Nick Cain

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

Nick Cain: Get scrum right Alain – or be kicked into touch

21 November 2013 1 comment

When Alain Rolland was introduced at the Millennium Stadium last weekend as the referee for the Wales v South Africa match he was met with […]

Nick Cain: Stuart Lancaster ducks his big chance to be bold

15 November 2013 3 comments

Little more than a week ago Stuart Lancaster called the next 12 months a “defining year” for his team. The England head coach was, of […]

Nick Cain talks to World-cup winning coach Wayne Smith about the All Blacks, Australia and England

14 November 2013 0 comments

Wayne Smith is hardwired with the All Black genome from the soles of his feet to the last hair on his head. Having won 17 […]

Nick Cain: Leave the subs on the bench for better results

7 November 2013 0 comments

There is a ‘tinkerman’ alive and kicking inside every coach, so here’s a plea to Stuart Lancaster, Andy Farrell and Graham Rowntree as the autumn […]

Nick Cain assesses the challenge a warring Argentina will set for England this week

6 November 2013 0 comments

Patricio Albacete is Argentina’s most experienced forward, and is widely regarded as one of the best locks in the game, yet he arrives at Twickenham […]

Nick Cain previews Twickenham’s opening match of the autumn internationals

31 October 2013 0 comments

When it comes to being two-faced, Stuart Lancaster‘s England win the prize hands down. The question is which face will we see when they kick […]

Nick Cain: Matt Kvesic must play if he’s going to be special K

30 October 2013 1 comment

Matt Kvesic’s early departure from the England squad to play Australia highlights the thorny problem of how far a head coach backs his judgement when […]

Nick Cain talks to Warren Gatland about the Lions triumph and autumn challenge

24 October 2013 1 comment

Warren Gatland’s credentials as the best coach in Northern Hemisphere rugby, and arguably the best in the world, have been writ large since the 2013 […]

Nick Cain: Certitudes for England? I can count only two!

23 October 2013 1 comment

Stuart Lancaster’s head must be in a spin. This is because with only two weeks to go before England open their autumn series account against […]

Nick Cain: The bogus water boys are pouring out advice

18 October 2013 0 comments

With Mike Catt giving England coaching directives while on the pitch during Six Nations matches last season, and Neil Jenkins doing the same for Leigh […]

Nick Cain talks to Exeter’s captain Dean Mumm about the Heineken Cup and Australia’s autumn challenge

17 October 2013 0 comments

Dean Mumm does not hail from anywhere within 10,000 miles of Devon. Yet, the Exeter Chiefs captain, New Zealand born and Australia bred, is playing […]

Nick Cain looks at the opening rounds of the final Heineken Cup

11 October 2013 3 comments

The 19th Heineken Cup has been billed as the last of its kind, the collector’s edition. And winning it will be a huge accolade irrespective […]

Nick Cain: Let George go, Saints, or risk his goodwill

9 October 2013 3 comments

George North is box office, and although he had to wait until last Friday night for his first try for Northampton since moving to Franklin’s […]

Nick Cain talks to Gloucester fly-half Freddie Burns about his challenge for club and country

3 October 2013 0 comments

Freddie Burns is the sort of fly-half that scares the living daylights out of English coaches almost as much as he does the opposition. Burns, […]

Nick Cain: These weakened teams undermine competition

2 October 2013 4 comments

There are occasions when it is hard to fathom the workings, and the culture, of the English Premiership. Why, at a time when the English […]

Nick Cain talks to Bath’s Dave Attwood about his second coming for England

26 September 2013 1 comment

Dave Attwood has that combination of brains as well as brawn that is a treasured commodity in most sports, but in Rugby Union especially. Attwood […]

Nick Cain: Heineken war could harm World Cup 2015

25 September 2013 4 comments

The battle lines have been drawn around the Heineken Cup – or the territory it once occupied – and there is a bloody fight looming. […]

Nick Cain: Self-interested coaches should not scrutinise refs

20 September 2013 3 comments

While I have sympathy for Premiership Rugby‘s bid to secure a more meritocratic Heineken Cup, the initiative by PRL, the administrative arm of the elite […]

Nick Cain talks to Saracens coach Phil Morrow about the amazing Billy Vunipola

18 September 2013 0 comments

Billy Vunipola is a tank, and at Twickenham two weeks ago London Irish found him virtually unstoppable. The pulverising charges of the gargantuan Saracens back […]

Nick Cain talks to Worcester’s new director of rugby Dean Ryan about the challenges ahead

12 September 2013 0 comments

Dean Ryan is realistic about Worcester’s place in the Premiership pecking order. The Warriors are perched precariously on the lower rungs of what is rapidly […]

Nick Cain: Let’s hope England use attack at key word

11 September 2013 2 comments

The pulse always quickens at the start of a new season, and with the Lions’ first triumph for 16 years still fresh in the memories […]

Nick Cain: My Sevens squad for Rio has no Sevens stars

6 September 2013 0 comments

Imagine a Great Britain Sevens team for Rio 2016 picked, using a similar model to the Lions, from the best rugby union talent there is […]

Nick Cain talks to Mike Ford about his vision for the revitalisation of Bath

29 August 2013 0 comments

Mike Ford is not promising miracles. Bath’s new head coach has been around too long to fall into that trap, notably as England’s defence coach […]

