Letters

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

England must get the ball to the wide men

20 August 2023 0 comments

FOR four years, Sir Clive Woodward in his matchday analysis in his newspaper column always states that the coaches pick the right team… he might […]

Tigers turn to Du Plessis for World Cup cover

20 August 2023 0 comments

NEWS EXTRA LEICESTER Tigers have brought in Petrus du Plessis as their interim scrum coach. The South African will remain in the role until the […]

Van Velze signs on for another season at Bath

20 August 2023 0 comments

NEWS EXTRA GJ van Velze has rejoined Bath for the new season. The 35-year-old South African forward made 10 Premiership appearances for the club last […]

Ospreys put Jones in charge of the defence

20 August 2023 0 comments

NEWS EXTRA MARK Jones is joining the Ospreys as defence coach. The interim Wales U20s head coach has notable experience in a defence role, having […]

French centre Vakatawa returns for Barbarians

20 August 2023 0 comments

NEWS EXTRA VIRIMI Vakatawa’s premature retirement is over as the former France centre started for the Barbarians against Samoa last night in Brive. Vakatawa, who […]

Key areas England must find answers

13 August 2023 0 comments

SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO: The Rugby Paper, Tuition House, St Georges Road, Wimbledon SW19 4EU email: [email protected] SO England boss Steve Borthwick decided to see […]

Borthwick’s boys stuck in tactical cul-de-sac of old

13 August 2023 0 comments

ONE is left wondering what rugby planet coach Steve Borthwick and his England side inhabit after witnessing the depressing 20-9 defeat facing an enterprising Wales […]

Small price to pay for summer Tests

13 August 2023 0 comments

IN RESPONSE to last week’s letter regarding Summer Series TV coverage, anyone can join Amazon Prime for £8.99 on a one month trial period and […]

Cut Championship clubs some slack

6 August 2023 0 comments

THE promotion/relegation play-off set to be introduced next season between the Premiership and Championship is a long overdue step in the right direction. But it […]

Drastic measures are required to ensure progress

6 August 2023 0 comments

OVER the last three years, or is it longer, I can’t recall anybody having a good word to say about the England RFU administration or […]

Sad not all fans can watch warm-ups

6 August 2023 0 comments

THE brains at Twickenham have done it again. As we all know, the four consecutive weekends in August are to broadcast England rugby’s warm-up games, […]

Amateur game in need of extra help

30 July 2023 0 comments

“PLEASE Sir! Can I have some more?” Oliver Twist’s plaintive cry in Dickensian times. Now, in the 21st century it is the community clubs that […]

Glad to see attempts to speed up the game

30 July 2023 0 comments

I WELCOME the new laws in trying to speed up the game, with time limits for conversions, penalties, scrums, lineouts getting the ball from a […]

Time for Champ clubs to lead way

30 July 2023 0 comments

IN last weekend’s Rugby Paper, Chris Hewett wrote how Fiji, Samoa, Georgia, and others are cheated by the way in which the big nations, and […]

Exeter are just taking a shrewd approach to business

30 July 2023 0 comments

IN response to the comments made by Neil Fissler in last week’s paper and numerous others recently, is there any actual evidence that Exeter are […]

Dynamic No.9 is a must for England

23 July 2023 0 comments

I HAVEN’T been able to find out why Ben Spencer was sent home from the England camp a couple of weeks ago. It’s a worry […]

Byrne the go-to man

23 July 2023 0 comments

WITH Johnny Sexton’s absence I can think of nobody better to fill the Ireland number 10 shirt than Ross Byrne. A humble man with a […]

Governance to blame

23 July 2023 0 comments

I HAVE read numerous articles, listened to many podcasts, TV pundits and debated with friends, and one thing that is a constant: it is the […]

Here’s my plan for RFU to save money

16 July 2023 0 comments

IF the RFU and the Premiership clubs want to save money, may I offer a simple solution? Bring their teams into line with the grassroots […]

We need to shout about how good our game really is

16 July 2023 0 comments

SINCE the season ended, there has been very little news in the national papers about what is happening at the Premiership clubs and in the […]

Time to reward the flair players

16 July 2023 0 comments

WHY are Rugby League coaches so revered in Union? Bashing the ball up like League is not what Union should be about. Focus on defence […]

This is a torpedo in player welfare claims from WR

9 July 2023 0 comments

THE HUGELY flawed Nations Championship masterplan now scheduled for 2026 is little more than surrendering to commercialism torpedoing World Rugby’s oft quoted ‘player welfare’ claims. […]

Wade for Sevens

9 July 2023 0 comments

WHAT a coup for France – and the fans – if Antoine Dupont does sign up for next year’s Olympics team. Team GB can only […]

Great news for Borthwick

9 July 2023 0 comments

Great player: Luke Cowan-Dickie PICTURE: Getty Images LUKE Cowan-Dickie is a fantastic signing for Sale. His best years are still ahead of him and it’s […]

Time to put ban on tactical subs

9 July 2023 0 comments

IN HIS column last week Chris Hewett suggested imposing a weight limit on teams to restore a game for all shapes and sizes. I can’t […]

Pleased to see Kent enjoying their win

9 July 2023 0 comments

KENT’S recent County Championship final win was admirable, and the picture of their team in The Rugby Paper showed what it meant to the players, […]

Great match but why no female officials?

