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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoSonny Bill is still king – of double standards!
Cover up: Sonny Bill with plasters over the collar logos PICTURE: Getty Images SONNY Bill Williams has a habit of cornering...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoPlay it straight for game to flow
THERE is a growing concensus – at last – that the scrum, rather than being a collapse-fest in which front rows...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoDon’t blame us, Pichot
AGUSTIN Pichot is banging the drum that Georgia should be allowed into the Six Nations for the good of the game....
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain: Solomona is quality, but don’t pick him
That Denny Solomona has had a phenomenal start to his Rugby Union career, with 11 tries in 11 matches for Sale...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain: O’Connor had better watch his back at Leicester
The knives are out at Welford Road – again – with Matt O’Connor on his way back in as Leicester‘s head...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain picks his English lions as Eddie Jones reaches a watershed
Whichever way you look at it, the manner in which England’s clean sweep and world record was slammed in Dublin was...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain – the RFU should call off their plan for autumn showdown
The England team rescued and brought back to rude health by Eddie Jones is in danger of being sold down the...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain: Europe’s finest being sold down the river
Welcome to Northern Hemisphere rugby’s endless road. An 11 month season which purports to be all things to all men, but...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain talks to Bob Dwyer about his old Aussie coaching pal Eddie Jones
Bob Dwyer and Eddie Jones are two of the most successful international coaches in Rugby Union history, having both won World...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain: Yes, England were foggy, but so are World Rugby
Eddie Jones and his players can thank their lucky stars that their latest tactical tutorial came from Italy. There is a...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain: O’Driscoll is on the case to find any Kiwi flaws
When it comes to the lengths New Zealand will go to turn over the Lions there are none with better first-hand...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain gets an insight into the mind of England’s new midfield ace Ben Te’o
Ben Te’o and the England ‘finishers’ have got a strut in their step after making the difference in the late wins...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain: Crooked feeds are making a mockery of our game
These days TV commentators are clearly under orders from broadcasters not to mention them, but our readers say that crooked scrum...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain: Six Nations offers Boks a route to salvation
As the Six Nations gets underway there is an issue that should be uppermost in the minds of its council, and...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain: Sherylle Calder will keep focus on big prize
Sherylle Calder’s capacity to make a difference as a visual skills coach can be measured by the three-year contract she has...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoAlchemist Eddie must again find the right formula
England go into the Six Nations in the grip of an injury drought that will test their well of playing talent...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoThis is no way to treat the minnows of Europe
That Rugby Union has one set of rules for the rich and another for the poor was highlighted starkly this week....
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoHow Eddie Jones aims to tame the French monsters
When Dylan Hartley was knocked cold after colliding with the knee of Uini Atonio, France’s gargantuan Kiwi-Samoan tight-head, in Paris last...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain talks to Des Seabrook, the coach of the North who beat the All Blacks in 1979
Des Seabrook was the architect of one of the greatest wins an English team has had over the All Blacks, when...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoCaptain? First Alun-Wyn must earn his place!
One of the oldest truisms in the game – and especially where Lions selection is concerned – is that the captain...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain: Johnno and Tigers are made for each other
When it comes to filling the managerial vacuum at Leicester left by the sacking of a larger-than-life character like Richard Cockerill,...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain’s wishes and expectations for rugby in 2017
Rugby Union in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland has a host of reasons to be cheerful in 2017. At the apex...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoWorld Rugby made a mistake by picking Beauden Barrett as Player of the Year
Maro Itoje should have been World Rugby‘s Player of the Year by a clear margin ahead of New Zealand fly-half Beauden...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain: Eddie Jones will stick with Dylan for as long as he needs to
Disciplinary wonders never cease! Two Welsh disciplinary officers – Simon Thomas and Rhian Williams, and another from Italy, Marco Cordelli –...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain compares England’s world beaters of 2003 with Eddie Jones’ current crop
1. Trevor Woodman v Mako Vunipola Vunipola has improved as a scrummager to the extent that there is little between him...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain: Clear this fog over North for the sake of others
Northampton‘s attempt to shroud the crucial issue of George North being knocked out against Leicester last weekend in a fog of...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain: Bonus points will make Six Nations even better
Just before the start of the 2016 Six Nations Championship this column advocated the tournament trialling a bonus point system, and...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain selects his 2017 Lions squad based on the autumn Tests
This 2017 Lions squad is picked from Home Unions players who took part in the autumn series, and is based entirely...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoAre the All Blacks dirty? You’d better believe it!
