Letters

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

Too much debt is a cause for concern

13 October 2024 0 comments

WITH reference to Nick Cain’s column (Sept 29) on Premiership finances, it just goes to show that our game at the highest level is living […]

Scrums are at the heart of the game

6 October 2024 0 comments

SCRUMMAGING is one of the pillars of this great game – remove them and we’re in dangerous territory. I do empathise with Geoff Cooke; games […]

Time to add Japan and Fiji to Rugby Championship

6 October 2024 0 comments

THE endless mistreatment of Fiji as a second rate rugby nation is another disastrous admin blunder in the sport’s professional era. As Chris Hewett stated […]

With promotion, clubs might invest

6 October 2024 0 comments

IN The Rugby Paper’s letters page (Sept 29), Neil Edwards describes how Championship clubs’ crowds are too low to allow serious investment in players by […]

Championship crowds are still too low

29 September 2024 0 comments

With all the talk about the RFUs treatment of the Championship there never seems to be any real analysis of the strength of these clubs […]

That’s not what I call a good idea ITV

29 September 2024 0 comments

Brilliant idea ITV! Put your freeview Premiership highlights programme on an obscure channel. Schedule it for a Wednesday lunchtime. Replace Flats and Topsy’s amusing, insightful […]

Dual registration likely to distort competitiveness of recipient clubs

22 September 2024 0 comments

SO as the new season starts for the top tiers there is now a route between Championship and Premiership via a playoff, but the financial […]

Great to see Christian Wade back

22 September 2024 0 comments

It’s great to have Christian Wade back in the Premiership, with Gloucester. It’s hard to comprehend how such a prodigious talent was allowed to slip […]

Time to leave scrums to the professionals?

22 September 2024 0 comments

I would be interested to hear your readers’ views about aspects of the current state of the community game in England. My own club, Bradford […]

Dream Team – Jake Sharp

22 September 2024 0 comments

JAKE SHARP, THE FORMER SARACENS, BEDFORD, LONDON SCOTTISH & COVENTRY FLY-HALF, WHO IS NOW TRANSITION MANAGER FOR NORTHAMPTON SAINTS, CHOOSES THE BEST XV HE HAS […]

Jeremy Guscott: I can’t call a winner, but it’ll be exciting

22 September 2024 0 comments

By Jeremy Guscott OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE… EVERY WEEK The beauty of the last Premiership season was it was incredibly competitive, and this was reflected in […]

We must work on attracting more people into the game

15 September 2024 0 comments

Thank you to Tracey Turner for the lengthy appraisal of the challenges facing English rugby and the suggested solutions. Thank you, too, to The Rugby […]

Premiership Cup better with 20 teams

15 September 2024 0 comments

Whilst having some sympathy with both Cambridge and Chinnor, newly promoted to the RFU Championship I feel I must take issue with Paul Sheenan who […]

Quite right, Brendan, don’t indulge All Blacks

15 September 2024 0 comments

I couldn’t agree more with Brendan Gallagher’s suggestion that we must stop indulging the All Blacks and their haka. He missed a couple of points […]

The haka is indeed a dance of welcome, and not a challenge

15 September 2024 0 comments

Brendan Gallagher is correct in saying that the haka is not a challenge. If this were really the case, why would the haka invariably be […]

LETTER: RFU rewards failure in Premiership Cup

8 September 2024 0 comments

Following my previous letter on the subject, the RFU decision to bar Cambridge and Chinnor from the Premiership Cup now looks more cockeyed.

LETTER: England Rugby needs a coaching pathway

1 September 2024 0 comments

Is England’s inability to select the right coaches, ones committed to the challenge, due to the hierarchy and structure of English Rugby?

LETTER: Finn Russell third choice for 2021 British & Irish Lions

1 September 2024 0 comments

How can Jeremy Guscott claim Finn Russell was the No.1 fly-half selection after the 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa?

LETTER: Four-day trip to see France vs England in 1931 only £5

1 September 2024 0 comments

I was most interested in Brendan Gallagher’s article last week on French rugby and spending 16 years in the wilderness.

LETTER: England Rugby wrong to focus solely on money

1 September 2024 0 comments

Firstly, I agree with Colin Boulton in Peter Jackson’s column last week: so much has gone out of the game in the name of ‘professionalism’.

Clubs should be in Premiership Cup

25 August 2024 0 comments

SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO: The Rugby Paper, Tuition House, St Georges Road, Wimbledon SW19 4EU email: [email protected] SPEAKING as a Coventry fan, being drawn along […]

I’m feeling sorry for the Wallabies

25 August 2024 0 comments

AS an England supporter, I used to revel in Australia being beaten, mainly because it was so rare. However, now I’m finding myself feeling sorry […]

Losing Jones is bad news for England

25 August 2024 0 comments

FELIX Jones quitting as England defence coach shows a lot is going wrong behind the scenes in Steve Borthwick’s coaching staff. I really enjoyed watching […]

LETTER: Twickenham name change to Allianz Stadium welcome

18 August 2024 0 comments

I wholeheartedly agree with Chris Hewett regarding the forthcoming Twickenham name change to the Allianz Stadium.

