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Columnists
/ 9 months agoPaul Rees: Steve Borthwick’s search for players with the X-factor
Paul Rees looks at the names who might emerge during England's tour of Argentina and trials down under When the big...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 9 months agoPaul Rees: Joe Schmidt quite happy to set off a grenade
Joe Schmidt is not a coach who tries to get a rise out of opponents ahead of a match or series....
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoPeter Jackson: France’s locks have that international feel
France have given the All Blacks due notice of something new heading their way, a pair of locks imported from the...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 9 months agoHarlequins Best XV: A stylish team of the ages…
What would be the greatest all-time XV your club could field if you could travel back in time and select everybody...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 9 months agoJeff Probyn: Building trust will be vital for Andy Farrell in the British and Irish Lions squad
As the Lions settle in Australia having played their first warm up game against Western Force, it has given head coach...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoSteve Diamond’s call: Newcastle Falcons need to invest in boots on the ground
Paul Rees begins his summer series reviewing the Premiership season, starting with the bottom club Newcastle Falcons Newcastle finished bottom of...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoJames Harrington: Fabien Galthie’s squad will need to step up in New Zealand
After all the fuss from players and New Zealand Rugby, after the negotiations between union and league bosses, after the hints...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 9 months agoPaul Rees: British and Irish Lions boss Andy Farrell sticks to his guns for future gains
The Lions may have lost to Argentina, but as an indicator of what is to come Down Under it does not...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 9 months agoBrendan Gallagher: After this, the British and Irish Lions MUST tour Argentina
As somebody who fretted and occasionally yawned his way through proceedings at the Millennium Stadium 20 years ago when these two...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoJeremy Guscott: It will be tough for Bath to retain Premiership title
You would like to think that last weekend’s Premiership final between Bath and Leicester was the beginning of a new dynastic...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 9 months agoNick Cain: Don’t let Joe Schmidt take British and Irish Lions for a ride
The Lions are being taken for pussycats by Australia coach Joe Schmidt. Contrary to the assurance given by Phil Waugh, the...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoNick Cain: Whole Game Union is hoping to land a longshot
There is an RFU AGM on Saturday, and it could pass by with a barely discernible ripple, or deliver a seismic...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoPeter Jackson: Stat watch – Gareth Chilcott still top as French clubs racking up the most cards
Peter Jackson breaks the news to Gareth Chilcott that his six sendings-off during his career is still a record After more...
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Chris Hewett
/ 9 months agoChris Hewett: Can Bath outdo the team that Jack Rowell built?
The dear departed Jack Rowell rather fancied himself as a master of the caustic punchline and remained particularly proud of one...
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Chris Hewett
/ 9 months agoChris Hewett: Jonny Wilkinson just shouldn’t be the lone star
You have to laugh. Otherwise, you’d cry yourself a river. According to a public vote organised by the folk who run...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoPeter Jackson: Jeff Whitefoot’s tale of tragedy and redemption
Jeff Whitefoot had lost his job after the miners’ strike in 1985 shortly before the Welsh Rugby Union voted against the...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoPeter Jackson: Ponty’s Bionic Elbow is a one-club champ
At 35, Ben Youngs performed the rare feat of spending marginally more than half his life navigating a safe way...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoPeter Jackson: Grant Fox’s boy does him proud
At Lord’s in the summer of 1937, his maternal grandfather made half-centuries in both innings for New Zealand against England. At...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 9 months agoBrendan Gallagher: 30 years on for the 1995 World Cup final, and we’ve not built on our dreams
It comes as something of a shock to realise that this week represents the 30th anniversary of the 1995 World Cup...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoJeff Probyn: It was great to see the season end with a roar
The end of another season and dare I say the first proper end to the Premiership seasonal competition in years. There...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoJames Harrington: Back to the future again for Biarritz
The decision, when it came, was no great surprise. ProD2 side Biarritz, relegated for financial reasons shortly after the end of...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoPaul Rees: Ben Spencer’s kicking has Bath on the front foot
It felt as if the trophy presentation could have been made at half-time. Bath led 13-7, and only once in their...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 9 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Magical mystery tour ends with a flourish for Bath
When you have not won a Premiership title for 29 years, it matters not a jot how you break the drought,...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoJeremy Guscott: Time for Henry Arundell to prove his worth
Before Henry Arundell left for France he was the talk of the town. His tries were all over social media and...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoNick Cain: Steve Borthwick will want young guns to fire on Argentina Tour
The idea being touted that England’s two-Test tour of Argentina at the beginning of July will be the unearthing of a...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 9 months agoNick Cain: Argentina selection’s bad news for British & Irish Lions
The devaluing of fixtures throughout the professional game is becoming a blight, and an understrength Argentina facing the Lions on Friday...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 9 months agoChris Hewett: Questions at No.3 are key for Andy Farrell’s British and Irish Lions
Prop forwards of the tighthead variety were not put on this earth to be like everyone else, and by and large...
