Nick Cain

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

Nick Cain talks to Dave Attwood about the effect the Bath quartet is having on England

26 February 2015 1 comment

When Dave Attwood grounded the ball over the line at the Millennium Stadium late in the script for what appeared to be England‘s third try […]

Nick Cain talks to the England forwards coach Graham Rowntree about the exciting new dynamism of his pack

25 February 2015 0 comments

Graham Rowntree wants a pack for all seasons. An England eight that can grind the opposition like a millstone one minute, run them off their […]

Nick Cain: England Grand Slam hopes hit by TV rota

19 February 2015 1 comment

If you’ve always believed that the Six Nations is a level playing field, then think again. In the 15 seasons since the tournament admitted Italy […]

Nick Cain: Tom Who? can make a name for the Exiles

28 January 2015 1 comment

Tom Coventry‘s appointment as the new coach of London Irish following the early departure of Brian Smith has probably prompted a round of head-scratching in […]

Nick Cain: A global season must still cater for the British & Irish Lions

21 January 2015 1 comment

A global season is one of the items at the top of World Rugby‘s new year agenda, and great institutions like Lions tours could be […]

Nick Cain meets Jamie Gibson who has left academia to chase his rugby dream

15 January 2015 1 comment

Jamie Gibson is a scholar and a gentleman, a true blue Oxford University-educated boffin who, inspired by the philosophy of Socrates, the words of Homer, […]

Nick Cain: C’mon Joel Jutge get a grip of your referees!

14 January 2015 0 comments

Forget New Year wish lists, because where the current crisis in elite refereeing is concerned what we need is a hit list. Top of my […]

Nick Cain: OK, relax the cap but make it fair for ALL

8 January 2015 0 comments

There is a cartel-like stench attached to the double standards employed in the English Premiership, and it intensified just before Christmas when it emerged that […]

Nick Cain gives his post-autumn verdict on where England are with just eight games to go until RWC2015

18 December 2014 0 comments

When Stuart Lancaster was asked about the one added extra he would have wanted in his England team for the autumn series his response was […]

Nick Cain: Ritchie keeps the faith with Lancaster…for now

17 December 2014 0 comments

Ian Ritchie delivered an intriguing line in double-speak as he delivered his verdict on England‘s autumn return of two losses and one win against the […]

Nick Cain: Pay for a proper TMO system or bin it off

10 December 2014 0 comments

The TMO was introduced into the Premiership just over two years ago, and into international rugby a year later, and the signs so far is […]

Nick Cain: Joe Schmidt proves buying British isn’t always best

3 December 2014 0 comments

Look at the most successful sides in Europe, whether club or country, and you will usually find that there is a Kiwi coach involved. Joe […]

Nick Cain: Sabotage of Samoa is indictment of the IRB

27 November 2014 1 comment

Samoan rugby is in meltdown a year away from the 2015 World Cup, and the fact that a Pacific Island nation that has consistently punched […]

Nick Cain: A few dickheads can brighten up the game

20 November 2014 0 comments

There is always a danger in professional team sports like rugby that brilliant players who are different – idiosyncratic in their habits, slightly autistic, have […]

Nick Cain: Andy Farrell can bring Sam Burgess up to speed – at centre

13 November 2014 0 comments

Sam’s the man. Or he could be if Bath and England can get their act together to work out quickly and thoroughly how best to […]

Nick Cain talks to Dick Best about England’s best chance of beating South Africa

12 November 2014 1 comment

Dick Best says that South Africa, the big beasts of the world game, are on the hunt. He says that Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer’s side […]

Nick Cain examines the England EPS and asks head coach Stuart Lancaster about his key decisions

5 November 2014 0 comments

Semesa Rokoduguni’s selection in the 33-man England squad announced this week for the autumn internationals could be Stuart Lancaster‘s chance to conjure up his own […]

Nick Cain: So wrong, this gulf in funding for London Welsh

30 October 2014 0 comments

The Premiership is a stacked deck. So stacked that the most slippery of card sharps would consider it a masterpiece of rigging the odds, rather […]

Nick Cain talks to Joe Worsley about Bordeaux-Begles, Wasps and England

23 October 2014 0 comments

Joe Worsley had an expertise in rocking opposing teams which is unsurpassed in pro rugby. Worsley was the chop-tackler par excellence, the Wasps and 78-cap […]

Nick Cain: Good luck ‘Coventry Wasps’, the great club I joined is dead

23 October 2014 1 comment

This was the week when Wasps supporters and former players said farewell to their club. The London and home-counties based Wasps of the last 147 […]

Nick Cain looks back at the momentous career of ‘Big Ted’ Andrew Sheridan

16 October 2014 2 comments

Andrew Sheridan was the undisputed strong-man of the pro game, and as he went into retirement this week the 34-year-old England and Lions loose-head did […]

Nick Cain: Now Stuart Lancaster has a licence to gamble

15 October 2014 2 comments

If Stuart Lancaster sees out his full term as England head coach he will have been in the post for an unprecedented eight years, his […]

Nick Cain talks to James Haskell about his world tour of self discovery

10 October 2014 0 comments

James Haskell doesn’t do run-of-the-mill. If the guinea-pig generation of Academy pro-players are among the most pampered but least colourful that English Rugby Union has […]

Nick Cain: Martin Johnson’s out and firing – at wrong targets!

