Columnists

The pinball wizard who can fire Exeter

14 April 2024 0 comments

JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE… EVERY WEEK IMMANUEL Feyi-Waboso was a pretty unknown factor before the Six Nations, but the 21-year-old winger’s rise from Cardiff […]

Dawson predicts the battle at 10 will benefit England

14 April 2024 0 comments

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK The Fin Smith–Marcus Smith fly-half debate was given a good airing when Matt Dawson was the guest […]

RFU needs a sense of proportion

14 April 2024 0 comments

The RFU has always maintained that promotion-relegation is sacrosanct, even though the RFU Council agreed in February 2021 to a so-called “moratorium” to suspend it […]

Another barmy idea from the men in suits

14 April 2024 0 comments

The Ministry of Silly Walks was a Monty Python sketch which lampooned bureaucratic inefficiency. Rugby Union requires something similar to shame the unaccountable administrators turning […]

Time for props to take their share of the glory

14 April 2024 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED OVERMATCHED teams usually find themselves facing the music without having to listen to any. It was different for Lyon, who schlepped […]

We need Biarrtitz back to their best

14 April 2024 0 comments

SERGE Blanco, the finest full-back ever to grace the union game, spent his entire club career at Biarritz. So did the celebrated loose forward Michel […]

Rugby schedule has little to do with player welfare

14 April 2024 0 comments

PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW A roll of drums and a fanfare of trumpets late last summer heralded a new title sponsor […]

Pienaar heads the list for Europe’s golden oldies

14 April 2024 0 comments

In the course of wheeling their way into the Challenge Cup quarter-finals last weekend against the Cheetahs, the Michelin Men of Clermont brought a somewhat […]

Time to create a new dynasty

14 April 2024 0 comments

Paul Rees looks at what Mark McCall needs to do at Saracens as several big names head for the exit door WHEN Saracens first won […]

André, high priest of French running rugby

14 April 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points Andre Boniface, who died earlier this week aged 89, and his younger […]

We need a fairer deal for all levels

14 April 2024 0 comments

JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME I cannot believe that there is any way an agreement between the Championship, Premiership and the […]

Biarritz’s future is back in its hands

14 April 2024 0 comments

JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN To the relief of fans, white smoke was finally seen over the stand tops of Biarritz’s Parc des Sports d’Aguilera recently, […]

England need access to their overseas stars

7 April 2024 0 comments

JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE… EVERY WEEK ENGLAND and New Zealand, who meet in a two-Test series this summer, find themselves in similar places due […]

Too much tinkering is causing confusion

7 April 2024 0 comments

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK Rugby Union is in the grip of the “the law of unintended consequences”, which is the most […]

Second fine for Tigers is case for concern

7 April 2024 0 comments

The recent announcement of a second salary cap infringement by Leicester indicates that the Premiership’s policing of its own financial regulations remains desperately inadequate – […]

Modernise the scrum, don’t allow it to die

7 April 2024 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED IF WE take the Book of Ecclesiastes as our guide – ancient though it may be, it makes far more sense […]

It’s all a difficult question of trust

7 April 2024 0 comments

Leicester’s latest fine for salary cap irregularities – their second in as many years – throws up an interesting question or two about the structure […]

The day Crane had final word at Cardiff

7 April 2024 0 comments

PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW The Millennium Stadium once staged a trio of penalty shoot-outs in four years as fondly remembered by […]

England & Harlequins scrum-half Danny Care

Vile keeps his record as Care steps down

7 April 2024 0 comments

Tommy Vile and Danny Care were born in the same decade of different centuries, the former in Newport during the first half of the 1880s, […]

It’s still all to play for in race to the finishing line

7 April 2024 0 comments

Paul Rees predicts a nerve-racking end to the Premiership season where bonus points will prove crucial THE two-month Premiership break has made the jostling for […]

Here’s hoping we see another drop of magic

7 April 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER IT’S Northampton against Munster in Europe today and for me that can […]

25 years of hurt and counting for Scotland

7 April 2024 0 comments

Scotland fans should look away now but this week – April 10 to be precise – will be the 25th anniversary of their last Championship […]

Scrums can provide the best attacking platform

7 April 2024 0 comments

JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME Why the scrum is having to fight to stay a part of the game seems to […]

Tell players to stay focused – or face axe

7 April 2024 0 comments

There are some interesting excuses from coaches as to why there are such variations in results in the Premiership week by week. It would appear […]

