Columnists
Nick Cain: Don’t exaggerate the importance of bench too much
The eight-man bench is not an aspect of the pro game I support, and the lauding of England’s “Pom squad” as a key factor in their...
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Columnists
/ 3 weeks agoNick Cain: England A team just not up to the job
The Rec was packed with 14,500 Red Rose fans last Saturday, England A were on home turf, and the second-string All...
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Columnists
/ 4 weeks agoNick Cain: Fault-lines show cracks in the All Black armour
Jordie Barrett’s tour-ending ankle injury against Ireland in Chicago last weekend plays into the hands of an England team hunting their...
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Columnists
/ 1 month agoNick Cain: Avoid the circus and keep strategy simple
We are told the bench is now the ‘swingometer’ that dictates who wins at international and top club level.
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Columnists
/ 1 month agoNick Cain: Believe it! All Blacks are there for the taking
New Zealand may not be the imperious double World Cup winners they were in 2015, but at the start of the...
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Columnists
/ 1 month agoNick Cain: Luke Cowan-Dickie’s reprieve smacks of inconsistency
Luke Cowan-Dickie’s exoneration by an RFU disciplinary panel on Tuesday for a potentially dangerous high tackle on Tom Willis in last...
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Columnists
/ 2 months agoNick Cain: Time for Maro Itoje & Co to take on the world
Maro Itoje scaled one of the most significant peaks in rugby union as a winning Lions captain this summer, but he...
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Columnists
/ 2 months agoNick Cain: Absurd rule banning Jack Willis from England
The high esteem in which Jack Willis is held at his club Toulouse, in French rugby circles in general, and regularly...
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Columnists
/ 2 months agoNick Cain: Great result but let’s stay ahead of pack
Congratulations to the England women’s team after winning the 2025 Women’s World Cup, and also going 33 matches undefeated during head...
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Columnists
/ 2 months agoNick Cain: Sorry, Saracens, but you weren’t the first
The attempts by Saracens to rebrand themselves this week as “The Original Club of North London” extends poetic licence beyond the...
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Columnists
/ 2 months agoNick Cain: Game facing fight to retain its integrity
The Filipo Daugunu try which gave Australia two losing bonus points against Argentina in Sydney last weekend crossed a red line...
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Columnists
/ 3 months agoNick Cain: Four roaring Lions make my star-studded World XV
Two years out from the 2027 World Cup, at the midway point of the 2025 Rugby Championship, with the 2025 Lions...
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Columnists
/ 3 months agoNick Cain: Steve Borthwick snared in unworkable fudge with new player welfare stipulation
If international rugby union is the “shop window of the game”, the part that fires the imaginations and ambitions of young...
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Columnists
/ 3 months agoNick Cain: Two-team model in Welsh rugby has little chance of success
The precipice on which Welsh rugby is perched rests on two disastrous decisions made on either side of the Millennium which...
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Columnists
/ 3 months agoNick Cain: Steve Borthwick must not select this Bristol Bok, Benhard Janse van Rensburg
Benhard Janse van Rensburg is as South African as “boerewors”, and the idea of the Bristol centre being picked by England,...
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Columnists
/ 3 months agoNick Cain: Wallabies too slow to make most of Will Skelton
The 2025 Lions gave the Wallabies a long overdue wake-up call on the pitch, as well as doing them a favour...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 4 months agoNick Cain: Wallabies paid price for unprofessionalism during Lions Tour
The Lions are back on the winning trail, but the high stakes surrounding the 2025 tour, whether sporting or commercial, means...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 4 months agoNick Cain: No return to Australia for the Lions without legal guarantees
Should Australia get the Lions back in 12 years? The answer is that Rugby Australia would have to commit to a...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 4 months agoNick Cain: Joe Schmidt’s bogus words jeopardise Lions’ future
There was a chance of three whitewashes taking place this weekend. The first was whether the Lions would claim a 3-0...
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Columnists
/ 4 months agoNick Cain: Henry Pollock must play with 7 on his back
Henry Pollock looked lost at times against a First Nations & Pasifika selection which wanted to get in the faces of...
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Columnists
/ 5 months agoNick Cain: Maverick Rassie Erasmus is doing us all a service
Rassie Erasmus is one of rugby union’s most controversial characters, but he is also an international coach who thinks deeply about...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 5 months agoNick Cain: Joe Schmidt may force British and Irish Lions to move on
Joe Schmidt will be hailed as a miracle man if the Wallabies succeed in blindsiding the Lions to edge the forthcoming...
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Columnists
/ 5 months agoNick Cain: Felipe Contepomi committed selection hara-kiri against England
England deserved most of the plaudits lavished on them after their comprehensive four try 35-12 dismantling of Argentina last weekend. Fin...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 5 months agoNick Cain: Jack Willis deserves to be part of this British and Irish Lions party
It is one of the biggest travesties in this sport that Jack Willis could be destined to never pull on a...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 5 months agoNick Cain: Owen Farrell’s British and Irish Lions call-up shouldn’t cause discord
The furore surrounding Owen Farrell being brought into the Lions squad as a replacement for Elliott Daly has stirred the nepotism...
