Brendan Gallagher

This is where you will find all of The Rugby Paper’s Brendan Gallagher news, views, opinion and other content.

Turn these Dragons into Lions and watch them go on a rampage again

15 February 2018 0 comments

Brendan Gallagher looks back on the history of Gwent rugby and the county’s current PRO14 side Dragons

Ealing Trailfinders are on the long trek towards Premiership

7 February 2018 0 comments

By Brendan Gallagher Could Ealing Trailfinders be the next Exeter Chiefs? Both clubs were founded in 1871, both have long rugby traditions encompassing the good, […]

Rugby Matters: Hartpury production line set for more Test success

18 January 2018 0 comments

Brendan Gallagher on why the Gloucestershire college isn’t just creating international players for England anymore…

Varsity: Who was the dashing Cambridge wing in Sherlock mystery?

6 December 2017 0 comments

Brendan Gallagher investigates the man who was Conan Doyle’s hero, Godfrey Staunton

Varsity women’s preview: Oxford will go on the attack to defend crown

5 December 2017 0 comments

Can Oxford produce another shock upset this time around?

Varsity: Seven-timer Briggs is Light Blues brigade history maker

5 December 2017 0 comments

Brendan Gallagher picks out the stars to watch in this week’s Varsity match showpiece

The Ella brothers: the pop stars of Aussie rugby

30 November 2017 0 comments

Brendan Gallagher remembers the wonderful Junior Wallaby side that boasted a fabulous trio…

Verdict: Pumas need a re-boot starting with their selection policy

15 November 2017 0 comments

Brendan Gallagher analyses a team performing below expectations

Danny Hearn – 50 years on: No regrets for the man of steel who beat the odds to walk again

28 October 2017 0 comments

50 years on from breaking his neck against New Zealand, The Rugby Paper meets the England centre to see how that day changed the course of his life

It’s time the RFU honoured first black international

27 October 2017 0 comments

Brendan Gallagher takes a look at the distinguished moment in history set by Plymouth player Jamie Peters

Italy helps restore careers of stricken half-back talents

19 October 2017 0 comments

By Brendan Gallagher ITALIAN rugby can be proud of the part it has played in the rehabilitation – physically and mentally – of not one […]

Dave Gallaher forged the All Blacks identity from the furnace of the Boer War

4 October 2017 0 comments

October 4 is the 100th anniversary of the death of Dave Gallaher, killed in action on the first morning of the Battle of Passchendaele. Brendan […]

RWC2023: Heart says Ireland but head screams France

26 September 2017 0 comments

By Brendan Gallagher Ireland, South Africa or France? Which country will host the 2023 World Cup? Yesterday in London all three made their formal presentations […]

Brendan Gallagher: Philadelphia is next stop on rugby’s world tour

15 September 2017 0 comments

Globalisation is one of the modern day buzzwords and although sometimes I’m not exactly sure what it means the fact that next Saturday Newcastle Falcons […]

Brendan Gallagher: So why has rugby just gone north in the North?

7 September 2017 0 comments

Sale entertain Newcastle on Friday night in the big northern derby – or the Sharks play the Falcons if you prefer – and both clubs […]

Brendan Gallagher: Will All Blacks be fresh to go again?

17 August 2017 0 comments

New Zealand have lost only two of their 27 Rugby Championship matches to date – there was also a draw against Australia in 2014 – […]

Brendan Gallagher looks back at 150 years of Wasps history

11 August 2017 0 comments

Wasps’ 150th anniversary season isn’t five minutes old and already they have one trophy in the Cabinet having retained their Premiership Sevens title in some […]

Brendan Gallagher previews the Women’s World Cup

3 August 2017 0 comments

The memory of 2014 in France might still be fresh with us but women’s rugby has moved on apace and, a year earlier than normal, […]

Brendan Gallagher: England have only two world class players in their squad

2 August 2017 0 comments

This week heralds the announcement of the 45- strong England EPS squad and it feels like a big staging post, the start of a new […]

Only world beaters will get tickets for this ride

30 July 2017 1 comment

THIS week heralds the announcement of the 45- strong England EPS squad and it feels like a big staging post, the start of a new […]

Abington celebrates the life of Saints hero Mobbs

30 July 2017 3 comments

THE 100th anniversary of Edgar Mobbs’ death at the Third Battle off Ypres falls tomorrow and the town of Northampton will be honouring one of […]

Judgement: The Fox was simply outstanding in all three Tests

13 July 2017 0 comments

Player of the Tour: Wales’ Jonathan Davies, below, played every minute of the Tests and was in world class form throughout. He won the players’ […]

Review: Slow start saw Lions move from strength to strength before springing into life

12 July 2017 0 comments

Match 1, June 3: Provincial Barbarians 7 British and Irish Lions 13 Okara Park, Whangarei, 19,951 Barely 72 hours off the plane with some of […]

Brendan Gallagher: As the pressure ramped up, so cool Gatland kept his nerve

5 July 2017 0 comments

This Test was not only a compelling thriller which instantly claims its place in Lions folklore but a game which neatly combined two of the […]

