Columnists

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

Borthwick is right to keep faith with Smith

30 June 2024 0 comments

Paul Rees Looks at the challenges facing England in New Zealand… While another Aussie steps in at Leicester Steve Borthwick hopes to name an unchanged […]

Penaud proves the ultimate in French flair

30 June 2024 0 comments

Peter Jackson adds up the points scored last season across all games and finds the French with much to celebrate Damian Penaud and Thomas Ramos […]

25 years on and it’s still a special place

30 June 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER It was the 25th anniversary of the first-ever game at the Millennium […]

Gloucesterer are facing a defining season

30 June 2024 0 comments

PAUL REES LOOKS AT THE CHALLENGES AHEAD FOR COACH GEORGE SKIVINGTON AND CEO ALEX BROWN AT KINGSHOLM Gloucester marked their 150th anniversary last season. Celebrated […]

Gatland hits the 50-mark for Wales

30 June 2024 0 comments

PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Unless they change the habit of a lifetime in Australia over the next fortnight, Wales will be […]

England have enough to down the All Blacks

30 June 2024 0 comments

JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME Steve Borthwick’s England team have taken their first step of their summer tour and returned with […]

Try from the end of the world…

30 June 2024 0 comments

Brendan Gallagher looks back to 1994 when New Zealand last lost at Eden Park, beaten by a brilliant French team that scored one of the […]

Terrific Toulouse go on the rampage

30 June 2024 0 comments

JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN “We didn’t just lose the arm wrestle – we had our wrists broken under the table,” Bordeaux boss Yannick Bru admitted, […]

Why less might not be more for stars

23 June 2024 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED MARTIN Johnson spent a rugby eternity perfecting his survival skills in the engine room of the scrum – the nearest thing […]

Etzebeth puts it on the line

23 June 2024 0 comments

PETER JACKSON Rising high: Peter O’Mahony, left, competes at the lineout with Eben Etzebeth PICTURE: Getty Images EBEN Etzebeth has never been one to throw […]

SpongeBob glad of his place in the Oldies XV

23 June 2024 0 comments

PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW TWENTY years ago this very week on the banks of the Clyde, New Zealand won the Junior […]

We’re all heading in different directions

23 June 2024 0 comments

JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME Sunday Mixed signals: The Championship is being seen as development tool – but not everything makes […]

Borthwick should go with Marcus first up

16 June 2024 0 comments

JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE… EVERY WEEK It will be a choice between Harlequins’ Marcus Smith and Northampton’s Fin Smith at fly-half for the first […]

Mistake to select Tom and not Ted

16 June 2024 0 comments

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK Ted Hill must be wondering what else he has to do to get back into an England […]

All Blacks will be ready to roll

16 June 2024 0 comments

NICK CAIN Rumours that New Zealand are in a state of flux heading into their two-Test summer series against England should be handled with care. […]

Return of relegation is reason to cheer

16 June 2024 0 comments

NICK CAIN The restoration of promotion and relegation, which this column has advocated non-stop since the RFU’s ring-fence moratorium in 2021, is cause for celebration. […]

Effort and enterprise the key for Saints

16 June 2024 0 comments

PAUL REES SEES PLENTY OF HIGHLIGHTS BUT WARNS THE GAME MUST SHOW IT CAN PAY FOR ITSELF Northampton’s first Premiership title for 10 years was […]

Quartet help Cardiff pull off unlikely double

16 June 2024 0 comments

Peter Jackson discovers which clubs and players come out best and worst when it comes to red and yellow cards Despite winning just four matches […]

Sorry, but Obano did not have to do that

16 June 2024 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED The best definition of madness in rugby? There are several contenders: picking a fight with Eben Etzebeth springs immediately to mind, […]

Another lesson from the French

16 June 2024 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT Now that Vannes have made it into the top tier of French rugby and the people running things across the water are preparing […]

The unexpected revolutionary

16 June 2024 0 comments

Paul Rees says this should be a summer of opportunities for England and head coach Steve Borthwick Steve Borthwick is an unlikely revolutionary. When he […]

Hill’s recall flies in the face of loyalty

16 June 2024 0 comments

PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Cory Hill walked out of the Wales squad last summer, preferring to join a Japanese team nobody […]

The day Meredith made history

16 June 2024 0 comments

PETER JACKSON Courtenay Meredith spent the last 71 years of an exceptionally long life with something to shout about over what transpired on the Saturday […]

There is no warm welcome for Spain

16 June 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER Gone but still winning. Sort of! London Irish may have met with […]

