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Columnists
/ 8 months agoPeter Jackson: The French try blitz shows no signs of stopping
There was a time not that long ago when France found it beyond their collective wit to score six tries over...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 8 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Award booming huge pens a full five points
We are losing so much from the game as World Rugby dumbs down in the professional era, which is bizarre considering...
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Columnists
/ 8 months agoPaul Rees: When roosters turned to feather dusters
A week is a long time in sport. Henry Arundell and George Ford enjoyed the plaudits after the opening round romp...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 8 months agoBrendan Gallagher: I think Sevens is badly in need of an energy boost
I worry about Sevens which, having invested so much energy and emotion into securing Olympic status, seems to have become very...
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Columnists
/ 8 months agoJeremy Guscott: Wales just must keep 15 players on the pitch against France
It’s hard to know where to start with Wales because I can’t remember a Welsh team being in this position since...
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Columnists
/ 8 months agoNick Cain: Save our scrums! Refs must do their jobs
There was a snapshot from the second to fourth minutes of the opening match of the Six Nations between France and...
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Columnists
/ 8 months agoNick Cain: Wallabies are on a National Rugby League recruitment drive
The Wallabies are doing a counter-attack raid on rugby league Down Under ahead of the 2027 World Cup which could see...
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Chris Hewett
/ 8 months agoChris Hewett: Wingers who light up the greatest show
The key ingredients of a successful World Cup are few in number but broad in sweep: a critical mass of genuinely...
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Chris Hewett
/ 8 months agoTime for the scrum to have its own clock
CHRIS HEWETT ANYONE watch the Super Bowl, which used to be the most ad-intrusive sporting event on the planet until ITV...
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Latest News
/ 8 months agoFrenchman in a hurry
PETER JACKSON Starlet: Fabien Brau-Boirie PICTURE: Alamy PAU introduced him to the Top 14 last season at the age of 18...
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Columnists
/ 8 months agoPeter Jackson: Peter Squires, a true local hero
Peter Squires shall forever stand out among England’s true all-rounders, the first county cricketer to play a Test match for the...
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Columnists
/ 8 months agoPeter Jackson: Iceberg ahead! Wales in mountainous seas
Before Antoine Dupont raised the art to new levels of excellence, a succession of Napoleonic scrum-halves scarcely any taller than the...
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Features
/ 8 months agoPaul Rees: Wales needs to rediscover its old rivalries to help the National side
Paul Rees argues that it's time for the regional game to be shown the same concern as the national team...
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Columnists
/ 8 months agoPaul Rees: England are sharpening a ruthless edge
England enjoyed a record championship victory over Wales at the ground that used to be called Twickenham, but it was ultimately...
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Columnists
/ 8 months agoJeremy Guscott: It was a good performance from the French but let’s not get carried away
France got it done against Ireland, but I might go against some of the adulation heaped on Fabien Galthie’s team after...
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Columnists
/ 8 months agoNick Cain: The Doyen, in whose shadow we all stand
There was a Grand Canyon of a gap in the ranks of the rugby union writers assembled at Twickenham to report...
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Columnists
/ 8 months agoNick Cain: Slam these adverts into touch before it’s too late
France were in devastating form against Ireland in Paris on Thursday night, but there was a potentially more devastating force at...
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Chris Hewett
/ 8 months agoChris Hewett: Blow the whistle on all these changes
Imagine, if you will, a rugby version of the once-loved, long-departed BBC children’s programme Play School and repeat after me:
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Columnists
/ 8 months agoPeter Jackson: Trefor Evans to miss reunion for the boys of ’76
In a perfect world, Trefor Evans would be back on the big stage next weekend for the first time since he...
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Latest News
/ 8 months agoAnother son follows in father’s footsteps
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Family tie: France’s Hugo Auradou breaks through against Ireland in Paris PICTURE: Alamy...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 8 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Why it’s time to be nicer to the French
I’ve always found it odd the blind spots and prejudices that develop in sport and indeed life, the absolute determination by...
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Columnists
/ 8 months agoPaul Williams: Ospreys deserve a stay of execution
Finding yourself on rugby’s ‘death row’ is a terrifying position. Especially for Ospreys’ players, staff and the official supporters’ club.
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoJeremy Guscott: Foursome! I can’t pick out a winner for Six Nations
Based on where England have gone since the last year’s Six Nations fixture against Wales in Cardiff, and where the Welsh...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoNick Cain: We don’t want these front row giants
It is dire news when a player is forced to retire due to health issues, as happened last week when France’s...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoNick Cain: England must ditch the hype and make history
The Six Nations decision to play this season’s tournament opener between reigning champions France and Ireland in Paris on Thursday evening...
