Brendan Gallagher
I fear the worst in RWC mismatches
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER RUGBY’S obsession with micro-management long ago became a disease, a sort of nervous...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 weeks agoBrendan Gallagher: Bravo referee Matt Carley for taking no nonsense
Of all the subjects that have irritated me in recent years – apart from the hardy annual of blatant forward passes...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 weeks agoBrendan Gallagher: Awards season has its problems
It’s the awards season and time to issue my annual warning about the vaguely ridiculous nature of awards – remember that...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 weeks agoBrendan Gallagher: A bolt of brilliance in that Arctic winter
The old sporting, and indeed show business, maxim of leaving the punters wanting more has never rung truer than with Richard...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 month agoBrendan Gallagher: When Pumas gave Wales a tough time
The record books tell us that Wales and today’s opponents, Argentina, have contested 22 Tests since their first official meeting in...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 month agoBrendan Gallagher: We need a full-time eligibility supremo
This column grew hoarse a few years back, arguing for World Rugby to loosen their belts just a little and spend...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Don’t hold Noah Caluori back – he’s too good
So a supernova named Noah Caluori, whose vapour trails lingered long in the sky over Hendon last Saturday night, is now...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Emily Scarratt has left a stellar legacy
We can, if we want, measure Emily Scarratt’s extraordinary career in bald facts.
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 months agoBrendan Gallagher: David Bishop – Unforgiven and unforgettable
Not many sporting books have been cobbled together with the co-authors flat on their backs 200 miles apart, but that’s what...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 months agoBrendan Gallagher: No-one is immune to this awful disease
I wonder if, by chance, you can guess what the following had in common: American photographer Eddie Adams; Japanese karate master...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Furious little bull who was as hard as nails
Imagine being a French rugby international in the tumultuous decade between 1971 and 1981.
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Decline of Samoa is sad to see
Despite the expansion of the World Cup to 24 teams for RWC 2027, Samoa now run a serious risk of not...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Why it’s right time to invest in the ‘have nots’
A massive hat-tip to all those involved in both organising the Women’s World Cup and those behind England’s triumph, on and...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 months agoBrendan Gallagher: The legacy of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s grandfather
Sensational fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is going to be a household name in South Africa – if not already – but we...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 months agoBrendan Gallagher: World Cup 2035 has to be held in Europe
World Rugby fires the starting gun next week for those with dreams of hosting RWC2035, which seems an eternity away but...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 months agoTwickenham finale will be a rare treat
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER NARRATIVES can move very quickly in sport, and...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 months agoBrendan Gallagher: In my book, you’re a beauty, Beauden Barrett
I nearly choked on my coffee the other morning when watching the All Blacks against South Africa at Eden Park.
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 months agoWhat if England had won the Rugby World Cup back in 2015?
It comes as a surprise – shock almost – to realise that it’s ten years give or take that Rugby World...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 months agoExeter Chiefs All-Time XV: All hail to best of the Chiefs
What would be the greatest all-time XV your club could field if you could travel back in time and select everybody...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Remarkable Los Pumas an example to us all
I've always eyed the World Rugby rankings with a little suspicion, possibly because I’ve never fully understood their machinations and how...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Hats off to England – a great first night at the Women’s World Cup
So England started with an 11 try romp, a World Cup record attendance of 42,723 and a performance to send a...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Pioneers of Women’s rugby deserve to take the credit
I had to smile recently when reading that World Rugby had quickly stepped in to ensure that the teams from New...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 months agoBristol’s All-Time XV: Bears who can pack a punch
What would be the greatest All-time XV your club could field if you could travel back in time and select everybody...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Red Bull may herald the start of something big
The Red Bull takeover at Newcastle Falcons is intriguing on many levels but the question I keep asking myself is why...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 months agoBrendan Gallagher: British and Irish Lions tour no longer rugby’s Everest
The dust is beginning to settle on the 2025 Lions tour and that is a process that should be encouraged and...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 months agoBrendan Gallagher: These tourists have been nowhere near as good as they should have been
For a long while I have held the sometimes unpopular view that Nic White was the most influential player at Sandy...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 months agoRay loved the game
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER SO farewell Ray French, for many years the...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 5 months agoBritish and Irish Lions: Once again, Tom Curry empties the tanks to show he’s one of world’s best
