John Higgins And Ronnie O’Sullivan Renew Rivalry At Crucible In World Snooker Championship Last 16

John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan renew their rivalry at the Crucible as they begin their blockbuster clash in the last 16 of the World Snooker Championship, with the BBC framing the matchup as something that “sticks in my mind” for Higgins after their 1996 World Snooker Championship quarter-final.

Higgins recalls being “12-11 in front” against O’Sullivan, with the Scot describing how he was “only two shots from the semi-finals” before O’Sullivan “wins the decider and Higgins is out.”

BBC

The BBC also places the earlier drama in context: O’Sullivan had faced a disciplinary hearing after he “assaulted a World Snooker press officer,” and Higgins waited in his hotel to see whether he would be given an automatic victory.

Higgins says he did not know until “one o’clock in the morning whether I was going to play Ronnie at 10am,” and he describes receiving a phone call that “Yeah, you’re playing Ronnie at 10.”

The BBC’s retrospective connects that moment to the present, noting that “both having long cemented their positions as two of the greatest players the sport has ever seen,” with Higgins and O’Sullivan “both now 50.”

The BBC adds that the last-16 meeting comes “three decades later,” and it specifies that O’Sullivan holds “the record for being the oldest world champion” after his most recent success four years ago, aged 46.

The BBC and Metro both return to the same early turning point: O’Sullivan’s disciplinary trouble before their first Crucible meeting, when Higgins waited to learn whether he would have to play.

The BBC says the night before the quarter-final, O’Sullivan “faced a disciplinary hearing after he had assaulted a World Snooker press officer and could have been thrown out of the tournament,” and it adds that O’Sullivan was “getting fined £20,000 and being handed a suspended two-year ban.”

BBC

Higgins describes the uncertainty in personal terms, saying there were “conflicting reports that he was going to get thrown out,” and that he was “lying in my bed at night” asking “Am I going to get a bye to the semi-finals here?”

Metro echoes the same timeline with Higgins’ recollection, stating that Higgins “didn’t know until one o’clock in the morning whether he was going to have to play Ronnie at 10am.”

Metro also includes O’Sullivan’s later explanation from his 2023 book Unbreakable, quoting that the headbutt was because “he tried throwing me and my mate out of the players’ lounge.”

Metro further quotes O’Sullivan’s self-assessment: “I’m not proud of it; it’s the only headbutt I’ve ever done in my life,” and it adds that he said he was “the only time I’ve grabbed someone by the balls and called them a grass.”

While the rivalry is framed as enduring, the tabloid accounts emphasize that the relationship is not necessarily close, and they connect that to how the players talk about each other.

“It was 30 years ago, but John Higgins remembers it as if it was yesterday”

BBC

Irish Mirror says the pair are “set to do battle in the last-16 of the World Snooker Championship,” and it describes their history as “complicated,” while still noting that the showdown is “highly anticipated.”

It quotes O’Sullivan on his social distance from the circuit, including his statement to TNT Sports: “I think Mark and John are better friends than I am with them.”

O’Sullivan adds, “I don’t really get close to anyone on the snooker circuit, because I don’t really hang around tournaments,” and he says, “No one sees me. I'd rather be down the gym or go running, or go to nice restaurants.”

Metro similarly portrays the rivalry as simmering but not personal, saying it “remains a simmering sporting rivalry in their sixth decades” and that it has “never had any real edge to it.”

Metro also quotes Higgins’ view of O’Sullivan, saying Higgins told the Talking Snooker podcast in 2023: “I don’t really know Ronnie at all.”

The sources also document friction between the players that goes beyond match results, and they place that friction alongside later goodwill.

Irish Mirror recounts a “disgraceful” remark in which O’Sullivan discouraged youngsters from pursuing snooker professionally, quoting O’Sullivan to Eurosport: “If I had a child I would not want him to play snooker, I really wouldn't.”

Flashscore.fr

Irish Mirror then quotes Higgins’ response, saying Higgins “fired back” with: “I heard Ronnie, I thought it was a disgrace what he was saying.”

It continues with Higgins’ quoted concern about the message to young kids: “That he'd be saying to young kids, 'Don't play snooker', I thought that was dreadful for someone as good as that to sit there and say that.”

Yet the same Irish Mirror piece pivots to a “Touching message,” describing Higgins’ reaction when O’Sullivan pulled out of the 2025 Masters on medical grounds.

Higgins tells the BBC: “Gutted that I wasn't playing Ronnie,” and he adds: “But listen, his health is more important if he is going through some tough times just now.”

Beyond the Higgins-O’Sullivan clash, the livesnooker preview situates their meeting within a full day of second-round matches at the Crucible Theatre, specifying that “Play gets under way at 10am BST on Saturday” and that the second-round schedule runs across multiple sessions.

“Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins rivalry: From 'disgraceful' controversy to touching message Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins are two of the greatest players in snooker history and the pair are set to do battle in the last-16 of the World Snooker Championship”

Irish Mirror

It lists “Saturday April 25” and includes “7pm John Higgins v Ronnie O’Sullivan” as one of the day’s fixtures, while also naming other matchups such as “Chris Wakelin v Neil Robertson” at 10am and “Zhao Xintong (4-4) Ding Junhui” at 2.30pm.

Irish Mirror

The preview also describes other second-round pairings with frame scores, including “Kyren Wilson (7-9) Mark Allen” and “Hossein Vafaei v Judd Trump,” and it notes that Wilson and Allen are “finely poised ahead of their gripping finale.”

It adds that “Barry Hawkins (10-6) Mark Williams” is another key match, and it says Hawkins is “on cause to exact revenge this year at 10-6 to the good.”

In the BBC’s retrospective, the stakes are framed through history, with the BBC stating that O’Sullivan and Higgins will go “head-to-head in the last 16 on Saturday,” and it notes their Crucible record of “three wins apiece” across six meetings.

Metro adds that the latest battle comes “in the second round of the World Championship, starting on Saturday night,” and it states that this year’s will be their “seventh meeting on snooker’s most iconic stage.”