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Chris Hewett
/ 9 months agoChris Hewett: Perhaps Paris isn’t the best of places
Can there be a rugby aficionado in the world who wouldn’t move heaven and earth to experience a weekend’s worth of...
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British and Irish Lions
/ 9 months agoPaul Rees: British and Irish Lions get ready to roar again
Paul Rees assesses the challenges ahead as Andy Farrell's squad prepare to set off on a tour of a lifetime As...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoPeter Jackson: Sir Billy Boston, the man Cardiff ignored
The Welsh Rugby Union has paid due homage to Sir Billy Boston, acclaiming the sailor’s son they somehow managed to lose...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoPaul Turner – Don’t let the Championship turn into ‘zombie league’
Nick Cain talks to Paul Turner as he says his goodbyes to Ampthill after 14 years in charge Paul Turner’s record...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoPeter Jackson: Bordeaux winning the race for crowds, too
Peter Jackson reveals his exclusive club-by-club attendances list for the regulation season in Europe’s major leagues When the sun set on...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 9 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Montauban heroes ascend the heights
Bravo Montauban, a team that are the living proof that promotion, relegation and its surrounding jeopardy are the lifeblood of rugby...
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Columnists
/ 9 months agoJeff Probyn: See how big Jonah Lomu changed the game
Nick Cain’s article in last week’s Rugby Paper was a real eye opener by simplifying something that many others have thought...
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Columnists
/ 10 months agoJeremy Guscott: Now R360 has to put meat on the bone
The R360 plan is a disruption, but the good thing about disruptions is that they cause conversations, and it’s always good...
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Columnists
/ 10 months agoNick Cain: Brute forces which could do the game great harm
Rugby Union has reached a critical crossroads in which the future of our sport is in the balance, particularly in England,...
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Columnists
/ 10 months agoNick Cain: At last! Bath vs Bristol lived up to all the Premiership hype
The Premiership finally lived up to the overblown hype pumped out about it when Bath and Bristol produced a genuinely competitive...
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Columnists
/ 10 months agoNick Cain: Wallabies need to find some form – and sharpish
Australia's whole will have to be much greater than the sum of its parts to win the imminent Lions series if...
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Chris Hewett
/ 10 months agoChris Hewett: Without jeopardy, the game is nothing
The journey time between the sublime and the ridiculous can be speed-of-sound short: Clement Poitrenaud, the quintessence of French rugby cool...
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Chris Hewett
/ 10 months agoChris Hewett: Roll up for the next circus in town, the R360 League
Here's an idea: let’s launch a new rugby tournament to run alongside…er…forgotten its name already. Ah, that’s right. R360. The one...
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Columnists
/ 10 months agoPaul Rees: Big names are hitting the jackpot at No.10
It pays to be an outside-half in the Premiership. The recently published salary cap report for the 2023-24 campaign saw the...
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Columnists
/ 10 months agoPaul Rees: R360 would have to find a new audience
The build-up to the Premiership play-offs was hijacked by a global franchise competition that is being planned for next year. It...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 10 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Calling it a day is a tough business
Sorry is traditionally the hardest word to say – or indeed sing – but I’ve always thought “Goodbye” runs it close....
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 10 months agoBrendan Gallagher: It’s great to see Aurillac defy the odds again
Last August, I suggested that a fly-on-the-wall team might be well rewarded if they spent a season with lowly Aurillac, the...
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Columnists
/ 10 months agoFrench Column: Fabien Galthie prepares to spring surprises for New Zealand tour
White smoke of a sort was spotted this week, heralding FFR and LNR agreement on tweaks to the player release deal...
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Latest News
/ 10 months agoGeorge Skivington backing for more one-club players
George Skivington believes the tighter finances in the Premiership will lead to more one-club players having reduced the threat of poaching.
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Columnists
/ 10 months agoJeremy Guscott: Dynamic duo, Danny Care and Ben Youngs, who thrived on rivalry
It's very rare that two players dominate as international scrum-halves for as long as Ben Youngs and Danny Care have for...
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Columnists
/ 10 months agoNick Cain: Henry Pollock needs to wise up – old pros will be keen to take him out
Henry Pollock’s upward trajectory has been so stellar that there was always going to be a queue of gnarled old pros...
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Latest News
/ 10 months agoNick Cain: This American dream will only end in tears
The Premiership/ RFU’s stampede for money, and the pitfalls that come with it, is reflected in the franchise fix proposed by...
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Champions Cup
/ 10 months agoDamian Penaud and Louis Bielle-Biarrey: A pair of aces who fill our hearts with joy
If the level of mastery is unusually high, the depth of mystery is unfathomable.
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