Columnists

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

Jeff Probyn: Let’s suspend relegation during World Cup years

26 June 2012 0 comments

At last, with the summer tours over, we can reflect on what has been a rollercoaster season for all. This World Cup year threw the […]

Jeremy Guscott: Progression of sorts – but where are leaders?

19 June 2012 1 comment

In the end it was all a bit like kissing your sister; comforting but not particularly satisfying. England had the chances to win yesterday against […]

Jeff Probyn: Losing England captain Chirs Robshaw will have done England some good!

19 June 2012 0 comments

This may sound odd, but the loss of captain Chris Robshaw for the final Test may have been something of a blessing for the immediate […]

Nick Cain: Bully-boy forwards win it for the Springboks

19 June 2012 0 comments

The England U20s should be green with envy following South Africa‘s 22-16 World Junior Championship final victory over New Zealand in Cape Town on Friday […]

Peter Jackson: Wales Morgan Stoddart deserves to avoid scrapheap

19 June 2012 1 comment

After 20 Tests spanning 46 weeks, the curtain came down in Sydney yesterday on the busiest and longest Welsh international season. Back home, the player […]

Jeremy Guscott: The spirit of braveheart England will not be broken

14 June 2012 0 comments

At no point in this Test did England look like winning. And at no stage did their spirit look like waning. Stuart Lancaster wants progression […]

Nick Cain: This should have been child’s play for England

14 June 2012 0 comments

Containment is a very dangerous game in an 80-minute sport, and the England U20s paid the price of a policy as ill-conceived as it was […]

Jeff Probyn: Yes, winning is important, but the 2015 World Cup is the real target

14 June 2012 0 comments

Following last week’s defeat the headlines in almost every paper was about the reality check that England had faced when playing against the team ranked […]

Peter Jackson: Let’s all start screeching for Wales tonight

10 June 2012 0 comments

On their day off at the Junior World Cup in Cape Town, the Welsh giant-killers could be found at the top of Table Mountain enjoying […]

Peter Jackson: Dead-eye Dan Biggar can be the man for Wales again

10 June 2012 0 comments

He finished the season in thoroughbred style sith seven straight wins, running an attack responsible for averaging almost four tries a match. During the course […]

Jeremy Guscott: Owen Farrell must play flatter and Ben Morgan needs help

3 June 2012 0 comments

Stuart Lancaster has a dilemma going into Saturday’s second Test in Johannesburg – does he take a step back in development and play Charlie Hodgson […]

Jeff Probyn: Why do we always have this hype about brutality?

3 June 2012 1 comment

As the England players are recovering from the first of their three Tests they might well be wondering what all the fuss was about in […]

Nick Cain: Country is divided on inflexible Heyneke Meyer

3 June 2012 1 comment

Heyneke Meyer knows that ultimately his reign as Springbok coach will be defined not on whether he produces a South Africa team with thrills, frills, […]

Jeremy Guscott: Come on Stuart Lancaster, make us more like Harlequins than Sarries

27 May 2012 2 comments

Listening to Stuart Lancaster talk about his England rugby team, the words are pretty familiar. There’s nothing unusual, nothing that makes you start to think […]

Nick Cain: A sizeable problem is wrecking our game

27 May 2012 1 comment

Bigger is better. That is the false mantra that coaches and talent scouts appear to be chanting with the brainless devotion common to one of […]

Peter Jackson: Bad refs and punch-ups scar Wales tours of Australia

27 May 2012 0 comments

The last time Wales sent their Grand Slam champions to Australia, the Wallabies subjected them to all manner of mayhem. What happened during that damaging […]