Nick Cain

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

Plan for life without Manu

5 June 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN MANU Tuilagi’s latest knee operation, which rules him out of England’s summer tour to Australia, shows just how precarious it is for Eddie […]

Europe’s elite clubs are facing trip into unknown

29 May 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THE European Cup final in Marseille was not billed as a watershed moment, but Europe’s elite club […]

Eddie has to find the answers …and fast

22 May 2022 1 comment

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK IT was Eddie Jones’ first faceto-face press conference with the rugby media for over two years on […]

High-scoring hookers not good for the game

15 May 2022 1 comment

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK ONE of the strangest signs of the times is that this season hookers are the most prolific […]

Europe’s best too hot for England

15 May 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN IT took the 2022 European Cup until the quarter-finals before it delivered in terms of the quality and drama that have made it […]

Bucketloads of tries not a winning formula

8 May 2022 1 comment

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK AT the same time as Bath collapsed to a record 64-0 defeat against Gloucester last weekend, Premiership […]

Overseas players leave little room at 12

8 May 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN IF you are perplexed by England’s lack of choice when it comes to big inside centres as potential replacements for Manu Tuilagi look […]

Championship ‘serfs’ must unite for uprising

1 May 2022 1 comment

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK HAVE the Championship clubs finally woken up and smelled the coffee? Have they belatedly come to the […]

No place in the game for abuse of officials

1 May 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN THERE was a recent commentary that referees are over-protected and should not be immune from criticism, particularly by pro players. It argued that […]

Shake up tired Six Nations fixture list

24 April 2022 1 comment

NICK CAIN THE Six Nations chief executive, Ben Morel, is not slow to pat himself on the back, over-hyping the last round of the 2022 […]

England job needs Eddie’s full attention

17 April 2022 2 comments

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THIS is the week that Gareth Southgate did what Eddie Jones should have been doing. The England […]

Champions Cup has too many also-rans

17 April 2022 1 comment

NICK CAIN THE European Cup is being diluted by the decision to extend the qualification criteria from six teams in each league (and the Challenge […]

Eddie’s gift-wrapped route to the semis

3 April 2022 1 comment

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THE 2023 World Cup has the uplift of France, the hosts, having a genuine chance of breaking […]

Devil is in the detail of buyback option

3 April 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN AFTER a couple months of putting down a smokescreen the RFU has finally given an answer to what happens to the 14.3 per […]

‘Beleaguered Bill’ tries to defend the indefensible

27 March 2022 1 comment

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK WHO runs the RFU, Bill Sweeney or Eddie Jones? There have been rumours ever since Sweeney took […]

Sweeney offers hope to clubs in second tier

27 March 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN THERE could be good news for the Championship clubs, and the English club game as a whole, with indications this week from the […]

Eddie has had ample time to build a ‘new England’ and failed to do it

27 March 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN SAYS ENGLAND’S DEFEAT IN FRANCE SHOULD HAVE BEEN EDDIE JONES’ LAST MATCH IN CHARGE ENGLAND’S defeat in Paris last weekend should have marked […]

Time for refs to follow directives or face axe

20 March 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THERE is nothing that undermines a professional sport more than being unclear about its own laws. We […]

There will be more on Rogers’ naughty list

20 March 2022 1 comment

NICK CAIN ANOTHER week, another Premiership ‘rotten borough’ story. This time it is about Leicester, a club which behind the scenes pushed as hard as […]

Temporary stands at Bath reek of double standards

13 March 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN AT the same time as two clubs, Ealing and Doncaster, have failed the RFU/Premiership ground criteria rules to be promoted to the ring-fenced […]

Galthie looks and acts the part as Brains behind French renaissance

13 March 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN CHARTS THE KEY CHANGES FABIEN GALTHIE HAS MADE SINCE TAKING CHARGE OF FRANCE FABIEN Galthie’s transformation of France’s fortunes since the 2019 World […]

Switching Steward to centre isn’t the answer

13 March 2022 2 comments

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK COME in No.12, your time is now! That is the call that Eddie Jones, and his predecessor […]

A right mess entirely of the RFU’s making

6 March 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THE minority who support ring-fencing can wail and gnash their teeth as much as they like, but […]

Has Jones provided value for money?

6 March 2022 1 comment

NICK CAIN BY the end of his seventh year as England coach, Eddie Jones will have been paid £5.25 million in salary out of the […]

Storm warning! Get Collier on front line

27 February 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK WILL Collier has served his time in the shadows, but, as England face the prospect of having […]

‘Hybrid’ Championship idea must not be given green light

27 February 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN IT is good to see that the concept of an English Cup competition, pitching Championship clubs against Premiership ‘A’ teams, that was suggested […]

Legitimate questions deserve real answers

20 February 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK BILL Beaumont might well be wondering who controls the global game. Is it World Rugby based worldwide […]

Kick for points, Ben – this isn’t a Prem game!

