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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 – […]
Leicester’s latest fine for salary cap irregularities – their second in as many years – throws up an interesting question or two about the structure […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
NICK CAIN – READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK SEETHING financial undercurrents are undermining the main pillars of the game in England, with the professional […]
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 […]
The 2024 Six Nations has been lauded in the southern hemisphere for its sensational quality and entertainment – which has not always been the case. […]
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 Scarlets’ proud proclamation welcoming fans to ‘Heart and Soul Rugby Country’ looks even more threadbare this weekend. A loss of almost £3m last season […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]