Nick Cain: Joubert shows refs can’t rule the scrum

28 August 2013 5 comments

Brett Gosper came up with some marketing waffle this week which illustrates how the International Rugby Board have earned a reputation for consistently stuffing-up the […]

Nick Cain: Sevens title could be fool’s gold in Brazil

8 August 2013 0 comments

The suggestion that Sonny Bill Williams and Benji Marshall, two of Rugby League’s biggest stars, could be chasing Sevens gold for New Zealand at the […]

Nick Cain gives his expert assessment of England’s latest elite squads

7 August 2013 1 comment

Stuart Lancaster’s EPS selection for the new season reveals that England have just a single option in one of the most influential attacking positions on […]

Nick Cain looks ahead to the 2015 World Cup showdown between England, Wales and Australia

25 July 2013 1 comment

We are six months closer to the 2015 World Cup Pool of Pain, and the Lions victory over Australia provides a natural watershed from which […]

Nick Cain: North star needs help to twinkle for Saints

24 July 2013 1 comment

When it comes to buying marquee players for the new season no one in the Premiership has done a better job than Northampton. The acquisition […]

Nick Cain: Gatland defies the abuse to hit jackpot

18 July 2013 2 comments

What the 2013 Lions tour revealed is that for all the power inherent in the concept of the four Home Unions united, unity within the […]

Nick Cain says Lions’ selection errors would have proved costly in New Zealand

18 July 2013 1 comment

Sam Warburton says that he has no truck with the defeatist claptrap which says that the Lions cannot win in New Zealand four years from […]

Nick Cain’s tour overview: Do not underestimate this wonderful triumph

17 July 2013 0 comments

The 2013 Lions roared in Sydney, mauling the Wallabies by a record score, but there are some embittered souls for whom the Lions stand in […]

Nick Cain reflects on the highs and lows of the Lions tour leading up to the pivotal Test

12 July 2013 0 comments

The last round of Wallaby jaw-jaw before the battle for the 2013 Test series came to a climax at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney yesterday […]

Nick Cain: O’Driscoll was lucky even to be on tour

11 July 2013 8 comments

The notion held by some media pundits and fans – not all of them Irish – that Brian O’Driscoll is a rugby martyr because he […]

Nick Cain’s tour verdict: Gatland shows he has Midas touch

11 July 2013 0 comments

After the gunsmoke had cleared at the ANZ Stadium, the massed ranks of Lions fans waited to cheer on the 2013 Lions before they exited […]

Nick Cain: Horwill’s escape is latest great stitch-up

4 July 2013 0 comments

The James Horwill incident is the straw that broke the camel’s back. When the Australian captain was exonerated by Kiwi QC James Hampton for a […]

Nick Cain: Lions tour? Aussies couldn’t give S***!

26 June 2013 1 comment

On the eve of the Brumbies game there was a Wallabies v Lions gala dinner held in the great hall of the Australian Parliament in […]

Nick Cain sizes up the task ahead of the Lions in Saturday’s first Test in Brisbane

21 June 2013 0 comments

Mike Phillips versus Will Genia is the one clash which seems to encapsulate better than any the differences between the Lions and Wallabies ahead of […]

Nick Cain: Remember Finlay Calder and stick with Sam Warburton

20 June 2013 1 comment

Sam Warburton’s selection as Lions captain was under serious scrutiny before last night’s crushing of the Waratahs, but the Welsh openside has made a habit […]

Nick Cain: The folly of Foley could kill off the Lions tours

13 June 2013 0 comments

Michael Foley played against the 2001 Lions four times. Once at hooker for the Queensland Reds, and three times for the Wallabies, starting two of […]

Nick Cain wonders why the Lions have not turned to the obvious choice as they tackle front row crisis

12 June 2013 0 comments

The departure lounges of airports as distant from each other as Durban and Buenos Aires have been busy over the last few hours transporting new […]

Nick Cain: Chattering refs led to Hartley’s disgrace

4 June 2013 3 comments

There is no escaping the fact that Dylan Hartley‘s sending-off at Twickenham in the Premiership final last weekend cost Northampton the chance of being crowned […]

Nick Cain: First blood to Lions as toxic Quade gets ‘axed’

23 May 2013 0 comments

The slabs of red meat are one up already! The sledging war initiated by our Aussie mates ahead of the arrival of the 2013 Lions […]

Nick Cain talks to Leicester’s Tom croft about his double challenge of Premiership final and Lions tour

23 May 2013 0 comments

Tom Croft has an attribute that few international forwards possess, including those back rowers alongside him in the 2013 Lions squad: The pace to scare […]

Nick Cain says the tour party to Argentina represents a sea-change for England

16 May 2013 0 comments

The grass-roots setting of Barnes RFC is an unlikely location for game-changing decisions at the apex of the English elite game. However, when Stuart Lancaster […]

Nick Cain: Put star players outside salary cap

15 May 2013 0 comments

What has happened to the once proud record of English clubs in Europe? When Saracens slipped out of the Heineken Cup a fortnight ago after […]

Nick Cain: Football could yet kick RWC 2015 into touch

9 May 2013 2 comments

There were cautionary notes amid the fanfare for England‘s 2015 World Cup when the schedule and venues were announced at Twickenham on Thursday. Foremost among […]