LETTER: Premier Sports is not what rugby needs

18 August 2024 0 comments

Once again, the powers that be in rugby have decided to reduce the potential audience for our beloved sport.

LETTER: Ten teams is perfect number in Premiership

18 August 2024 0 comments

With the start of the new Premiership season only a month away, we are all excited to see how it will play out.

LETTER: Macclesfield shows RFU doesn’t care about players

11 August 2024 0 comments

I strongly feel that the RFU is killing our rugby clubs as they have shown a serious lack of care towards the players and fans.

LETTER: World Rugby made the game too complicated, attritional

11 August 2024 0 comments

This is a follow on from Raymond Howell’s letter in last weekend’s Rugby Paper about rugby’s loss of wide appeal.

LETTER: RFU not helping English rugby

11 August 2024 0 comments

Steve Borthwick is doing a great job in charge of the national side as are his players and our recent U20 world champions.

LETTER: World Rugby allows scrums to be boring, dangerous

4 August 2024 0 comments

Jeff Probyn says that it takes a long time to learn the ‘dark arts’ of the scrum while David Flatman claims everyone loves a scrum.

New Northampton logo looks like a marketing ploy

21 July 2024 0 comments

SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO: The Rugby Paper, Tuition House, St Georges Road, Wimbledon SW19 4EU email: [email protected] IAM Northamptonshire born and bred, played rugby for […]

Unwise to invest in the hope of reaching the top

21 July 2024 0 comments

JON Newcombe writes about how Blackheath in Kent have agreed a £1.5m deal to buy their ground in south-east London. He also describes how they […]

Lions winger was AAA champion

7 July 2024 0 comments

FURTHER to Rob Cole’s article on rugby’s fastest players, John Young played on the wing for England and the Lions (1959 tour) he also won […]

Women’s final was great entertainment

7 July 2024 0 comments

WHAT a shame fewer than 7,000 people had the pleasure of watching one of the best games of rugby for years. The Women’s Premiership final […]

Jeff’s right about game’s direction

7 July 2024 0 comments

I AGREE totally with Jeff Probyn’s column (June 23) “heading in different directions”. How disappointing that the only minor “give-away” by the Premiership/RFU is the […]

I’m hoping Ireland can channel their frustrations in SA

30 June 2024 0 comments

NOW you don’t need me to remind of you of the dominance and skill of the Springboks but not to do so briefly recap would […]

Time to change play-off system

9 June 2024 0 comments

So the Premiership season came to a close this weekend with Northampton Saints and Bath contesting as who will be champions, regardless of the fact […]

Connection to the elite is missing

9 June 2024 0 comments

In last week’s paper, Nick Cain raised issues for Premiership clubs and their acolytes at the RFU to ponder. He asks why the governing body […]

Why didn’t ref stop the clock?

2 June 2024 0 comments

The Champions Cup final was as exciting as we expected, but the decision not to stop the clock in extra-time, while reviewing Josh van der […]

Mercer deserves his chance

2 June 2024 0 comments

What more does Zach Mercer have to do to get a chance with England? Sadly, I wasn’t surprised to see his name omitted from last […]

Matches don’t need lots of tries

2 June 2024 0 comments

I agree with last week’s correspondent regarding bonus points – we don’t need them in rugby. Could you ever imagine the Premier League introducing bonus […]

Time to do away with bonus points

26 May 2024 0 comments

IS it time for a review of the bonus point system? Bath acquired 15 this season to finish second in the league. Bristol, who finished […]

There’s too much dangerous play around the ruck

26 May 2024 0 comments

AS a long-standing player and supporter of local rugby I feel like tearing my hair out when I see or hear about what is being […]

I think RFU could have opinions, too

26 May 2024 0 comments

SO the Premiership name might have to go. Premiership Rugby now have a new “chief growth officer” called Rob Calder who has joined from the […]

Ealing too strong for Championship

19 May 2024 0 comments

Well done to Ealing Trailfinders for winning the Championship – although once Jersey Reds were no longer in the competition it was a foregone conclusion. […]

Include Welsh sides in two-tier Premiership

19 May 2024 0 comments

A couple of letters in last week’s paper along with Nick Cain’s column got me thinking on these subjects of ring-fencing and a possible Anglo-Welsh […]

I agree, bring back England Counties

19 May 2024 0 comments

Agree with Surrey coach Marc Bertrand’s views last week on the Bill Beaumont Cup and the need to bring back England Counties. In ‘the good […]

Stop this constant disregard for laws

12 May 2024 0 comments

LAST weekend I witnessed one of the most blatant forward passes this season. During the Challenge Cup semi-final between Gloucester and Benetton, Zach Mercer tried […]