France V England Hospitality

England competes annually in the Six Nations Championship, which is played against five other European nations: France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales. The Six Nations started out as the Home Nations Championship in 1883 which England won with a Triple Crown.

England has won the title more times than any other nation by winning it outright 25 times, and sharing victory ten times. Their longest wait between championships was 18 years from 1892 to 1910.

England players traditionally wear white shorts, navy socks with white tops, and a white shirt with a red rose embroidered on it, and for the first time in the English rugby team's history, their away shirt is red. Their home ground is Twickenham Stadium where they first played in 1910. The team is administered by the Rugby Football Union (RFU).

France is one of the strongest rugby nations in Europe and is currently the highest ranked. Rugby was introduced to France in 1872 by the British, and on New Year's Day 1906 the national side played its first Test match against New Zealand in Paris.

France played sporadically against the Home Nations until they joined them to form a Five Nations tournament in 1910. France also competed in the rugby competitions at early Summer Olympics, winning the gold medal in 1900 and two silver medals in the 1920s. France came of age during the 1950s and 1960s, and won their first Five Nations title outright in 1959. They won their first Grand Slam in 1968.

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England V France Hospitality

France V England hospitality

England manger Martin Johnson, wanting nothing to derail England after building up a useful head of steam in the summer, spent Wednesday successfully, it would appear, avoiding another wounding club v country row over his England players based in France.

France V England Hospitality

After much patient negotiation Johnson has persuaded Stade Francais, with whom England fell out with spectacularly at the end of the last Six Nations, to allow James Haskell and Tom Palmer to attend on the Monday night and Tuesday at Twickenham next week before heading back to Paris for their game against Bourgoin but has accepted Toulon’s decision to keep Wilkinson in the south of France for their Friday night match again Bayonne.

England V France Hospitality

“We believe that these have been the right decisions to take after close and amicable consultation with the clubs concerned,” said Johnson. “We will continue to have regular contact and subject to fitness look forward to seeing all of the players when we meet again at the end of October ahead of the Investec internationals.”

Stade and Touloun strongly dispute the latter and in March last year Stade owner Max Guazzini wildly accused England of “blackmail” when they refused to release Haskell for a match against Toulouse during a fallow week in the Six Nations although England were fully entitled to retain him in camp between matches. The situation is much less clear cut on this occasion and Johnson has opted for the concilatory appraoch.

France V England Hospitality

Wilkinson, in outstanding form in Toulon’s 39-19 win at the Felix Mayol Stadium, in any case faces a fitness race to be fit for Toulon’s opening game against Bayonne and the club want him in situ for intensive treatment.

"But we also believe it is clear from the contract he signed with Toulon that his first allegiance on Aug 13 is to Toulon. Our club rugby season has started and takes precedence. In addition now he has a blow on his shoulder and he will need daily treatment and assessment to play against Bayonne.”

England V France Hospitality

Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan has appointed independent consultants to examine his proposals to designate certain sport fixtures as free-to-air.

The Minister’s proposal to make competitions such as the Six Nations and Heineken Cup available on terrestrial TV has resulted in conflict with the Irish Rugby Football Union.

England V France Hospitality

France V England Hospitality

Indecon International Economic Consultants has been chosen to study the proposal and prepare a report by early October.

Mr Ryan said the consultants would evaluate the economic, financial and social impact of designating sports of major public interest as free-to-air.

“It is my intention to use the report in finalising my consideration of the many complex issues involved in the designation process, and I will be asking all key stakeholders to assist the consultants in whatever way possible so that all relevant information and views are taken fully into account,” Mr Ryan said.

Two public consultations have been carried out on this issue – one in 2009 and one more recently, which concluded on July 4th.

The IRFU has been most vocal in its criticism of the proposals. Its chief executive Philip Browne has claimed that designating the Six Nations and Heineken Cup as free-to-air would “devastate the sport for generations to come” by costing the organisation €10 million to €12 million a year.

He also predicted that the game’s leading players would move abroad and the number of professional teams in Ireland would decline if the plan was implemented.

An Oireachtas committee which was examining the issue earlier this summer also backed the IRFU’s stance.

The motion, which was passed without a vote, called for the IRFU to continue to have the independence to deal with broadcasters in the way it felt best served the game.

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England V France Hospitality

France V England Hospitality

Edinburgh Rugby star Chris Paterson is poised to cap his return from serious injury by challenging for a place in the Scotland squad for the forthcoming Autumn test series.

The 32-year-old was named in Andy Robinson's training group which will gather at St Andrews next week for a three- day camp. Paterson suffered kidney damage during February's RBS Six Nations defeat against Wales in Cardiff.



England V France Hospitality

The injury ruled him out of the Edinburgh side as they challenged for Magners League honours and also put paid to any hopes of adding to his 100 international appearances and his career record points tally during Scotland's victorious two test summer tour to Argentina.

However, he is now well on the way to recovering full fitness and has played a full part in Edinburgh's pre-season build up. Paterson is one of 13 players from the Murrayfield- based outfit on Robinson's list of 37. In addition, the coach has shown faith in another Scotland regular who has been out of action.