Finally, a Lions match and spectacle to really get our teeth into and a reminder of why, despite so many challenges...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 5 months agoSaints alive! The power and glory: Northampton Saints’ all-time XV
What would be the greatest all-time XV your club could field if you could travel back in time and select everybody...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 5 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Now, let’s see the Sables take flight at the World Cup
So, welcome back Zimbabwe whose dramatic 30-28 Africa Cup Final victory over Namibia in Kampala last weekend saw them qualify for...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 5 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Drop Maro Itoje? There’s no chance that will happen
Immediately after the Western Force game, when Joe McCarthy was brilliant all night and Ollie Chessum excellent off the bench, I...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 5 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Here’s hoping for a bit of Brumbies drama for the British and Irish Lions
The undercard, those matches away from the Test series, is usually very thin and underwhelming on a Lions tour of Australia...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 5 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Jack Willis makes the best of his chances in France
Has there ever been a better or impressive redemption story than Jack Willis? Two career-threatening ACL injuries, made redundant by Wasps...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 6 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Some things to work on but, overall, lots of pluses for the British and Irish Lions
And so, without further ado, we should plunge straight into the Lions selection game trying to second-guess the starting line-up for...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 6 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Immanuel Feyi-Waboso waiting in the wings for British and Irish Lions
It might be mid-summer and nearly 11 months into a never-ending season but, as England go to work in Buenos Aires...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 6 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Spain get helping hand from French
There will be no quarter asked or given in Verona this evening at the Payanini Stadium when France – who have...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 6 months agoBrendan Gallagher: How flanker Jacques Gasc enjoyed his moment in the spotlight
Jacques Gasc has died aged 75 and, although I am guessing it’s a name that will mean little to you, I’ve...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 6 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Fabian Holland poised for All Blacks debut
Is the suitably named Fabian Holland about to follow Tim Visser and Frans Ten Bos as a Dutchman playing top-level rugby...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 6 months agoHarlequins Best XV: A stylish team of the ages…
What would be the greatest all-time XV your club could field if you could travel back in time and select everybody...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 6 months agoBrendan Gallagher: After this, the British and Irish Lions MUST tour Argentina
As somebody who fretted and occasionally yawned his way through proceedings at the Millennium Stadium 20 years ago when these two...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 6 months agoBrendan Gallagher: 30 years on for the 1995 World Cup final, and we’ve not built on our dreams
It comes as something of a shock to realise that this week represents the 30th anniversary of the 1995 World Cup...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 6 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Magical mystery tour ends with a flourish for Bath
When you have not won a Premiership title for 29 years, it matters not a jot how you break the drought,...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 6 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Montauban heroes ascend the heights
Bravo Montauban, a team that are the living proof that promotion, relegation and its surrounding jeopardy are the lifeblood of rugby...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 6 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Calling it a day is a tough business
Sorry is traditionally the hardest word to say – or indeed sing – but I’ve always thought “Goodbye” runs it close....
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 6 months agoBrendan Gallagher: It’s great to see Aurillac defy the odds again
Last August, I suggested that a fly-on-the-wall team might be well rewarded if they spent a season with lowly Aurillac, the...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 7 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Alex Goode was high class under the high ball
So, almost unbelievably, it’s farewell to Alex Goode, one of the three or four best full-backs I’ve ever seen anywhere, even...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 7 months agoBrendan Gallagher: The flowering of Johann van Graan’s plan at Bath
Surely the most encouraging, or ominous, aspect of Bath’s commanding win over a lacklustre Lyon on Friday night was that it...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 7 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Not such a Goode day for ref Luke Pearce
I’m a big Luke Pearce fan, but must join the consensus that he – and his team of officials – didn’t...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 7 months agoBrendan Gallagher: European Cup’s given us some real pearlers
So this weekend in Cardiff will be the 30th European Cup Final, a pearl anniversary of sorts. Where did the time...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 7 months agoRaring to roar: Brendan Gallagher dissects the chosen 38 for the British and Irish Lions
Backs BACK THREE Blair Kinghorn (Scotland and Toulouse): Age 28: Scotland caps 60. Rangy outside back, a quick and versatile player...
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