Rugby Matters

This is where you will find all of The Rugby Paper’s Rugby Matters news, interviews, reports, opinion and other content.

Good to see the Eagles soaring again

1 December 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points – By Brendan Gallagher That’s a wrap for the autumn Tests and it would […]

Mark Ella & Co were the true pass masters

13 October 2024 0 comments

Rugby Matters by Brendan Gallagher – A weekly look at the game’s other talking points Nineteen eighty four might have been one of the most […]

Antoine Dupont & Co need to take on the very best

6 October 2024 0 comments

Rugby Matters By Brendan Gallagher – A weekly look at the game’s other talking points I think we established long ago that my admiration of […]

Drop group action and examine selected cases

29 September 2024 0 comments

Rugby Matters – A weekly look at the game’s other talking points by Brendan Gallagher I was very struck the other day by our conversation […]

Rugby Rivalries that don’t stand the test of time

22 September 2024 0 comments

Rugby Matters by Brendan Gallagher – A weekly look at the game’s other talking points Eyes down all you pub quiz fiends, it’s quiz time […]

Time for Steve Borthwick to prove his worth

15 September 2024 0 comments

Rugby Matters – A weekly look at the game’s talking points By Brendan Gallagher Honeymoon periods are not set in stone and in my estimation […]

No stopping the American battlers

21 July 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points IT’S exactly 100 years ago since France and the USA met in […]

There’s more than money to Toulouse

7 July 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER There have, rightly, been acres of words written about Toulouse in recent […]

25 years on and it’s still a special place

30 June 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER It was the 25th anniversary of the first-ever game at the Millennium […]

It’s close but Dupont edges out Edwards

9 June 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER Your columnist fell in love with rugby watching Gareth Edwards in the […]

Pink city deserves its place at the top

2 June 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER – A weekly look at the game’s other talking points Anybody watching the crowd scenes in front of the big screen […]

The time Tony did plenty of learning

26 May 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS – A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER It might surprise some to learn that the only sports trophy […]

Lawes is level with England’s greatest

19 May 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS Members of the Rugby Writers club have recently been voting for the Pat Marshall award which we scribes use to honour the outstanding […]

50 years ago, the Lions start to sweat

12 May 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER At the start of the year, this column promised to dip into […]

Delighted to see Titans stand tall

5 May 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER There are some teams you grow particularly attached to over the decades […]

Storti brings season to an end in style

5 May 2024 0 comments

Portugal wing Raffaele Storti may have made a slow start to the season but he has been making up for it ever since. Storti, below, […]

35 years on and Tim’s charity still full of hope

28 April 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER If you believe rugby is the ultimate team sport – which I still do – it is tempting to superimpose all […]

S Africa is crying out for its own league

21 April 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS – A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER IF I remember my A level geography correctly, Africa is moving […]

Great to see Swiss move up the ladder

21 April 2024 0 comments

There will be a new name mixing it with the bigger teams in the Rugby Europe Championship next season after Switzerland clinched their first promotion […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 – […]

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 […]

Lucky? No, that was pure skill

17 March 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER THE sainted Antoine Dupont might be on a sabbatical but France enjoyed […]

Did that just happen? Five other jaw dropping moments

17 March 2024 0 comments

FRANS STEYN DROPPED GOAL (2010) The huge Bok centre was playing for Racing at Clermont. His side were trailing 14-12 when Clermont cleared their lines […]

Sorry Cockers, but it’s Portugal for me

10 March 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER I wish the doughty warriors of Georgia no ill will – on […]

We are going to miss you guys a lot

10 March 2024 0 comments

All career-ending injuries are to be mourned but the last couple of weeks or so have been hard to digest for Italy fans and indeed […]

How one player really can make a team tick

3 March 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER WHY have France fallen off a cliff ?Can it really all be […]

It doesn’t feel right to see Italy at the bottom

3 March 2024 0 comments

Various non rugby specialists have contacted me this week asking why Italy are currently bottom of the Six Nations table. Patiently I have described the […]

When the B grade was full of A stars

25 February 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER AS England A crank back into action today against Portugal A after […]

Don’t let refs help the time wasters

25 February 2024 0 comments

THE sheer perversity of referees helping time wasting goal kickers looking to run the clock down by helpfully counting down the seconds has warranted mention […]

Lisbon? Let’s go…

25 February 2024 0 comments

There are no Six Nations fixtures next weekend but the all singing, all dancing Os Lobos are playing Spain in their REC semi-final in Lisbon. […]

Dutch and Germans proving their worth

18 February 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER Round Three of the Rugby Europe championship concludes in Amsterdam this afternoon […]

Benvenuto! Great to see Lynagh eventually opting for Italy

18 February 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS EVEN though I recently predicted in The Rugby Paper podcast that Louis Lynagh would be a starting wing for England at the […]

No time to go soft on neck roll

18 February 2024 0 comments

Why isn’t the neck roll an automatic yellow card anymore? In fact, why isn’t the neck roll refereed much anymore full stop? I sat up […]

50 years ago, and it’s a different world

4 February 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS – BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points IT’S funny how some things 50 years ago feel so much […]

Unlucky Bev had just the two caps

4 February 2024 0 comments

It was remiss of this column not to note the passing of former Bristol and England prop Bev Dovey last month aged 85. Dovey, below, […]

Farrell’s jumping from fire…into fire

28 January 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS I don’t know about you but it’s occasionally been a bit of a torture watching Owen Farrell struggle with himself ever since England’s […]

The tackle: Different options are available

28 January 2024 0 comments

Dafydd Jenkins’ yellow card last week for Exeter against Bayonne has caused much debate with most people agreeing that is was almost physically impossible for […]

Scots should focus on developing own talent

21 January 2024 0 comments

The international merry-go-round continues. After the best part of a decade of striving for England honours Exeter Chiefs prop Alec Hepburn has suddenly decided he […]

Magnificent tome tells fantastic tales

21 January 2024 0 comments

Take a bow Neil Fissler and Adam Hathaway – much respected members of this parish – for completing a definitive Who’s Who of English rugby […]

No hiding place in those final trials

14 January 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER For some reason, the good old days have been getting a shoeing […]

When JPR enjoyed his day at court

14 January 2024 0 comments

The late JPR Williams has many claims to sporting fame and one of the more esoteric is that he played in the first ever Open […]

When the selectors made the right calls

7 January 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER IT’S 2024 – a belated Happy New Year by the way – […]

Sir Dicky’s New Year honour is hugely deserved

7 January 2024 0 comments

Everybody west of the Tamar, and indeed way beyond, was delighted that Dicky Evans was elevated to Sir Dicky in the New Year Honours list […]

The day Bancroft created history

7 January 2024 0 comments

TODAY sees the 130th anniversary of the first successful penalty kick in Test rugby with Billy Bancroft, below, landing a tricky 30m effort from wide […]

When Merlene Ottey’s leotard grew nine sizes

31 December 2023 1 comment

RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points NEW Year’s Eve and rugby always brings to mind England’s slightly eccentric […]