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Jeff Probyn
/ 3 years agoReducing Marler’s ban sends wrong message
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME ONCE again Joe Marler seems to have pushed the barriers of what...
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James Harrington
/ 3 years agoClermont snatch it to take heat off Gibbes
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN CLERMONT coach Jono Gibbes, no doubt, breathed a huge sigh of relief, as his side came from...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 3 years agoSinfield will help instil belief and calm focus
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK AS an England head coach you are judged above all on winning, although performance...
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Latest News
/ 3 years agoTime to use technology to help out referees
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK The noxious abuse of referees is one of the most urgent issues confronting...
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Nick Cain
/ 3 years agoChristmas gift which shows soft mentality
NICK CAIN In a league with a genuine competitive edge teams do not throw away points in the way that Harlequins...
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Chris Hewett
/ 3 years ago15 sparklers shining out of a tough year for rugby
CHRIS HEWETT Bernard Laporte, Wasps and Worcester, the online victimisation of Wayne Barnes, the financial trials of the English Premiership, the...
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Latest News
/ 3 years agoQuartet hoping to impress Gatland
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND It doesn’t take much to change the mood of Welsh rugby. A win here, a...
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Champions Cup
/ 3 years agoWhy it’s time for a world in union
Paul Rees says this season's Heineken Champions Cup highlights the need for a Global, joined up season Nothing highlights the need...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 years agoTake five: Looking back, and forward
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER FIVE BEST MEMORIES OF 2022 1: Italy’s Ange...
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Peter Jackson
/ 3 years agoSign of the times may cause a hulabaloo
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Any day now, tradesmen will move into six of Europe’s most famous stadia...
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Latest News
/ 3 years agoSad to hear laughter over Traore incident
PETER JACKSON WHEN those at the ‘Secret Santa’ party hosted by the Benetton squad laughed at Cherif Traore unwrapping an over-ripe...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 years agoDoddie and Benny lead list of heroes we have lost
Brendan Gallagher remembers those the game has lost over the last 12 months Phil Bennett (Felinfoel, Llanelli, Wales, Barbarians, British and...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 3 years agoBorthwick facing a tough start to the year
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME Happy New Year and let’s hope it’s a good one. What a...
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James Harrington
/ 3 years agoConvicted Laporte ‘suspends himself’
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN PICTURE: Getty Images AS 2022 gives way to 2023, and about three weeks after he was convicted...
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International Rugby
/ 3 years agoSteward is everyone’s pick at 15 for England
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK You get a good measure of a player in their day-to-day club environment, and...
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International Rugby
/ 3 years agoSelection maze the big test for Borthwick
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK STEVE Borthwick’s brave new world, launched on Monday when he was confirmed as...
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Chris Hewett
/ 3 years agoBilly’s the kid when it comes to resistance
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMN Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings,” says the doctor to his patient, “but you have...
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Shane Williams
/ 3 years agoOspreys win points to happier New Year
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND Christmas certainly has come early in Welsh rugby. Firstly, Warren Gatland rides in on Santa’s...
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Latest News
/ 3 years agoCoach who put heart and soul into north
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Steve Borthwick’s anointment revives England’s tradition of northern head coaches, the most colourful...
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Peter Jackson
/ 3 years agoCole’s 15 years at the workface
By Peter Jackson Dan Cole’s 300 matches for Leicester took him a few weeks longer than 15 years to compile. Few...
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Champions Cup
/ 3 years agoImitation games are so sad for real fans
By Peter Jackson Once upon a time, the Heineken Cup was so good that there were weekends when it surpassed the...
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Paul Rees
/ 3 years agoBorthwick’s challenge is to lift England hearts again
Paul Rees looks back on a rugby year which was very good for some, but not so good for others... At...
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Guest columnists
/ 3 years agoWe must keep building on World Cup success
ROCKY CLARK ENGLAND WORLD CUP WINNER AS women’s rugby ripped through the world this autumn, and New Zealand were crowned world...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 years agoWhen the old European Cup was just the ticket
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER This column has been warning about the decline...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 years agoHamza improves on rugby’s record
RUGBY MATTERS Rugby has a decent record in Strictly Come Dancing – think Austin Healey and Matt Dawson although perhaps not...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 years agoChristmas miracle in the Andes: 50 years on… a tale of survival
By BRENDAN GALLAGER For those of us of a certain age there were possibly two global stories that dominated our adolescence...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 3 years agoChristmas time and things are in a mess
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME As the song goes, it’s Christmas time, a time when everyone is...