Team Brittany show what might have happened in Cornwall

16 June 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS GO west young man. The phrase, attributed to American newspaper editor Horace Greeley, became a byword for the expansion of the United States […]

Refs must regain authority on pitch

16 June 2024 0 comments

JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME Red card: Beno Obano is sent of by referee Christophe Ridley at Twickenham last weekend PICTURE: […]

Carbonel winner ensures last-gasp Montpellier survival

16 June 2024 0 comments

JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN THE English Football League’s Championship play-off final is sometimes referred to as ‘the richest game in football’, with £100million of spoils […]

Hotshot Hendy seizes the day

9 June 2024 0 comments

By NICK CAIN at Twickenham Northampton Saints….. 25pts Tries: Freeman 24, Sleightholme 28, Mitchell 73 Conversions: Smith 24, Furbank 75 Penalties: Furbank 48 Drop goals: […]

By George! Hendy is the saviour of Saints

9 June 2024 0 comments

PAUL REES Courtney Lawes has never been one to turn his face away from reality. His first reaction at the final whistle of his final […]

After that season, Bath can’t let it slip

9 June 2024 0 comments

JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE… EVERY WEEK Finn Russell has been a poster boy for Bath this season because of the success of the club […]

Saints stars give credit to Vesty

9 June 2024 0 comments

By PAUL REES On the run: Alex Mitchell breaks through against Saracens during the semi-final PICTURES: Getty Images Alex Mitchell and George Furbank, two of […]

Borthwick needs a clear direction

9 June 2024 0 comments

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK The fog around England’s take-off as an attacking force in the latter stages of the Six Nations […]

Let the ‘waterboys’ just get on with it

9 June 2024 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED It’s the burning question of the moment: what is Jacques Nienaber? Not “who is Jacques Nienaber”, or “why is he here”, […]

Shattering end to Iestyn’s dreams

9 June 2024 0 comments

PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Iestyn Harris had only just started to run with a rugby ball when two very large Tongan […]

Quins cashing in on Twickenham factor

9 June 2024 0 comments

Peter Jackson looks at how attendances have changed in the last 20 years and sees good news in the capital cities Fan favourite: Marcus Smith […]

It’s close but Dupont edges out Edwards

9 June 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER Your columnist fell in love with rugby watching Gareth Edwards in the […]

Portugal looking to old guard

9 June 2024 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS SCRUM-HALF and former skipper Samuel Marques is not the only Portuguese veteran being tempted out of retirement this summer by the prospect of […]

Time for Borthwick to stamp his mark

9 June 2024 0 comments

JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME It’s been well worth waiting until the end of the season to see some of the […]

Hogg has eyes set on Top 14 surprise

9 June 2024 0 comments

JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN Stuart Hogg’s reported surprise reverse-ferret back into the professional game after his retirement last year – and repeated suggestions that he […]

England starting to look like Lions

2 June 2024 0 comments

JEREMY GUSCOTT OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE… EVERY WEEK A year out from the 2025 Lions tour of Australia it’s still hard to imagine that the Irish […]

Gloucester put faith in ‘some old heads’

2 June 2024 0 comments

By PAUL REES It was typical of Gloucester’s season – make that the last couple – that when they came up against a front five […]

McCaw’s vision for harmony

2 June 2024 0 comments

NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK If the current power struggle in New Zealand rugby intensifies, with the NZRPA and the provincial unions […]

Only one full house in ‘greatest season’ finale

2 June 2024 0 comments

NICK CAIN Here’s something for the RFU mandarins and Premiership owners who are hell-bent on keeping England’s top league ring-fenced to ponder. The greatest Premiership […]

Sorry, but that’s not all right, Jacques

2 June 2024 0 comments

A great European Cup final last weekend had only one blemish, when the limp attempt to tighten the rules around water-carriers made by World Rugby […]

Then and now: It’s tough to compare

2 June 2024 0 comments

CHRIS HEWETT THINKING ALLOWED Whenever the incomparable Antoine Dupont does the kind of things he did in dragging Toulouse over the line in a Champions […]

Time to let Borthwick pick from the best

2 June 2024 0 comments

PAUL REES SAYS THE ENGLAND COACH SHOULD NOT BE LIMITED TO ONLY SELECTING PLAYERS WHO PLAY IN THE PREMIERSHIP England’s preliminary training squad for the […]

Sorry, but we don’t need your cup, Wills

2 June 2024 0 comments

PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW Of all the trophies dreamt up for international matches over the last 20 years, only one bears […]

Dupont’s the best I’ve seen in pro era

2 June 2024 0 comments

There have been many landslide victories in sport but never one like Antoine Dupont’s in London last weekend, the most commanding of performances confirming his […]