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Columnists
/ 5 months agoNick Cain: England must concentrate on a power game against Argentina
We are about to find out about the depth in England’s playing resources, and whether the Premiership produces enough players ready...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 5 months agoNick Cain: Lessons of Dublin must be learned for the British and Irish Lions
One of the strangest elements about the 2025 Lions starting line-up in the non-tour match against Argentina in Dublin was...
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Latest News
/ 5 months agoNick Cain: Let’s hope the Whole Game Union wins the day
The attempts by some within the Twickenham administration to characterise the Whole Game Union’s campaign to bring about democratic change at...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 6 months agoNick Cain: Don’t let Joe Schmidt take British and Irish Lions for a ride
The Lions are being taken for pussycats by Australia coach Joe Schmidt. Contrary to the assurance given by Phil Waugh, the...
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Columnists
/ 6 months agoNick Cain: Whole Game Union is hoping to land a longshot
There is an RFU AGM on Saturday, and it could pass by with a barely discernible ripple, or deliver a seismic...
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Columnists
/ 6 months agoNick Cain: Steve Borthwick will want young guns to fire on Argentina Tour
The idea being touted that England’s two-Test tour of Argentina at the beginning of July will be the unearthing of a...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 6 months agoNick Cain: Argentina selection’s bad news for British & Irish Lions
The devaluing of fixtures throughout the professional game is becoming a blight, and an understrength Argentina facing the Lions on Friday...
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Columnists
/ 6 months agoPaul Turner – Don’t let the Championship turn into ‘zombie league’
Nick Cain talks to Paul Turner as he says his goodbyes to Ampthill after 14 years in charge Paul Turner’s record...
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Columnists
/ 6 months agoNick Cain: Brute forces which could do the game great harm
Rugby Union has reached a critical crossroads in which the future of our sport is in the balance, particularly in England,...
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Columnists
/ 6 months agoNick Cain: At last! Bath vs Bristol lived up to all the Premiership hype
The Premiership finally lived up to the overblown hype pumped out about it when Bath and Bristol produced a genuinely competitive...
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Columnists
/ 6 months agoNick Cain: Wallabies need to find some form – and sharpish
Australia's whole will have to be much greater than the sum of its parts to win the imminent Lions series if...
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Columnists
/ 6 months agoNick Cain: Henry Pollock needs to wise up – old pros will be keen to take him out
Henry Pollock’s upward trajectory has been so stellar that there was always going to be a queue of gnarled old pros...
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Latest News
/ 6 months agoNick Cain: This American dream will only end in tears
The Premiership/ RFU’s stampede for money, and the pitfalls that come with it, is reflected in the franchise fix proposed by...
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Columnists
/ 6 months agoNick Cain: Time for Steve Borthwick to ignore the easy options
The main challenge facing Steve Borthwick this summer is to maintain England’s momentum by winning a two-Test tour of Argentina with...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 7 months agoNick Cain: British and Irish Lions must get tough by delivering an ultimatum
The longer the Lions Board continues to be as soft-toy cuddly as the mascot that tour youngster Henry Pollock will have...
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Columnists
/ 7 months agoNick Cain: Championship rebrand can be a real game-changer
The rebranding this week of England’s second professional league as Champ Rugby could be a game-changer in English club rugby, and...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 7 months agoNick Cain: Andy Farrell still at 6s and 7s in his British and Irish Lions back row conundrum
While Henry Pollock is the talk of the town, and deservedly so following his meteoric rise and selection for the 2025...
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Champions Cup
/ 7 months agoNick Cain: At last! Welcome words reinforce value of jeopardy
One of the few signs of clear-thinking rugby union sanity this week came from Simon Gillham, the chairman of the Tier...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 7 months agoHenry Pollock’s energy could give British and Irish Lions that extra boost
By Nick Cain The likelihood of any uncapped young “bolters”, who were a feature of Lions squad announcements in the amateur...
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Champions Cup
/ 7 months agoNick Cain: Backing of franchise rugby is myopic, hypocritical and self-serving …
The parallel universe which some of the main movers and shakers in the RFU/ Premiership currently inhabit has revealed itself in...
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Latest News
/ 7 months agoBath owner, Bruce Craig, backs franchise system
Bath owner Bruce Craig argues that scrapping relegation and relaunching the Premiership as a collection of centrally licensed franchises would bring...
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Miscellaneous
/ 7 months agoNick Cain: Invest in the Championship – as well as women’s game
The money cut from the funding to Championship clubs in the last five years is believed to be very close to...
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Columnists
/ 7 months agoNick Cain: Bruce Craig’s protectionism is not what we want
The decision by Bath owner Bruce Craig to break cover by jumping on the franchise bandwagon this week is no revelation,...
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Columnists
/ 8 months agoNick Cain: Blueprint for the future lacks rational thinking with franchise idea
By Nick Cain - Read his expert opinion every week We are coming to the franchise crunch. Finally, after five years...
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Latest News
/ 8 months agoLeinster are good … but they would not beat France
By Nick Cain The hype was in full flood after Leinster’s two-match 142-0 European Cup haul against Harlequins and Glasgow, when...
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