Brendan Gallagher
News By Brendan Gallagher
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 week agoBrendan Gallagher: Beware! A great TV deal is no slam dunk
The imminent prospect of a closed franchise Premiership is the subject de jour, although I would say that we have effectively...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 weeks agoBrendan Gallagher: VIP treatment with Big Gav and Campo
The Hong Kong Sevens is 50 years old this weekend which is a sobering thought, probably the first time in recorded...
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Club Rugby
/ 2 weeks agoBristol Bears 53-12 Gloucester: Fitz Harding directs a demolition derby
Bristol Bears breathed life back into their faltering Premiership campaign with a record victory over West Country rivals Gloucester, whose abysmal...
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Champions Cup
/ 3 weeks agoBath 43-41 Northampton Saints: Ted Hill steps up to get Johann van Graan’s side over the line in a thriller
Bath, not without controversy, survived an extraordinary early Northampton Saints blitzkrieg to mount a stirring comeback and reach the Champions Cup...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 weeks agoBrendan Gallagher: Sorry, Mako Vunipola, but you can’t play for Tonga
The rumbustious heart on his sleeve, no-nonsense Mako Vunipola has always been a favourite player of mine since I first saw...
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Champions Cup
/ 4 weeks agoNorthampton Saints 49-41 Castres: George Furbank is on fire as Saints put on a show
Northampton Saints reached their third Champions Cup quarter-final on the trot after this frantic, edgy, entertaining riot of a game against...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 weeks agoBrendan Gallagher: 30 years on from Matt Gallagher’s special day
There’s been a lot going on recently in the rugby world, but it would be remiss not to pause awhile to...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 month agoBrendan Gallagher: Referees must control the advantage law fairly
Every four or five years or so, it seems, rugby gets its knickers in a twist over the advantage law, how...
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Club Rugby
/ 1 month agoBath 62-15 Saracens: Champions stir up a storm to blow away Sarries
Bath, playing like millionaires and why not with Sir James Dyson now on board, dismissed Saracens from their presence with a...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 month agoBrendan Gallagher: The rise of Italy lifted the whole Six Nations
You can make a decent case for 2026 being the best Six Nations ever – whatever ‘best’ means – but it...
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International Rugby
/ 2 months agoIreland 43-21 Scotland: Crowning glory! Irish rediscover their mojo to topple Scotland
Ireland claimed their fourth Triple Crown in five years, and their 12th win on the trot against Scotland, to finish their...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Explore… Dream… Discover. That’s Italy
It was a curious, slightly unsettling experience in the final quarter at Rome last week watching Italy – who, frankly, hadn’t...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 months agoBrendan Gallagher: The Romanian who stood tall for his country
You bump into some huge human beings on the rugby circuit, but I’ve encountered few bigger than Romanian lock Constantin Cojocariu,...
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International Rugby
/ 2 months agoIreland 27-17 Wales: Hit by lightning! Rhys Carre puts on a show for the visitors
Ireland fans were happy enough with a bonus point win and Wales supporters will point to a second strong performance on...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Players love getting one over the referee
I’m intrigued, fascinated, perplexed, occasionally entertained, but mostly irritated by why sportsmen and women feel the need to subtly but deliberately...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 months agoBrendan Gallagher: My Six Nations Top 20 – The good, the bad and the rugby
And breathe! In the blink of an eye, we are 60 per cent through the 2026 Six Nations, and we are...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Jamison Gibson-Park is back to his best as he pulls the strings for Ireland
A few weeks back, with Ireland’s possible decline ahead of the Six Nations, the subject de jour I ventured the opinion...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 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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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 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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International Rugby
/ 3 months agoFrance 36-14 Ireland: Matthieu Jalibert leads the musketeers to Six Nations opening win
France, save for one stodgy period in the second half, produced sublime rugby in tricky wet conditions to blow Ireland away...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 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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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 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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International Rugby
/ 3 months agoSix Nations guide – France: Fabien Galthie looking to tighten up the defences
Brendan Gallagher says France coach Fabien Galthie has eyes very much on the next World Cup
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International Rugby
/ 3 months agoSix Nations guide – Ireland: Andy Farrell will need to cover the cracks
Brendan Gallagher predicts a testing Six Nations campaign ahead for the men in green
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International Rugby
/ 3 months agoSix Nations guide – Italy: Gonzalo Quesada will be planning upsets
Brendan Gallagher finds the Azzurri in an optimistic mood despite their injury list
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Club Rugby
/ 3 months agoGloucester 26-30 Bath: Atkinson double act gives champions a real test
It wasn’t the win that Gloucester badly need but it was, perhaps, the performance to galvanise their season as George Skivington’s...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 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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Champions Cup
/ 4 months agoBath 63-10 Edinburgh: Alfie Barbeary powers hosts into last 16
England don’t exactly lack for back-row candidates at present, but a rampaging Alfie Barbeary must come into the Six Nations equation...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 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
/ 4 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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Champions Cup
/ 4 months agoCastres 20-43 Bath: Johann van Graan’s side find their feet and race to the top
Bath made a reassuring return to top form in the south of France to take charge of their pool and, with...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 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
/ 4 months agoBrendan Gallagher: It’s no surprise Harlequins are finding the going tough
I’m surprised that so many people are surprised at Harlequins’ travails this season. It was always going to happen.
