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Nick Cain
/ 2 years agoBorthwick seems set on rewarding failure
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK AS England limped into Le Touquet after being beaten by Fiji, the preparations...
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Nick Cain
/ 2 years agoMy England team to challenge Argentina
The wishful thinking that if England beat Argentina it will be a cakewalk from Pool D into the knock-out stages took...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoShould we care about the world rankings?
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED THE way Clive Woodward saw it back in 2003, the International Rugby Board’s new-fangled ranking system was...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoDiamonds on the soles of his shoes
Siya Kolisi? What a man. If rugby is built on the stories it tells about its finest practitioners – the fables...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoMixed reviews on opening nights…
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER NOT long now ... but first comes the...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoTricky to get the message
So apparently we will be watching something called the Investec Champions Cup this season – all mention of Europe now seems...
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Peter Jackson
/ 2 years agoHealy sorry to be joining Crocks XV
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW After 14 years at the sharp end of Test combat, Cian Healy never...
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Peter Jackson
/ 2 years agoSpringboks flick the power switch
South Africa beat everyone to the punch by having the nerve to turn their substitute bench into virtually a complete auxiliary...
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Peter Jackson
/ 2 years agoTeague’s TV block
Mike Teague, a Lion among Lions during the series victory in Australia, says he has no intention of watching the World...
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Peter Jackson
/ 2 years agoWhen Deans & Co enjoyed free beer
When the Scottish and Welsh pioneers landed in New Zealand for the first World Cup, they saw an advertisement that made...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 2 years agoMillions set to enjoy all of the razzmatazz
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK RUGBY World Cups are an exciting time because they are the biggest shop-window for...
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Shane Williams
/ 2 years agoWales must be at their best to take on Fiji
SHANE WILLIAMS THERE will be a few nervous players from the Home Unions getting on planes and heading to France today....
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Jeff Probyn
/ 2 years agoWe need to reopen pathways to top of the game
Eddie Jones has blamed the RFU for the demise of the game in England for not producing enough quality players. I...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 2 years agoTime for England to justify £100k fee
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME WELL I was wrong with my prediction last week, as England proved...
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James Harrington
/ 2 years agoRacing ramp up interest in Ford
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN In July, The Rugby Paper reported that ‘grand’ Top 14 side Racing 92 had Sale and England...
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Paul Rees
/ 2 years agoHeat ramping up on Borthwick
PAUL REES AS THE start of the World Cup looms, the heat increases. Steve Borthwick has been mopping his brow increasingly...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoAll true rugby fans will delight in this long overdue Fijian victory
BRENDAN GALLAGHER NOBODY ever really owes you anything in sport..... but it’s my firm belief that rugby owed Fiji this historic,...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 2 years agoMy concerns: attack, defence and attitude
OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK WATCHING England now is the most frustrating thing in the world. I want them to do...
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Nick Cain
/ 2 years agoEngland heading to the Badlands
STEVE Borthwick has taken a fork in the road which has led England into the Badlands of international rugby. With two...
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Nick Cain
/ 2 years agoBoks have the clout to retain the crown
South Africa’s record 35-7 blitz of New Zealand at Twickenham on Friday night showed that the reigning world champions have the...
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Features
/ 2 years agoI’d put my faith in Mitchell to spark England
KYRAN BRACKEN NO MATTER what Steve Borthwick does he’s just getting lynched by the public. There’s a certain pool of people...
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Features
/ 2 years agoSaracens still the team to beat
KYRAN BRACKEN The Champions Cup is always a great competition but right now there’s too much of a financial divide for...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoBig cats likely to dine on minnows
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED IT MUST be a sobering prospect for the makeweights, travelling to a World Cup with a bunch...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoHansen’s secrets not hard to guess
There has been quite the hue and cry down there in All Black country following the latest twist in trans-Tasman affairs....
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Paul Rees
/ 2 years agoBeer talk: Eddie happy to stay in the headlines
Paul Rees on how the Aussie coach is creating the news - again - by talking to his old mate EDDIE...
