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Brendan Gallagher
/ 12 years agoBrendan Gallagher: Gregor Townsend still getting to grips with the enigma of French rugby
Gregor Townsend, who did rather more than simply survive five seasons of club rugby in France, has always insisted that one...
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Nick Cain
/ 12 years agoNick Cain: Certitudes for England? I can count only two!
Stuart Lancaster’s head must be in a spin. This is because with only two weeks to go before England open their...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 12 years agoJeremy Guscott: Joel Tomkins fits my idea of a real outside centre
When I look at an outside centre I want an attacking player with enough pace to worry his own full-back and...
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Peter Jackson
/ 12 years agoPeter Jackson: Ireland’s new star is made in Wales
At the end of a week when English football got its knickers in a nationality twist, Ireland’s next scrum-half can be...
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Nick Cain
/ 12 years agoNick Cain: The bogus water boys are pouring out advice
With Mike Catt giving England coaching directives while on the pitch during Six Nations matches last season, and Neil Jenkins doing...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 12 years agoBrendan Gallagher: Heroic, tragic and downright eccentric, yes rugby has it all
A mate of mine, literary agent David Luxton, has had the brilliant idea of organising the inaugural London Sports Writing Festival...
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Nick Cain
/ 12 years agoNick Cain talks to Exeter’s captain Dean Mumm about the Heineken Cup and Australia’s autumn challenge
Dean Mumm does not hail from anywhere within 10,000 miles of Devon. Yet, the Exeter Chiefs captain, New Zealand born and...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 12 years agoJeff Probyn: Lancaster must be able to pick on-form players
The first European break gives us time to look back at what has been a hectic start to the season. Five...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 12 years agoJeremy Guscott: Robshaw has credentials to captain England again
Stuart Lancaster‘s comments this week about selecting the England captain, and putting off the decision to do so, are intriguing. The...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 12 years agoJeff Probyn: Euro row could be start of clubs flexing more muscle
I have a question. Does the word ‘professional’ mean running a business or getting paid, or are they one and the...
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Nick Cain
/ 12 years agoNick Cain looks at the opening rounds of the final Heineken Cup
The 19th Heineken Cup has been billed as the last of its kind, the collector’s edition. And winning it will be...
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Sevens World Series
/ 12 years agoBehind the England Sevens’ scenes with Tom Mitchell: Countdown to round One…
Sitting on a sun drenched balcony in Australia looking out over Surfers Paradise the idea six gruelling games of 7s might...
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James Haskell
/ 12 years agoJames Haskell’s nutrition tip: Let’s shake – it could do you the world of good!
I get asked a lot on twitter by young guys: Do I take protein shakes? Do I take creatine? There is...
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Peter Jackson
/ 12 years agoPeter Jackson: Regrets? I’ve got a few about Cup admits Ring
Once upon a time long ago, Mark Ring found himself within touching distance of lifting the European Cup in his very...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 12 years agoBrendan Gallagher: The quiet-man keeping that Tigers’ roar loud and clear
A small, bald-headed gent has been taking centre stage at Leicester on match days this autumn but the volume and quantity...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 12 years agoJeremy Guscott: Lancaster’s dilemma is who plays 10, Farrell or Burns?
Having watched the best team in the world, New Zealand, beat the second best, South Africa, 38-27 in a humdinger of...
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Nick Cain
/ 12 years agoNick Cain: Let George go, Saints, or risk his goodwill
George North is box office, and although he had to wait until last Friday night for his first try for Northampton...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 12 years agoJeff Probyn: Clubs face oblivion if RFU take on PRL over Europe
Financial Oblivion are the words used by Bath‘s owner Bruce Craig when describing the possible fate facing the RaboDirect Pro12 if...
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Peter Jackson
/ 12 years agoPeter Jackson: Pullin much more than a master of the one-liner
John Pullin has long deserved special mention in the folklore of Anglo-Irish rugby, not so much for what he did on...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 12 years agoBrendan Gallagher: Don’t let the big boys’ Euro row put an end to Treviso dream
While the ERC blazers, club representatives from England and France and TV executives squabble endlessly over the future of a European...
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Nick Cain
/ 12 years agoNick Cain talks to Gloucester fly-half Freddie Burns about his challenge for club and country
Freddie Burns is the sort of fly-half that scares the living daylights out of English coaches almost as much as he...
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Nick Cain
/ 12 years agoNick Cain: These weakened teams undermine competition
There are occasions when it is hard to fathom the workings, and the culture, of the English Premiership. Why, at a...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 12 years agoJeremy Guscott: Beware these danger men coming here in autumn
When South Africa beat Australia 28-8 on Saturday I was interested to see how their backlines would operate as a pointer...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 12 years agoJeff Probyn: Money is not the root of all success in Europe
There’s an old saying which seems to be more and more fashionable in our game and that is, ‘money talks’. As...
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Peter Jackson
/ 12 years agoPeter Jackson: Ignore all that ghostly talk, Phillips is a fixture
At the end of the Lions tour, Mike Phillips used his newspaper column to suggest that he might soon be calling...
