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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoRobertson will cash in on Barrett move
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED LOOKING at it from Leinster’s point of view, the signing of the world’s best inside centre is...
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Champions Cup
/ 2 years agoTry-fest with big issues below the surface
The Paris Games, more formally known as the XXXIII Olympiad, are almost upon us and the Rugby Sevens schedule is full...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoTime for props to take their share of the glory
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED OVERMATCHED teams usually find themselves facing the music without having to listen to any. It was different...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoWe need Biarrtitz back to their best
SERGE Blanco, the finest full-back ever to grace the union game, spent his entire club career at Biarritz. So did the...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoModernise the scrum, don’t allow it to die
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED IF WE take the Book of Ecclesiastes as our guide – ancient though it may be, it...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoIt’s all a difficult question of trust
Leicester's latest fine for salary cap irregularities – their second in as many years – throws up an interesting question or...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 2 years agoLet’s hope the Lions can find their roar
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED IN THE unlikely event that anyone out there is still searching for something nice to say about...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoTake TMOs seriously? That’s up to you…
IT was a close-run thing, but on the balance of predicatability, the TMO system just sneaked home ahead of Owen Farrell’s...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoBeware this move to 15-a-side Rollerball
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED IF THE Six Nations failed to meet expectations, it was in a good way. Italy’s knee-clenching World...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoIt’s time to consider talent, not geography
If everyone is heading to French club rugby, including the England centurion Courtney Lawes, it makes Courtney Lawes right: rival unions...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoWe must not take road to Hulkism
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED Message from receptionist to doctor: “We have an invisible man in the waiting room.” Doctor to receptionist:...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoA stark reminder of rugby finances
CHRIS HEWETT Rugby's political scene is quite lively enough when the arguments are being conducted in a sporting echo chamber. When...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoIt’s a long walk but Wales on right road
CHRIS HEWETT We've all heard it: “You don’t beat Wales at rugby – you just score more points than them.” Like...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoCome on, Joe! Time to pay attention
JOE Schmidt, the recently-appointed coach of a Wallaby vintage who wear the same colours as Matthew Burke, David Campese, Tim Horan...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoBorthwick should put faith in this trio
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED PETER Winterbottom knows a thing or three about our sport, so you would expect him to make...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoBest ever? It has to be NZ’s 1987 masters
ON the subject of six-seven-eight combinations from dreamland, those of us who spent our rugby careers (for want of a better...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoWaugh’s battle is going to be tough
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED WHO has the toughest job in rugby? It certainly doesn’t belong to the loadsamoney establishment lawyers plotting...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoEaling showed they are worthy
Ealing Trailfinders knew it was a big day and they gave it a proper lash. A single point behind Leicester with...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoThe piano shifters are playing modern tune
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED Much of the “tactical” kicking across the opening rounds of the Six Nations would have left Fred...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoPrepare for scrum time ad breaks…
CHRIS HEWETT OF all the unlikely questions to be asked in this corner of the paper, try this one for size:...
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Autumn Internationals
/ 2 years agoAll Blacks in Dublin will be the acid test
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED EARLY February is not obviously the moment to select a highlight of the calendar year. Especially if...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoShort-term ban means Willemse is evading natural justice
Natural justice is conspicuous by its absence in the union game. Think of the relegation-free protectionism of the Six Nations and...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoTop dogs who build teams in own image
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED According to an article on the American website “Psychology Today”, there is scientific evidence to suggest that...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 2 years agoThe Lions show still sets the standard
Living with Lions, the film released off the back of the compelling British and Irish tour of South Africa in 1997,...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoTier Two deserve a fair shake of the dice
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED YOU don’t have to be a marketing genius of Steve Jobs magnitude to dream up a better...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoLet’s see more put on to the fast track
CHRIS HEWETT IT is just about possible to use the phrase “sweet bird of youth” when discussing the 24st teenager Posolo...
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Champions Cup
/ 2 years agoWe need a more exclusive guest list
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED HERE’S a little brain-teaser, just to make sure you’ve been paying attention at the back of the...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoLet Louis enjoy his crack at stardom
No one ever accused Louis Rees-Zammit of “training like Tarzan and playing like Jane”, to excavate a funny one-liner from the...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoThis year, Scotland can take high road
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED HE was born in the Old Town of Edinburgh, died in the New Town and spent much...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoToo few actually want to be promoted
Iain Sharpe makes some excellent points (Letters, Jan 7) in taking issue with views on the RFU’s second-tier revamp expressed in...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoClass acts who have inspired a generation
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED Jack Rowell, the man behind Bath’s “golden decade” at the back end of the amateur era, bore...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoTime for Borthwick to look to the future
According to reports, as the television news broadcasters like to say, Billy Vunipola is toying with the idea of a move...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoAll Blacks destined to regain top spot
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED IT USED to be said in New Zealand that failure to win the World Cup endangered the...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoAt last we are going in right direction
It is always easier to bury English rugby’s alleged leaders than to praise them, but it would run counter to the...
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Champions Cup
/ 2 years agoToulouse are the most entrancing side of them all
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED Dupont or no Dupont, Ntamack or no Ntamack, this latest edition of the Champions Cup may well...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoGorging on a Christmas feast of non-stop rugby
CHRIS HEWETT Rugby has always been a game of Big Ideas: Carwyn James, the patron saint of Stradey Park, was a...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoEngland don’t need a comfort blanket
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED According to the industrious Alex Sanderson, who will surely be in the running for a senior place...
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Challenge Cup
/ 2 years agoDungeon of obscurity needs to be shut
CHRIS HEWETT Barely able to buy a round of drinks, let alone a win – the good men and true of...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoMinnows can make splash of a whale
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED ACCORDING to Donald J Trump – you may have heard of him – “losers” are the lowest...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoWe need outcome that we can trust
It has been heading our way for many months, but now it seems horribly real. The concussion lawsuit laid against three...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoFalcons are trapped with nowhere to go
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED IT WAS a clear-cut case of “capitalism gone mad” as the loadsamoney class snapped up English club...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoExodus of talent isn’t always a disaster
Sabbaticals are all the rage. Sam Cane, the New Zealand captain who chased gold at the recent World Cup but ended...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoDupont deserves to be on Olympic stage
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED There are exceptions to the general rule – the best three-minute pop songs, James Joyce’s stories in...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoWithout any mystery, it’s barely a game at all
Here's a brain-teaser for you: why do so many techno-wizards at the cutting edge of “artificial intelligence” seem to be missing...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoLaunchbury can make Borthwick think again
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED SIMON Shaw mastered a wide range of rugby’s arts and sciences, but not even he could find...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoGood to see Phil pick up whistle
So Phil de Glanville, an England captain in his prime and a smooth-operating sports administrator in the years since, has reached...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoChange of culture is needed to compete
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED A slippery subject, rugby culture, and easily misrepresented in its narrowest sense. Across great swathes of the...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoIt’s better late than never to pick Zach
CHRIS HEWETT IF we’re being harsh – and heaven knows, the Cherry and White flock who congregate on the steps of...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoSeparated by 28 years – and a whole lot more
The bungled move to professionalism and the turf wars that followed; the “Bloodgate” scandal and the soul-destroying bankruptcies; the player welfare...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoBoks greater than sum of their parts
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED THERE was much wailing and gnashing of teeth at the unveiling of the 2023 “supreme” side by...
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