June 2025 Rugby Round-Up
The Rugbystore round-up of the big news stories from the world of rugby over June.
1. Stuart Lancaster becomes Connacht Head Coach
After two years of working in France, Stuart Lancaster has returned to the rugby in the United Kingdom, as the former England Head Coach has taken the reigns at Irish side Connacht.
Having missed the URC play-offs last season, Connacht will be hoping the Englishman’s vast experience at both club and international level can help propel them back up the standings next season.
2. Argentina record their first win over the Lions
At the 8th time of asking Argentina were able to record their first win over the British & Irish Lions in Dublin. With this being only the second time the two sides have met out outside of Buenos Aires, it proved to quite the shock as the South Americans claimed a 28-24 win at the Aviva stadium in Dublin.
While it was a less than ideal way to start their tour to Australia the Lions were without some of the bigger names in the squad and bounced back immediately when they faced the Western Force in Perth only a week later.
For Los Pumas it was another result to add to their growing list of accomplishments, having recorded wins over France, New Zealand, South Africa and now the Lions in the last 13 months.
3. Hong Kong China Qualify for the RWC 2027
The expansion of the Men’s Rugby World Cup provides a huge opportunity to many sides to help grow the sport in their country with a host of new sides seeing a realistic chance to share the pitch with the elites of the sport.
One such team to take that opportunity is Hong Kong China, who have qualified for their first ever World Cup after beating South Korea 70-22 in Asia Qualifiers. Having been on the SVSNs circuit in some variation this has been a long time coming for a nation who have established themselves as one of continents strongest sides behind Japan.
Competitions Round-Up
United Rugby Championship
After falling down at the final hurdle a number of times in recent seasons, Leinster have finally claimed the URC title after beating the Bulls 32-7. This also marks the first time in the current format that the side who finished top of the league table went on to win the Grand Final.
Gallagher Premiership
Bath completed a historic treble this season as they won the Gallagher Premiership Final in a tightly contested 23-21 win over the Leicester Tigers.
The Somerset club have added the Premiership to their Challenge Cup and Premiership Cup wins, as they look to continue their dominance into next season. They have already started the preparations with the announcement that Finn Russell has signed a new contract, with the Scottish international set to stay for another two seasons.
Super Rugby
Super Rugby Pacific has also reached its climax with the Crusaders claiming another title in their 16-12 Grand Final win over the Chiefs. The win makes it six titles since 2017 for the New Zealanders, who now have 13 Super Rugby titles in total to their name.
It also makes it 21 titles for New Zealand based clubs out of 28, with the latest non-Kiwi club to win the Super Rugby Grand Final being the Waratahs in 2015.
That’s it! That’s our quick roundup for June 2025. Be sure to checkout the rest of the Rugbystore Blog for news, reviews, training tips and much more.