Brendan Gallagher

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

Brendan Gallagher: Six Nations coaches are at the crossroads

5 February 2016 0 comments

Three New Zealanders, two Frenchmen and an Aussie. That’s your Six Nations coaching line-up this season, an eclectic and erudite bunch although you will notice […]

Brendan Gallagher: Form counts for nothing in Calcutta Cup cauldron

4 February 2016 0 comments

It would be untrue to describe Murrayfield as a graveyard for English rugby, there has been plenty of success there over the years including the […]

Brendan Gallagher: Above all, Dylan, make sure you have luck on your side

29 January 2016 0 comments

Eddie Jones announced Dylan Hartley as his England captain on Monday which probably came as no surprise although he has taken a slightly scenic route […]

Brendan Gallagher: Being coach of England often ends in tears, Eddie

21 January 2016 0 comments

So Eddie Jones is off and running, and to borrow slightly from the late and much lamented David Bowie, we might not know where he […]

Brendan Gallagher column: It’s time for Six Nations to produce real quality

13 January 2016 0 comments

It’s normally right now – the second and third week of January – that I fall back in love with the Six Nations. Hope springs […]

Brendan Gallagher feature: All the big guns set their sights on Rio Olympics

8 January 2016 0 comments

So far so good. After Rugby‘s ill-starred Olympic history it’s been comparatively plain sailing to date for the 2016 tournament, at least on the pure […]

Brendan Gallagher: New hope for British clubs as the old empires crumble in Europe

31 December 2015 0 comments

How the mighty have fallen. We still have two rounds of the Pool stages left – in fact some teams have three ties remaining after […]

Brendan Gallagher feature: How the ale and hearty Varsity girls reached HQ

27 November 2015 0 comments

It all started in a pub, as most of the best rugby stories do, back in the summer of 1987 and so good was the […]

Brendan Gallagher looks back at the life and career of Jonah Lomu

26 November 2015 0 comments

During a lifetime in sport journalism I can’t remember anything more exhilarating and life enhancing than reporting on the young Jonah Lomu and then, for […]

Brendan Gallagher column: Let Eddie Jones get England singing to his tune, and nobody else’s

25 November 2015 0 comments

Eddie Jones is not a politician – he’s a hands on coach and doer – and I like to think Friday’s Press conference is the […]

Brendan Gallagher: It’s farewell to Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield. Yes, really!

20 November 2015 0 comments

For those of you suffering post World Cup cold turkey the Pumas are back at Twickenham on Saturday against one of the more attack- minded […]

Brendan Gallagher comment: Stuart Lancaster was the right man in the wrong job

19 November 2015 0 comments

The alarm bells started ringing loudly, for me anyway, in a dusty classroom at Loughborough University last May. It was just before England jetted off […]

A preview of the Champions Cup pools

13 November 2015 0 comments

By Brendan Gallagher Pool 1: Saracens, Ulster Toulouse and Oyonnax Overview: Saracens had 15 players involved in the World Cup but have regrouped quickly and […]

Euro clubs must not let RWC have all the epics

13 November 2015 0 comments

By Brendan Gallagher To borrow heavily from the great Tom Petty, “too much ain’t enough”, although I fancy the rock maestro had something other than […]

Brendan Gallagher comment: A fittingly Olympian venue for these sporting giants to bid their farewells

6 November 2015 0 comments

It was all about farewells at the Olympic Park on Friday night, as the latter stages of a World Cup often are. New stars are […]

Brendan Gallagher World Cup XV

5 November 2015 0 comments

15. Ben Smith (New Zealand): Consumate in all departments, Japan‘s brilliant Agumu Goromaru the next in line 14. Julian Savea (New Zealand): Use to be […]

Brendan Gallagher feature: England apart, this has been a World Cup to remember!

5 November 2015 0 comments

So how will history view Rugby World Cup 2015? The biggest and grandest in terms of crowd numbers and stadia? Unquestionably, and it was probably […]

Brendan Gallagher feature: This was just a complete blast from start to finish

4 November 2015 0 comments

The construction – or in this case deconstruction – gangs will arrive at Twickenham first thing this morning to start ripping down the huge hospitality […]

Brendan Gallagher comment: Sublime Conrad Smith has a five-star lawyer’s brain and he can hit too

4 November 2015 0 comments

Richie McCaw and Dan Carter deserve every plaudit that comes their way – the golden duo have redefined their positions and rewritten the records book […]

Brendan Gallagher’s World Cup departed XV

15 October 2015 0 comments

15: Ayumu Goromaru (Japan): Sensational player in attack and defence and the team’s goal-kicker to boot. Burst on the scene over a decade ago when […]

Brendan Gallagher: This golden generation of Pumas WILL top the world

9 October 2015 0 comments

As befits a good Yorkshire man, Les Cusworth is not a betting man. But if he was he would invest heavily in Argentina winning the […]

Brendan Gallagher recounts the intriguing tale of the ‘first World Cup’

2 October 2015 0 comments

The road not taken is an enduring theme in sport and now, right in the middle of a riotously successful World Cup, it’s galling to […]

Brendan Gallagher talks to Wallaby legend Michael Lynagh

23 September 2015 0 comments

Michael Patrick, Thomas Lynagh – yes there are some Irish antecedents there for sure – doesn’t really ‘do’ drama. As a player he was unruffled, […]

Brendan Gallagher’s feature Time for Rugby World Cup to make another Quantum leap

18 September 2015 0 comments

Far be it from me to heap the pressure on the already overworked organisers but RWC2015 is probably the most important tournament in the game’s […]

Brendan Gallagher – Watch out England, Leone Nakarawa has it all

16 September 2015 0 comments

Leone Nakarawa is the Fijian rugby player of everybody’s dreams and most opponents’ nightmares. Long legged, lean and mean he can run like a back […]