The trouble with New Zealand‘s protests that they are being victimised following the rolling footage of head shots in last weekend’s...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain looks at the motivational forces behind England’s clash with Australia
A few weeks ago Michael Cheika was incensed at being portrayed as a clown on the front page of a New...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain: Lions must find room to blood British coaches
When the Lions assistant coaches are announced on December 7 they will represent a few shoots of growth in a desert...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain: Beware, new-style Pumas have yet to bare their claws
Argentine rugby is a strange beast. It is one with a habit of never quite being what we expect, and it’s...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain deplores the continued poaching of Fijian players by world giants
Any visitor to Fiji will instantly become familiar with the word “Bula!”. The friendly local greeting, whose literal meaning is “life”,...
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Nick Cain
/ 9 years agoNick Cain: Stay put George, it’s your best move of all
George Ford had a weird training week as part of the England team preparing to take on South Africa. First, a...
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Nick Cain
/ 10 years agoNick Cain: Dan Carter & Co need to be protected from medics
Rugby Union should be on red alert following the cortisone injections given to Dan Carter, Joe Rokococo and Juan Imhoff to...
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Nick Cain
/ 10 years agoNick Cain: Springboks must look North to stop the rot
When Adriaan Strauss stepped onto the broadcasting plinth at King’s Park in Durban after South Africa had suffered a humiliating record...
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Nick Cain
/ 10 years agoSarries must be humble and earn victory – Billy Vunipola
This season Saracens start the defence of their title as champions of Europe, and, as the first holders to win every...
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Nick Cain
/ 10 years agoNick Cain: Building Eddie’s white wall has a cost
Training injuries happen, and as long as Rugby Union remains a contact sport they always will. The fact that England, after...
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Nick Cain
/ 10 years agoNick Cain: Premiership gets richer; others can go swing!
Salary caps are causing strife again, with dire warnings emanating from the Premiership elite as well as from clubs in National...
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Nick Cain
/ 10 years agoAbsent stars? No problem says Eddie Jones, there’s more!
There was a moment at Twickenham on Friday when Eddie Jones demonstrated why he is being paid a king’s ransom by...
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Nick Cain
/ 10 years agoNick Cain: Referees must stop favouring All Blacks
All international teams bend the rules in order to accentuate their strengths and hide their weaknesses, it’s just that New Zealand...
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Nick Cain
/ 10 years agoNick Cain: Fears grow for Manu Tuilagi, the Tiger in a trap
Manu Tuilagi has probably gone into freefall further and faster than with any high profile international currently playing the game. Furthermore,...
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Nick Cain
/ 10 years agoNick Cain column: Time for old Lions heroes to fade way
The 1971 and 1974 Lions were the greatest touring teams that have departed these shores, but the monopoly they appear to...
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Nick Cain
/ 10 years agoNick Cain: Yes, I believe England can rain on New Zealand’s parade
The All Black procession is in full marching order again, with the usual array of tub-thumpers and cheerleaders proclaiming them as...
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Nick Cain
/ 10 years agoNick Cain column: Matt Burke’s law on summer season is good sense
Matt Burke was not only a great Wallaby full-back, he is a measured and respected commentator on the game. That’s why...
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Nick Cain
/ 10 years agoAll Blacks will have to dig deep to keep that No.1 tag
By the time England are next scheduled to play New Zealand in the autumn of 2017 it will have been three...
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Nick Cain
/ 10 years agoNick Cain: Fiji were fab but 7s is a glorious sideshow
Congratulations to Fiji for winning their first medal of any sort at the Olympics, and making it gold by dominating the...
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Nick Cain
/ 10 years agoNick Cain column: Feed the Championship before it dies of neglect
There are very few players in the England squad who have not benefitted from the time they have spent with a...
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Nick Cain
/ 10 years agoTom Youngs in? Richard Cockerill must have Eddie Jones’ ear
Tom Youngs was a surprise addition to the Provisional England Elite Player Squad of 45 announced last Monday. That’s because when...
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Nick Cain
/ 10 years agoNick Cain column: Stop these TV chiefs from censuring matches
Partisan television coverage in which host broadcasters lose the capacity to be objective is a growing problem for Rugby Union. The...