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Features
/ 2 years agoNow South Africans are the team to beat
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND THIS may still be the phoney war period, but what a statement the world champion...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoBig beasts need to set the right mood
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points SO where did the last four years go?...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoBrothers linking arms for Chile
Chile is a minute rugby community compared with many giants of the game and is inevitably centred on geographical pockets of...
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Peter Jackson
/ 2 years agoVeteran Earls out on his own
Like his native Limerick, there has never been anything flash or fancy about Keith Earls which goes some way to understanding...
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Peter Jackson
/ 2 years agoTreacherous route for top-ranked team
Before they know it, a pair of sacked England coaches will be back in Paris on World Cup business to oversee...
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Peter Jackson
/ 2 years agoTop Cat’s rousing farewell journey
Finlay Calder shall never forget how Clive Rowlands stood four-square behind him after the Lions‘ traumatic start to their victorious series...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 2 years agoI still think England could surprise a few
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME SO here we are again, losing a player as a result of...
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James Harrington
/ 2 years agoOyonnax are worth place at top table
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Promoted ProD2 champions Oyonnax demonstrated – if there was still any doubt after last weekend’s impressive opening...
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Paul Rees
/ 2 years agoBorthwick must put trust in players
PAUL REES ENGLAND need someone to shoulder the burden, but they keep sticking their shoulder into the head of an opponent....
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoIt’s time for England to climb out of their self-imposed bunker
BRENDAN GALLAGHER OK, I’ve counted to ten and imagined myself snoozing in a hammock on some Pacific atoll. I am calm...
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Shane Williams
/ 2 years agoDyer’s yellow was a flawed decision
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND THERE’S no point beating around the bush and waffling on about positives because what we...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 2 years agoIt’s time for Scotland to spring a surprise
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK SCOTLAND have been a decent side for a while now, but they struggle to...
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Nick Cain
/ 2 years agoDon’t let RFU make an ass of the laws
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THE Owen Farrell disciplinary fiasco has multiple layers, but the one that looks...
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Nick Cain
/ 2 years agoJones still making the wrong headlines
NICK CAIN Eddie Jones is good at grabbing headlines, but increasingly they are not the sort that does rugby union any...
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Nick Cain
/ 2 years agoEdwards showed the way
NICK CAIN Shaun Edwards had two of the greatest low tacklers the English game has produced when he was coaching at...
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Paul Rees
/ 2 years agoConfusion rules over high tackle crackdown
Paul Rees says there needs to be clarity over challenges that come after a carrier's late change of direction Rugby's disciplinary...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoA brief history of tackles which changed a game
CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED It has been fiendishly difficult to identify rugby union’s precise place in the constellation of professional sports...
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Chris Hewett
/ 2 years agoIgnore the league tough guys, it’s better to be soft and safe
CHRIS HEWETT Contrary to popular belief, there are still differences between the two codes of rugby. Union still has its flankers...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoThe cruellest time to suffer an injury
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER The agony of these eve of World Cup...
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Peter Jackson
/ 2 years agoHardly the sound of a world in harmony
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW THE majority of the all-Australian trio responsible for clearing Owen Farrell will be...
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Peter Jackson
/ 2 years agoHesford built on the family tradition
Bob Hesford did more than his bit to extend and enhance the family’s unique tradition of appearing in cup finals across...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 2 years agoEngland’s discipline now a major concern
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME WELL it has to be said, the win last week was certainly...
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James Harrington
/ 2 years agoLyon take the heat to topple Toulon
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN A "heat dome" settled over France last weekend to send temperatures soaring as the new Top 14...
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Paul Rees
/ 2 years agoFord puts England on the front foot
PAUL REES There was a moment six minutes into the second-half which summed up England. Courtney Lawes stole a lineout near...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoAt last! The old hands finally agree to come to the party
BRENDAN GALLAGHER Fired up: Jamie George found his second wind when England were on the ropes I THINK it’s the Buddists...
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