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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson: Ryan Bevington still has time to climb out of the wreckage
The old year took an unusually savage toll of the toughest, meanest, ugliest breed in the game, the prop. From the...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 11 years agoJeremy Guscott: Bring back rucking and watch the game take off
My New Year’s rugby resolutions start with a return to rucking. To this day I don’t understand why rucking ever changed....
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain: C’mon Joel Jutge get a grip of your referees!
Forget New Year wish lists, because where the current crisis in elite refereeing is concerned what we need is a hit...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 11 years agoJeremy Guscott: Yes, Henry Slade has England potential – but at fly-half
Henry Slade is one of those naturally talented, instinctive players who coaches will only get the best out of if they...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain: OK, relax the cap but make it fair for ALL
There is a cartel-like stench attached to the double standards employed in the English Premiership, and it intensified just before Christmas...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher: Michael Green gets right to the heart of Coarse rugby
According to my calculations only one layman – ie somebody who didn’t play or coach at the top level or wasn’t...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 11 years agoJeff Probyn: Progress? Surely not if we are still relying on Manu Tuilagi
Hype, hope and more than a little desperation seems to be the recipe for English rugby as Stuart Lancaster plots the...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson: Warren, it’s time to take leaf out of Irish book
Warren Gatland takes his first Southern Hemisphere scalp for six years and immediately talks about Wales winning the World Cup. Across...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain gives his post-autumn verdict on where England are with just eight games to go until RWC2015
When Stuart Lancaster was asked about the one added extra he would have wanted in his England team for the autumn...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain: Ritchie keeps the faith with Lancaster…for now
Ian Ritchie delivered an intriguing line in double-speak as he delivered his verdict on England‘s autumn return of two losses and...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 11 years agoJeremy Guscott: Tyro tens are the big plusses of the autumn
These days it seems to be impossible to make a judgement on any of the Home Union teams without referring to...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher: Enforcers help to keep the game trouble free!
I’ve always had a soft spot for rugby‘s ‘enforcers’ and will rather miss Bakkies Botha, which is a sentiment I suspect...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson: Extra Test match is crippling Welsh Regions
The Welsh Rugby Union have stuffed the golden goose over the last four weeks as never before, taking some £15m in...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 11 years agoJeremy Guscott: Joe Schmidt’s success lies in the simplicity of his method
Ireland have quietly moved into third place in the world rankings without any great fireworks or fanfare. Even their Kiwi coach,...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain: Pay for a proper TMO system or bin it off
The TMO was introduced into the Premiership just over two years ago, and into international rugby a year later, and the...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher: Jacob takes well-trodden Rhodes to Twickenham
So little done, so much to do. They may or may not be the last words of Cecil Rhodes on his...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson: Richie McCaw’s genius is avoiding the pitfalls
The historical life span of an international rugby captain averages out at six matches, a fact which makes Richie McCaw’s unique...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain: Joe Schmidt proves buying British isn’t always best
Look at the most successful sides in Europe, whether club or country, and you will usually find that there is a...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher: Those gallant Dragons who refused to be slain
It was the day that Bleddyn Williams led Wales to victory over the All Blacks and the afternoon Olympic sprinter Ken...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson: All Blacks aftermath put Delme Thomas in dark place
More than 40 years have come and gone since the day the pubs ran dry in Llanelli and Delme Thomas still...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 11 years agoJeff Probyn: England need a coherent attack to test the top teams
Last Saturday’s game against the All Blacks drew the usual response from Stuart Lancaster and the media. Lancaster extolled the progress...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain: Sabotage of Samoa is indictment of the IRB
Samoan rugby is in meltdown a year away from the 2015 World Cup, and the fact that a Pacific Island nation...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 11 years agoJeremy Guscott’s verdict on England: Beating the Wallabies will keep RWC hopes alive
England being ranked fifth in the latest World Rugby (IRB) pecking order is about right. I wasn’t surprised by the adverse reaction...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson’s verdict on Wales: Wales fluff Buster Douglas moment
Warren Gatland will have left the Millennium Stadium last night with some awkward questions ringing in his ears over Wales‘ inability...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher: Trench Blacks charmed Paris during respite from carnage
The inspirational deeds of many Rugby players on the Western Front have been well documented in recent years in a number...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 11 years agoJeff Probyn: Player welfare is all about how coaches want to play
The Autumn Internationals may be up and running but for the clubs its business as usual with the LV cup holding...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher: The one cap wonders woefully short-changed
Mention of David Bishop last week and the subject of the best Welsh one cap wonders in the game has known...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson: Wallabies would be nowhere without Ray
There was a time when Wales hammered Australia 24-0, when the terse verdict reflected the expectation of an underwhelmed public: So...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain: A few dickheads can brighten up the game
There is always a danger in professional team sports like rugby that brilliant players who are different – idiosyncratic in their...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson’s verdict: Frustrating, but so nearly far worse!