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Sevens World Series
/ 12 years agoTom Mitchell: Welcome behind the scenes of England Sevens
For a lucky few of us an endless summer is about to start. The HSBC World Sevens Series commences in three...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 12 years agoBrendan Gallagher: At last, John Dawes gets his rightful recognition
Why is ‘legendary’ status conferred on some outstanding rugby personalities but denied others? Who decides these things and how? Does the...
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Nick Cain
/ 12 years agoNick Cain talks to Bath’s Dave Attwood about his second coming for England
Dave Attwood has that combination of brains as well as brawn that is a treasured commodity in most sports, but in...
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Nick Cain
/ 12 years agoNick Cain: Heineken war could harm World Cup 2015
The battle lines have been drawn around the Heineken Cup – or the territory it once occupied – and there is...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 12 years agoJeremy Guscott: Billy’s the boy for England No.12 spot inside Tuilagi
With Brad Barritt picking up an injury early in the season it looks as though the England No.12 shirt will be...
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Peter Jackson
/ 12 years agoPeter Jackson: Ah You Irish? Well, that’s complicated, Rodney!
Rodney Ah You arrived in Belfast as a hefty member of the baby All Blacks in 2007 and duly went home...
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Nick Cain
/ 12 years agoNick Cain: Self-interested coaches should not scrutinise refs
While I have sympathy for Premiership Rugby‘s bid to secure a more meritocratic Heineken Cup, the initiative by PRL, the administrative...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 12 years agoJeff Probyn: Biting, refs row, Euro battle…yes, the season’s back!
The season is off and running and once again it’s not the rugby on the field that grabs the headlines. As...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 12 years agoBrendan Gallagher: Will tickets be banana skin that upsets RWC 2015?
Two years out from the 1987 World Cup the competition didn’t exist, it was just a concept being kicked around by...
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Nick Cain
/ 12 years agoNick Cain talks to Saracens coach Phil Morrow about the amazing Billy Vunipola
Billy Vunipola is a tank, and at Twickenham two weeks ago London Irish found him virtually unstoppable. The pulverising charges of...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 12 years agoJeremy Guscott: Referee Poite got it wrong over Du Plessis sending off
The winners of New Zealand versus South Africa were going to be ranked as the No.1 team in the world. For...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 12 years agoJeff Probyn: Front rows must discover the lost arts – or perish
I was at Twickenham this week and found myself at a Press conference outlining the new scrum engagement call, along with...
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Peter Jackson
/ 12 years agoPeter Jackson: Ten years on, Coombs is overnight sensation!
When it comes to recurring rejection in pursuit of a professional career, Andrew Coombs deserves to be out on his own...
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Nick Cain
/ 12 years agoNick Cain talks to Worcester’s new director of rugby Dean Ryan about the challenges ahead
Dean Ryan is realistic about Worcester’s place in the Premiership pecking order. The Warriors are perched precariously on the lower rungs...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 12 years agoBrendan Gallagher: When Pooler were top dogs, amid the blood, mud and beer
Exactly 30 years ago Pontypool embarked on a season, the likes of which we will never see again in Britain or...
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Nick Cain
/ 12 years agoNick Cain: Let’s hope England use attack at key word
The pulse always quickens at the start of a new season, and with the Lions’ first triumph for 16 years still...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 12 years agoJeremy Guscott: McCaw’s a worry…but bring on the Boks. I can’t wait!
We must hope All Blacks coach Steve Hansen is right in his assessment of the injury to his captain Richie McCaw....
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Nick Cain
/ 12 years agoNick Cain: My Sevens squad for Rio has no Sevens stars
Imagine a Great Britain Sevens team for Rio 2016 picked, using a similar model to the Lions, from the best rugby...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 12 years agoBrendan Gallagher finds an intriguing cultural exchange occurring at the Stoop
Nick Evans may be on the verge of becoming a British citizen and proud UK passport holder and he has chosen...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 12 years agoJeff Probyn: Why didn’t they consult those who know about the scrum?
With less than a week until the start of the new season we are told that the whole structure of the...
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Peter Jackson
/ 12 years agoPeter Jackson: Peerless Morgan, a master of all trades
Tony O’Reilly described Cliff Morgan as “the greatest of them all”, an accolade based on the ketchup king’s appreciation of his...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 12 years agoJeremy Guscott previews the 2013-2014 Aviva Premiership season
A new season approaches and I’m really looking forward to a great fight to see who becomes Champions and who avoids...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 12 years agoBrendan Gallagher gets the inside track on how England’s academies are producing players to progress on the international pathway
Until this June, England – despite its vast player resources – had never won the IRB U20 World Championship or indeed...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 12 years agoJeff Probyn: Proposed Heineken deal leaves Rabo with peanuts
I often wonder if Premiership Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty is living in the real world or one that is dominated...
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Peter Jackson
/ 12 years agoPeter Jackson: Groundhog Day, and Gav blinks back into the light
During the course of fox-trotting his way into five clubs over 20 months, Gavin Henson has danced to the same old...











