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Columnists
/ 4 years agoEvergreen Parisse set to join the 500 club
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Amassing 500 matches among the European elite requires surviving an endurance test of...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoPutting £222m into women’s game is a high-risk strategy
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME Champions: Saracens celebrate after their victory in the Allianz Premier XVs final...
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Columnists
/ 4 years agoWe’ll see if Jones has made any progress for World Cup
With player welfare supposedly at the forefront of everyone’s minds, who would believe the way international rugby tours are structured nowadays?...
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Features
/ 4 years agoGalthie in no rush to sign up his coaches
JAMES HARRINGTON - FRENCH COLUMN FFR President Bernard Laporte was ready to offer Les Bleus’ head coach Fabien Galthie a new,...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 4 years agoPlaying Farrell at 12 could cause trouble for England
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK The relevance of England’s game against the Barbarians is that it was an opportunity...
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Columnists
/ 4 years agoEngland need to rewrite the script quickly
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK The roll call for England’s three-Test tour of Australia reads as follows: two...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoCrusaders revive the dying art of rucking
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST The former England captain Phil de Glanville will continue as “Senior Professional Game Board Representative”, according to...
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International Rugby
/ 4 years agoQuestion is: Where are Wales mentally?
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND The first moment of truth of the summer for Welsh rugby comes at Loftus Versfeld...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 years agoCrowley set to enjoy Italy’s ‘Blue summer’
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points After that brilliant last-minute win over Wales in...
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Features
/ 4 years agoAu Revoir, Arrivederci, Hywl Fawr, Goodbye…
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW At close of business on Friday, 40 Test players boasting a collective stack...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoA rugby tale: From the sublime to the ridiculous
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME Well, what an end to the season with two games of stark...
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Features
/ 4 years agoAll eyes on Mercer as he rules in Paris
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN There’s no doubt the better side won Friday’s Top 14 final. Montpellier’s 29-10 win over Castres at...
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Features
/ 4 years agoThe Rugby Paper Podcast: Episode Twenty-One with Jeff Probyn
The Rugby Paper Podcast returns this week as former England World Cup Finalist and English title winning prop Jeff Probyn joins...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 years agoBurns has final word in tale of two celebrations
BRENDAN GALLAGHER THERE was almost too much to absorb in one gulp at Twickenham on Sunday but ultimately it was about...
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Columnists
/ 4 years agoThis merry-go-round is fraught with danger
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK BY the time Eddie Jones selected his England team to take on a...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoCollier can help turn scrum into a weapon
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THIS is a testing time at tighthead, an England problem position which must...
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Columnists
/ 4 years agoPhil was an inspiration, on and off the field
SHANE WILLIAMS: WALES AND LIONS LEGEND It has been a tough week in Welsh rugby following the passing of the great...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoBeauden, Finn and Marcus are keeping Bennett’s spirit alive
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Spike Milligan, comedy goldsmith and undisputed grandmaster of nonsense verse, counted rugby among the great loves of...
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Features
/ 4 years agoGoing back to basics was the only answer
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME So back to the future it is as the RFU finally recognises...
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Features
/ 4 years agoFrance star Woki still weighing his options
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN No sooner have France’s Top 14 clubs just about closed the book on recruitment for the year...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 4 years agoWeight of expectation will not lay heavy on the Welsh
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK IN some ways, Wales have nothing to lose going on a summer tour to...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoWrite off Cheika’s Pumas at your peril
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK ARGENTINA under Michael Cheika will be as aware as Eddie Jones’ England of...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoIt’s time to step up or face being left behind
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND It’s time for a re-think for the founding nations of the URC feast after the...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoHooky’s send-off finally put smiles back on Welsh faces
SHANE WILLIAMS I CAN officially reveal that I am available for motivational speeches, coaching clinics, TV commentary and written media work,...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoRennie has a healthy selection headache
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST History, we are told, is just one damned thing after another. And by way of rubbing it...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoFranchise departures remain a mystery…
CHRIS HEWETT DIDN’T take long, did it? Just a few short weeks after World Rugby – the non-governing governing body –...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoWelsh fan power has shifted to round ball
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Shortly after noon on Monday, April 14, 1969, a bus joined the queue...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoIt feels like defence is no longer the priority
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME As the regular club season ends with a whimper, but not a...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 4 years agoQuins have a chance with Danny in the driving seat
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK DANNY Care has always attracted attention as an attacking scrumhalf who can shred defences...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoEddie beware! This beast holds all the keys
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK IN the last fortnight Eddie Jones and his England squad have had a...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoFrance are the giants, Prem just sleeping
NICK CAIN THE English Premiership has just been described as a “sleeping giant” of sport by Simon Massie-Taylor, its chief executive....
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoPlan for life without Manu
NICK CAIN MANU Tuilagi’s latest knee operation, which rules him out of England’s summer tour to Australia, shows just how precarious...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoRomance alive and kicking in France
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Hot news! Manchester City won the Premier League. Again. Didn’t see that one coming. And Bayern Munich...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoDiamond knows the principles of winning
CHRIS HEWETT AT a rough guess, the number of times Steve Diamond has been mistaken for Aristotle can be counted on...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoRonan will be in hot demand after RWC
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND The name of Ronan O’Gara is once again on the lips of rugby lovers across...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoKayaks revel in rewriting history
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Good value? Cheslin Kolbe has scored only four tries this season PICTURE: Getty...
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Features
/ 4 years agoRelegation freeze makes sense in World Cup year
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME There’s actually a reason the Premiership have been paid such a premium...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 4 years agoTop talent Steward must be managed so carefully
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK THE only surprise with Freddie Steward winning the double of the RPA England Men’s...
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Challenge Cup
/ 4 years agoEurope’s elite clubs are facing trip into unknown
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THE European Cup final in Marseille was not billed as a watershed moment,...
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Challenge Cup
/ 4 years agoFine XV of England selection oversights
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Eddie Jones is hardly the first England coach to take an unusually gifted player to one side...
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Features
/ 4 years agoRoom for football and rugby to thrive in Wales
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND The age-old debate of whether Wales is a football nation rather than a rugby nation...
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Features
/ 4 years agoHignell one of the last sporting all-rounders
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Master of art: Alastair Hignell in oval-ball action for England The England-New Zealand...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoPsychology plays a key part in rugby’s evolution
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME As the end of the season nears, it’s usually a time for...
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James Harrington
/ 4 years agoWorld Cup will be won and lost in the run-up
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Fifteen months out from the 2023 World Cup, the rugby debate in host nation France is getting...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 4 years agoOnly way is up for Bath, but culture must change
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK ANYONE coming into Bath in a senior management or coaching role at the moment...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoEddie has to find the answers …and fast
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK IT was Eddie Jones’ first faceto-face press conference with the rugby media for...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoLeinster are taking Europe to next level
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST It is often argued, usually by politicians reneging on a manifesto promise, that “the perfect is the...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoHow Rassie helped pull the plug on water boys
CHRIS HEWETT UNINTENDED consequences? You can’t move for them in the Union game. World Rugby has just announced another of its...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoPivac’s wrong on Jac, but I’m sure he’ll be back
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND Ihave to confess I couldn’t believe it at first when I heard that Wayne Pivac...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoHow RWC cooked up pig’s ear of a draw
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Towards the end of the World Cup draw, a celebrated chef stepped forward...
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