-
Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 years agoHow the French are putting RFU to shame
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER I hopped onto the splendid dual language Top...
-
James Harrington
/ 4 years agoToulon fans in uproar at Carbonel departure
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Even by Toulon’s unusual standards, this season has been an extraordinary tale of failure and redemption. But,...
-
Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoMastermind Boyd ought to be top of the RFU list
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Few of the people charged with running English rugby are blessed with a sense of direction. If...
-
Features
/ 4 years agoBath bank on youth policy to bring back glory years
PAUL REES TALKS TO STUART HOOPER ABOUT BATH’S MOVE TO NURTURE HOME GROWN PLAYERS When Bruce Craig bought Bath in 2010,...
-
Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoDundee classroom served Tom well
CHRIS HEWETT TOM Smith was the best Scottish rugby player of the professional era. No question. We can also describe him...
-
Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoSorry, but my old mate Brian is wrong
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME Interesting to see my old mate Brian Moore professing in his newspaper...
-
Latest News
/ 4 years agoWales must make more of age-grade production line
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND There are eight days of finals coming up at Principality Stadium this month and at...
-
Latest News
/ 4 years agoNorth still waiting on sidelines
PETER JACKSON GEORGE North reaches another milestone this month irrespective of his fitness, one which marks the remorseless march of time....
-
Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoCatt’s made his mark by doing it the Ashton way
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST It does no violence to the truth to state that Italy are half as good a rugby...
-
James Harrington
/ 4 years agoBarlot gets the better of big rival Mauvaka
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Castres Olympique hooker Gaetan Barlot scored his third Top 14 try of the season yesterday, scoring a...
-
Latest News
/ 4 years agoEddie’s gift-wrapped route to the semis
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THE 2023 World Cup has the uplift of France, the hosts, having a...
-
Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoHigh price to pay for switching to satellite
CHRIS HEWETT IT WAS just a little discombobulating, listening to a sports presenter on BBC R4’s flagship Today programme talking about...
-
Latest News
/ 4 years agoDevil is in the detail of buyback option
NICK CAIN AFTER a couple months of putting down a smokescreen the RFU has finally given an answer to what happens...
-
Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoNext coach shouldn’t be shaped by Eddie
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME Era of success: Will Carling is chaired from the pitch after Geoff...
-
Jeremy Guscott
/ 4 years agoEnglish successor shows faith in coaching system
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK WHEN it comes to England head coaches I used to think that it was...
-
Latest News
/ 4 years agoWelsh regions aren’t at the races this season
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND Dai Young was spot on this week when he said the regions should be thinking...
-
Columnists
/ 4 years agoHat-trick star Marlie gets better with age
ROCKY CLARK ENGLAND’S MOST CAPPED PLAYER AND WORLD CUP WINNER Marlie Packer was outstanding for England last week in their big...
-
Latest News
/ 4 years agoQuins out to topple the French kingmaker
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW As befitting a billionaire at least four times over, Mohed Altrad is...
-
Latest News
/ 4 years ago‘Beleaguered Bill’ tries to defend the indefensible
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK WHO runs the RFU, Bill Sweeney or Eddie Jones? There have been rumours...
-
Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoHome has not been a comfort at most RWCs
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Way back in the early 1950s – another moment when it was difficult to decide if English...
-
Latest News
/ 4 years agoSweeney offers hope to clubs in second tier
NICK CAIN THERE could be good news for the Championship clubs, and the English club game as a whole, with indications...
-
Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoWales’ fall from grace could hit an all-time low
CHRIS HEWETT ALL things considered, the world rankings do not feature highly on Wayne Pivac’s current agenda. The Wales coach would...
-
Nick Cain
/ 4 years agoEddie has had ample time to build a ‘new England’ and failed to do it
NICK CAIN SAYS ENGLAND’S DEFEAT IN FRANCE SHOULD HAVE BEEN EDDIE JONES’ LAST MATCH IN CHARGE ENGLAND’S defeat in Paris last...
-
Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoProgress is just about winning matches
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME With the Six Nations over and a week to digest the last...
-
Jeremy Guscott
/ 4 years agoEddie’s an easy target but he deserves to stay
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK IF we go back to The Rugby Paper round table in January, most of...
-
Latest News
/ 4 years agoGive next generation game time to develop
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND Late bloomer: Alex Dombrandt starred for Cardiff Met Uni before breaking into professional rugby We’ve...
