READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK

The hustings buzz with Pichot’s promises AGUSTIN Pichot and Bernard Laporte are peas out of the same pod, and not just...

Set-piece has gone skewiff

NIGEL Owens asks for referees and players to join forces to sort law breaking regarding the scrum put-in but it is...

Expand Six Nations to generate extra income

THE recommendation from Bernard Laporte for a Club World Cup is a non starter, especially if it’s only to be played...

Deans was short, my Gee told me

BRENDAN Gallagher’s recent article about the 1905 All Blacks invoked a memory. My grandfather Morgan only went to one rugby game...

Economic reality check is required

JEFF Probyn’s article is last week’s Rugby Paper had it just about right as to where Premiership/National League rugby will set...

JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE… EVERY WEEK

May-day for opponents as Jonny just gets better JONNY May’s move back to Kingsholm is great news for Gloucester fans because...

Slash salary cap and ditch marquee men

COLIN BORGCOL Million pound man: Semi Radradra will be at Bristol next season, exempt from the salary cap With at least another...

STEVE GRAINGER RFU SUPPORTING COMMUNITY GAME NOW AND IN THE FUTURE

We’re here to help and will do all we can Following the outbreak of COVID-19 the RFU was one of the...

Young close to agreeing terms at Wasps

By NEALE HARVEY NEW Wasps supremo Lee Blackett is confident star flanker Thomas Young will put club before country by pledging...

Ashton blames blinkered players for sin-bin failure

By JON NEWCOMBE THE SIN-BIN, rugby’s equivalent of the naughty step, has been around since 1997, to act as a deterrent...

Ambitious Pichot aims to gain confidence of Six Nations

From ALEJO MIRANDA in Buenos Aires SHOULD Agustín Pichot become chairman of World Rugby he intends to lead a revolution against...

Kpoku bros pose Maro twin threat at Sarries

By NEALE HARVEY RISING Saracens star Joel Kpoku has boldly laid out his manifesto for usurping Maro Itoje and forcing his...

Prem may resume as late as end of August

By NEIL FISSLER PREMIERSHIP bosses are prepared to wait until the end of August to restart the season. They have prepared...

Captain to Trustee, Lockyer’s been a Chief for 50 years

Colin Boag continues his series on Super Fans, this week Exeter player turned supporter John Lockyer John Lockyer’s association with Exeter...

Pasty-shop apprentice Luke’s living the dream

Rising star: Luke Northmore HARLEQUINS No.13 Luke Northmore aims to follow teammate Alex Dombrandt in proving why university rugby is becoming...

Whitelock inspired by hero big bro Sam

By NEALE HARVEY Test swansong: Luke Whitelock on the charge for New Zealand against Japan in 2018 PICTURE: Getty Images FRANCE-BASED...

Flyer O’Flaherty extends his stay at Exeter

Rapid: Tom O’Flaherty EXETER director of rugby Rob Baxter believes winger Tom O’Flaherty has a big future after tying the 25-year-old...

Borthwick promises to end the pain at Tigers

NEW Leicester head coach Steve Borthwick says he will work tirelessly to ease the ‘pain’ caused by the club’s recent demise....

How Stuart Hogged the headlines aged 16

By GARY HEATLY Prodigy: Hogg aged 16 ONE minute his cousin was looking to borrow his boots, the next he was...

Warrior Will targets role as defence commander

By NEALE HARVEY STROKE victim Will Hurrell aims to forge a new career in coaching after revealing how his life might...

USA are shock star turn at two Olympics

IN THE early 1920s the USA proved the unlikely winners of two Olympic rugby titles, beating France on both occasions. In...

QUINS DOMINATE THE NEW MIDDLESEX SEVENS COMPETITION

A MAJOR development in the 1920s was the establishment of the end-of-season Middlesex Sevens which were organised by a London Scot...

Wakefield leads charge as England claim four Grand Slams in the 20s

Brendan Gallagher continues his expert and authorative look at the history of Rugby Union In the immediate aftermath of World War...

Big guns will back Bill to save them cash

“What Pichot hopes for is the dream of Tier Two nations, but this can never be achieved” And so it begins,...

O’Gara still hates me for the treatment I gave him

MY LIFEIN RUGBY PAUL VOLLEY FORMER WASPS, CASTRES, HARLEQUINS AND LONDON SCOTTISH OPENSIDE I’M sure he won’t like me saying it but...