Brendan Gallagher’s all-time All Blacks Maori XV

16 June 2017 0 comments

1. Billy Bush – William Kingita Te Pohe to give the Napier and Canterbury prop his full name. Wild looking, heavily bearded piratical figure and […]

Brendan Gallagher picks his all-time Lions XV

1 June 2017 0 comments

15. JPR Williams Ever present in 1971 and 1974 and a player who took the fight to the ‘enemy’ more than most. Gave the Lions […]

Brendan Gallagher: Exeter prove patience can be greatest virtue

31 May 2017 0 comments

It was Leo Tolstoy – who doesn’t offer appear on the sports pages – who once remarked that the two most powerful warriors are patience […]

Brendan Gallagher: Premiership final promises to be an absolute cracker

24 May 2017 0 comments

So after 22 rounds and two pulsating skin-of-your- teeth semis Wasps will play Exeter in the Aviva Premiership Final in a game that every neutral […]

Brendan Gallagher: Chiefs to beat Saracens but Wasps for title

18 May 2017 0 comments

There’s no guarantee a cracking regular season will produce two semi-final play-offs to remember next weekend but, frankly, it will be a major surprise if […]

Brendan Gallagher: We’re going to miss you Ashton, try scoring ace

17 May 2017 0 comments

No one individual ever wins a match for Saracens, it’s not how they go about their work, but it was slightly ironic that it was […]

Brendan Gallagher: Crusading Clermont are closing in on their Holy Grail

11 May 2017 0 comments

It possibly won’t surprise you that Clermont – who took 99 years to land their first French Championship and who are almost defined by their […]

Brendan Gallagher: Scots unlucky that Twickenham defeat was not considered a blip

27 April 2017 0 comments

My heart sunk a little for the Scots on Wednesday when John Spencer read out the 41- strong Lions squad and there were just two […]

Munster v Saracens: Pedigree is there for a classic Euro showdown

21 April 2017 0 comments

It’s 18 years since Saracens first met Munster in Europe in a double header that still ranks alongside any clash in the competition’s illustrious history. […]

Brendan Gallagher: Willie wasn’t a wonker – he just got it wrong

13 April 2017 0 comments

Don’t blame Willie Le Roux or Danny Cipriani for that matter. Wasps‘ humbling defeat at Leinster went much deeper than an embarrassing cock-up by their […]

Willie wasn’t a wonker – he just got it wrong

9 April 2017 0 comments

Don’t blame Willie Le Roux or Danny Cipriani for that matter. Wasps’ humbling defeat at Leinster went much deeper than an embarrassing cock-up by their […]

There’s never been another like England fly-half Karen

9 April 2017 0 comments

THIS week marked the 30th anniversary of the first women’s rugby international between Wales and England which was staged at Pontypool Park where a curious […]

Italy should stage finals

9 April 2017 0 comments

NOBODY is keener than me to see rugby gain an even firmer foothold in Spain and I don’t doubt that next season’s European finals in […]

Brendan Gallagher remembers the 1993 Lions tour

6 April 2017 0 comments

The last truly amateur tour in Lions history ended up as just about the perfect metaphor of everything that had preceded it in the previous […]

Brendan Gallagher: Eurostars who can earn chance to make a late check-in for the Lions

30 March 2017 0 comments

European Cup quarter-final weekend is right up there with the very best rugby weekends of the season but doubly so this season with so many […]

Brendan Gallagher’s Team of the Six Nations

23 March 2017 0 comments

15. Stuart Hogg (Scotland): One of few modern players with genuine x-factor. A try scorer and provider. Rob Kearney was in decent nick. 14. George […]

Brendan Gallagher: Good riddance to record run, now Eddie can experiment

22 March 2017 0 comments

It had to happen – and in fact you could argue it might have been better for England if France had nicked the win they […]

Just how good is Stuart Hogg

9 March 2017 0 comments

Earlier in his career – and he’s still only 24 for heaven’s sake – the story that Stuart Hogg was distantly related to the late […]

Young and Solomona top of the list outside bets for Lions

2 March 2017 0 comments

Is there any chance of Warren Gatland coming up with a genuine bolter for the 2017 Lions? Probably not. All four Home Unions are strong […]

Brendan Gallagher on the famous Lions bolters

2 March 2017 0 comments

As far as I can determine the term “bolter” was originally an Australian equine expression used to describe a horse that unexpectedly wins at long […]

Brendan Gallagher remembers the 1977 Lions tour

24 February 2017 0 comments

History has not been kind to the 1977 Lions and, coming after the triumphs of 1971 and 1974, they were, perhaps, on a hiding to […]

Brendan Gallagher: Joost was a joy to watch and an utter nightmare to play against

16 February 2017 0 comments

Rarely, if ever, have the sporting gods given so abundantly before retracting their favours so suddenly and without sentiment. To see Joost van der Westhuizen […]

Brendan Gallagher: Play Itoje and Daly in their natural positions

8 February 2017 0 comments

Sometimes we can get carried away and expect too much from out young players with their extravagant talents encouraging us to believe they can automatically […]

Hair Bear Adam Jones finds happy new lair at the Stoop

26 January 2017 0 comments

One of the best, most direct and honest, Rugby autobiographies written in recent years was Bomb by Adam Jones which modestly chronicled a career of […]