When it came to inflicting recent damage on Wales, nobody had done so to more devastating effect than Akapusi Qera and...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson: Big Stu would have loved the story of how umpire Edward tamed McEnroe
They came in their hundreds to send Stuart Gallacher off on his final journey, among them a retired dentist who once...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 11 years agoJeff Probyn: Professional game must not take the Blockheads literally
To paraphrase Ian Dury, Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll is all that rugby needs. Sex is the easy part...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain: Andy Farrell can bring Sam Burgess up to speed – at centre
Sam’s the man. Or he could be if Bath and England can get their act together to work out quickly and...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain talks to Dick Best about England’s best chance of beating South Africa
Dick Best says that South Africa, the big beasts of the world game, are on the hunt. He says that Springbok...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson’s verdict: Time is running out for Wales to see the light
At the height of his power as the 20th century’s multiple inventor, Thomas Edison once revealed the motivational force behind his...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson: How WRU left Adam Jones in limbo…. and then out in the cold
As recently as six months ago, Wales were proposing to sign their ‘Hair Bear’ on a Union contract at circa £300,000-a-year....
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Jeff Probyn
/ 11 years agoJeff Probyn: Was it really about driving standards or lining pockets?
New name, new trophy, new management but same old European tournament as all but the rank outsiders in their group (such...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher: ‘Bish’ is an angel with a dirty face
Thirty years ago this month David Bishop fished a small bottle of water from his bag and found a quiet corner...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher: Why Brian O’Driscoll won’t be taking anyone to book unlike Kevin Pietersen
Rugby‘s oldest maxim is probably “what goes on tour stays on tour” and, as an ‘old school’ player par excellence, Brian...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 11 years agoJeremy Guscott: Stats don’t lie and Semesa Rokoduguni is top in attack and defence
Want to know how and why Semesa Rokoduguni has forced his way into the contest for one of the England wing...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain examines the England EPS and asks head coach Stuart Lancaster about his key decisions
Semesa Rokoduguni’s selection in the 33-man England squad announced this week for the autumn internationals could be Stuart Lancaster‘s chance to...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher: Those magnificent seven victories
England have beaten New Zealand seven times in 39 meetings, which sounds like a modest enough record until you appreciate that...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson: Dan Lydiate saga shows Warren Gatland has more to worry about than his squad’s fitness
The smoke signals coming out of Paris have different meaning for different people but one underlying fact cannot be disputed. Racing...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher: Why Eagles dare on this Field of dreams
The next time the New Zealand All Blacks lace their boots in earnest in a Test match will be a week...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 11 years agoJeff Probyn: Inconsistent referees are just confusing players
Spin a coin and choose what you like, that seems to be how the game of rugby is at the moment....
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain: So wrong, this gulf in funding for London Welsh
The Premiership is a stacked deck. So stacked that the most slippery of card sharps would consider it a masterpiece of...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 11 years agoJeremy Guscott: The big question – can Kyle Eastmond force his way in?
A year out from any World Cup the best sides are established and are ready to rock ‘n’ roll. Teams that...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher’s Team of the 2014 Rugby Championship
15 Joaquin Tuculet (Argentina) The exciting new Puma nudges it from Israel Folau who, although good, wasn’t quite the force of...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson: Rhys Thomas finds a new life pumping through him
After an operation lasting 13 hours, Rhys Thomas is adjusting to a new lease of life provided by the implant of...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain talks to Joe Worsley about Bordeaux-Begles, Wasps and England
Joe Worsley had an expertise in rocking opposing teams which is unsurpassed in pro rugby. Worsley was the chop-tackler par excellence,...
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