THEO BEVACQUA

YOUNG GUNS CARDIFF BLUES LOOSEHEAD    Born in London, raised in Heathfield and educated at Eastbourne College, in ordinary circumstances promising prop Theo...

DREAMTEAM

CHARLIE CLARE, LEICESTER AND FORMER NORTH WALSHAM, JERSEY, BEDFORD AND NORTHAMPTON HOOKER, CHOOSES THE BEST XV HE HAS PLAY ED WITH...

Bear cubs can go all the way says Morgan

By NEALE HARVEY BRISTOL’S gifted gang of backline proteges are primed to explode on to the international stage, predicts former Wales...

This test of strength can sway the series

2021 LIONS A YEAR TO GO NICK CAIN LOOKS AT THE CONTENDERS FOR EACH POSITION THIS WEEK... TIGHTHEAD Rock of ages:...

Axed star Larter still doesn’t know why

Even now after all these years Peter Larter still stands alone, the one English Lion who took a stand against terrorism...

Shy schoolboys whose talent shook the world

Brendan Gallagher delves into some of rugby’s most enduring images, their story and why they are still so impactful Iconic Rugby...

Wasps must play without fear to get the fans behind us

Q&A LEE BLACKETT ON THE RECORD New head coach Lee Blackett tells NEALE HARVEY how he intends rising to the challenge...

National One in conflict over salary cap reduction

By NEALE HARVEY BATTLE lines are being drawn among National League One clubs after Chinnor chairman Simon Vickers demanded a swingeing...

NEXT WEEK …Don’t miss

Lock stars in contention for Lions 2021 Gallagher’s Top 20: World’s best rugby gounds History of Rugby: Tumultuous Thirties ... Continue...

Rugby must speak with one voice -like Apollo 13

For the space buffs among you rugby aficionados, this last week has been an extraordinary trip down memory lane as we...

Pichot has visions of changing the world

I’VE always looked at Gus Pichot, especially when he was in his hirsute phase a few years back, below, as something...

Tigers’ Cup winners produced a brains trust of talent

THERE was more retro heaven recently with BT Sport replaying Leicester’s 34-30 Heineken Cup final win over Stade Francais in 2001....

Ellis is living proof of the old 80-minute rule

By PETER JACKS0N Going the distance: Ellis Genge played the full 80 for England against Wales during the World Cup warm-up...

Poles call for more ranking events

By ADAM ELLIS POLAND head coach Duaine Lindsay has called on World Rugby to increase the number of fixtures Europe’s emerging...

So how do you fix this mess called the scrum?

NICK CAIN TALKS TO SCRUM GURU PHIL KEITH-ROACH ABOUT THE PROBLEMS WITH THE GAME’S GREATEST SET-PIECE THE scrum has collapsed. That...

Video nasty for the Scots

ACCORDING to Agustin Pichot, candidate for the World Rugby chairmanship, the sport is in dire need of…wait for it…a video game....

World Rugby’s hustings are flannel

AND they’re off, predictable as night following day. The runners and riders chasing high office at World Rugby are suddenly saying...

GUEST COLUMNIST

Cooch not on toughie list? It may get nasty! Jacques Burger? No arguments there. Colin Meads? Wayne Shelford? Bang on. In...

Coaches/Managers ‘lost’ to the game

MARTIN JOHNSON Vowed never to become involved in rugby management again following the 2011 World Cup campaign blighted by off-field misdemeanours....

Haag hankers for return to pro game

JON NEWCOMBE talks to Martin Haag, one of rugby’s very best ‘lost’ coaches DEAN RYAN’s tenure at the RFU was a...

Steyn in PRO14 at Cheetahs

SPRINGBOK utility back Frans Steyn is thrilled to be back in Bloemfontein having signed from the Cheetahs from French outfit Montpellier....

Narraway to boss Dragons forwards

FORMER England No.8 Luke Narraway and ex-Edinburgh captain Simon Cross have been appointed to Dean Ryan’s Dragons coaching team on a...

Day the Old Boys’ drinking club beat the mighty Sarries

Brendan Gallagher continues his enthralling series by looking at rugby’s biggest upsets 1= Old Reigatians 12 Saracens 10 (John Player Cup, 1987)...

Takeaway driver Gav epitomises the spirit we all need

I’VE been amazed by the collective spirit shown by Welsh rugby in the midst of coronavirus – so much so I’ve...

Gareth’s right to call a halt to brown envelopes in grassroots

I WAS pleased to see Welsh Rugby Union chairman Gareth Davies urge grassroots clubs in Wales to stop paying their players....