Brendan Gallagher’s RWC absent friends XV

12 September 2015 0 comments

15 Israel Dagg (NZ) Arguably the star of the tournament four years ago, certainly a key player with five tries and a series of performances […]

Brendan Gallagher’s verdict: Yes Rob, the future is bright, but it’s all about the here and now…

9 September 2015 0 comments

That was an angry England team out there yesterday, especially in the first half, and I’m not surprised after their no-show in the opening 60-70 […]

Brendan Gallagher pays tribute to Bakkies Botha

4 September 2015 0 comments

It’s all a bit rock’n’roll for Bakkies Botha at present. Farewell gigs in Cape Town, Tokyo and, most recently, at the Olympic Stadium in London, […]

Brendan Gallagher recalls the biggest World Cup upsets in history

28 August 2015 2 comments

Shock results – upsets – are not a common occurrence at World Cups where generally thing go very much to form. Indeed only five teams have […]

Brendan Gallagher’s feature: Record-breaker Richie McCaw was on a different level from the start

20 August 2015 2 comments

It was a dirty Dublin night in November 2001 when our shambles of a taxi driver eventually located the Killiney Castle Hotel in the wastelands […]

Brendan Gallagher’s Rugby World Cup bolters

6 August 2015 0 comments

Danny Barrett (USA): One of the great hopes surrounding the US Eagles Sevens programme is that some of the talent identified there as they go […]

Brendan Gallagher’s column: Scandalous delay that haunts the World Cup

6 August 2015 1 comment

One of the biggest drawbacks of Rugby Union‘s obsession with amateurism was that the Rugby World Cup was belatedly dragged kicking into this world 15-20 […]

Brendan Gallagher previews the Bledisloe Cup

5 August 2015 0 comments

This year’s quick-fire Rugby Championship seems to be hurtling to a conclusion almost before it began but the organisers couldn’t have hoped for a more […]

Brendan Gallagher’s column: Sometimes it’s better just to put your feet up

29 July 2015 2 comments

I don’t know if Wales‘ fitness guru Paul Stridgeon and Bristol coach Sean Holley are Jos Stone fans and I certainly never had them down […]

Brendan Gallagher’s Rugby Championship preview

16 July 2015 0 comments

In a World Cup year a short sharp Rugby Championship – each of the four teams plays each other just the once – may seemingly […]

Brendan Gallagher meets up with Brad Barritt

9 July 2015 0 comments

By my count there are nine players in the current England long squad who could justifiably harbour hopes, albeit some much slimmer than others, of […]

Brendan Gallagher’s feature: A gentle boot-camp and warm-up for the Cup? Tell that to the Marines

8 July 2015 0 comments

The thing about World Cup camps is that the handbrakes come off and, especially among Tier One Nations, the notoriously tight-fisted Union treasurers can finally […]

Brendan Gallagher speaks to Firebrand Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu about preaching the message of alofa

2 July 2015 0 comments

As well as being a cracking Test centre and fly-half and a ‘have boots will travel’ professional for a decade or more, Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu has […]

Brendan Gallagher’s feature: The day South Africa was cleared for take-off

24 June 2015 0 comments

It’s 20 years ago today that President Nelson Mandela presented Francois Pienaar with the World Cup at Ellis Park to bring down the curtain on what […]

Brendan Gallagher’s feature: Bionic Jacques Burger is on his last crusade

19 June 2015 2 comments

After the best part of ten months at the coal face on behalf of Premiership champions Saracens, Jacques Burger is taking June off and intends […]

Brendan Gallagher: The 69-match journey to the World Cup

12 June 2015 1 comment

Nations Cup The tenth year of this competition and the ninth to be held in Bucharest. Only the inaugural tournament, in 2006 when Lisbon was […]

Brendan Gallagher’s feature: USA Eagles leave rugby’s old world order at Sixes and Sevens

27 May 2015 0 comments

Last Tuesday evening, when Madison Hughes and his American Sevens squad arrived back at the USA Olympic training centre in Chula Vista, near San Diego, […]

Brendan Gallagher’s Premiership play-offs preview

21 May 2015 0 comments

Northampton (1) Story of the season The reigning champions may have wobbled badly in Europe with those big defeats against Racing and, of course, Clermont […]

Brendan Gallagher’s feature: How the RAF revived spirit of Bader and Cooler King

14 May 2015 1 comment

Through adversity to the stars, as the RAF motto proclaims. Taking on the might of the Army and Navy has always been a tall order […]

Brendan Gallagher: Clear the air? No, Fartgate only left a very nasty smell!

7 May 2015 0 comments

It was 20 years ago today – the Sunday of the early May Bank Holiday – that one of the strangest cameos of the fast […]

Brendan Gallagher’s verdict on Toulon’s Champions Cup win: The old Sea Wolves are simply majestic

6 May 2015 2 comments

I ceased caring about how many millions Toulon allegedly spend on their squad a long time ago. In fact the more people enviously criticise them […]

Brendan Gallagher’s Champions Cup team of the tournament

30 April 2015 0 comments

15 Nick Abendanon (above) – Clermont For some reason his stellar performances for Clermont seem to have attracted more attention than similar displays for Bath. […]

Brendan Gallagher’s feature: Never call Carl Hayman a mercenary… he’s been a galactico!

30 April 2015 0 comments

Three giants of the game – metaphorically and physically – depart the European scene at Twickenham on Saturday as the clock rapidly runs down on […]

Brendan Gallagher’s column: Clermont reap benefits from hunting cleverly

16 April 2015 0 comments

Money invariably encourages envy and bad-mouthing but money per se has never guaranteed success in any sport. Winning is much more complicated than that. Some […]