2 July 2023 0 comments

Up and running: Kelsey Jones scores the first try for Gloucester WHAT a great advert for women’s rugby. Last weekend’s Premier XVs final was a […]

Still no openness

2 July 2023 0 comments

SO now we have the Champions Cup draw – or do we? We know which teams are in which group, but with the format this […]

Leave game alone

2 July 2023 0 comments

OH dear oh dear, World Rugby are at it again, suggesting changes to the laws to “improve” the women’s game which has improved and is […]

This is how to run a sustainable club

2 July 2023 0 comments

IT IS now time for the RFU to listen to the chairmen and directors of the Championship clubs that have been through the same problems […]

Bar takings are key for clubs to make money

25 June 2023 0 comments

RUGBY clubs’ biggest source of income is bar sales, which are dependent on matches being played. So why over the years at level four and […]

Directors are to blame

25 June 2023 0 comments

email: [email protected] I AM fed up with old former players from the three Gallagher Premiership clubs that have been disbanded blaming the RFU, the government […]

Time to offer fair treatment to grassroots

25 June 2023 0 comments

LAST week’s Rugby Paper lists next season’s National League fixtures. Among the titbits served up by the RFU’s Competitions Committee for the opening weekend in […]

I identified the problem in 2018

25 June 2023 0 comments

LOSSES of £21.1m, dependency on benefactors, excessively high wages for players in the Premiership and a Championship unloved – these are some of the problems […]

It’s not a level playing field in second tier

18 June 2023 0 comments

I WOULD just like to correct a passage in the article with Steve Thompson last week (TRP, June 11), when he stated that the Championship […]

How do Saracens survive on gates?

18 June 2023 0 comments

IT was interesting to see the average home attendances for the Premiership clubs for the past season. What I can’t quite fathom is how Saracens […]

England rugby’s ‘annus horribilis’

11 June 2023 0 comments

THIS season has been an “annus horribilis” for English Rugby Union. Three professional clubs have folded because of financial difficulties. In addition, there has been […]

Ireland’s time is now

11 June 2023 0 comments

I’VE followed Ireland for some time now and I have seen a massive growth in technique, skill set and depth like never before. ‘Quarter-final curse’, […]

Vote of no confidence

11 June 2023 0 comments

STOW on the Wold RFC held its AGM on Thursday and a motion of “no confidence in the leadership of the RFU and that Messrs […]

I can’t wait to see Bath get going

11 June 2023 0 comments

■ Am I just being cynical or, with the demise of London Irish, does this give the RFU and PRL exactly what they want? – […]

Try something new and imaginative

11 June 2023 0 comments

JAMES Harrington reports that the average gate in the French top flight this season was 14,841, with Bordeaux topping the list at 28,216. Peter Jackson […]

Enforce laws and game will be safer

4 June 2023 0 comments

WORLD Rugby should abandon their ‘player welfare’ platitudes and make the game safer by merely enforcing its own laws. A fortnight ago in The Rugby […]

Sale’s time will come

4 June 2023 0 comments

SARACENS proved they are still ahead of the field with last Saturday’s triumph over Sale, but I back Alex Sanderson’s side to give them an […]

How is decline in crowd numbers good for game?

28 May 2023 0 comments

WHAT has been described by Simon Massie-Taylor as the best season the Premiership has seen, is not shared by the home crowds as the stats […]

I’d support legal case against RFU

28 May 2023 0 comments

WELL said, Mark Morgan of Jersey Reds in The Rugby Paper on May 15. “The sport is not thriving at any level” – he is […]

Time for a drop-goal

28 May 2023 0 comments

AFTER watching Leinster being beaten by one point in last weekend’s Champions Cup final by La Rochelle, I was wondering why in the last few […]

La Rochelle, the masters

28 May 2023 0 comments

LEINSTER were caught out time after time at the breakdown, scrum and lineouts using the advantageous methods they have used all season. I raise my […]

Bob right to break barriers

28 May 2023 0 comments

THAT was an excellent letter/article by Bob Reeves in last Sunday’s TRP. I have heard from friends involved in grassroots rugby in England, how difficult […]

Champions but without a trophy

28 May 2023 0 comments

CARDIFF RFC won the Welsh Premiership championship by six points, but they won no trophy because somebody in the Welsh Rugby Union in their wisdom […]

Work to do but Bill can meet the challenge

21 May 2023 0 comments

DESPITE efforts to improve the league structures, there are clearly problems that have not been resolved. In restructuring the leagues, the RFU did not fully […]

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