Oct 6, 2000: Newcastle are backing England star Jonny Wilkinson to spearhead their assault on this season's European Shield
Oct 6, 2000: Matt Dawson today spelt out the huge challenge facing injury-hit European champions Northampton as they prepare to launch their Heineken Cup defence
Oct 3, 2000: Heineken Cup chiefs tonight vowed to clamp down on troublemakers in this season's showpiece European competition on and off the pitch
Oct 3, 2000: He has yet to feature in the Zurich Premiership this term, but remains on course for a comeback on October 21, which could see him available for Northampton's third European pool match against Irish province Leinster
Oct 3, 2000: Bath have tempted Victor Ubogu out of retirement for their Heineken Cup campaign
Oct 3, 2000: Injuries among rugby union players have almost doubled since the sport scrapped its amateur status five years ago, according to research published Tuesday
Sep 28, 2000: Newly signed Newport full back Matt Pini has decided to end his test career with Italy
Sep 18, 2000: Reigning champions Stade Francais continued where they left off with a convincing victory in their opening game of the new French Championship season
Sep 18, 2000: European Rugby Cup Ltd has signed a new five-year commercial partnership agreement with the Paris-based sports marketing company, Havas Advertising Sports
Sep 16, 2000: The Scottish Rugby Union has launched a two-pronged assault on improving attendances at Murrayfield
Sep 7, 2000: Former Wales and British Lions international and scrum.com's chief writer John Taylor has rubbished recent calls to create a global season
Sep 7, 2000: Italy coach Brad Johnstone has dropped his Six Nations captain Alessandro Troncon for the next three tests in a club versus country row
Sep 6, 2000: The appointments for the Northern Hemisphere autumn tests were announced on Thursday, with referees from Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia heading to Europe
Aug 28, 2000: Brad Johnstone has named a 35 man squad for Italy's opening training camp of the season, the first after the summer tour to Samoa and Fiji where Italy lost all four games
Aug 25, 2000: NEC Harlequins will give Bruce Starr, an Australian specialist loose-head prop signed during the summer, his debut against Rotherham at The Stoop on Saturday
Aug 23, 2000: The inaugural International Rugby Summit, IRS 2000, ended on a high note in Johannesburg yesterday with a broad selection of views on what the future holds for the game of rugby union
Aug 21, 2000: European Shield contenders Connacht signalled their intent for the season with a 57-3 win over Heineken Cup newcomers L'Aquilla in Galway on Saturday
Aug 18, 2000: The All Blacks will play a warm-up game in Japan against a Pacific Barbarians side on their way to France and Italy in November, New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU) chief executive David Rutherford said Friday
Aug 11, 2000: Scotland bounced back after their loss to South Africa to defeat Wales in the play-off round of the seventh Student World Cup in Rome on Thursday night
Aug 9, 2000: England, South Africa , France all qualified qualified for the quarters of final of IVth Student Rugby World Cup all recording two wins out of two in the group stage
