Chris Hewett

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

Matawalu magic is set to light up Ponty

4 September 2022 2 comments

By Chris Hewett They were the best of days. Time and again, a Heineken Cup trip to Pontypridd delivered on the grand scale, with Neil […]

Financial grief puts sport in a sorry state

28 August 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT A few days ago, the proposed transfer of the Senegalese footballer Ismaila Sarr from Watford to Aston Villa disappeared down the same hole […]

Minnows still thrown to sharp shooters

28 August 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT Many of the most gruesome blood sports have been legislated out of existence. It’s called progress. You don’t see many goose-pulling tournaments these […]

When poor selection causes the problems

21 August 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST A bad moon had risen over Brisbane when England emerged from the Lang Park tunnel on an early June evening in 1998. […]

Robinson gets lost in a maze of his own making

21 August 2022 0 comments

Chris Hewitt So the movers and shakers at the top end of professional rugby in New Zealand union are every bit as amateur as their […]

Hooper deserves support from us all

14 August 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT We are not sure how many of the New Zealand starting line-up actually read the anonymous fax sent to their Cape Town hotel […]

Rugby has a proper fight on its hands now

7 August 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Anyone out there remember Sean Kerly? It’s just about possible, but only if your joints are seizing up and you feel […]

It’s Castro’s abilities we should remember

7 August 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT Back in 2008, when a Labour government was running the country and the Rugby Football Union couldn’t run a tap, your columnist schlepped […]

Suck out the joy and people will turn away

7 August 2022 0 comments

Paul Rees talks to Richmond director of rugby Steve Hill about the game’s future Then it came, the question was why it had taken so […]

Top dogs in danger of losing their bite

31 July 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST We’re almost there. By mid-November, the cast list of next year’s World Cup will be finalised, with one of four complete […]

No surprise that Boyd finds work back in NZ

31 July 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT There is no shortage of admiration in this corner of the paper for the coaching of Chris Boyd, so the news that it […]

Chile put pressure on US to up their game

24 July 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST When the Australian batsman Mark Waugh, brother of the masterly Test captain Steve, questioned the credentials of Jimmy Ormond during an […]

Playing under one flag could threaten the union

24 July 2022 2 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Rugby is just a game, as the saying goes, but that doesn’t mean it is bereft of history as an agent […]

It’s time we made the players the main event

17 July 2022 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST The sagacious lexicographer Dr Johnson – we’re talking Samuel here, not Martin – famously caused a ruckus by describing patriotism as […]

Bossing line-outs is still the key skill

17 July 2022 1 comment

Chris Hewett Rugby has always had its share of brass necks, but did the Wales U20 lock Dafydd Jenkins abuse the privilege by ambling into […]

Slammin’ Sam just won’t let story end

3 July 2022 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Three decades and a thousand miles down the road, die-hard All Blacks supporters still unfurl their “Bring Back Buck” flags in […]

Crusaders revive the dying art of rucking

26 June 2022 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST The former England captain Phil de Glanville will continue as “Senior Professional Game Board Representative”, according to the latest pronouncement from […]

Beauden, Finn and Marcus are keeping Bennett’s spirit alive

19 June 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Spike Milligan, comedy goldsmith and undisputed grandmaster of nonsense verse, counted rugby among the great loves of his life. “The thing […]

Rennie has a healthy selection headache

12 June 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST History, we are told, is just one damned thing after another. And by way of rubbing it in, eminent thinkers argue […]

Franchise departures remain a mystery…

12 June 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT DIDN’T take long, did it? Just a few short weeks after World Rugby – the non-governing governing body – formally hitched its wagon […]

Romance alive and kicking in France

5 June 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Hot news! Manchester City won the Premier League. Again. Didn’t see that one coming. And Bayern Munich are champions of Germany. […]

Diamond knows the principles of winning

5 June 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT AT a rough guess, the number of times Steve Diamond has been mistaken for Aristotle can be counted on the fingers of no […]

Fine XV of England selection oversights

29 May 2022 2 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Eddie Jones is hardly the first England coach to take an unusually gifted player to one side and leave him there, […]

Leinster are taking Europe to next level

22 May 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST It is often argued, usually by politicians reneging on a manifesto promise, that “the perfect is the enemy of the good”. […]

