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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain’ column: George Ford still gets my England vote over Owen Farrell
Ford or Farrell? It was predictable that the meeting of two fly-halves who have been close friends since schooldays, and are...
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Shane Williams
/ 11 years agoShane Williams’ column: Gentle giant Jerry Collins made Ospreys into true Galacticos
Jerry Collins was a typical south-sea islander – a monster on the pitch but a gentle giant off it. I remember...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 11 years agoJeremy Guscott’s column: Get the scrum sorted or risk damaging our great product
This season as a whole has been very positive, and the attitude of teams in the Premiership will, hopefully, help to...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 11 years agoJeff Probyn: Sam Burgess is different, but does he have the time to deliver
How do you make 50 into one? That was the question most occupying the mind of Stuart Lancaster as he announced...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson’s column: Such a pity Gavin Henson never graced a World Cup
Gavin Henson’s place among the footnotes of rugby history can now be found hidden away beneath a sub-section reserved for the...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain’s view on England’s World Cup training squad
One of the enduring conundrums of Stuart Lancaster’s tenure, and that of many England coaching regimes before his, is whether Red...
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Shane Williams
/ 11 years agoShane Williams’ column: Chris Ashton will lift England but Wales won’t be worried
Stuart Lancaster’s die is cast, but this Dai certainly isn’t downcast! England’s 50-man squad won’t hold many fears for Warren Gatland...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 11 years agoJeremy Guscott’s column: No Steffon Armitage means no exile will ever get in
The exclusion of Steffon Armitage and Nick Abendanon had been well documented before the selection of England’s 50 man World Cup...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain’s column: Sir Clive Woodward could make France great again
Sacre bleu! Could Sir Clive Woodward, knight of the realm, England‘s only World Cup winning coach, be about to do a...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher’s feature: USA Eagles leave rugby’s old world order at Sixes and Sevens
Last Tuesday evening, when Madison Hughes and his American Sevens squad arrived back at the USA Olympic training centre in Chula...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 11 years agoJeff Probyn’s column: World Cup wage cap would promote level playing field
With the domestic season more or less over and sights set firmly on the World Cup, we are once again forced...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher’s Premiership play-offs preview
Northampton (1) Story of the season The reigning champions may have wobbled badly in Europe with those big defeats against Racing...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson’s column: If ‘Gatland’s Law’ is not upheld there’s no point in being loyal to Wales
Warren Gatland‘s eponymous law has been further exposed by his refusal to rule Jamie Roberts out when the good doctor lines...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain: Why Manu Tuilagi deserves just a little sympathy
If any England player was likely to stray off the straight-and-narrow then Manu Tuilagi was always a prime candidate. That was...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 11 years agoJeremy Guscott’s column: This Bath side has the ability, now they must finish the job
Bath have arrived as true Premiership contenders again, and with a home semi-final already secured I would bet on them at...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain looks at the likely composition of Stuart Lancaster’s World Cup squad
There’s a spaghetti of conflicting views surrounding the long-squad of around 50 players – initially billed as 45 – that Stuart...
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Shane Williams
/ 11 years agoShane Williams’ column: World-class Matthew Morgan needs to play in Premiership
I don’t say this lightly but Matthew Morgan is one of the most naturally gifted players in the world. Yes, I...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson’s column: Poachers at work on both sides of Severn
One day long ago during a break from curing toothache at his dental practice in Newbridge, Derek Morgan found himself asked...
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Shane Williams
/ 11 years agoShane Williams’ column: Why a Scarlets victory is vital for Wales cause
Scarlets face two ‘cup finals’ in the next seven days and for the sake of Welsh rugby, it is vital they...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 11 years agoJeff Probyn: What’s the money on Toulon making it four on the spin?
As the dust settles on the first ever Champions Cup and the remarkable but unsurprising success of Toulon in winning their...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher’s feature: How the RAF revived spirit of Bader and Cooler King
Through adversity to the stars, as the RAF motto proclaims. Taking on the might of the Army and Navy has always...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain talks to Saracens wing Chris Ashton about England and the Premiership title race
Chris Ashton has spent all season looking-in at the England squad from the outside, and the Saracens wing yearns to be...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain: Contract blackmail harms World Cup
The parlous state of the Tier Two nations was emphasised this week by Dan Leo, the Samoa and London Irish lock....
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 11 years agoJeremy Guscott: Marland Yarde and Christian Wade deserve another look by Stuart Lancaster
The England back three is still a work in progress, and with Manu Tuilagi not back from injury until just before...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 11 years agoJeff Probyn: Sorry, but is all this legislation making the game any safer?
