NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK HALLELUJAH! The English Championship clubs have finally got their act together to form a united front after […]
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Veterans not the answer at No.9
NICK CAIN The selection call by Steve Borthwick to pick two veteran scrumhalves, Ben Youngs and Danny Care, in his 41-man World Cup training squad […]
Lively Japan make Wales battle hard
By BEN JAYCOCK Wales………………. 41pts Tries: Hughes 17, Lloyd 41, Florence 66, Edwards 76, Bradley 77, Hennessey 80 Conversions: Edwards 18, 77, 79, Wilde 80 […]
Baby Blacks crash to a record defeat
By DAN COUCH France …… 35pts New Zealand …14pts Posolo Tuilagi scored a brace as France dominated New Zealand to hand the Baby Blacks a […]
Ruthless McCarthy makes sure for Ireland
By SAM JACKSON Australia……….. 10pts Tries: O’Donnell 24 Conversions: Bowen 25 Penalties: Bowen 27 Ireland……………30pts Tries: Nicholson 32, Gleeson 53, McCarthy 63, Mangan 79 Conversions: […]
England run in eight to leave Fiji in pieces
By BEN JAYCOCK England ……………………. 53pts Tries: Cleaves 15, Penalty 27, Jibulu 33, Thomas 47, Thame 50, Michelow 54, Woodman 67, Fisilau 80 Conversions: Slevin […]
Georgia on a high as they stun Argentina
By SAM JACKSON Georgia …………20 Argentina ……… 0 On a day in which the race to top Pool C was blown wide open, Georgia did […]
Italy keep control to master South Africa
By DAVID ROBSON South Africa …26 Italy …………….. 34 Italy produced a superb display of wet weather rugby to stun hosts South Africa. On a […]
Blair joins Rennie at Japan’s Kobe Steelers
Former Edinburgh boss Mike Blair is to join Japanese side Kobe Steelers as attack coach. The 42-year-old, who made 85 appearances for Scotland at scrumhalf, […]
Reds to kick off their defence against Cov
By SAM JACKSON Champions Jersey Reds will begin the defence of their Championship crown against third-placed Coventry when league action starts on October 22. The […]
Time to balance a weighty problem
CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST ACLEVER man once predicted that progress would eventually turn out to be a circle rather than a straight line. As the […]
There’s more woe from the Smiths
Rugby’s optimists – and there are still some of you out there, just as there are people who continue to think it was right to […]
Torture of the ice age gave us faith
SHANE WILLIAMS WALES AND LIONS LEGEND DON’T tell me or any of the boys from 2011 that the players in the Welsh squad training for […]
Arundell’s deal a blow for England
ON THE BLINDSIDE BY NEIL FISSLER Follow me on Twitter: @neilfissler Henry Arundell, one of England’s most exciting talents, could be unavailable to Steve Borthwick […]
Biarritz to keep on spending
Biarritz Olympique are poised to step in and continue the spending splurge that their president Jean-Baptiste Aldigé had planned for Agen before calling off his […]
Akker’s on way to Bulls
Former Sale Sharks hooker Akker van der Merwe is set to return to South Africa, where he has been offered a deal to join the […]
Kiss weighing up his options
Former London Irish boss Les Kiss appears to be in demand after speaking to clubs in Super Rugby and United Rugby Championship about making a […]
Gloucester are keen to get Savage
Gloucester have been linked with a move for their former star Tom Savage who has been playing in Japan with Suntory Sungoliath since leaving Kingsholm […]
Ex-Tiger Burns making his way back to Japan
Former England fly-half Freddie Burns is heading back to Japan next season after a spell playing in Super Rugby for the Highlanders in New Zealand […]
Take it to the limit one more time
Paul Rees says the heat will be on for England and Wales as the training ramps up It is boot camp season. Every four years, […]
Baldwin still glad he headed to Falcons
Jon Newcombe talks to Newcastle’s new defence coach and finds a man who is certain he has made the right decision When news came through […]
Great to see Dupont going for Paris gold
RUGBY MATTERS – BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points Rather overlooked during a hectic end of season in France which […]
Pride clear to see at London Irish
Well that didn’t take long. No sooner had we mentioned in this column and elsewhere that London Irish were looking to pre-sell 750 collectors’ editions […]
We need more diversity at the top
At the time of writing World Rugby boasts 132 members and affiliate nations and at the forthcoming World Cup nine of the 20 participating teams […]
Talent shines in stellar year
THE BEST XV FROM THE 2022-23 SEASON IN THE PREMIER 15s Ben Jaycock canvassed the views of the Premier 15s reporters to compile The Rugby […]
25 years on and the pain is fading …
Next week marks the 25th anniversary of the end of what became known as the “Tour of Hell”. Jon Newcombe talks to some of the […]
Recalling when all roads led to the sea
