Brendan Gallagher
Brendan Gallagher: Sorry, Mako Vunipola, but you can’t play for Tonga
The rumbustious heart on his sleeve, no-nonsense Mako Vunipola has always been a favourite player of mine since I first saw him play for Millfield School...but...
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Columnists
/ 2 days agoNick Cain: Harlequins lacking the launchpad George Furbank needs
George Furbank is a gem of an attacking full-back with the skills and elusive running to spark a backline.
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Features
/ 2 days agoPaul Rees: Duelling French aristocrats! Toulouse and Bordeaux-Begles clash in the Champions Cup
Rugby in France has never been more popular. The television audience for the final Six Nations match against England peaked at...
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Columnists
/ 2 days agoJeremy Guscott: French rivals are showing England the way ahead
No-one is really surprised by the magnitude of the heavy defeats suffered in the European Cup Round of 16 last weekend...
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Columnists
/ 2 days agoPeter Jackson: I’d love to offer help to WRU, says Kingsley Jones
Twenty years have come and all but gone since a Welshman from Blaina prepared Manchester’s champions-elect for their coronation in one...
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Miscellaneous
/ 2 days agoAt the top level, Saints’ young guns have a bit to learn
NICK CAIN WHEN the European Cup reaches the last eight thankfully it has shed the hangers-on who finish in the lower...
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Columnists
/ 1 week agoNick Cain: RFU should get Sir Clive Woodward back on board
When it comes to an understanding of what high-performance means, and the ability to implement it and create a world-beating team,...
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Columnists
/ 1 week agoJeremy Guscott: Geoff Parling’s Leicester Tigers must rise to the occasion
When you think of Leicester Tigers, and the closeness of last season’s Premiership final when they lost by a couple of...
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Chris Hewett
/ 1 week agoChris Hewett: And with that, it’s back to the studio! The Geoff Parling-Craig Doyle incident
A little over 20 years ago, Alan Partridge committed one of broadcasting’s cardinal sins by shooting a chat show guest live...
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Columnists
/ 1 week agoPeter Jackson: Time for George North to face the final curtain
Precious few teenagers dared to make an entrance remotely like George North’s two tries against the Springboks, evoking golden memories of...
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Features
/ 1 week agoPaul Rees: Why rugby must adapt to survive in the social media age
Paul Rees reports on how the game needs to adapt to attract new fans in a world dominated by social media.
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 week agoBrendan Gallagher: 30 years on from Matt Gallagher’s special day
There’s been a lot going on recently in the rugby world, but it would be remiss not to pause awhile to...
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Columnists
/ 2 weeks agoJeremy Guscott: Now Bath need to be serial winners
Having played rugby at Bath since the age of seven, and been at The Rec as a one-club-man for the duration...
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Columnists
/ 2 weeks agoNick Cain: RFU ‘whitewash’ is already under way
As a broadcast pundit, Chris Ashton provides many sharp insights on back play, but often, like many former internationals now in...
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Columnists
/ 2 weeks agoPeter Jackson: Eye-gouging Oscar Jegou sparks more anger
The strange case of Oscar Jegou has become stranger still, its verdict provoking another heavyweight ex-referee to weigh into the row...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 weeks agoBrendan Gallagher: Referees must control the advantage law fairly
Every four or five years or so, it seems, rugby gets its knickers in a twist over the advantage law, how...
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Features
/ 2 weeks agoPaul Rees: Rugby union has been rocked by a points explosion
Paul Rees looks at the challenges facing defence coaches as they try to counter the rise in try scoring...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 weeks agoChris Hewett: Wales boss Steve Tandy has reasons to be more cheerful
March is not the cruellest month, as every student of 20th Century poetry knows, but it may be the most unfathomable.
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 weeks agoBreaking down the borders is just the job
ROBBIE Deans, eh? And Brendan Venter too. London is a multinational, multicultural kind of place in virtually every walk of life,...
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Columnists
/ 3 weeks agoJeremy Guscott: Now is the time for England to learn to be streetwise
It’s been hailed as the best ever Six Nations because of its topsy-turvy nature, unpredictability, and exciting edge-of-the-seat stuff, as well...
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Columnists
/ 3 weeks agoNick Cain: Resolute Thomas Ramos shows England how to do it
The only team to go backwards in the 2026 Six Nations was England. Where every other nation had something positive to...
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Chris Hewett
/ 3 weeks agoChris Hewett: Less snooze-on-sofa, more edge-of-seat…
After the Lord Mayor’s Show comes… you know the rest, so let’s not go there.
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Columnists
/ 3 weeks agoPeter Jackson: Louis Bielle-Biarrey has another record in sight
For his next exercise in shredding the Six Nations try book from A-Z, Louis Bielle-Biarrey will attempt to do something nobody...
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Columnists
/ 3 weeks agoPeter Jackson: 2026 Six Nations was terrific but, for my money, 2015 still best there has been
The stampede to acclaim the 2026 version as ‘the greatest’ Six Nations of all raises a pertinent question over the collective...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 weeks agoBrendan Gallagher: The rise of Italy lifted the whole Six Nations
You can make a decent case for 2026 being the best Six Nations ever – whatever ‘best’ means – but it...