13 February 2022 1 comment

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK TOM Curry should have no shortage of helpers, or advice, as England’s embryo captain when he leads […]

Ledesma is beaten by the bubbles

13 February 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN THE attraction of coaching at World Cups appears to have lost some of its gloss – or at least it has for Mario […]

Let’s hear it for those little guys

13 February 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN IT is great to see small wingers with dancing feet and blistering pace, like Scotland’s Darcy Graham (5ft 9ins) – who was a […]

Suddenly the wonders of Rome hold perils for Eddie

13 February 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN ASSESSES THE ANSWERS ENGLAND MUST PROVIDE AGAINST ITALY TODAY IF England stick with the excuse-ridden mindset post- Murrayfield that they were unlucky to […]

Golden boy Jean-Pierre inspired a generation

6 February 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THERE are too many Englishmen happy to genuflect at the altar of “French flair”, extolling their rugby […]

Brain injury rules must be more stringent

6 February 2022 1 comment

NICK CAIN RUGBY Union‘s governing bodies must urgently take action to make concussion protocols far more stringent. World Rugby and its constituent national unions […]

Gatland’s available if Eddie fails again

30 January 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THE main impediment to changing international coaches in the two years leading into a World Cup is […]

£500,000 to swap helmets is woke joke

30 January 2022 2 comments

NICK CAIN THE Exeter Chiefs, North American Indianstyle, are dead, but hail to the Dumnonii Chiefs! Catchy it isn’t, but apparently it links with the […]

The Rugby Paper’s Six Nations preview: Green giants can cast long shadow over rivals

30 January 2022 1 comment

Amid the clinking cutlery and a few chinking glasses, The Rugby Paper’s brain’s trust gathered at Jeremy Guscott’s favourite Bath watering hole, Walcot House, to […]

A Murrayfield ambush waits for England

30 January 2022 0 comments

ENGLAND Nick Cain assesses England’s opening match and their wider issues THE Scots are an ambush outfit, and the last thing they want is to […]

The ‘great selector’ is causing confusion again

23 January 2022 1 comment

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THE ‘Fast Eddie’ nickname first coined in this column to describe Eddie Jones is especially appropriate when […]

Now RFU must find TV deal for ALL clubs

23 January 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN THE new terrestrial broadcast deal struck between the Premiership and ITV is good news, but also long overdue. Disappearing off terrestrial television for […]

Courtney’s got the drop in captaincy shoot-out

16 January 2022 0 comments

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK COURTNEY Lawes would be my choice of captain for the 2022 Six Nations because of the strong […]

Front row rankings put Quins pair first

16 January 2022 1 comment

NICK CAIN CAN Eddie Jones deliver on his vow to make England’s scrum great again? After the 2021 Six Nations and the Autumn Series he […]

Get Eddie’s successor to ride shotgun for him now

9 January 2022 1 comment

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK SUCCESSION plans for the England head coach role have been a lottery in which the RFU has […]

Sorry, this sleeping dog needs to be wide awake

2 January 2022 1 comment

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK IT is tempting to support Alex Sanderson’s view that another salary cap scandal is the last thing […]

Eddie finds the C-word is big help for England

2 January 2022 1 comment

NICK CAIN THE biggest improvement in Eddie Jones‘ management of the England squad has been his recognition that competition for places, sparked by rewarding consistently […]

Jumbo-sized Joe is ready for take-off to scrum stardom

2 January 2022 2 comments

NICK CAIN TALKS TO THE NEW TIGHTHEAD ON THE ENGLAND BLOCK, LEICESTER TIGERS’ JOE HEYES Making his mark: Joe Heyes on the ball for Leicester […]

Macron’s pique opens way for national cup

26 December 2021 0 comments

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THE chances of a new variation of Covid coming through was as predictable as France’s anti-British president, […]

Griffiths offers Bath fans better future

26 December 2021 0 comments

NICK CAIN THE decision by Bath owner Bruce Craig to pick Ed Griffiths as his successor as chairman is the most likely trigger for positive […]

Van Graan needs full power to plug Bath

19 December 2021 0 comments

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK JOHANN van Graan is the latest coach expected to plug the gaping hole in Bath’s broken tub, […]

Bear hugs were PR disaster for Genge

19 December 2021 0 comments

NICK CAIN TIMING is everything in sport, and the Bristol Bears video released this week trumpeting their signing of Ellis Genge for next season saw […]

Pennell: Eddie’s wrong on Lawrence

5 December 2021 0 comments

By NICK CAIN Oh yes! Dave Ewers roars his delight after Tom O’Flaherty, right, scores for Exeter Chiefs against bitter rivals Saracens PICTURE: Getty Images […]

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