Brendan Gallagher
Brendan 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 to apply it and when...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 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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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 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
/ 3 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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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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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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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 month agoBrendan Gallagher: Jamison Gibson-Park is back to his best as he pulls the strings for Ireland
A few weeks back, with Ireland’s possible decline ahead of the Six Nations, the subject de jour I ventured the opinion...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 month agoBrendan Gallagher: Award booming huge pens a full five points
We are losing so much from the game as World Rugby dumbs down in the professional era, which is bizarre considering...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 months agoBrendan Gallagher: I think Sevens is badly in need of an energy boost
I worry about Sevens which, having invested so much energy and emotion into securing Olympic status, seems to have become very...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Why it’s time to be nicer to the French
I’ve always found it odd the blind spots and prejudices that develop in sport and indeed life, the absolute determination by...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Why putting your faith in data doesn’t add up
Of all the sports most ill-suited to detailed statistical analysis it strikes me that rugby union comfortably tops this list, which...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Small in stature but big on talent
Back in the day it became almost a cliché that All Blacks forwards were all rugged frontiersmen and farmers – world...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 months ago16 teams to battle it out in Georgia
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER ONE thing you can always be sure of in rugby is that it will make a mess...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 months agoBrendan Gallagher: European Champions Cup is still in dire need of an overhaul
The European Champions Cup which, after this weekend, goes back into hibernation for the best part of three months, remains in...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 months agoBrendan Gallagher: A Thursday showdown in Paris is nothing new for the Six Nations
There is very little new in rugby and, although much is being made of the ‘controversial’ decision to kick off the...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 months agoBrendan Gallagher: State school game is in good health
English rugby’s over-reliance on private schools has been cited by some – notably Eddie Jones – as an issue in recent...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 months agoWhen Balding raced home for Light Blues
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER IAN Balding, who died earlier this month aged 87, is of course best known as a legendary...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 months agoBrendan Gallagher: It’s no surprise Harlequins are finding the going tough
I’m surprised that so many people are surprised at Harlequins’ travails this season. It was always going to happen.
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 months agoThe WRU missed a trick with Morris
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER TALKING of sliding doors moments, I can’t help thinking that one of the many opportunities the WRU...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Fran Cotton recalls the ‘indestructible’ Tony Bond
Sport is full of sliding doors moments and that was certainly the case with former England centre Tony Bond, who died...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Magnums all round in my all-star awards
A cycling mate of mine – award-winning journalist Daniel Friebe – annually ranks the sport’s three Grand Tours using emojis denoting...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Hollie Davidson leads by example
By any criteria, Hollie Davidson must currently rank as one of the three or four best referees in the game, with...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 months agoBrendan Gallagher: How you could rebuild an old but great empire
The last time I talked rugby with the late Eddie Butler was on The Rugby Paper podcast, not long after the...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 months agoBrendan Gallagher: I fear the worst in Rugby World Cup mismatches
Rugby’s obsession with micro-management long ago became a disease, a sort of nervous disorder, and a full manifestation of this will...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 months 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
/ 5 months 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
/ 5 months 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
/ 5 months 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
/ 5 months 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
/ 5 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
/ 5 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
/ 6 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
/ 6 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
/ 6 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
/ 6 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
/ 6 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
/ 6 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
/ 6 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
/ 7 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
/ 7 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
/ 7 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
/ 7 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
/ 7 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
/ 8 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
/ 8 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
/ 8 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
/ 8 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
/ 8 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...
International Rugby
Mike Tindall: Steve Borthwick is still the man to lead England forward
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