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James Harrington
/ 3 years agoTop clubs finding it tough in Europe
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Reigning Champions Cup title holders La Rochelle and 2021 winners Toulouse have been notable exceptions but Top...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 3 years agoTime for England to focus on attack
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK The incoming England head coach, with Steve Borthwick the strong favourite to be appointed...
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Nick Cain
/ 3 years agoJones had no right to take England to finals
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK It is predictable hearing England players who were virtually given selection sinecures by...
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Nick Cain
/ 3 years agoClubs still in limbo as RFU fail to plan ahead
Wasps are in the Championship next season following the RFU board’s approval of their structure under new owner Chris Holland, and...
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Peter Jackson
/ 3 years agoIt’s time to look at a new route to Europe
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW ONE Sunday afternoon in Watford 20 years ago, Saracens hosted a match designed...
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Peter Jackson
/ 3 years agoLaporte does not forgive – or forget
Peter Jackson Once upon a time, during the early stages of his seven-year reign as France head coach, Bernard Laporte strode...
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Chris Hewett
/ 3 years agoAu revoir! French not captivated by Europe
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST ENGLAND’S elite clubs barely saw the French for dust in the early years of the European Challenge...
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Chris Hewett
/ 3 years agoCowards who hide on the internet
CHRIS HEWETT It would be inaccurate to say that the Pau coach Sebastien Piqueronies’ manhandling of the Scottish referee Sam Grove-White...
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Shane Williams
/ 3 years agoBig names will help the game develop in Japan
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND THE season kicked off in Japan yesterday and I was delighted to see my old...
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Paul Rees
/ 3 years agoThe gobby Australian who still had more to give
Paul Rees says the RFU should have stuck with Eddie Jones, just like the FA kept fait with Gareth Southgate England...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 years agoHow baseball kept Bish on right track
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER Ken Poole, the head of economic development for...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 years agoMystery surrounds Robinson departure
BRENDAN GALLAGHER It was a week of departures for Romania, one unexpected but the other less so. First the shock resignation...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 3 years agoWinning a World Cup gives you real fame
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME With Eddie gone it is now time to expect the old ideas...
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James Harrington
/ 3 years agoConviction that spells the end for Laporte
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Bernard Laporte’s future as president of French rugby’s governing body has to be untenable after he was...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 3 years agoA new culture requires a new captain for England
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK Whoever is next in line as England head coach, whether it’s Steve Borthwick or...
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Nick Cain
/ 3 years agoCall for Sir Clive! It’s time to rebuild bridges
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THE end of Eddie Jones’ seven-year era following his sacking on Tuesday has...
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English Championship
/ 3 years agoThis is one ludicrous idea we don’t need
NICK CAIN The RFU has plumbed the depths by considering a raft of changes which would reduce a new Premiership-Championship Cup...
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Nick Cain
/ 3 years agoLight Blues still attract a good crowd
NICK CAIN While some Premiership clubs had been struggling to draw crowds of 4,000, the annual Cambridge University v Steele-Bodger’s XV...
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Chris Hewett
/ 3 years agoAll set for another round of Warrenball
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST SHOULD the Twickenham top brass ever try to recruit a head coach from the local job centre...
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Chris Hewett
/ 3 years agoYet again, France show us the way
CHRIS HEWETT WORCESTER have now accepted the inevitable: they must start next season in the second tier of English rugby after...
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Shane Williams
/ 3 years agoTime for players to impress Gatland
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND New coach, clean slate, new opportunities. Every player who has played for Wales in the...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 years agoIsrael banking on the Heat to build profile
RUGBY MATTERS - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER One of the more unusual modern days...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 years agoSo who is the real villain here?
RUGBY MATTERS - Brendan Gallagher Newcastle's Carl Fearns has been at the sharp end of professional rugby for nearly 14 years...
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