TV deal to break €500m barrier

7 April 2024 0 comments

FRENCH COLUMN – JAMES HARRINGTON France’s Ligue Nationale de Rugby hopes to pocket more than half-a-billion euros, after launching a call for tenders for Top […]

Time we demanded more from players

1 April 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER THE other weekend – although it could probably be any weekend – […]

With debts up to £300m, the game has lost its way

1 April 2024 0 comments

JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME WITH the international window now over for the men’s game, the focus has returned to club […]

Bath will have to go full metal jacket all the way

31 March 2024 0 comments

JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE… EVERY WEEK BATH have got a very good shout of winning the Premiership for the first time in almost 30 […]

Time for club owners to come clean on plans

31 March 2024 0 comments

NICK CAIN – READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK SEETHING financial undercurrents are undermining the main pillars of the game in England, with the professional […]

This was a cracker but still too many blowouts

31 March 2024 0 comments

The Premiership run-in produced a highly competitive cracker of a match at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday, with Northampton securing a 41-30 victory over Saracens to […]

Sanzaar miss chance to inject new blood

31 March 2024 0 comments

The 2024 Six Nations has been lauded in the southern hemisphere for its sensational quality and entertainment – which has not always been the case. […]

Let’s hope the Lions can find their roar

31 March 2024 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED IN THE unlikely event that anyone out there is still searching for something nice to say about the British and Irish […]

Take TMOs seriously? That’s up to you…

31 March 2024 0 comments

IT was a close-run thing, but on the balance of predicatability, the TMO system just sneaked home ahead of Owen Farrell’s behavioural tendencies in last […]

The scrum is fighting to stay in the game

31 March 2024 0 comments

Paul Rees wonders whether some of World Rugby’s law tweaks will mean the end of the scrum as we know it A BANE or a […]

Gatland’s left with mountain to climb

31 March 2024 0 comments

PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW AN alternative Wales squad, one untainted by the Six Nations whitewash, is to be found scattered across […]

Wales can’t afford four

31 March 2024 0 comments

The Scarlets’ proud proclamation welcoming fans to ‘Heart and Soul Rugby Country’ looks even more threadbare this weekend. A loss of almost £3m last season […]

Ulster have little to offer

31 March 2024 0 comments

Shortly after Dan McFarland’s abrupt exit as Ulster’s head coach, chief executive Jonny Petrie dismissed any questions over his future at Ravenhill. “I’m committed to […]

Care takes long road

31 March 2024 0 comments

Danny Care’s Test career spanned a longer period than every other scrum-half centurion; George Gregan (139 for Australia), Ben Youngs (129 for England), Aaron Smith […]

England on their way to being a real force again

24 March 2024 0 comments

JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE… EVERY WEEK IT’S been a chalk and cheese Six Nations for England, with the first three games going from not […]

Relegation saga still a shadow over game

24 March 2024 0 comments

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK There is so much that makes so little sense in the English club game. Nothing made this […]

Beware this move to 15-a-side Rollerball

24 March 2024 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED IF THE Six Nations failed to meet expectations, it was in a good way. Italy’s knee-clenching World Cup humiliation turned out […]

It’s time to consider talent, not geography

24 March 2024 0 comments

If everyone is heading to French club rugby, including the England centurion Courtney Lawes, it makes Courtney Lawes right: rival unions need to rise above […]

Wales look like missing out again

24 March 2024 0 comments

PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW As Wales ‘wails over the embarrassing state of its national sport’, a club coach raises an issue […]

Questions Gatland needs to answer

24 March 2024 0 comments

The day after offering his resignation, Warren Gatland appeared on BBC Wales’ flagship rugby programme, Scrum V. A shame that two questions went unanswered because […]

Ireland’s finest take control

24 March 2024 0 comments

Paul Rees picks his Six Nations team of the tournament with the men in green providing six of the best THIS year’s Six Nations […]

Ten Italian tyros who will hit the headlines

24 March 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS IT’S BECOME almost a mantra or article of faith recently that reinforcements, in the form of a squadron of hungry young guns, are […]

England were good, but a bit complacent

24 March 2024 0 comments

JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME WATCHING the France versus England game last Saturday night, I couldn’t help but think that a […]

Toulon heading in right direction

24 March 2024 0 comments

JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN TOULON coach Pierre Mignoni earned something of a reprieve this weekend, as his side’s 54-7 win over Montpellier at Stade Mayol […]