Authors

Adam has written on rugby union for every national newspaper in what used to be called Fleet Street and has covered the last six Rugby World Cups plus numerous England tours, every single Six Nations, European Cup finals plus too many Premiership games to remember. He has written six books including ‘The English Rugby Who’s Who’, ‘Greatest Springbok Teams – Past to Present’, ‘A Fan’s Guide to World Rugby’ and Phil Tufnell’s A to Z of Cricket. When England next win the World Cup he has vowed to do a volume on that. Adam was chairman of the Rugby Union Writers’ Club from 2012 to 2014, rates Gloucester as having the best press food in the Premiership and his favourite grounds are Stade Felix Mayol in Toulon and Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium.

Brendan is a jack of all trades, who has covered 45 sports in over 50 countries over the last 47 years, majoring in rugby, cycling, athletics, sailing, basketball and all things Olympics. Ten Rugby World Cups, 11 Tour de France, six Commonwealth Games, six Olympics. He has also ghosted over 100 sports stars and one day, if he can find a suitable sponsor, will invite them all to lunch! Started with the South Westerner, the newspaper at Exeter University in 1978, and learnt the business in earnest at the East Grinstead Courier in pre-computer/dictaphone days before spells at the South Wales Argus, South Wales Echo, Hayters Sports Agency and the Daily Telegraph. Author of official histories of the Rugby World Cup, the Giro D'Italia, Great Britain's participation at the Olympics and part author of the history of Leander Rowing Club and the history of Cambridge University rugby. Brendan has ghosted biographies of Brian O'Driscoll, Nicole Cooke, Brad Wiggins and David Bishop and wrote a spoof biography of Britain's comic books heroes Alf Tupper the tough of the track, Roy of the Rovers and Wilson of the Wizard. Hoping to keep going in some capacity until Italy win the Grand Slam or GB takes the America’s Cup, whichever comes sooner…

Five Lions tours, seven World Cups, dozens of major international matches on four continents - Chris wasn't selected for any of them, despite captaining the mighty Walcot Old Boys for a whole season (give or take the odd 60-day suspension). Happily, he had the good fortune to spend a quarter of a century covering the union game's great occasions as a journalist, mostly as rugby correspondent of The Independent newspaper. Chris cut his teeth as a sportswriter on the Bristol Evening Post, moved into magazines after the 1995 global tournament in South Africa and then surfaced in Fleet Street. During his spell on the Indy, working alongside some of the most gifted wordsmiths in the profession, he ghosted columns with a starry cast of coaches: Jack Rowell, Andy Robinson, Eddie Jones, Brian Ashton and Brian Smith. After the closure of the paper in 2016, he penned the autobiographies of such oval-ball luminaries as Rob Andrew, Ian Robertson and Warren Gatland. Having finally accepted that Jeremy Guscott, a fellow Walcot man, was the better player, he spends his time composing a weekly column for The Rugby Paper.

Gary regularly contributes news stories and match reports for The Rugby Paper. He cut his sports writing teeth at the renowned Hayters Sports Agency before joining the Daily Star, where he reported on a variety of sports including football, cricket, rugby and motor racing. A short freelance stint followed before a switch to the Sunday Mirror saw him covering cricket, football and rugby including the whole of the memorable 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia plus the less enjoyable 2005 Lions in New Zealand. He now operates as a rugby and cricket freelance for the Telegraph, Mail, Express, Mirror and Press Association.

Freelance journalist, editor and lifelong rugby fan James writes the weekly French rugby column for The Rugby Paper. After stints over 15 years with the Press Association and regional newspapers in Britain, James and his family moved to France in 2009. He went freelance in 2013, and has since written about French and international rugby for The Rugby Paper, Rugby World, Rugbypass, Irish Examiner, EPCR, Irish Independent, Scottish Daily Mail, and PA. He has also worked several times with World Rugby - notably on the 2023 Rugby World Cup, HSBC SVNS Series, World Rugby U20 Championships, and Pacific Four competitions; and has popped up occasionally on podcasts and radio to discuss the state of play of the game in France. Away from rugby, he is a regular contributor to The Local, a news and practical features website for English-speakers in France.

Jeff won 37 caps for England and was a key member of the team that won back-to-back Grand Slams in 1991 and 1992. Renowned as one of the best scrummaging tightheads in the world, Jeff played for the Lions against France in 1989 and was a member of the Wasps side that won the Courage league in 1990. With a career in rugby that has included virtually every level of the amateur game from grassroots to international – playing, coaching, management - Jeff became one of the first two national members of the RFU committee. He remains an honorary president of the Wooden Spoon Charity, a rugby charity that helps disadvantaged children. Jeff has written a column in The Rugby Paper since its inauguration in 2008 and enjoys the freedom to express his anger, frustration and sometimes joy of still being a part of the game.

