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Chris Hewett
/ 3 years agoPoliticians should give sport wide berth
CHRIS HEWETT The current US President and leader of the free world (so it says on the press release) is almost...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 years agoTall poppy syndrome or a case to answer?
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER For all sorts of reasons, all conquering Leinster...
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Shane Williams
/ 3 years agoHow I’d cut down on a blight in modern game
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND What is happening to our game? There were plenty of cheers for Ulster hooker Tom...
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Features
/ 3 years agoChiefs bridge the big budget gap
Paul Rees looks at how Exeter defied the odds to make it to the last four in the Heineken Champions Cup...
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Peter Jackson
/ 3 years agoCase of the lesser spotted Test stars
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Nobody takes a bigger bashing from Test rugby than the Welsh regions which...
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Peter Jackson
/ 3 years agoSorry, Rob, but there’s a price to pay for indiscipline
PETER JACKSON So Rob Baxter wishes to obliterate the deterrent effect of the red card by allowing sent-off players to be...
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Peter Jackson
/ 3 years agoWhen Lewis made history for the Lions
At home in his adopted Yorkshire the other day, Lewis Jones answered the phone with a cheerful response to being wished...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 3 years agoGoing abroad won’t make players better
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME I really am getting fed up with the constant call from players...
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James Harrington
/ 3 years agoKolbe the latest to consider his future
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Heading into the business end of France’s Top 14 season, more than on-pitch matters remain up in...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 3 years agoLawrence and Tuilagi the next centres of attention?
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK WITH only World Cup warm-ups to come in the international game this summer before...
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Nick Cain
/ 3 years agoA rout which should force Sweeney and O’Shea to go
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK Those who want to turn rugby union in England into a protectionist franchise...
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Club Rugby
/ 3 years agoTaking the pizza! RFU is not fit for purpose
NICK CAIN At at time when the Community game in England needs all the help it can get, we are faced...
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Champions Cup
/ 3 years agoCountries now battling to find their place in a new world order
Paul Rees sees the Heineken Champions Cup growing in size but wonders whether that is making things better The Heineken Champions...
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Champions Cup
/ 3 years agoCup rugby needs an injection of jeopardy
CHRIS HEWETT The Heineken Cup, as we knew and loved it when Friday nights at Sardis Road and Saturday afternoons at...
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Chris Hewett
/ 3 years agoRooster swoop is ruffling feathers
CHRIS HEWETT RELATIONS between the two rugby codes in faraway Australia are never especially cordial, so the decision of the new...
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Shane Williams
/ 3 years agoHawkins highlights pathway problem
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND "Don't go Joe!" That was the plaintive cry around Wales last week as news emerged...
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Peter Jackson
/ 3 years agoSo where have all the fly-halves gone?
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Since the last World Cup, Wales have picked eight fly-halves. By the end...
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Latest News
/ 3 years agoMontpellier deserve better
PETER JACKSON THE organisers of Europe’s blue riband club event had all week to make a public apology for heaping one...
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Peter Jackson
/ 3 years agoOne man who made sure he went the distance
PETER JACKSON There have been no shortage of X-certificate England-Wales matches, notably the notorious 1980 scrap at Twickenham when all manner...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 years agoThere’s no place for jackals and crocodiles in rugby jungle
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER I don't watch enough David Attenborough – frankly his droning voice is my go-to remedy for insomnia...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 3 years agoIt’s not British Bulldogs … needs of the defender matter as well
RUGBY MATTERS - BRENDAN GALLAGHER As the subject de jour seems to be rugby absurdities let me highlight an instructive moment...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 3 years agoHard to stop the drain of players going overseas
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME Am I the only one thinking that Maro Itoje is living in...
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James Harrington
/ 3 years agoNon-stop season to challenge the best
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN No-one has ever denied – no-one has ever been able to deny – that the French rugby...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 3 years agoSaracens show they can thrive in adversity
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK The European Champions Cup doesn’t get mentioned very much when you’re living in Bath...
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Nick Cain
/ 3 years agoUnjustifiable to banish players like Willis
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK Jack Willis is an inspirational new force for England, but he looks to...
