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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoEnergetic thinking urgently required
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED CRITICAL supporters of Bristol in the late amateur era believed their team was being straitjacketed by a...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoRobertson needs to redress the balance
Chris Hewett Thinking allowed It was a cheap shot, admittedly, but only a pacifist or a fool would spurn the opportunity...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoAge of protectionism must come to an end
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED Powered up: Argentina scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou celebrates victory over the All Blacks last weekend PICTURES: Getty Images...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoGlad to see clock ticking on scrum
CHRIS HEWETT THOSE of us who have spent our entire careers writing against deadline know all there is to know about...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoWhat counts is how the money is spent
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED IT WAS a close-run thing but, after crunching the numbers harder than a caffeine-fuelled psephologist on election...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoWhy SVNS makes sense for the future
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED Rugby sevens – or SVNS, as a London-based team of funkily-dressed marketing executives have somehow succeeded in...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoDay when the Real McCoys stood up
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED THE governing bodies of the union game are not renowned for their speed off the mark –...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoA drop of magic is just what we need
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED STRANGE as it may sound to generations of rugby lovers raised on a fizzy-drink, dopamine-heavy diet of...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoEuropean elite keen to exclude outsiders
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED Whichever way you care to define the i-word, it was an interesting few hours for Canadian sport....
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoSlipper deserves place at top table
Wallaby props? How we used to snigger at them over here in England as Jason Leonard, Phil Vickery and Andrew Sheridan...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoTrio who tempt us to search for genius
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED What do we mean when we talk of genius? It is a question as old as Noah,...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoWhistler’s authority must be protected
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED In the middle: Sara Cox took charge of the Women’s Premiership final between Gloucester-Hartpury and Bristol last...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoCheika’s first job: to speak ‘Tiger’
As top-flight English clubs go, none are as English as Leicester, with their grizzled battalions of steadfast Midlands yeomanry – all...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoWhy less might not be more for stars
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED MARTIN Johnson spent a rugby eternity perfecting his survival skills in the engine room of the scrum...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoSorry, but Obano did not have to do that
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED The best definition of madness in rugby? There are several contenders: picking a fight with Eben Etzebeth...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoAnother lesson from the French
CHRIS HEWETT Now that Vannes have made it into the top tier of French rugby and the people running things across...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoLet the ‘waterboys’ just get on with it
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED It's the burning question of the moment: what is Jacques Nienaber? Not “who is Jacques Nienaber”, or...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoThen and now: It’s tough to compare
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED Whenever the incomparable Antoine Dupont does the kind of things he did in dragging Toulouse over the...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoTalk of jeopardy is wide of the mark
THINKING ALLOWED It happened during the early stages of the 2003 World Cup in Australia, when two of the union game’s...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoTime for us to see some new thinking
Remember the elderly joke about the flight from Australia to New Zealand? “There’s a time difference between the two countries,” the...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoToo many coaches taking liberties in selection
It should not be difficult to distinguish between a Premiership rugby match and a game of county cricket: one, full of...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoMako reinvented job of loosehead
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED Eddie Jones coached Mako Vunipola during a brief spell in charge of Saracens, and coached him again...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoRugby’s holy trinity prove the difference
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED SINCE time immemorial, rugby has been cloaked in its own cliches: Prince Obolensky was always “dashing”; Colin...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoMo’unga likely to be back in black
SO he hasn’t gone for good, after all. Not quite. If the All Blacks have their way, as they invariably do...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoThe boys down west who know how to win
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED The way they see it down Exeter way, only one team is flying the flag for the...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoThe day Sir John picked up the bill
Steve Diamond always had a way with words – some of his stories concerning Danny Cipriani during the wayward outside-half ’s...
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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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