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Features
/ 3 weeks agoPaul Rees: Was England’s performance in Paris down to Steve Borthwick – or not?
Paul Rees says England’s Six Nations review must decide what roles the head coach played in the revival against France.
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Columnists
/ 3 weeks agoAfter three rounds, it all looked so easy…
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN WELL, that was a remarkable end to what turned out to be an utterly astonishing Six Nations,...
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Chris Hewett
/ 3 weeks agoChris Hewett: Henry Pollock should listen to Sir Clive Woodward
“There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
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Columnists
/ 4 weeks agoPaul Rees: This mad Six Nations ends with a flourish
The start of a mad, compelling Six Nations was very different to the end. Ireland, like Scotland, suffered a chastening defeat...
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Columnists
/ 4 weeks agoJeremy Guscott: Stunned! That’s my reaction to England’s Six Nations defeats
Stunned is the only way to describe my reaction to England’s triple losses against Scotland, Ireland, and Italy.
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Columnists
/ 4 weeks agoNick Cain: England lead way in self-inflicted wounds
The fog of disinformation surrounding England since their landmark loss to Italy in Rome last weekend reflected a group unwilling to...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 weeks agoChris Hewett: Another one right in the eye for TMOs
It does not take an unusually sardonic soul, let alone a satirist measuring 9.5 on the Evelyn Waugh Scale of Savagery,...
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Columnists
/ 4 weeks agoPeter Jackson: Blackheath still have a dream of higher things
The oldest football club in Wales and the oldest rugby club in England share a common goal. Wrexham AFC (1864) and...
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Features
/ 4 weeks agoPaul Rees: It’s time to get back to what we are good at
Paul Rees looks ahead to the resumption of the Premiership next weekend and says it can’t come fast enough.
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 weeks agoBrendan Gallagher: Explore… Dream… Discover. That’s Italy
It was a curious, slightly unsettling experience in the final quarter at Rome last week watching Italy – who, frankly, hadn’t...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 weeks agoBrendan Gallagher: The Romanian who stood tall for his country
You bump into some huge human beings on the rugby circuit, but I’ve encountered few bigger than Romanian lock Constantin Cojocariu,...
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Columnists
/ 1 month agoAll off to France for the Grand Slam then? Paul Rees on England’s Six Nations slide after another defeat
England set their sights on the Grand Slam but could end up with the wooden spoon.
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Columnists
/ 1 month agoPaul Williams: Wales’ young guns are showing the way
Watching Welsh rugby’s recent performances, or reading about Welsh rugby’s political events, can have a premature ageing effect on the faces...
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Columnists
/ 1 month agoNick Easter: The weight Maro Itoje has to carry is quite extraordinary
What Maro Itoje has dealt with in the last nine months is extraordinary. He captained the Lions, he captains England, he...
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Columnists
/ 1 month agoNick Easter: Tom Willis would have been in my team
I would have started Tom Willis in the back row for England yesterday, regardless of his decision to move to France...
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Chris Hewett
/ 1 month agoChris Hewett: Dave Rennie should leave Brodie Retallick where he is
Let the fun and games begin. Dave Rennie, freshly-appointed head coach of the All Blacks with a World Cup looming large...
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Chris Hewett
/ 1 month agoChris Hewett: Chris Boyd can transform Gloucester
An effigy of Francois Pienaar swinging from the roof of the Shed as the World Cup-winning Springbok captain made an early...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 month agoBrendan Gallagher: Players love getting one over the referee
I’m intrigued, fascinated, perplexed, occasionally entertained, but mostly irritated by why sportsmen and women feel the need to subtly but deliberately...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 month agoAttacking full-back Lacaze was ahead of his time
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER FRANCE’S reputation for producing vibrant attacking full-backs almost matches their ability to uncover and nurture commanding Napoleonic-like...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 month agoPortugal’s clash with Spain will be classy
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER AWAY from the Six Nations, the Rugby Europe Championship is coming to the boil today with the...
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Columnists
/ 1 month agoPeter Jackson: Key figure Alex Mann puts Wales in contention
And so, let it be said sotto voce, the end is nigh. After losing 15 in a row, Wales have given...
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Columnists
/ 1 month agoPeter Jackson: When Ray Glastonbury warmed up during The Big Freeze
Long before his surname became synonymous with a music festival, Ray Glastonbury’s scorch marks could be found all over the north...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 month agoBrendan Gallagher: My Six Nations Top 20 – The good, the bad and the rugby
And breathe! In the blink of an eye, we are 60 per cent through the 2026 Six Nations, and we are...
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Columnists
/ 1 month agoPeter Jackson: Mike Gibson remembers the Welsh lions of ’76
When he sits at home in Belfast next Friday night to watch Ireland-Wales, Mike Gibson could be forgiven for recalling a...
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Columnists
/ 1 month agoKyran Bracken: Steve Borthwick has work to do but calls for him to lose his job are over the top
I’ll be honest, I’m as surprised as anyone by what we’ve seen from England over the last two weeks.
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