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Club Rugby
/ 4 months agoNewcastle Red Bulls 25-19 Gloucester: At last! Alan Dickens’ side find their wings
Newcastle Red Bulls, the team that had forgotten how to win, remembered just in time as they clung on against Gloucester...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Fran Cotton recalls the ‘indestructible’ Tony Bond
Sport is full of sliding doors moments and that was certainly the case with former England centre Tony Bond, who died...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Magnums all round in my all-star awards
A cycling mate of mine – award-winning journalist Daniel Friebe – annually ranks the sport’s three Grand Tours using emojis denoting...
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Club Rugby
/ 4 months agoLeicester Tigers 45-14 Gloucester: Freddie Steward is starting to show he’s the man
Leicester Tigers, developing a midfield to threaten the best, outplayed a profligate Gloucester to add fresh impetus to a Premiership season...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Hollie Davidson leads by example
By any criteria, Hollie Davidson must currently rank as one of the three or four best referees in the game, with...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 months agoBrendan Gallagher: How you could rebuild an old but great empire
The last time I talked rugby with the late Eddie Butler was on The Rugby Paper podcast, not long after the...
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Champions Cup
/ 5 months agoSharks 28-23 Saracens: Sarries looking good but fail to take chances
This was a game Saracens could and should have won despite travelling to Durban with a much-changed team after putting Clermont...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 5 months agoBrendan Gallagher: I fear the worst in Rugby World Cup mismatches
Rugby’s obsession with micro-management long ago became a disease, a sort of nervous disorder, and a full manifestation of this will...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 5 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Bravo referee Matt Carley for taking no nonsense
Of all the subjects that have irritated me in recent years – apart from the hardy annual of blatant forward passes...
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Autumn Internationals
/ 5 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Time for Wales to build attack around Louis Rees-Zammit
In the macho unforgiving world of elite sport and especially rugby there is meant to be no consolation in defeat and...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 5 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Awards season has its problems
It’s the awards season and time to issue my annual warning about the vaguely ridiculous nature of awards – remember that...
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Autumn Internationals
/ 6 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Keep the faith! This improving England team are made of the right stuff
Whisper it quietly but England are beginning to become street wise and savvy, they are learning from their mistakes and they...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 6 months agoBrendan Gallagher: A bolt of brilliance in that Arctic winter
The old sporting, and indeed show business, maxim of leaving the punters wanting more has never rung truer than with Richard...
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Autumn Internationals
/ 6 months agoIreland 41-10 Japan: Irish take their time to get into right gear
Ireland’s power off the bench saw them home against a spirited Japanese side, but this was not a performance to put...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 6 months agoBrendan Gallagher: When Pumas gave Wales a tough time
The record books tell us that Wales and today’s opponents, Argentina, have contested 22 Tests since their first official meeting in...
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Autumn Internationals
/ 6 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Keep it simple, England, and forget the gimmicks
Trying to get a handle on this England team is not always easy, but after their eighth win on the bounce,...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 6 months agoBrendan Gallagher: We need a full-time eligibility supremo
This column grew hoarse a few years back, arguing for World Rugby to loosen their belts just a little and spend...
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