8 October 2014 0 comments

Martin Johnson broke cover for the first time in the three years since he resigned as England manager when he gave interviews this week as […]

Nick Cain: VCs are for our military heroes not rugby lads

2 October 2014 1 comment

An essential part of the well-being of any professional (or amateur) sport is having strong and profitable relationships with commercial and broadcast partners, as is […]

Nick Cain talks to World Cup winner Neil Back about England’s back-row

1 October 2014 0 comments

Neil Back wants to accentuate the positives for England in the week that the 2015 World Cup countdown began in earnest. However, not at the […]

Nick Cain talks to Stephen Myler – the fly-half driving Northampton’s challenge to retain their Championship

25 September 2014 0 comments

Stephen Myler is the Stuart Lancaster’s most experienced fly-half and, on the evidence of the last six months, offers a mix of precision and effervescence […]

Nick Cain: Europe’s suddenly got a lot tougher for the Irish

24 September 2014 1 comment

Soon after Brian O’Driscoll had been revealed as the latest jewel in BT Sport’s ever-expanding crown of former international pundits he touched on what could […]

Nick Cain talks to Exeter’s Henry Slade about his outside hopes for the World Cup

18 September 2014 1 comment

How could Henry Slade give up on the dream of winning the 2015 World Cup final for England when the last one was won by […]

Nick Cain: Magician who turned invisible for England

17 September 2014 0 comments

James Simpson-Daniel was one of those players, who, like David Campese and Gerald Davies before him, was touched by the rugby genius that left you […]

Nick Cain talks to Will Fraser about Saracens’ new challenge in Europe

28 August 2014 0 comments

Will Fraser faces a new start this season, and one of the main yardsticks by which the Saracens No.7 and most of his England squad […]

Nick Cain: Let’s draft top young talent each season

27 August 2014 0 comments

What do Dan Cole, Billy Twelvetrees, Tom Youngs and Owen Farrell of the current England squad have in common? The answer is that they are […]

Nick Cain: Revealed – Referees do turn blind eye to some laws

21 August 2014 0 comments

Refereeing at the elite end is reaching crisis point, and the IRB’s professional referees’ manager, Joel Jutge, needs to get a grip on it or […]

Nick Cain meets the fully-fit, revitalised and agreeably confident Christian Wade

20 August 2014 0 comments

Christian Wade knows it’s all about being in the right place at the right time. It is the golden rule of the finisher’s trade, and […]

Nick Cain: Sorry Clive, coaches should stay off the pitch

15 August 2014 1 comment

The cult of the coach gathered momentum this week when Sir Clive Woodward stepped into the debate on Alastair Cook’s cricket captaincy. England rugby‘s 2003 […]

Nick Cain meets Newcastle’s Kieran Brookes, making a world cup bid at tighthead

14 August 2014 2 comments

Kieran Brookes is a bull of a man, with the same look and physique as a young Phil Vickery. The Newcastle Falcons tighthead is the […]

Nick Cain talks to Joe Lydon and Mike Friday about the GB challenge in the Rio Olympics Sevens

7 August 2014 0 comments

Joe Lydon and Mike Friday used to share the same vision of Sevens when they worked together at the RFU from 2001 to 2004, with […]

Nick Cain: Clubs must tune into needs of their fans

6 August 2014 0 comments

One of the most noticeable aspects of watching rugby in the Southern Hemisphere over the course of the summer has been the vast swathes of […]

EXCLUSIVE: Nick Cain talks to Mike Tindall about THAT night in Queenstown and England’s Future

30 July 2014 0 comments

Mike Tindall was the recipient this week of one of the most striking eulogies given by Sir Clive Woodward to a member of his world […]

Nick Cain: Pennell breaks Tier Two Test taboo

25 July 2014 1 comment

Chris Pennell can be selected in the next England elite squad (EPS), despite playing in the Championship for Worcester. Stuart Lancaster‘s decision to be flexible, […]

Nick Cain: Nothing small about Justin, especially his ambitions

23 July 2014 1 comment

Justin Burnell would be hard to beat if there was a prize for the greatest comeback of last season. There is nothing undersized about the […]

Nick Cain: IRB’s lack of Sevens’ plan could spell chaos

16 July 2014 0 comments

Bernard Lapasset has been waxing lyrical about the fantastic growth in the popularity of Sevens this week. That this popularity has as much to do […]

Nick Cain: it’s time for Stuart Lancaster to decide on his style of forward play

9 July 2014 0 comments

The heat has been turned up following England’s blackwash in New Zealand with the All Blacks and their cheerleaders in the Kiwi media jostling to […]

Nick Cain: Aussie man-mountain can Eclipse England

8 July 2014 0 comments

The Aussies are more inventive than most when it come to nick-names, and the one in the news most Down Under is the one coined […]

Nick Cain: At least one England team has belief to beat the world

30 June 2014 1 comment

Character. It’s a hard one to define on a big sporting occasion, but what we do know is that where Nick Walshe’s England U20 World […]

Nick Cain gives his verdict on England’s losing tour to New Zealand

27 June 2014 0 comments

If England are sick of coming second, and return home determined to do a clean sweep in the autumn of their Southern Hemisphere opponents – […]

Nick Cain talks to Courtney Lawes about England’s welcome strength in depth

19 June 2014 1 comment

Courtney Lawes on the bench? If ever there was a register of the growing confidence and depth of the England squad it came with Stuart […]

Nick Cain: Top 14 cash could tear apart the All Blacks

18 June 2014 2 comments

The suggestion that Aaron Smith, the New Zealand scrum-half, has been sounded out by Toulouse about joining the French club after the 2015 World Cup […]

Nick Cain talks to England full-back Mike Brown about his remarkable transformation

12 June 2014 2 comments

Mike Brown is England’s torch-bearer, but one with a difference. He is the man at the back, rather than the front, who lights up the […]

Nick Cain: Bravo London Welsh, now give them level playing field

11 June 2014 0 comments

London Welsh‘s against-the-odds victory in the Championship final, beating runaway league leaders Bristol by a healthy 48-28 aggregate margin over two legs, has stirred up […]

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