Letters

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

Time to rebuild RFU for the good of all

7 January 2024 0 comments

DURING my early 20s I played for an East Midlands club in Level 9. It was a great experience for a young man making his […]

Sorry Chris, but we’re heading up another cul-de-sac

7 January 2024 0 comments

I KNOW it has been the season of goodwill, but Chris Hewett’s comment that the RFU is pointing in the right direction with its plans […]

Tynedale player dies after fall

31 December 2023 0 comments

RUGBY SHORTS TYNEDALE centre Rory Cramb, below, died on Christmas Eve at the age of 26 following a fall. A statement from the National Two […]

Flanagan gets backing from owners

31 December 2023 1 comment

DRAGONS coach Dai Flanagan has been backed by the club’s owners to fast-track a rebuild of the region after their 55-21 loss at Cardiff on […]

Duhan signs new deal

31 December 2023 1 comment

SCOTLAND winger Duhan van der Merwe has extended his contract with Edinburgh until June 2025. The 28-yearold South Africa-born player returned to Edinburgh in October […]

We need ‘whole game solution’

31 December 2023 1 comment

IT is significant that the latest statement by the Championship clubs, seeking to protect their position in the English rugby hierarchy, highlights the need for […]

County champs should return

31 December 2023 0 comments

BEN Coneybeare describes the ‘scintillating atmosphere’ at the recent Redruth versus Camborne Cornish derby in front of over 3,000 fans. Thanks to the vagaries of […]

TV deal for Tier Two

31 December 2023 1 comment

WITH Coventry attracting a record crowd of 5,047 to Butts Park Arena for the Boxing Day clash with Nottingham, Ampthill RFC attracting their largest ever […]

Playing against best in the world is good test

31 December 2023 0 comments

NOW we’re into the second year of the expanded Champions Cup, I thought I’d reflect on just how the inclusion of South Africa’s finest club […]

It’s time to address selection

31 December 2023 0 comments

WITH only 10 Premiership clubs – nearly all cash strapped with a salary cap to boot – does the England selection policy not need an […]

When Merlene Ottey’s leotard grew nine sizes

31 December 2023 1 comment

RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points NEW Year’s Eve and rugby always brings to mind England’s slightly eccentric […]

Pointless playing such games

24 December 2023 0 comments

SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO: The Rugby Paper, Tuition House, St Georges Road, Wimbledon, SW19 4EU email: newsdesk @therugbypaper.co.uk LAST Saturday my club’s 2nd XV (Lymm […]

Support the survivors, not fallen

24 December 2023 0 comments

WHAT would be the point of resurrecting London Irish and Wasps? Wasps were never financially viable at High Wycombe or in Coventry and Irish weren’t […]

Toxic social media

10 December 2023 0 comments

SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO: The Rugby Paper, Tuition House, St Georges Road, Wimbledon SW19 4EU email: [email protected] THE recent decision by Owen Farrell to remove […]

Too close for comfort

10 December 2023 0 comments

I AM sure that we are all concerned at this season’s falling attendances at Premiership matches but there is a measure of “shooting ourselves in […]

Quite right, Jerry Time to cut subs

3 December 2023 0 comments

SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO: The Rugby Paper, Tuition House, St Georges Road, Wimbledon SW19 4EU email: [email protected] JEREMY Guscott was absolutely correct in his article […]

Game is bigger than RFU Board and Premiership

3 December 2023 0 comments

THE more I learn of the dire situation English rugby finds itself in, the more I worry that our government is not the only institution […]

Don’t give lifelines

3 December 2023 0 comments

IF Wasps, Worcester, and London Irish are gifted lifelines, then it would be an absolute disgrace – surely it can never be allowed to happen? […]

Time to have the same laws across the game

19 November 2023 0 comments

MANY thanks to Paul Rees for turning the spotlight onto the issue of tackle heights in the professional game, containing many revealing comments from Premiership […]

We keep pressing self-destruct button

19 November 2023 0 comments

It is high time English rugby with its huge resources, in both player and financial terms, ceased pressing the wretched self-destruct button. As Nick Cain […]

Make every head contact a red card

5 November 2023 0 comments

OCCASIONALLY the TMO makes the right decision. In the England v Argentina game (third place play-off), he very nearly cost England the game. An Argentine […]

Let’s learn from Boks

5 November 2023 0 comments

WHEN are we going to learn from the incredible success of South Africa winning the last two World Cups? How many of their players have […]

We’d rate fourth, at best

5 November 2023 0 comments

ARE England really the third best in the world? Are they even the third best in the Six Nations? Well, the second question will be […]

As Cloughie told us, do what I say or you’re out

5 November 2023 0 comments

ENGLAND supporters should not get too carried away by their much improved performance against South Africa in the World Cup semi-final. We scored only one […]

