Brendan Gallagher

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

Brendan Gallagher: So, it’s farewell Heineken, you were already just champion!

22 May 2014 0 comments

Rather in the way journalism is often considered the first draft of history, the Heineken Cup was effectively European Rugby’s first foray into big-time professional […]

Brendan Gallagher: Why I’ve learned to love the Premiership play-offs

14 May 2014 2 comments

How quickly time moves on and blazing rows of yesteryear recede. For many it was the blackest of days midway through the 2002-03 season when […]

Brendan Gallagher: On the march with Trelawny’s Army, rugby’s great outsiders

9 May 2014 0 comments

So the European legislators, God bless, have finally caught up with the rugby world and officially recognised Cornwall as being very different to the rest […]

Brendan Gallagher: Murder on the dancefloor as Harlequins try to get a grip

8 May 2014 0 comments

The Murderball challenge is on. Mike Brown, already proud ambassador for Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby, wants to celebrate Harlequins‘ coming on board as formal partners […]

Brendan Gallagher and the Championship play-offs

1 May 2014 0 comments

The Championship play-offs have attracted more than their fair share of criticism over the last four years which I find astounding given the quality rugby, […]

Brendan Gallagher: The day that Munster found vintage form in Bordeaux

24 April 2014 0 comments

Munster’s love affair with the Heineken Cup has become the stuff of legend but in nearly two decades I recall no bigger match or occasion […]

Brendan Gallagher: Fitzy’s, fiddlers and film stars..no, we’ll never forget the craic

18 April 2014 0 comments

It won’t just be London Irish fans and members bidding a fond farewell to Sunbury next month when the JCBs start forming an orderly queue […]

Brendan Gallagher: Matt Giteau counts his blessings amid sun, sea and rugby stars

17 April 2014 0 comments

There was a fascinating cameo for people watchers at the end of Toulon‘s mighty win over Leinster at Stade Felix Mayol the other Sunday. Following […]

Brendan Gallagher: John Bull agenda is robbing England of some top talent

16 April 2014 0 comments

There is much to admire about Stuart Lancaster‘s England but I remain unconvinced by this “Little England” attitude which bars prospective England players plying their […]

Brendan Gallagher: Brive and bloody, the short reign of French mavericks

11 April 2014 1 comment

It is 16 years since Brive clashed with Bath in the 1998 Heineken Cup final in Bordeaux and at the time both clubs, who met […]

Brendan Gallagher: Steve Diamond has more polish but can still spot a gem

9 April 2014 0 comments

There was a time Sale boss Steve Diamond might have brooded for a week or more after the disappointing Amlin Cup defeat his admittedly makeshift […]

Brendan Gallagher: Balm before the storm: England’s 1914 Slam

4 April 2014 0 comments

Exactly 100 years ago the rugby season in England was fast drawing innocently to a close. In those days, with most clubs taking their cue […]

Brendan Gallagher: The sevens wonder of the world still going at 75!

26 March 2014 0 comments

Over the years camp followers have suffered from severe sunburn, hypothermia and trench foot watching the HSBC Rosslyn Park School Sevens but that all comes […]

Brendan Gallagher: 150 years on and rugby’s oldest rivalry just as fierce

21 March 2014 1 comment

They have been knocking lumps out of each other for 150 years now so it was probably fitting that Richmond and Blackheath fought out a […]

Brendan Gallagher: Brian O’Driscoll was never a victim again after this act of brutality

19 March 2014 0 comments

The thud and thunder of battles won and lost will never recede entirely, nor will those lightning forks of brilliance that lit up dark afternoons at […]

Brendan Gallagher: Why Barbados against mighty All Blacks will be no rum do

13 March 2014 0 comments

It’s a bleary-eyed Sunday morning on Aldershot Garrison Common where the icy wind knifes you in two and the freezing rain threatens to morph into […]

Brendan Gallagher: Why we have to keep Georgia on our minds

7 March 2014 0 comments

While the rest of the rugby world would be delighted to avoid playing New Zealand in the World Cup, Georgia will be going flat out […]

Brendan Gallagher: Let’s hear it for the new glory boys wearing 15

6 March 2014 16 comments

For decades it was the pin-ups at half-back who always seemed to hold sway, the mercurial playmakers and distributors who were often their team’s main […]

Brendan Gallagher’s verdict on England: Stuart Lancaster’s tough love is paying off

26 February 2014 0 comments

A little bit of faith, albeit combined with tough love, can go a long way in sport as Stuart Lancaster is currently proving with this […]

Brendan Gallagher: The Ultimate Warrior Chris Pennell stands tall in the battle for survival

20 February 2014 0 comments

There was a fascinating and rather poignant moment down at Sixways the other night as Worcester trooped off after losing to Leicester in the Premiership, […]

Brendan Gallagher: A belting then BOD became the scourge of England

19 February 2014 1 comment

Brian O’Driscoll has been waging war on England since his Six Nations debut in 2000 and although there have been highs and lows he will […]

Brendan Gallagher: Ruan Pienaar keeps faith with Ulster

14 February 2014 0 comments

There might have been a more influential and committed ‘overseas’ signing than Ruan Pienaar in the last 18 seasons since rugby turned professional but I […]

