bombarded the Tranmere box for the rest of the first half.
And they came close to equalising twice before the interval, once when Joss Labadie’s shot forced a brilliant save from Scott Davies, and secondly when Nicky Maynard’s volley was cleared off the line.
Tranmere led 1-0 at half-time, but the visitors started the second half strongly as Padraig Amond’s shot at goal was deflected for a corner by Lee O’Connor.
Newport were putting a lot of pressure on Tranmere, but unlike the first half struggled to force Davies into any saves.
It took the Exiles until the 67th minute to work Davies with Labadie’s header punched just wide.
Tranmere then caught Newport napping when George Ray’s shot was expertly saved by Nick Townsend, but in the main, they were happy to sit and hold for the rest of the game.
Newport lay siege to their hosts for the last 10 minutes of a frustrating evening and got a golden opportunity when Jay Spearing was yellow-carded for a foul just outside the box. But Josh Sheehan wasted the free kick by drilling it over the crossbar.
County were left furious with just minutes remaining on the clock when a shot from Labadie appeared to come off a Tranmere player’s hand, but their calls for a penalty were ignored by the referee.