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Features
/ 4 years agoRelegation freeze makes sense in World Cup year
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME There’s actually a reason the Premiership have been paid such a premium...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 4 years agoTop talent Steward must be managed so carefully
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK THE only surprise with Freddie Steward winning the double of the RPA England Men’s...
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Challenge Cup
/ 4 years agoEurope’s elite clubs are facing trip into unknown
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THE European Cup final in Marseille was not billed as a watershed moment,...
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Challenge Cup
/ 4 years agoFine XV of England selection oversights
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Eddie Jones is hardly the first England coach to take an unusually gifted player to one side...
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Features
/ 4 years agoRoom for football and rugby to thrive in Wales
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND The age-old debate of whether Wales is a football nation rather than a rugby nation...
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Features
/ 4 years agoHignell one of the last sporting all-rounders
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Master of art: Alastair Hignell in oval-ball action for England The England-New Zealand...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoPsychology plays a key part in rugby’s evolution
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME As the end of the season nears, it’s usually a time for...
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James Harrington
/ 4 years agoWorld Cup will be won and lost in the run-up
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Fifteen months out from the 2023 World Cup, the rugby debate in host nation France is getting...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 4 years agoOnly way is up for Bath, but culture must change
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK ANYONE coming into Bath in a senior management or coaching role at the moment...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoEddie has to find the answers …and fast
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK IT was Eddie Jones’ first faceto-face press conference with the rugby media for...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoLeinster are taking Europe to next level
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST It is often argued, usually by politicians reneging on a manifesto promise, that “the perfect is the...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoHow Rassie helped pull the plug on water boys
CHRIS HEWETT UNINTENDED consequences? You can’t move for them in the Union game. World Rugby has just announced another of its...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoPivac’s wrong on Jac, but I’m sure he’ll be back
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND Ihave to confess I couldn’t believe it at first when I heard that Wayne Pivac...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoHow RWC cooked up pig’s ear of a draw
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Towards the end of the World Cup draw, a celebrated chef stepped forward...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoLa Rochelle present a tougher test
PETER JACKSON LEO Cullen before last week’s semi-final against Toulouse in Dublin: “It doesn’t get any tougher.’’ Considering that the ex-champions...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoFly-half Billy left the kicks to others
PETER JACKSON BILLY Griffiths rolled off the assembly line at the Welsh fly-half factory in the mid-1950s whereupon he set about...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoNew law variations do not ensure a level playing field
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME Applying the brake: Hookers must keep one foot forward until the call...
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James Harrington
/ 4 years agoRacing 92 play down any move for Jones
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Try double: Matthieu Jalibert helped Bordeaux book their place in the play-offs England head coach Eddie Jones...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 4 years agoLet Arundell show what he’s got against Australia
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK HENRY Arundell played junior rugby for Bradford-on-Avon, and all I can say after seeing...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoHigh-scoring hookers not good for the game
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK ONE of the strangest signs of the times is that this season hookers...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoEurope’s best too hot for England
NICK CAIN IT took the 2022 European Cup until the quarter-finals before it delivered in terms of the quality and drama...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoThe Boks are here, there and everywhere
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Some things in rugby are so difficult to find, they drive astrophysicists to drink. Scientists operating the Giant...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoNow’s the time for the French revolution
CHRIS HEWETT AS a rule of thumb, English teams good enough to fight their way into a Champions Cup final eventually...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoWayne will need all his big guns to battle Boks
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND It is going to be a big week for Wayne Pivac as he emerges from...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoBeer test put Glyn on his way to Widnes
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW The last formality of Glyn Shaw’s transfer from Neath to Widnes took place...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoDeclining European crowds a cause for concern
PETER JACKSON LA Defense Arena, Racing’s indoor home some six miles west of downtown Paris, offers 30,261 seats for rugby matches....
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Columnists
/ 4 years agoChiefs are form team, they’re real contenders
ROCKY CLARK ENGLAND’S MOST CAPPED PLAYER AND WORLD CUP WINNER After one of the most competitive seasons in the Allianz Premier...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoEngland rugby still has a long way to go
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME The failure of any of the Premiership teams to make it to...
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James Harrington
/ 4 years agoBayonne win battle for home semi-final
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Away from the bright lights of the European semi-finals, the regular season of France’s second-tier ProD2 drew...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 4 years agoSanderson’s men will be hoping for minor miracle
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK WHEN Sale Sharks face Racing 92 at their 30,000 capacity La Defense Arena superdome...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoBucketloads of tries not a winning formula
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK AT the same time as Bath collapsed to a record 64-0 defeat against...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoOverseas players leave little room at 12
NICK CAIN IF you are perplexed by England’s lack of choice when it comes to big inside centres as potential replacements...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoPoints do not always deliver the top prizes
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Rugby followers who decided long ago that the sport’s various governing bodies shared a factory setting of...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoCueto was Ashton but without all the fanfare
CHRIS HEWETT CLOSE members of Chris Ashton’s own family would hesitate to describe him as “the complete wing”, but his attacking...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoWRU must mirror the success of Connacht
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND As Oliver Hardy used to say to his comic partner Stan Laurel, "That's another fine...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoMerging of giants is the only option to lift Welsh
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW When the organisers finalise their 24 qualifiers for next season’s Champions Cup, they...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoWily Myler has many more miles still left on the clock
PETER JACKSON Longevity: Myler STEPHEN Myler will complete 20 years as a goalkicking stand-off next season, adding to a points total...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 4 years agoComeback king Sergio aims to bow out in style
BRENDAN GALLAGHER RUGBY MATTERS YOU can’t keep a good man down. Sergio Parisse has not been on our radar for a...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoOne-sided contests will drive fans away
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME It seems that not a week goes by without some sort of...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoFeel lucky to have played in the era I did
JEFF PROBYN I HAD the chance last week to help Upper Clapton Rugby club celebrate 140 years since the club was...
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James Harrington
/ 4 years agoProD2 call for system reset to aid recruitment
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Biarritz’s long-inevitable relegation from the Top 14 was finally confirmed last weekend when they lost 48-13 at...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 4 years agoSaracens the favourites – if they finish in top two
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK NO-ONE should be surprised that Saracens are tucked in at second in the league...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoChampionship ‘serfs’ must unite for uprising
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK HAVE the Championship clubs finally woken up and smelled the coffee? Have they...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoNo place in the game for abuse of officials
NICK CAIN THERE was a recent commentary that referees are over-protected and should not be immune from criticism, particularly by pro...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoBravo to WRU for giving grassroots day in the sun
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND It has been open season on the Welsh Rugby Union recently, and quite rightly in...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoVery few now could master art of Joggie
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST The way the old-timers tell it, the Springboks were so petrified by the majesty of the All...
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Chris Hewett
/ 4 years agoAll eyes on Leinster’s honorary All Black
CHRIS HEWETT WHEN it comes to openside flankers, New Zealand’s grand tradition has long been grander than everyone else’s. Nathan, Mourie, Jones,...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoLeicester lesson has served Leo well
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Leo Cullen left Dublin for Leicester during the summer of 2005 on a...
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Latest News
/ 4 years agoOnly Evans to coach Wales was a Wallaby
PETER JACKSON AT the last count, as conducted by people who know about these things, there were almost 75,000 Evanses living...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 4 years agoRespect for referee is golden rule of rugby
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME As the game struggles to recover from the pandemic and we are...
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