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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 years agoLow degree of danger? This man is just lethal…
BRENDAN GALLAGHER There was a curious moment in the last minute at Murrayfield last night when a message suddenly flashed up...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 years agoAs usual, Gibson-Park enjoys life in top gear
BRENDAN GALLAGHER It's more than a little sobering to think that Ireland’s win over Wales on Saturday was probably their “iffy”...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 years agoWhen the B grade was full of A stars
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER AS England A crank back into action today...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 years agoDon’t let refs help the time wasters
THE sheer perversity of referees helping time wasting goal kickers looking to run the clock down by helpfully counting down the...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 years agoLisbon? Let’s go…
There are no Six Nations fixtures next weekend but the all singing, all dancing Os Lobos are playing Spain in their...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 years agoDutch and Germans proving their worth
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER Round Three of the Rugby Europe championship concludes...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 years agoBenvenuto! Great to see Lynagh eventually opting for Italy
RUGBY MATTERS EVEN though I recently predicted in The Rugby Paper podcast that Louis Lynagh would be a starting wing...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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
/ 3 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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