-
Columnists
/ 4 years agoFreddie’s the best full-back, pick him there
Supreme at 15: Freddie Steward DUSTY Hare is confused by England’s backline changes, and the failure to make the most of...
-
Latest News
/ 4 years agoRushing Alun Wyn back hard to justify
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW During a BBC interview last week, Alun Wyn Jones waxed lyrical about the...
-
Columnists
/ 4 years agoLes Bleues inspired to follow the men’s lead
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN A little over 24 hours after England’s statement win over Scotland in the first match of the...
-
Latest News
/ 4 years agoAshes cameo put Wales cap Rees in a class of his own
PETER JACKSON ALAN Rees won his Wales cap during the frozen winter of 1962-63. By then the Maesteg fly-half had been...
-
Latest News
/ 4 years agoTime for refs to follow directives or face axe
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THERE is nothing that undermines a professional sport more than being unclear about...
-
Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoWoodward versus Jones is box office sideshow
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Fierce rivalries may lose their heat over time, but they always leave a scorch mark on the...
-
Latest News
/ 4 years agoThere will be more on Rogers’ naughty list
NICK CAIN ANOTHER week, another Premiership ‘rotten borough’ story. This time it is about Leicester, a club which behind the scenes...
-
Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoLet’s hope Leicester can afford Pollard
CHRIS HEWETT THE Panama Papers, the Paradise Papers, the Pandora Papers. Three massive data leaks exposing dodgy dealing in the financial...
-
James Harrington
/ 4 years agoNo time to rest as pressures mount up
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN This should have been a weekend off for those Top 14 and ProD2 players not involved in...
-
Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoDominant scrum or not, backs lack ideas
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME You have got to take your hat off to the England team...
-
Jeremy Guscott
/ 4 years agoEngland’s attack has not evolved under Gleeson
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK THIS Six Nations has been competitive, with its usual share of brilliance and letdowns,...
-
Shane Williams
/ 4 years agoDay a little man stood tall in land of the giants
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND Little magician: Ange Capuozzo beats Kieran Hardy on his way to setting up the try...
-
Latest News
/ 4 years agoHard road, but Biggar got there in the end
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Throughout his long Ireland career, the peerless Jackie Kyle missed a mere four...
-
Latest News
/ 4 years agoChosen 30 to make the final hurdle
PETER JACKSON GIVEN the Six Nations’ capacity for wreaking havoc on a Grand National scale, it is all too easy to...
-
Latest News
/ 4 years agoInga taught Edwards to box clever
PETER JACKSON VA’AIGA Tuigamala, the cross-code superstar, lay in state at Waitakere Stadium in suburban Auckland the day before his funeral...
-
Latest News
/ 4 years agoTemporary stands at Bath reek of double standards
NICK CAIN AT the same time as two clubs, Ealing and Doncaster, have failed the RFU/Premiership ground criteria rules to be...
-
Features
/ 4 years agoGalthie looks and acts the part as Brains behind French renaissance
NICK CAIN CHARTS THE KEY CHANGES FABIEN GALTHIE HAS MADE SINCE TAKING CHARGE OF FRANCE FABIEN Galthie’s transformation of France’s fortunes...
-
Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoBorthwick’s only duty is to his team, get over it!
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Steve Borthwick had enough on his plate during Leicester’s defeat at Saracens in North London last weekend...
-
James Harrington
/ 4 years agoBiarritz’s top-flight dream all but over
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Promotion and relegation matters returned firmly to the forefront of Top 14 rugby minds, after bottom side...
-
Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoDenying promotion wasn’t RFU decision
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME I was surprised last week that so many people whom I thought...
-
Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoAli knew Beech Bottom by heart
JEFF PROBYN LAST week I attended a memorial for a player, Ali Mills, from one of my very first clubs which...
-
Jeremy Guscott
/ 4 years agoJaminet’s boot has given France a new dimension
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK MELVYN Jaminet is for me the key to France, winning Six Nations titles, Grand...
-
Shane Williams
/ 4 years agoWales must learn to nail crucial moments
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND Letting it slip: Antoine Dupont of France steals the ball off Jonathan Davies of Wales...
-
Latest News
/ 4 years agoExeter’s gain is a big loss for Wales
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW With a surname like his, Tom O’Flaherty sounds as though he ought to...
Features
OSCAR WILSON
BUCS Super Rugby
Cardiff Met’s Gus Patterson on becoming Bridgend’s next rugby star
The best betting sites