France V England Hospitality

Toulon back Rory Lamont also sustained a serious injury in Cardiff and has recently suffered a hand injury in training with his French club. However, the prognosis is for a one-month recovery period, meaning he will be available for the Autumn series.


Robinson has stressed the significance of the squad session as he looks to build on a run of three successive victories, all of them away from home, when New Zealand, South Africa and Samoa visit Murrayfield on successive weekends in November.

England V France Hospitality

He said: "St Andrews is an important camp for us. It's about restating our collective values and our commitment to strive for improvement.

"I was pleased with how we ended last season but now our focus has to be on how we start this season, especially our opening game against the All Blacks."

France V England Hospitality

Robinson has made it clear that the door remains open for players to force their way into the reckoning for selection once the competitive action gets underway and referred specifically to Jason White who has been out injured since January but has now resumed training with French champions Clermont Auvergne and should return to the side in the next two weeks.

Gareth Thomas has insisted that playing rugby league for Wales will be potentially a bigger honor than doing so in union.

The man who played 100 times for his country in the 15-man code has been named in the 48-man Wales rugby league training squad for the Alitalia European Cup games against Scotland, Ireland and France and their friendly against Italy in October.

The call comes only a few months after Thomas’ high-profile switch of codes to the Wrexham-based Crusaders, and appears to have triggered a huge upsurge in national pride for a player who always wore his heart on his sleeve throughout his 12 years as a Welsh union international.

England V France Hospitality

And there are four more up and coming South Wales Scorpions stars who could make their first appearance – Andrew Gay, Joe Burke, Lewis Reece and Steve Parry – while Leigh East’s new signing Owain Brown, who was a stand-out performer for Wales Students in their recent home nations campaign, has also been selected.

“For me to hopefully say I’ve represented Wales in both codes is a great honour for me and my family and is one of the highlights of my career.”

Wales will be defending the European Cup they won last year as they look to qualify for the Four Nations tournament in 2011 to take on England, Australia and New Zealand.

The squad includes 16 potential new caps including Thomas, who says former Welsh dual code international Allan Bateman is his inspiration.

France V England Hospitality

He continued: “He was a dual-code international and hopefully I can give as much to the Wales Rugby League team as I did in union. I never officially retired from international rugby when I played union, so I never thought in my wildest dream that I would play for Wales again.

“And, never in my wildest, wildest dreams, would I have thought I would be representing Wales in rugby league. It’s a great honour for me.”

Six players from Wales Under-18s, who play in Super League Academy sides, have also been named, with an under-23 international against Italy due to take place alongside the senior friendly.

“It is a great feeling,” he said. “It will mean as much, if not more for me to represent Wales in Rugby League.

England V France Hospitality

France V England Hospitality

The RFU played down fears of another showdown with leading French clubs after Toulon confirmed that Jonny Wilkinson is one of three players who will not be released to train with the national squad next week.

Initial reports from France raised the spectre of renewed cross-channel tension, with Gallic clubs digging their heels in over access to their employees. But the RFU later insisted that Johnson is happy to let Wilkinson, Haskell and Palmer sit out most or all of the forthcoming training sessions. This may have been a reluctant concession on the England manager's part though - designed to avoid more tense club v country stand-offs during the coming season.

England V France Hospitality

A statement released last night by Toulon read: 'Jonny Wilkinson will not be released to take part in practice with the England national team from August 8-13. The latter will honour his contract with Toulon Rugby Club so he can prepare for the first match of the season against Bayonne.'

Last summer, Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal insisted that his club would allow Wilkinson to fulfil all his England commitments, saying: 'We have signed a convention with the English federation. We will not oppose his presence in this training camp, nor at any other.' On that occasion, Wilkinson was released to join up with Johnson's squad at Twickenham, but he returned to southern France in time to make his Top 14 league debut against Stade Francais.

France V England Hospitality

A year on, Boudjellal has been able to keep hold of his prize asset without a struggle. Toulon manager Tom Whitford told Sportsmail: 'We have not received an official call-up for Jonny. We haven't heard anything from the RFU.'

The RFU's concession over Wilkinson is understandable as their dealings with Toulon have been cordial to date. However, their willingness to let Haskell and Palmer leave after such a short period suggests an attempt to build bridges with Stade, whose charismatic chairman, Max Guazzini, was left seething by England's refusal to let Haskell play against Toulouse on a rest weekend during last season's Six Nations Rugby.

England prop Andrew Sheridan is poised to make his comeback after being out for 10 months following surgery on both shoulders. The 30-year-old loosehead travelled to France yesterday as part of the Sale squad for a pre-season friendly at Clermont Auvergne tomorrow night.

Five years after guiding his native Wales to a Grand Slam, Mike Ruddock has joined his son in commiting to the Irish cause. While Rhys Ruddock made his Test debut for Ireland in New Zealand earlier this summer, former Leinster coach Mike has been put in charge of the country's Under 20 team just three months after losing his director of rugby job at relegated Worcester.

England V France Hospitality

France V England Hospitality