Brendan Gallagher
Brendan Gallagher: British and Irish Lions tour no longer rugby’s Everest
The dust is beginning to settle on the 2025 Lions tour and that is a process that should be encouraged and indeed accelerated. One of the...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 6 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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Brendan Gallagher
/ 6 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
/ 7 months agoBritish and Irish Lions bolters who truly made their mark
Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points, by Brendan Gallagher What exactly do we mean by...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 7 months agoBrendan Gallagher: Little good news is coming out of Africa
By Brendan Gallagher - Rugby Matters Mention recently of the late Claude Saurel and his eclectic coaching career brought back memories...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 8 months agoBrendan Gallagher: 20 years ago, we had games worth seeing in the Champions Cup
Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points, by Brendan Gallagher I have no great wish to...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 8 months agoBrendan Gallagher: I’m all for the thrills but keep game real
Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points, by Brendan Gallagher Like many of you, I was...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 8 months agoThe day Alex ‘Grizz’ Wyllie gave the British and Irish Lions pack a monstering
Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points, by Brendan Gallagher It's a shame fly-on-the-wall sports documentaries...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 10 months agoScotland vs Ireland – The rivalry which is a little one-sided
Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points, by Brendan Gallagher The history books tell us that Ireland...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 months agoScotland’s class of 1925 fired by legends
Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game's other talking points, by Brendan Gallagher Scotland only have three Grand Slams...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 months agoHeroes deserve highest accolade
Rugby Matters by Brendan Gallagher - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points The second series of BBC’s SAS...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 months agoA Tier Two XV to have you out of your seat
Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points By Brendan Gallagher You won’t ever see my 2024...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoGood to see the Eagles soaring again
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points - By Brendan Gallagher That's a wrap for the autumn...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoMark Ella & Co were the true pass masters
Rugby Matters by Brendan Gallagher - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points Nineteen eighty four might have been...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoAntoine Dupont & Co need to take on the very best
Rugby Matters By Brendan Gallagher - A weekly look at the game's other talking points I think we established long ago...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoDrop group action and examine selected cases
Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game's other talking points by Brendan Gallagher I was very struck the other...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoRugby Rivalries that don’t stand the test of time
Rugby Matters by Brendan Gallagher - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points Eyes down all you pub quiz...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoTime for Steve Borthwick to prove his worth
Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game’s talking points By Brendan Gallagher Honeymoon periods are not set in stone...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoNo stopping the American battlers
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points IT’S exactly 100 years ago since France and...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoThere’s more than money to Toulouse
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER There have, rightly, been acres of words written...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year ago25 years on and it’s still a special place
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER It was the 25th anniversary of the first-ever...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoIt’s close but Dupont edges out Edwards
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER Your columnist fell in love with rugby watching...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoPink city deserves its place at the top
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points Anybody watching the crowd scenes in front...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoThe time Tony did plenty of learning
RUGBY MATTERS - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER It might surprise some to learn that...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoLawes is level with England’s greatest
RUGBY MATTERS Members of the Rugby Writers club have recently been voting for the Pat Marshall award which we scribes use...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years ago50 years ago, the Lions start to sweat
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER At the start of the year, this column...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoDelighted to see Titans stand tall
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER There are some teams you grow particularly attached...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoStorti brings season to an end in style
Portugal wing Raffaele Storti may have made a slow start to the season but he has been making up for it...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years ago35 years on and Tim’s charity still full of hope
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER If you believe rugby is the ultimate team sport – which I still do – it is...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoS Africa is crying out for its own league
RUGBY MATTERS - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER IF I remember my A level geography...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoGreat to see Swiss move up the ladder
There will be a new name mixing it with the bigger teams in the Rugby Europe Championship next season after Switzerland...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoAndré, high priest of French running rugby
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points Andre Boniface, who died earlier this week aged...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoHere’s hoping we see another drop of magic
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER IT’S Northampton against Munster in Europe today and...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years ago25 years of hurt and counting for Scotland
Scotland fans should look away now but this week – April 10 to be precise – will be the 25th anniversary...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoTime we demanded more from players
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER THE other weekend – although it could probably...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoTen Italian tyros who will hit the headlines
RUGBY MATTERS IT’S BECOME almost a mantra or article of faith recently that reinforcements, in the form of a squadron of...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoLucky? No, that was pure skill
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER THE sainted Antoine Dupont might be on a...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoDid that just happen? Five other jaw dropping moments
FRANS STEYN DROPPED GOAL (2010) The huge Bok centre was playing for Racing at Clermont. His side were trailing 14-12 when...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoSorry Cockers, but it’s Portugal for me
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER I wish the doughty warriors of Georgia no...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoWe are going to miss you guys a lot
All career-ending injuries are to be mourned but the last couple of weeks or so have been hard to digest for...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoHow one player really can make a team tick
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER WHY have France fallen off a cliff ?Can...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoIt doesn’t feel right to see Italy at the bottom
Various non rugby specialists have contacted me this week asking why Italy are currently bottom of the Six Nations table. Patiently...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoWhen the B grade was full of A stars
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER AS England A crank back into action today...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoDon’t let refs help the time wasters
THE sheer perversity of referees helping time wasting goal kickers looking to run the clock down by helpfully counting down the...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoLisbon? Let’s go…
There are no Six Nations fixtures next weekend but the all singing, all dancing Os Lobos are playing Spain in their...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoDutch and Germans proving their worth
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER Round Three of the Rugby Europe championship concludes...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoBenvenuto! Great to see Lynagh eventually opting for Italy
RUGBY MATTERS EVEN though I recently predicted in The Rugby Paper podcast that Louis Lynagh would be a starting wing...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoNo time to go soft on neck roll
Why isn’t the neck roll an automatic yellow card anymore? In fact, why isn’t the neck roll refereed much anymore full...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years ago50 years ago, and it’s a different world
RUGBY MATTERS - BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points IT’S funny how some things 50 years...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoUnlucky Bev had just the two caps
It was remiss of this column not to note the passing of former Bristol and England prop Bev Dovey last month...












