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Columnists
/ 5 years agoBears building for bright future from within
BRISTOL may have the wealthiest backer in the Premiership but they are intent on growing their own rather than splurging on...
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Chris Hewett
/ 5 years agoRelegation is not end of ambition in France
CHRIS HEWETT THERE are more than a dozen towns and cities in France, from Beziers and Dax in the far south...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 5 years agoEngland must play smart to beat these Springboks
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK SOUTH Africa’s 31-29 win over New Zealand at the start of last month said...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoTest match? More a cash match, Ian!
PETER JACKSON THE latest in the neverending series of mismatches between Wales and New Zealand ought to have left certain All...
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James Harrington
/ 5 years agoPlayers get a breather in season marathon
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN The relief on the faces of those players playing Top 14 rugby in France this weekend when...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoDon’t ignore Hayman
PETER JACKSON CARL Hayman’s distressing diagnosis of early-onset dementia, as revealed by New Zealand journalist Dylan Cleaver in his gripping interview...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 5 years agoWelsh union broke faith with fans over NZ game
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME Wales kicked off this autumn series of internationals last week with a...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoUnited nations of Scotland
PETER JACKSON ALL BAR one of Scotland’s ten tries against Tonga came courtesy of players born far from Flodden Field –...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 5 years agoIf Eddie wins matches no one cares if he’s Mr Nasty
JEFF PROBYN EDDIE Jones has been described by an unnamed former player as being brutal, rude, aggressive and arrogant, while a...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoNew eligibility rules will turn rugby into a circus
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK MALAKAI Fekitoa could have played for Tonga against England yesterday, just four years...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoSteadman story is inspiration to us all
NICK CAIN FLOYD Steadman’s story is one of the most uplifting and moving you will find in any sport, as those...
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Chris Hewett
/ 5 years agoFlankers see world from other angles
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST At the risk of offending the Scottish rugby establishment –a serious hazard when you might find Jim...
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Chris Hewett
/ 5 years agoWhy send minnows cruising for a bruising?
CHRIS HEWETT THE Rugby Europe Championship was back up and running this weekend, with the Netherlands facing Russia in Amsterdam, and...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 5 years agoEngland must be at their best to beat the Wallabies
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK AUSTRALIA has always had unbelievable potential as a Rugby Union nation, because the skill-set...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoTeen star Prydie is looking for a new club
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Youngest ever: Tom Prydie playing for Wales v Italy in 2010 PICTURE: Getty...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoHodgkinson must have a wry smile
PETER JACKSON ENGLAND players stand to collect circa £70,000-a-man from the RFU should they complete an autumn hat-trick by beating Australia...
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James Harrington
/ 5 years agoAzema in for Collazo at Toulon – at a price!
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Two stories have gripped French rugby this week – the changing of the coach at Toulon, and...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 5 years agoAmerica’s RWC bid is dream for World Rugby
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME Who said that dreams don’t come true? First we had the Premiership’s...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 5 years agoThe old guard will be on bus to France for 2023
JEFF PROBYN HOW old is too old to play interational rugby – and who should be the judge? That’s a question...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoWorld Rugby must act to battle the lure of the yen
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THE devaluation of the international game was emphasised this week after it was...
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Chris Hewett
/ 5 years agoArgentina makes more RWC sense than USA
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST There is a very good reason why rugby’s dollar-desperate establishment has failed to secure a place for...
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Chris Hewett
/ 5 years agoJapan has a yen for showing clubs matter
CHRIS HEWETT ALL that publicity about the setting up of a new “global” 12-a-side tournament and positioning it as rugby’s answer...
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Columnists
/ 5 years agoPerfect match for Eddie to unleash his new generation
NICK CAIN SAYS ENGLAND MUST BLOOD THEIR NEW BOYS AGAINST TONGA IF England were playing Tonga’s top team of players at...
