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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher: The demons of Cardiff that will forever haunt England
England have found the going tough in Cardiff over years both at the Arms Park and the Millennium Stadium. Indeed at...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 11 years agoJeff Probyn: Championship needs help but who supplies the cash?
I read with interest Dean Ryan’s take on the Championship in last week’s Rugby Paper and how he believes blame should...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson: Pied Piper of Wasps leads them to new era
Dai Young and his ailing Wasps were bumping along on skid row three years ago, losing around £50,000-a-week and almost disappearing...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher: Medicine gives Tom Rees a challenge he craves
He was, all the critics were agreed, going to be the England rugby captain for a very long time. That rare...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain: Tom Who? can make a name for the Exiles
Tom Coventry’s appointment as the new coach of London Irish following the early departure of Brian Smith has probably prompted a...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 11 years agoJeremy Guscott: Suddenly Danny Cipriani can tackle – shame about his kicking
The best thing that’s happened to Danny Cipriani this season is that we are talking about him being good rugby player...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 11 years agoJeff Probyn: Concussion findings could bring back drift defences
As a former Wasp it’s hard to say… but here goes: Well done, Saracens, not for how you play or the...
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Peter Jackson
/ 11 years agoPeter Jackson: Warren Gatland’s Law only applies to James Hook
The writing has been on the wall for so long now that James Hook could be forgiven for ignoring it and...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher: The Test job? It’s a real loss but mavericks need not apply
Last November Jim Greenwood, who died in 2010, was voted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame and next week his...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain: A global season must still cater for the British & Irish Lions
A global season is one of the items at the top of World Rugby‘s new year agenda, and great institutions like...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 11 years agoJeremy Guscott: Luther Burell must tackle his weight to be world class
Luther Burrell is playing well in a Northampton team that is sitting on top of the league with 48 points having...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 11 years agoJeff Probyn: Give promoted teams more money to level playing field
Here we are at the start of another year and, as usual, the hopes and aspirations of all rugby players and...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 11 years agoBrendan Gallagher: Get ready for a crescendo…. just like the Olympics
Suddenly it’s World Cup year and the tournament is hurtling towards us as the pace quickens. No longer can we talk...
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Nick Cain
/ 11 years agoNick Cain meets Jamie Gibson who has left academia to chase his rugby dream
Jamie Gibson is a scholar and a gentleman, a true blue Oxford University-educated boffin who, inspired by the philosophy of Socrates,...
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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
/ 12 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
/ 12 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
/ 12 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
/ 12 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
/ 12 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
/ 12 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
/ 12 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
/ 12 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
/ 12 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
/ 12 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
/ 12 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
/ 12 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
/ 12 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
/ 12 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
/ 12 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
/ 12 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
/ 12 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
/ 12 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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