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Nick Cain
/ 3 years agoHeartfelt tributes paid to The Judge
NICK CAIN Paul Rendall, known as “The Judge”, is one of the game’s great characters and props, and on Thursday the...
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Shane Williams
/ 3 years agoOspreys have the talent to pull off a big surprise
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND I HOPE the Ospreys of 2023 have learned the lessons of their predecessors of 2008...
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Chris Hewett
/ 3 years agoIt’s time to get back to shifting the piano
CHRIS HEWETT Not long after helping the All Blacks to victory over the Lions in 1993, the formidable wing John Kirwan...
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Chris Hewett
/ 3 years agoGood, but Hogg not quite top of the list
CHRIS HEWETT WHAT are we to make of the Strange Case of Stuart Hogg? The scorer of more international tries than...
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Latest News
/ 3 years agoAWJ out to climb his final mountain
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Warrior: Alun Wyn Jones in action against Saracens in 2008 PICTURE: Getty Images...
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Peter Jackson
/ 3 years agoWhen Peter enjoyed his day in the sun
PETER JACKSON Peter Thomas never seemed happier than on a blazing summer’s day by the shores of the Mediterranean. Cardiff, the...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 3 years agoSome great matches but it’s all for nothing
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME With the men’s Six Nations finally over, albeit with the painfully poor...
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James Harrington
/ 3 years agoParra has his eye on a final flourish
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN For a while, it looked as if Morgan Parra’s season – and possibly his career – had...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 3 years agoEngland look far too set in their ways
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK Attacking rugby is an art. It’s the ultimate match within a match, and there’s...
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Nick Cain
/ 3 years agoEngland need to be fit for purpose
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK ONE of the crosses that Steve Borthwick’s England team are going to have...
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Nick Cain
/ 3 years ago10-minute window to make the correct call
NICK CAIN Freddie Steward’s red card being overturned by a Six Nations disciplinary panel was the right outcome because the decision...
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Chris Hewett
/ 3 years agoGeorgians to be left out in the cold again
CHRIS HEWETT You have to hand it to our lords and masters at World Rugby, the non-governing governing body: they never...
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Chris Hewett
/ 3 years agoUnfair on Steward – and on ref Peyper
CHRIS HEWETT The trouble with the refereeing profession? Ninety-eight per cent of its members give the rest a bad name. Okay,...
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Shane Williams
/ 3 years agoChanges threaten smaller nations
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND Here we go again! No global season, but a new inter-hemisphere international tournament set to...
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Peter Jackson
/ 3 years agoTime to stop the rot that is dragging WRU down
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Had Shakespeare been around to rewrite Hamlet as a footballing fiasco, a tiny...
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Peter Jackson
/ 3 years agoAll over for Evans after 111 lineouts
PETER JACKSON The Beatles’ first album and Ron Evans’ landing on the international stage happened as near simultaneously in 1963 as...
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Paul Rees
/ 3 years agoAll eyes turn to the World Cup
Paul Rees sees the championship go to form with Ireland and France leading the way The Six Nations was for the...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 3 years agoTwo sets of laws for one game is wrong
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME Many congratulations to Ireland, for not only winning the Six Nations Grand...
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James Harrington
/ 3 years agoSo, are the coaching changes worth it?
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Changing boss mid-season is never a decision taken lightly – which makes it unusual that there has...
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Paul Rees
/ 3 years agoBetter, yes, but there’s still a long way to go…
PAUL REES A red letter day for Ireland who achieved a first Grand Slam victory in Dublin after a red card...
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Shane Williams
/ 3 years agoStanding tall as we finish on a high
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND What a brilliant start by Wales at Stade de France and what an encouraging performance...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 3 years agoThis French side have the quality to go all the way
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK WHERE France make hay and run through a team is if you allow them...
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Latest News
/ 3 years agoRFU needs to harness the top coaches
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK Why is it that England’s best coaches are currently inspiring Ireland and France,...
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Nick Cain
/ 3 years agoTime for big guns to make amends
The RFU/Premiership/ Championship panel charged with restructuring the English club leagues is in place, and is trying to grip with the...
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Paul Rees
/ 3 years agoEngland go from springboard to falling through a trap door
Paul Rees says the game in England is drifting and it's time for the RFU to exert greater control Acute vision:...












