This season's Six Nations got under way last Saturday with reigning champions Ireland hosting Italy.

The budget for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow is to be increased by £81m, it has been announced.The organising committee for the games said funding for the event would rise to a total of £45

After all the ups and downs of the Lions tour and the so called "Bloodgate" scandal the Guinness Premiership starts on Friday with defending champions Leicester kicking off their defence at Sale.

With this year's tour starting in Monaco for the first time the organisers had decided to do something different for the first stage.

After all the discussions about selection the tour finally got under way on Saturday when the tourists played their first match against the grandly named Royal XV.

This weekend sees the first round of the Six Nations with England at home to Italy and Ireland hosting France on Saturday,with reigning champions Wales traveling to Scotland for the Sunday match.

The Autumn internationals got under way this weekend with 5 Northern Hemisphere teams playing 5 from the Southern, and Ireland taking on a redeveloping Canada.

This rather unwelcome addition to the calender returns for the second group stage this weekend.

Today sees the start of the 2008/09 Premiership season with the now traditional Twickenham double header.

Leicester's new head coach Heyneke Meyer has named his team for the first match of this season's Guinness Premiership which pits the Tigers against the team they beat in last season's play off semi fi