How Rassie helped pull the plug on water boys

22 May 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT UNINTENDED consequences? You can’t move for them in the Union game. World Rugby has just announced another of its “global trials” (the nongoverning […]

The Boks are here, there and everywhere

15 May 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Some things in rugby are so difficult to find, they drive astrophysicists to drink. Scientists operating the Giant Magellan Telescope are struggling […]

Now’s the time for the French revolution

15 May 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT AS a rule of thumb, English teams good enough to fight their way into a Champions Cup final eventually go on to win […]

Points do not always deliver the top prizes

8 May 2022 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Rugby followers who decided long ago that the sport’s various governing bodies shared a factory setting of “useless” are unlikely to […]

Cueto was Ashton but without all the fanfare

8 May 2022 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT CLOSE members of Chris Ashton’s own family would hesitate to describe him as “the complete wing”, but his attacking instincts – rooted in […]

Very few now could master art of Joggie

1 May 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST The way the old-timers tell it, the Springboks were so petrified by the majesty of the All Blacks’ attacking play in […]

All eyes on Leinster’s honorary All Black

1 May 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT WHEN it comes to openside flankers, New Zealand’s grand tradition has long been grander than everyone else’s. Nathan, Mourie, Jones, Kronfeld, McCaw? They weren’t many […]

Streamline Champions Cup -don’t just dilute it

24 April 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST What bright spark invented this game of ours? The creation myth tells us it was a hoity-toity public schoolboy with a […]

Sheeran’s show is hindering Munster’s advance

24 April 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT EVEN in a world of surprises, it would be quite something for an Ipswich Town football nut to drive the mighty European campaigners […]

High time Bath hung up their silk pyjamas

17 April 2022 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Marvin Hagler had it right – not that there were too many people queuing up to tell him he was wrong. […]

Seeing is no longer believing in rugby

17 April 2022 2 comments

CHRIS HEWETT BACK in the day, when England were at the cutting edge of sports science and spending eye-watering amounts of money on technical expertise, […]

Mastermind Boyd ought to be top of the RFU list

10 April 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Few of the people charged with running English rugby are blessed with a sense of direction. If there is a wrong […]

Dundee classroom served Tom well

10 April 2022 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT TOM Smith was the best Scottish rugby player of the professional era. No question. We can also describe him as the finest Lions […]

Catt’s made his mark by doing it the Ashton way

3 April 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST It does no violence to the truth to state that Italy are half as good a rugby team as Ireland, so […]

High price to pay for switching to satellite

3 April 2022 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT IT WAS just a little discombobulating, listening to a sports presenter on BBC R4’s flagship Today programme talking about latest developments in the […]

Home has not been a comfort at most RWCs

27 March 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Way back in the early 1950s – another moment when it was difficult to decide if English rugby belonged in a […]

Wales’ fall from grace could hit an all-time low

27 March 2022 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT ALL things considered, the world rankings do not feature highly on Wayne Pivac’s current agenda. The Wales coach would kill for a couple […]

Let’s hope Leicester can afford Pollard

20 March 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT THE Panama Papers, the Paradise Papers, the Pandora Papers. Three massive data leaks exposing dodgy dealing in the financial sector. When it comes […]

Woodward versus Jones is box office sideshow

20 March 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Fierce rivalries may lose their heat over time, but they always leave a scorch mark on the soul. Even now, it […]

Borthwick’s only duty is to his team, get over it!

13 March 2022 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Steve Borthwick had enough on his plate during Leicester’s defeat at Saracens in North London last weekend without the television commentary […]

Dupont is heading for greatness like Gareth

6 March 2022 2 comments

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST It has been reported with a high degree of certainty that Aaron Smith, an undeniably brilliant New Zealand half-back with a […]

Australian rules must have Boon crying into his beer

6 March 2022 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT BACK in the day, when men were men and Australians considered themselves more masculine than the rest of the planet, flying and drinking […]

F-bomb was careless but Deano had a case

27 February 2022 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST Some of the things Ron Atkinson said during a long and lavishly rewarded career as a football manager were politically incorrect. […]

Good on Diamond for telling it like it is

27 February 2022 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT HATS off to the straight-talking Steve Diamond, “lead rugby consultant” – aka “new boss” – at Worcester. In this paper last weekend, Diamond […]