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James Harrington
/ 4 years agoBayonne win battle for home semi-final
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Away from the bright lights of the European semi-finals, the regular season of France’s second-tier ProD2 drew...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 4 years agoSanderson’s men will be hoping for minor miracle
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK WHEN Sale Sharks face Racing 92 at their 30,000 capacity La Defense Arena superdome...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoBucketloads of tries not a winning formula
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK AT the same time as Bath collapsed to a record 64-0 defeat against...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoOverseas players leave little room at 12
NICK CAIN IF you are perplexed by England’s lack of choice when it comes to big inside centres as potential replacements...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoPoints do not always deliver the top prizes
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Rugby followers who decided long ago that the sport’s various governing bodies shared a factory setting of...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoCueto was Ashton but without all the fanfare
CHRIS HEWETT CLOSE members of Chris Ashton’s own family would hesitate to describe him as “the complete wing”, but his attacking...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoWRU must mirror the success of Connacht
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND As Oliver Hardy used to say to his comic partner Stan Laurel, "That's another fine...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoMerging of giants is the only option to lift Welsh
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW When the organisers finalise their 24 qualifiers for next season’s Champions Cup, they...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoWily Myler has many more miles still left on the clock
PETER JACKSON Longevity: Myler STEPHEN Myler will complete 20 years as a goalkicking stand-off next season, adding to a points total...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 years agoComeback king Sergio aims to bow out in style
BRENDAN GALLAGHER RUGBY MATTERS YOU can’t keep a good man down. Sergio Parisse has not been on our radar for a...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoOne-sided contests will drive fans away
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME It seems that not a week goes by without some sort of...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoFeel lucky to have played in the era I did
JEFF PROBYN I HAD the chance last week to help Upper Clapton Rugby club celebrate 140 years since the club was...
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James Harrington
/ 4 years agoProD2 call for system reset to aid recruitment
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Biarritz’s long-inevitable relegation from the Top 14 was finally confirmed last weekend when they lost 48-13 at...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 4 years agoSaracens the favourites – if they finish in top two
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK NO-ONE should be surprised that Saracens are tucked in at second in the league...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoChampionship ‘serfs’ must unite for uprising
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK HAVE the Championship clubs finally woken up and smelled the coffee? Have they...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoNo place in the game for abuse of officials
NICK CAIN THERE was a recent commentary that referees are over-protected and should not be immune from criticism, particularly by pro...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoBravo to WRU for giving grassroots day in the sun
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND It has been open season on the Welsh Rugby Union recently, and quite rightly in...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoVery few now could master art of Joggie
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST The way the old-timers tell it, the Springboks were so petrified by the majesty of the All...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoAll eyes on Leinster’s honorary All Black
CHRIS HEWETT WHEN it comes to openside flankers, New Zealand’s grand tradition has long been grander than everyone else’s. Nathan, Mourie, Jones,...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoLeicester lesson has served Leo well
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Leo Cullen left Dublin for Leicester during the summer of 2005 on a...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoOnly Evans to coach Wales was a Wallaby
PETER JACKSON AT the last count, as conducted by people who know about these things, there were almost 75,000 Evanses living...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoRespect for referee is golden rule of rugby
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME As the game struggles to recover from the pandemic and we are...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoIs poor coaching to blame?
JEFF PROBYN England hero: Steve Thompson playing at 2003 World Cup PICTURE: Getty Images THERE have been more sad revelations of...
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James Harrington
/ 4 years agoAll to play for as it begins to get serious
JAMES HARRINGTON Like any other league, the business end of the Top 14 season is played in a haze of permutations...
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Columnists
/ 4 years agoIt’s winner takes all on Super Saturday
ROCKY CLARK ENGLAND’S MOST CAPPED PLAYER AND WORLD CUP WINNER England and France are leading the way and it’s all set...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoPivac must make bold calls to stop Welsh slide
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Since taking charge of Wales after the last World Cup, Wayne Pivac has...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoBelittling dangers of concussion is the Stone Age view
PETER JACKSON ANYONE still daft enough to belittle the dangers of concussion and parrot the Stone Age view that the game’s...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoJimmy’s on course for illustrious 4,000 club
PETER JACKSON ON a sporting stage where the landscape changes like a kaleidoscope, one constant can be found in the enduring...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoBiden keen to spread the faith
PETER JACKSON JOE Biden’s support of America’s bid to host the 2031 World Cup shows that the President’s interest in the...
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James Harrington
/ 4 years agoBeauxis: Time to hang up my boots
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Arguably the most wonderfully and frustratingly French of French fly-halves, Lionel Beauxis, confirmed he will call time on...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoShake up tired Six Nations fixture list
NICK CAIN THE Six Nations chief executive, Ben Morel, is not slow to pat himself on the back, over-hyping the last...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoWorld Rugby missed a trick by ignoring USA
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME Ican’t believe that the chance to expand the game over the Atlantic...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 4 years agoLeicester’s pack power has put them in the mix
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK IT is no surprise that there are four French quarter-finalists in the European Cup,...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoStreamline Champions Cup -don’t just dilute it
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST What bright spark invented this game of ours? The creation myth tells us it was a hoity-toity...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoSheeran’s show is hindering Munster’s advance
CHRIS HEWETT EVEN in a world of surprises, it would be quite something for an Ipswich Town football nut to drive...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoDanger of Planet Rugby spinning out of control
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND All of a sudden it feels as though the game of rugby is getting more...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoSorry saga of failures that haunt Arms Park
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Rout: Liam Williams celebrates after he scores for Scarlets against Cardiff last weekend...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoWRU still think they were right over Big Al
PETER JACKSON THE Welsh Rugby Union hierarchy finally got around the other day to addressing the home defeat to Italy but...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoWhy so lenient with Latu?
PETER JACKSON SILALOTU Latu, the Australian hooker who plays for Stade Francais when not in a state of suspension, will remain...
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James Harrington
/ 4 years agoNo respite as the race for play-offs ramps up
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN The rugby season in Europe’s top three leagues gets confused at this time of year, as we...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoEngland job needs Eddie’s full attention
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THIS is the week that Gareth Southgate did what Eddie Jones should have...
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James Harrington
/ 4 years agoToulon must do their maths to avoid points deduction
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN TOULON’S end-ofseason run-in – and their points total for next season – may be complicated by JIFF...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoChampions Cup has too many also-rans
NICK CAIN THE European Cup is being diluted by the decision to extend the qualification criteria from six teams in each...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoHigh time Bath hung up their silk pyjamas
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Marvin Hagler had it right – not that there were too many people queuing up to tell...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoStats can be misleading without proper analysis
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME I read an article this week about how the game has changed...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 4 years agoWhy France must find right cover for Dupont
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK ANTOINE Dupont is captain of Toulouse for a reason, and as stand-in captain of...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoSeeing is no longer believing in rugby
CHRIS HEWETT BACK in the day, when England were at the cutting edge of sports science and spending eye-watering amounts of...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoAlder can help make a pathway to success
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND It was good to see Nigel Walker recruit John Alder last week to bolster his...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoWizard Kel put blind faith in his Saints life
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Kel Coslett got home late one summer’s night from the afternoon shift at...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoQuiet man Tom was fearless
PETER JACKSON OF all the tributes pouring forth from the great and the good over the death of Tom Smith, Jim...