There are times when I worry for the future of our great sport with all the accusations and promises banded about...
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Shane Williams
/ 11 years agoShane Williams: Outstanding Liam Williams deserves run at No.15
Liam Williams is playing so well right now that he could do the unimaginable and grab the Wales No.15 jersey off...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson: Regions feel the love at last from Team Wales
Six months after his installation as chairman, Gareth Davies has succeeded in putting the Union back into Welsh rugby. His is...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher: Clear the air? No, Fartgate only left a very nasty smell!
It was 20 years ago today – the Sunday of the early May Bank Holiday – that one of the strangest...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain: Let’s unhitch this truck and trailer for good
The truck-and-trailer maul has been the scourge of the modern game. In a nutshell, it allows a wedge of offside players...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain talks to Wasps No.8 Nathan Hughes about his international choices
Nathan Hughes is a wanted man. Wanted by England as well as Fiji, the land of his father, and where he...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 11 years agoJeremy Guscott: Stuart Lancaster must not bow to PRL double-standards
Stuart Lancaster should bring Steffon Armitage into the World Cup training squad he will announce later this month using the ‘exceptional...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher’s verdict on Toulon’s Champions Cup win: The old Sea Wolves are simply majestic
I ceased caring about how many millions Toulon allegedly spend on their squad a long time ago. In fact the more...
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Shane Williams
/ 11 years agoShane Williams’ column: Lee Byrne paid heavy price for chasing Euro glory
Lee Byrne’s career is both a model and a warning to young Welsh players. For a time, Lee was the best...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson’s column: Leigh Halfpenny’s £5 note has been repaid with interest
Leigh Halfpenny won his first goalkicking prize from the most acute of angles at the age of ten – a £5...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 11 years agoJeff Probyn: Ring-fencing would damage potential World Cup legacy
The almost universal acceptance by the media that ring-fencing the Premiership will actually take place, even if it’s just for a...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher’s Champions Cup team of the tournament
15 Nick Abendanon (above) – Clermont For some reason his stellar performances for Clermont seem to have attracted more attention than...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher’s feature: Never call Carl Hayman a mercenary… he’s been a galactico!
Three giants of the game – metaphorically and physically – depart the European scene at Twickenham on Saturday as the clock...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain examines the implications of Australia’s U-turn on overseas players
The tectonic plates shifted this week not just in the Pool A fight between England, Wales and Australia for their tripartite...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 11 years agoJeremy Guscott’s column: Wallabies were always going to pick star names
New Zealand will not be panicking as much as Australia about the talent drain to Top 14, Premiership and Pro12 clubs...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain’s column: Such double standards wreck PRL credibility
When it comes to putting on a show of home-town partisan support there is no club, or province, in England, Ireland,...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 11 years agoJeff Probyn: How league rugby became a nightmare for some clubs
Sometimes I wonder at the naivety of some of our rugby journalists and their lack of understanding of the game at...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson: Can’t blame Callum Sheedy for keeping his options open
Callum Sheedy is already eligible to play international rugby for Wales and Ireland. Soon the teenaged fly-half will be further spoilt...
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Shane Williams
/ 11 years agoShane Williams: Judgement Day will act as Warren Gatland’s World Cup trial
Warren Gatland might not be there in person but next week’s Judgement Day could be just that for so many Wales...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 11 years agoJeremy Guscott: How to beat the French? Capture good kids early
This has been a good season for the English teams in the inaugural European Champions Cup because they got four clubs...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 11 years agoJeff Probyn: Salary cap is essential to keep our clubs solvent
Last week’s European results drew some interesting opinions from casting doubts on the French international side, to a call for another...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson’s column: Lyn Jones is happy to foster home-grown Dragons
Lyn Jones and his home-grown Dragons start the most challenging week of their lives today. By the end of it, nobody...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher’s column: Clermont reap benefits from hunting cleverly
Money invariably encourages envy and bad-mouthing but money per se has never guaranteed success in any sport. Winning is much more...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher’s feature: Can Saracens exploit scars of 2014?
The two stand-out performances in European Cup history have both come within the last 12 months and on Saturday the two...
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Shane Williams
/ 11 years agoShane Williams’ column: Here’s to next 125 years of Barbarians wizardry
The Barbarians have celebrated their 125th anniversary and are possibly more important to rugby now than ever. People may think that...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 11 years agoJeremy Guscott’s column: Sam Burgess can be deadly force as Bath’s back-row destroyer
I’ve backed Sam Burgess to make England‘s World Cup squad from the start because I think he is that talented –...
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