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Shane Williams
/ 5 years agoWales threw away 20 points – that’s criminal
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND Big doubt for the Boks: Alun Wyn Jones walks off injured PICTURE: Getty Images Rhys...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoBattered Sandy takes his secret to the grave
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Every now and then, whenever the x-certificate stuff reared its ugly head during...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 5 years agoFull-back deserves to be a specialist position
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK THE image of a fullback that sticks in the memory during my early years...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoNonu’s coming to America, better tell San Diego!
PETER JACKSON MA’A NONU’S tendency to make Vasco da Gama look a trifle seasick by comparison still knows no bounds. As...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoEddie’s delay could prove deadly for England
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK EDDIE Jones has become the rugby equivalent of a shape-shifter, being hailed in...
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Chris Hewett
/ 5 years agoStrange to snub George like this
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST WHAT is it with Jamie George? Or, to put the same question in a different, more accurate...
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Chris Hewett
/ 5 years agoToo much of Wales has become a rugby wasteland
CHRIS HEWETT The Rhinogydd range, rough and remote; the micro-breweries of Gwynedd; RS Thomas, the fierce preacher-poet of the Llyn Peninsula...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoTo win, Wales will need a performance of the ages
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND WHEN Steve Hansen picked me to face New Zealand at the 2003 World Cup, he...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoShanklins suffer twice at hands of All Blacks
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW The Shanklin family from Pembrokeshire knows exactly what it takes to go the...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 5 years agoEddie musn’t load Smith down with tactical data
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK THE England squad of 35 picked by Eddie Jones for the autumn series is...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 5 years agoAutumn series may be best for some years
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME If there was one thing that last week’s game between Bath and...
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James Harrington
/ 5 years agoNtamack at 12 with Jalibert 10 is the plan
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN After this weekend’s Top 14 matches, Fabien Galthie’s chosen 42 will head to FFR’s spartan ‘Marcatraz’ headquarters...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 5 years agoMy concussion test puts me in the clear – for a few years anyway!
JEFF PROBYN AROUND five years ago, I took part in a brain study and the results have just been published so...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoWar-bonnets are just a salute to courage
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THE problem that the ExChiefs4Change pressure group has is that it is annexing...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoCall up for Young is common sense now
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND Heading home: Wasps flanker Thomas Young deserves his call up to Wales squad PICTURE: Getty...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoEarly bird Baxter got some giant pickings
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW One day more than two years ago, Rob Baxter got up at four...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoVermeulen in not quite such a hurry to join Ulster after all
PETER JACKSON DUANE Vermeulen was only saying the other week about how he ‘couldn’t wait to become part of the Ulster...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoHastings’ historic act won this battle of Murrayfield
PETER JACKSON GEORGE Hastings from Dursley is a name which will still ring a faint bell in the memories of long-standing...
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Jeremy Guscott
/ 5 years agoBig question is who does Eddie play outside Smith
JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK WHEN Marcus Smith first broke through as an apprentice I saw him as having...
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Jeff Probyn
/ 5 years agoDiversity’s problem? Lack of Asian stars
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME Why is rugby so keen to raise issues and set out to...
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James Harrington
/ 5 years agoA lot rests on Kolbe’s shoulders – and knee
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Toulon have welcomed a few global superstars down the years – but it’s difficult to imagine any...
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Columnists
/ 5 years agoDash for cash must not damage rugby’s ethos | Nick Cain
THE £32m takeover of Saracens by a polyglot international consortium comes with a health warning as the club’s erstwhile banker and...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoDon’t let new cup trash great Euro comp
NICK CAIN THE capacity of this game to devalue its own gold standard tournaments is illustrated by the idea that the...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoAlun Wyn stays shtum on private matters
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Say Nothing is an awardwinning book on ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland, its...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoAnayi finds TV figures after all
PETER JACKSON THREE years ago PRO12 rugby chose to disconnect a multitude of viewers by wiping their matches off live BBC...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoScott’s renaissance is worthy of a Test recall
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND WALES are set to confirm their squad for a humdinger of an autumn series this...
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Latest News
/ 5 years agoReaders complete Rugby XV name game
THANKS to all those prompted by the Max Wiltshire story last week, the assembly of a Place Name XV can now...
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