Jeremy Guscott is an all-time great of the game. Jeremy spent his entire club career playing for Bath, making 266 appearances in a 16-year stay until 2000, and is regarded as one of the very best outside centres the game has seen. He won 65 caps for England in a Test career spanning 10 years, appearing at three World Cups and was a runner-up in 1991. Jeremy was selected for three Lions tours (1989, 1993, 1997) and kicked the winning drop-goal in the Second Test in 1997 to clinch the series in South Africa. In 2016, Jeremy was inducted to the World Rugby Hall of Fame. After retiring from action, Jeremy embarked on a career in the media. He was a mainstay of the BBC rugby coverage for many years and has been a weekly columnist for The Rugby Paper since 2009.

Having started his career in sports broadcasting, as one of the voices of William Hill, Rapid Cricketline and TEAMtalk, Jon swapped his microphone for the keyboard when he became editor of the first Rugby Union weekly, Rugby Times, in 2002. Rugby Times developed a cult following, covering rugby from the bottom to the top before it was taken over by The Rugby Paper in 2011, after more than 300 editions. For six years, he also edited the RFU’s Clubs Directory. The Guardian, Yorkshire Post, England Rugby, Rugby World, International Rugby News are some of the titles he has written for on a freelance basis, while he has been Sporting Life’s chief rugby tipster during major tournaments. He has also been involved in TV rugby coverage for ITV, Channel 4, BT/TNT Sport and Prime, working as a statistician/graphics producer and aide to the commentators for the past three Rugby World Cups. Thankfully, he hasn’t put the wrong score to air…yet, unlike his time as a schoolboy scoreboard operator at Bath, when a misplaced 0 produced the biggest cheer from the crowd at The Rec, as it showed Bath winning 100-0 vs Wasps rather than the actual score of 10-0. Has often been asked, ‘are you the son of Barry Newcombe?’ (the answer’s no).

Jon Richardson is an Australian writer and former diplomat who worked in Eastern Europe, Africa and the UK.

Nick Cain is a leading authority on the game after 42 years as a roving correspondent who has covered rugby union on every continent on the planet, apart from Antarctica - and also played in most of them as a have-boots-will-travel flanker. During a journalistic career which has spanned the amateur and professional eras, he has covered all 10 World Cups, as well as eight of the last nine Lions tours. He has been the chief correspondent of The Rugby Paper since its first edition in 2008, and was previously a columnist and reporter for The Sunday Times for 15 years. Prior to that he was editor of Rugby World for nine years, having first cut his teeth in sports journalism by covering the 1981 England tour of Argentina for the Buenos Aires Herald. Nick has written a number of books, including the 1997 "Lions Diary" with Jeremy Guscott, chronicling the centre's series-clinching role against South Africa. He is also co-author of "Behind The Lions" and "Behind The Rose", two treasure trove histories as told by the Lions and England players who wore those famous jerseys on the international stage.

Paul Rees is a former rugby correspondent for the Observer and Guardian. He joined The Rugby Paper in 2021 and provides weekly news items, features and match reports.

Peter saw his first international from the terracing at one end of Lansdowne Road, February 1959. Buddy Holly’s death in a plane crash a few days earlier made for a sad expedition across the border from the far north. Bev Risman’s penalty made the return sadder still: Ireland 0 England 3. The following season the rugby gods played a dirty trick on Jackson, decreeing that his 1st XV debut in an Ulster schools’ match against Campbell College put him up against an opposite number destined to become an all-time great, Mike Gibson. A trembling signwriter would have given Michelangelo more of a run for his money. How strange that Gibson’s hopelessly outclassed opponent should end up on more Lions’ tours than the man himself thanks to a lifelong career in journalism from the Derry Standard to the Daily Mail via the Belfast Telegraph and South Wales Echo. As well as five Lions tours, he has been to 10 of the 11 World Cups, including the first match of the inaugural tournament on a Friday afternoon at a half-empty Eden Park almost 40 years ago: New Zealand 70 Italy 6.

Former Wales international Shane Williams wrote a weekly column for The Rugby Paper for eight years from 2015-2023. He is one of the greatest Welsh rugby union players of all time, renowned for his dazzling footwork and prolific try-scoring ability. Williams earned 87 caps for Wales between 2000 and 2011, scoring 58 tries. He was a key figure in Wales’ 2005 and 2008 Grand Slam triumphs and was named World Rugby Player of the Year in 2008 - the only Welshman to win the award. Williams also featured for the British & Irish Lions, scoring two tries in the 2009 Test series against South Africa. At club level, Williams starred for Neath, Ospreys, and later played in Japan with Mitsubishi Dynaboars.

Simon Thomas is a journalist for The Rugby Paper and has been covering Welsh rugby for some 35 years. He had spells working for the South Wales Echo, Western Mail and Wales on Sunday newspapers as well as Wales Online. In addition to covering the sport domestically, he has been on 13 tours with Wales and the British & Irish Lions. Simon is a published author with his most recent book being a collection of interviews with former Welsh internationals, entitled ‘Rugby Lives’. For four years, he was chairman of the Welsh Rugby Writers’ Association and now works as a freelance journalist.