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Chris Hewett
/ 9 months agoChris Hewett: For once, a cheer for the governing classes
Rugby's governing classes have a long track record of not knowing what day of the week it is, so it is...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoPeter Jackson: Referees need to keep their distance
Behind locked doors at their camp on the Algarve, Ireland’s brains trust will have devoted more time than usual analysing the...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 9 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Why putting your faith in data doesn’t add up
Of all the sports most ill-suited to detailed statistical analysis it strikes me that rugby union comfortably tops this list, which...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoJeremy Guscott: A fit Fin Smith gets my vote for the No.10 role with England
England’s 9-10 combination of Alex Mitchell and George Ford were at the heart of a strong Autumn series in which they...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoPaul Williams: At last we can see signs of stability for Steve Tandy’s Wales
Have you ever had someone try to tell you something really important? But instead of taking in that information, you’re instead...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoNick Cain: The Grand Slam is within reach for England
Steve Borthwick’s ship is steady as she goes as England focus on winning a Six Nations Grand Slam for the first...
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Chris Hewett
/ 9 months agoChris Hewett: South Africans must go big – or go home
We cannot know for sure – when it comes to honouring rugby’s code of inner-sanctum omerta, the Bulls of Pretoria have...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoNick Cain: Mark McCall’s record is tough to beat
Mark McCall’s decision to step down as Saracens director of rugby after this season will be the end of a 15-year...
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Chris Hewett
/ 9 months agoChris Hewett: No Damien Penaud? That’s what I call bizarre
There are those who believe that Fabien Galthie, the extravagantly bespectacled head coach of France, should order himself a new pair...
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Latest News
/ 9 months agoTalented duo who shared the same dream
PETER JACKSON HUGH Morris, below, grew up in the Seventies hoping to play No.10 for Wales at Cardiff Arms Park and...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoPeter Jackson: The big fish that Wales let slip away
One reason why England are 1-100 to beat Wales in their opening match of this season’s Six Nations can be traced...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 9 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Small in stature but big on talent
Back in the day it became almost a cliché that All Blacks forwards were all rugged frontiersmen and farmers – world...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 9 months ago16 teams to battle it out in Georgia
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER ONE thing you can always be sure of in rugby is that it will make a mess...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoJeremy Guscott: It’s time for Bristol Bears to stand up and deliver
When you’re shipping 49 points, as Bristol Bears did against the Bulls in Pretoria last weekend in the European Cup, you’ve...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoNick Cain: Scott ‘Razor’ Robertson fails to produce a cutting-edge strategy
Scott Robertson’s ‘windmill’ spin breakdancing celebrations were shelved during his tenure as All Blacks head coach.
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Chris Hewett
/ 9 months agoChris Hewett: Junior Kpoku on course to power up Red Roses
On the basis that Junior Kpoku is 6ft 8ins and 120kgs, his opponents must be dreading the day they run into...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoPeter Jackson: Blizzard of points is obscuring the view
The Champions Cup, a misnomer if ever there was one, gorged itself last weekend on a feast of tries: 107 at...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 9 months agoBrendan Gallagher: European Champions Cup is still in dire need of an overhaul
The European Champions Cup which, after this weekend, goes back into hibernation for the best part of three months, remains in...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 9 months agoBrendan Gallagher: A Thursday showdown in Paris is nothing new for the Six Nations
There is very little new in rugby and, although much is being made of the ‘controversial’ decision to kick off the...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoJeremy Guscott: Mark McCall’s challenge – to create another dynasty
We don’t often hear Mark McCall making comments about a lack of “attitude and application” in the Saracens squad, and especially...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoNick Cain: One area where Ealing Trailfinders leave Bath in the shade
You have got to admire Ealing Trailfinders. The staying power that has seen them go 19 matches unbeaten in the Champ,...
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Chris Hewett
/ 9 months agoChris Hewett: Why we need to see more of referee Luke Pearce
Alfie Barbeary turned in an eye-catching performance as Bath squeaked their way past Exeter at a rapt Recreation Ground last weekend....
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoPeter Jackson: Wales head coach Steve Tandy is facing a mountainous task
The Welsh Rugby Annual of 1991 appeared in the form of a death notice, its front cover etched in a rectangle...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 9 months agoBrendan Gallagher: State school game is in good health
English rugby’s over-reliance on private schools has been cited by some – notably Eddie Jones – as an issue in recent...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 9 months agoWhen Balding raced home for Light Blues
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER IAN Balding, who died earlier this month aged 87, is of course best known as a legendary...
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