PETER JACKSON THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW As any half-decent student of European history knows, the first Russian Revolution of 1905 paved the way […]
John Eales, the quiet man who became an inspiring skipper
Brendan Gallagher looks back at the players who shone on the biggest stage, this time focusing on John Eales’ leadership in Australia’s 1999 RWC triumph […]
Lamaison brought the house down
The 1999 World Cup was a curate’s egg of a tournament, combining the crass with the truly historic. This was the one World Cup for […]
My Life in Rugby with Ian Whitten: ‘I think I took more good options than bad ones’
The former Ireland, Exeter and Ulster centre talks about his life in the game PULLING on the Ulster jersey for the first time in 2009 […]
RFU needs to strike the right financial balance
JEFF PROBYN A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME EARLIER this week, the RFU president Nigel Gillingham, sent out a newsletter outlining many of the […]
Young Guns: Loughborough centre Chris Preen
Loughborough Students’ Chris Preen has been on a rollercoaster journey so far in his career that has seen him change sports, suffer horrific injuries and […]
Jones: We must be multi-dimensional
By PAUL REES The last peak scaled by England under Jones was in Australia last summer when they came from one down to clinch the […]
Five Falcons are chosen in Argentina squad
Named: Mateo Carreras FIVE Newcastle Falcons have been named in Argentina’s training squad as they prepare for the upcoming Rugby Championship and Rugby World Cup. […]
Crusaders to the fore in Team of the Season
Ben Jaycock selects his best XV from this season’s Super Rugby Pacific championship The Crusaders’ incredible dynasty continued as they lifted their seventh consecutive Super […]
Biarritz are left sweating on future
JAMES HARRINGTON FRENCH COLUMN By the time you read this, ProD2 side Biarritz were supposed to be under new management after a deal finally brought […]
O’Kelly’s backing his boys to triumph
By NICK POWELL Grand Slammers: Malcolm O’Kelly believes Ireland will win the World Cup PICTURES: Getty Images FORMER Ireland lock Malcolm O’Kelly believes his nation […]
GB women clinch sevens spot at Paris Olympics
By SAM JACKSON GREAT Britain’s women’s sevens team won gold at the European Games in Krakow, Poland to clinch a place at the Paris 2024 […]
Premiership Women’s Rugby rebrand
THE women’s Premier 15s will be rebranded as Premiership Women’s Rugby next season. The change is part of a 10-year plan for women’s rugby in […]
“What we prepared for was way off” – O’Kelly on Ireland’s doomed RWC 2007
Malcolm O’Kelly has revealed why Ireland’s last World Cup in France was such a disastrous campaign, but is confident such problems will not affect Ireland […]
GB women earn Olympic Sevens qualification while men beaten to spot by Ireland
A gold medal in the European Games secured Great Britain’s women a place at the 2024 Olympic Sevens competition, but a silver medal for their […]
Series 2, Episode 25: Mal O’Kelly on Ireland’s World Cup prospects and Leinster’s end to the season
This week on The Rugby Paper Podcast, joining host Ollie Little, columnists Nick Cain and Brendan Gallagher and Digital Editor Nick Powell, Mal O’Kelly discusses […]
Women’s top tier re-branded as Premiership Women’s Rugby
The RFU hailed a new era for women’s rugby on Tuesday as it re-branded the Women’s Premier 15s as Premiership Women’s Rugby. With new clubs […]
Kremer blow for Argentina
Los Pumas are set to be without banned backrower Marcos Kremer for the entire Rugby Championship campaign. Kremer has been banned for five games for […]
Champion show!
By CAMERON STEPHENS Co-captain Mo Hunt credited the belief and togetherness of her Gloucester-Hartpury squad as they outclassed Exeter to be crowned Premier 15s champions […]
We are not going anywhere, say Ospreys
By PETER JACKSON Ospreys are adamant they will be open for business as usual in Swansea next season despite talks about relocating to Cardiff. The […]
Agen on the trail of top Welsh trio
By NEIL FISSLER French ProD2 outfit Agen, who are in the middle of a takeover battle, are courting a trio of Welsh internationals as they […]
Champions Cup draw suits Bears
By PAUL REES Bristol Bears sneaked into the Champions Cup through the cat flap rather than the back door, but they will be more content […]
Ealing add Collins to list of star recruits
By JON NEWCOMBE EXCLUSIVE Big-spending Ealing Trailfinders have come to the rescue of Tom Collins who had been left high and dry by the collapse […]
Toulouse duo use trophy to ride the waves
Toulouse playmakers Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack took their Top 14 title celebrations to the beach this week, attempting to use the famous Bouclier de […]
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