Time for a clearout of the England shambles

5 November 2023 0 comments

AS a rugby supporter for more than 70 years I feel I have a right to a few comments. To clarify I will provide a […]

True leaders stay calm

29 October 2023 0 comments

WHEN are the authorities and referees going to stop the increasing dissent by players in games. The latest example was Owen Farrell in the England […]

Farrell’s time is done

29 October 2023 0 comments

I WISH to take issue with Ben Jaycock’s assessment of Owen Farrell as 9/10 last Saturday. His kicking from hand was poor apart from his […]

SA quality counted

29 October 2023 0 comments

I FEEL that all England supporters need to pause, assess, and put things into perspective. Styles and factors make games, and there was much about […]

I think Smith could be England’s Faf de Klerk

29 October 2023 0 comments

THEY say: ‘hindsight is a wonderful thing’… If only we could go back and NOT change the front row against South Africa. I’ve been critical […]

Don’t panic, Sarries

29 October 2023 0 comments

WITH regards to Nick Cain’s article last week, about Saracens’ poor start to the season, without wishing to sound like too much of a pedant, […]

No problem with draw

29 October 2023 0 comments

I DO wish that rugby correspondents would stop whining about the current World Cup draw! Yes, it was unbalanced so why oh why couldn’t it […]

Koch clearly coming in at wrong angle

29 October 2023 0 comments

Out of line: the England/South Africa final scrum I HAVE attached the aerial shot of the last scrum in the SA v England semi-final. In […]

Top teams should expand horizons

22 October 2023 0 comments

ENSURING that Tier 2 teams are more competitive at RWC is a problem that predates the origin of the tournament itself. The fact is, Tier […]

Not enough funding

22 October 2023 0 comments

WELL, I enjoyed a few of the RWC pool matches, but the mis-matches have been eye-wateringly embarrassing. Only nine teams of the 20 taking part […]

Call time on Farrell

22 October 2023 0 comments

IF the past and current England coaches think Owen Farrell is the current and future No 10 they are utterly deluded. He may still be […]

Don’t write off Ireland. They’re phenomenal

22 October 2023 0 comments

Star: Sexton in action against New Zealand PICTURE: Getty Images LOOKING at the bigger picture, Ireland lost by only four points to one of the […]

We need action to halt decline in numbers

22 October 2023 0 comments

THE figures below are from this month. Along with the three attached papers, they help to explain why England fail to make full use of […]

RFU must not hide behind English success

22 October 2023 0 comments

SO Jersey Reds have ceased trading and may very well go to the wall like the three Premiership teams, but unlike those Premiership teams many […]

Sad to see Reds go but it’s no surprise

1 October 2023 0 comments

Letters SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO: The Rugby Paper, Tuition House, St Georges Road, Wimbledon SW19 4EU email: [email protected] AS sad as the Jersey news is […]

Play flankers in the back three

3 September 2023 0 comments

IF England persist in not using our wingers and fullback to attack the opposition and want to continue playing bland, boring, out-dated, predictable and quite […]

World Rugby must tackle injury crisis

3 September 2023 0 comments

THE red card fiasco that has seen England’s waywardly competitive Owen Farrell rightly banned but unjustly demonised by keyboard warriors provides yet another example of […]

We should rejoice in Fiji victory

3 September 2023 0 comments

WHAT is it that makes losing to Fiji for the first time in England’s rugby history such a dark day? Do we have such a […]

My blueprint for the future

3 September 2023 0 comments

SOMETIMES the only logical and sensible thing to do is to panic. England’s performance against Fiji was the worst I have seen. But the chaos […]

Farrell was trying to rip possession

27 August 2023 0 comments

REGARDING Owen Farrell’s red card, I can’t be the only one who noticed him trying to rip the ball from Taine Basham’s grip as contact […]

Give Tier 2 sides opportunity to take on the best

27 August 2023 0 comments

THE Rugby World Cup is one of the three or four biggest sporting events in the world. As a vehicle for promoting the game it […]

Woodward’s right, tear up this script

27 August 2023 0 comments

CLIVE Woodward suggests Steve Borthwick should tear apart the squad and start again. A great idea that I’ve been asking for over the last few […]

What a mess, all RFU’s own doing

20 August 2023 0 comments

RATHER than act like gentlemen and play by the rules, England seem to think they can manipulate them for their own benefit – and not […]

So uplifting to read Pearce’s life story

20 August 2023 0 comments

IN these days of the incompetent 12-strong RFU Board, the English 2nd XV’s dismal showing in Cardiff, ring-fenced Premiership, defunct Premiership clubs, Test matches being […]