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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoNo time to go soft on neck roll
Why isn’t the neck roll an automatic yellow card anymore? In fact, why isn’t the neck roll refereed much anymore full...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoAre England in transition? Not really, and they should be kicking on purposefully
BRENDAN GALLAGHER Two very average teams produced a pretty sub par Test match in front of an intermittently mute Twickenham crowd...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoThat was a try – but the record will not reflect it
SIX NATIONS 2024 BRENDAN GALLAGHER THERE is a three-volume book to be written on false dawns, shattered dreams and broken hearts...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoSuperstar who paved the way for many more
BRENDAN GALLAGHER IT’S hard to quantify genius let alone compare one genius with another – although that never stops us trying...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoIt wasn’t quite Bazball but George’s men did enough to get the job done
BRENDAN GALLAGHER WELL, it wasn’t quite the ‘Bazball’ rugby that Jamie George apparently aspires to – did we really expect things...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoWhy you don’t give up on your dreams
SIX NATIONS 2024 BRENDAN GALLAGHER It's been said before but needs reiterating on a regular basis but there is no sporting...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoConfident Crowley shows why he deserves the keys to No.10
BRENDAN GALLAGHER SIX NATIONS 2024 Regular readers of The Rugby Paper will recall that I told you a very long time...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years ago50 years ago, and it’s a different world
RUGBY MATTERS - BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points IT’S funny how some things 50 years...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoUnlucky Bev had just the two caps
It was remiss of this column not to note the passing of former Bristol and England prop Bev Dovey last month...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoFarrell’s jumping from fire…into fire
RUGBY MATTERS I don't know about you but it’s occasionally been a bit of a torture watching Owen Farrell struggle with...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoThe tackle: Different options are available
Dafydd Jenkins’ yellow card last week for Exeter against Bayonne has caused much debate with most people agreeing that is was...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoScots should focus on developing own talent
The international merry-go-round continues. After the best part of a decade of striving for England honours Exeter Chiefs prop Alec Hepburn...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoMagnificent tome tells fantastic tales
Take a bow Neil Fissler and Adam Hathaway – much respected members of this parish – for completing a definitive Who’s...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoNo hiding place in those final trials
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER For some reason, the good old days have...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoWhen JPR enjoyed his day at court
The late JPR Williams has many claims to sporting fame and one of the more esoteric is that he played in...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoWhen the selectors made the right calls
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER IT’S 2024 – a belated Happy New Year...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoSir Dicky’s New Year honour is hugely deserved
Everybody west of the Tamar, and indeed way beyond, was delighted that Dicky Evans was elevated to Sir Dicky in the...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoThe day Bancroft created history
TODAY sees the 130th anniversary of the first successful penalty kick in Test rugby with Billy Bancroft, below, landing a tricky...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoWhen Merlene Ottey’s leotard grew nine sizes
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points NEW Year’s Eve and rugby always brings to...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoProud men who graced the game
Brendan Gallagher recalls the achievements of those from across the globe that the world of rugby lost in 2023 Sydney Millar...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoTime of goodwill to all (well, nearly all)
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER hands out his Christmas goodies... HO HO HO. I’m normally more of a scrooge than a Santa...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoToulouse’s victory over Quins is top of my list
RUGBY MATTERS THE greatest single performance in the Heineken Cup? That’s a tricky one, there have been so many, but when...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoMillar knew how to keep ref onside
RUGBY MATTERS Dr Syd Millar was many things – Ballymena stalwart, redoubtable Ireland Test prop, successful Ireland coach and innovative rugby...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoFollowing in fathers’ footsteps
RUGBY MATTERS The tradition of “sons of” playing for France U20 is well and truly established now and seems to know...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoA team stuffed full of captains
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER I was having one final lingering look at...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoI can’t see how a single action can cover it all
Lawyers and the legal system move in mysterious ways but as a layman it’s difficult to understand how the law firm...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoA case of third time lucky for Neville
RUGBY MATTERS - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER Sport is full of sliding doors moments,...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoTime to enforce law on quick tapped penalties
RUGBY MATTERS I can't remember the last time I saw a quick tapped penalty taken correctly yet refs and assistant refs...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoTwenty years on and still looking good…
Brendan Gallagher looked on as England’s World Cup winners from 2003 got together recently WAISTLINES have expanded and hairlines receded while...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoA game in desperate need of some answers
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points IF THERE is one thing I have learned...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoWhen relegation battle was the key
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points Twenty years on from England’s World Cup triumph...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoYoung guns who fired the triumph of 2003
RUGBY MATTERS While we rightly ruminate on the 20th anniversary of England’s World Cup triumph we should also doff a 30th...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoThe Beast of Bezier broke the mould
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points French rugby said goodbye this week to the...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoThis diminished Premiership is benefiting no-one
RUGBY MATTERS TIME waits for no man. As the World Cup recedes in the rear-view mirror and we concentrate on the...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoUni links are vital to make-up of clubs
RUGBY MATTERS CLOSE match-ups with local University sides are nothing particularly new. The great Coventry sides back in the day enjoyed...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoMarta try was my favourite moment
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points SO that’s a wrap and after this final...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoLions of Europe would be a fine team to watch
A long time ago I concluded that the self-interest of the Six Nations runs so deep, and they are so frightened...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoBrilliant Boks are worthy champions
BRENDAN GALLAGHER So they have only gone and done it! South Africa have become the first team to win four World...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoKamikaze Kids in unison once again
BRENDAN GALLAGHER OK, it wasn’t a cracker but nor was this play-off game a dud. In a tournament marked by a...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoEngland’s finest right to the end
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER Now here’s a little in-house admission. A couple...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoLagisquet’s effort cannot be ignored
RUGBY MATTERS World Rugby could desperately do with an injection of PR savvy not to mention a certain generosity of spirit....
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoPaying the price of a lopsided draw
BRENDAN GALLAGHER And there, ladies and gentlemen, we can see the mortal danger of having such a lopsided draw. We may...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoWhy the final step is often one too many
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER If I had a fiver for every time...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoPleased Dickson made the right call
Did you, like me, cheer inwardly when Karl Dickson could be heard on comms explaining that not all hits to the...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoSorry end for Sexton and his band of brothers as they fall short yet again
BRENDAN GALLAGHER No No No. Not again surely? After 36 years of trying to win a quarter-final Ireland have fallen short...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoA French-inspired XV to take on the world
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points The ProD2 Twitter account – sorry X account...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoWhy do Aussies let so many escape?
RUGBY MATTERS The problems facing Australian Rugby are many and numerous but a largely unmentioned issue would appear to be letting...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoKeep Portugal in game
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER Portugal might have become the surprise package of...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoAustin’s bite would add to the show
I miss Austin Healey. There, I said it. I miss his eagle eye spotting stuff I have missed; I miss him...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoWarrior spirit at heart of the game
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points I’VE been surprised that some have been surprised...