Brendan Gallagher talks Calcutta Cup with Peter Brown

7 February 2014 1 comment

It’s exactly 50 years ago since Peter Brown started taking the sword to the Sassenachs in earnest and, save for Robert the Bruce and William […]

Brendan Gallagher: George Chuter is the face of professional game

23 January 2014 0 comments

He looks and sounds like a London publican and certainly a job for life awaits on the EastEnders set should luvviedom ever appeal. But for […]

Bredan Gallagher: Nutter who made Jim Telfer’s class of ’84 finest of all

17 January 2014 1 comment

Jim Telfer shakes his head in amusement and then caves in completely and laughs uproariously. It happens occasionally: “All really good sides need a nutter […]

Brendan Gallagher: Georgia on my mind as the cosy club stick together

9 January 2014 2 comments

Lacking a degree in applied mathematics I only look at the IRB world rankings once a year and that is in the first week of […]

Brendan Gallagher: RFU Championship clubs face a vital strategy meeting

8 January 2014 0 comments

Later this month the chairmen and owners of the 12 RFU Championship clubs will lock themselves away in a Birmingham Hotel room with a pile […]

Brendan Gallagher takes a personal look at the Rugby World in 2013

2 January 2014 1 comment

BEST NEWCOMERS BTSport for their lively match day coverage and excellent Sunday lunchtime round-up show which is the must-watch rugby programme of the week; Isreal […]

Brendan Gallagher reminisces about some unique times with a hell-raising rugby fanatic

26 December 2013 1 comment

The security guard’s radio crackled around a deserted Twickenham: “Lawrence Of Arabia and a Man Called Horse are leaving the stadium. Please see these gentlemen […]

Brendan Gallagher talks to Nigel Owens about the challenges – and joy – of reffing around the world

19 December 2013 3 comments

It might surprise you to learn – although possibly not – that the pre-eminent referee in world rugby in 2013 has never sat down and […]

Brendan Gallagher talks to John Carter, the Varsity captain who doesn’t put winning first

11 December 2013 0 comments

John Carter may look like Sebastien Chabal’s younger, wilder, brother and when his battered body can be welded together for 80 minutes he often plays […]

Brendan Gallagher: Aussie kids who changed the face of rugby for ever

4 December 2013 0 comments

It’s hard to credit in this era of 12 or 13 Test matches per calendar year by all the major Test sides but Australia did […]

Brendan Gallagher on Fiji’s duty to end 100 years of lost opportunities

29 November 2013 0 comments

There is a myth that the full All Blacks have never played in Fiji which is not quite true. In 1913, on the way back […]

Keith Wood: Only Ireland’s very best for 80 minutes will suffice

21 November 2013 0 comments

Only five nations on this rugby planet have beaten New Zealand in a Test match in 110 years of trying so perhaps Ireland shouldn’t beat […]

Brendan Gallagher’s autumn verdict: McCaw & co look like world champions elect to me

20 November 2013 0 comments

England gave it a rattle and for once New Zealand seemed to come off second best with the ref but still the All Blacks, without […]

Brendan Gallagher’s fallen heroes

14 November 2013 2 comments

1914 06 09 14 Xavier ‘Gastofer’ Mayssonnie (France): The only Toulouse player in France’s first Five nations game. Adjutant 259ème Regiment d’Infanterie. KIA Meuse 14 […]

Brendan Gallagher’s verdict on Wales

13 November 2013 0 comments

And still Wales can’t make the breakthrough the nation demands and expects and their talent warrants. For all their excellence on the European scene – […]

Brendan Gallagher: League legend Ray French never let ‘Cold War’ sour his Union links

8 November 2013 1 comment

Somewhere up in Ray French’s attic, amid thousands of programmes, is a dusty typed letter from the RFU clearing him to re-continue his voluntary coaching […]

Brendan Gallagher remembers the 2003 World Cup triumph with Lawrence Dallaglio

31 October 2013 1 comment

Lawrence Dallaglio wipes his plate clean – the monster ‘Magnifica’ breakfast at Carluccios in Richmond having been routed with lip-smacking relish – orders fresh coffee […]

Brendan Gallagher: Gregor Townsend still getting to grips with the enigma of French rugby

24 October 2013 1 comment

Gregor Townsend, who did rather more than simply survive five seasons of club rugby in France, has always insisted that one day he will write […]

Brendan Gallagher: Heroic, tragic and downright eccentric, yes rugby has it all

17 October 2013 1 comment

A mate of mine, literary agent David Luxton, has had the brilliant idea of organising the inaugural London Sports Writing Festival this week at Lord’s […]

Brendan Gallagher: The quiet-man keeping that Tigers’ roar loud and clear

10 October 2013 1 comment

A small, bald-headed gent has been taking centre stage at Leicester on match days this autumn but the volume and quantity of ‘chat’ has diminished […]

Brendan Gallagher: Don’t let the big boys’ Euro row put an end to Treviso dream

3 October 2013 2 comments

While the ERC blazers, club representatives from England and France and TV executives squabble endlessly over the future of a European club competition, the likes […]

Brendan Gallagher: At last, John Dawes gets his rightful recognition

26 September 2013 2 comments

Why is ‘legendary’ status conferred on some outstanding rugby personalities but denied others? Who decides these things and how? Does the rugby pubic instinctively recognise […]