Rugby Matters

Tag: Rugby Matters

Young guns who fired the triumph of 2003

19 November 2023 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS While we rightly ruminate on the 20th anniversary of England’s World Cup triumph we should also doff a 30th anniversary cap to a […]

The Beast of Bezier broke the mould

12 November 2023 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points French rugby said goodbye this week to the toughest guy in the […]

This diminished Premiership is benefiting no-one

12 November 2023 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS TIME waits for no man. As the World Cup recedes in the rear-view mirror and we concentrate on the Premiership it’s slightly alarming […]

Uni links are vital to make-up of clubs

12 November 2023 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS CLOSE match-ups with local University sides are nothing particularly new. The great Coventry sides back in the day enjoyed a massive Loughborough University […]

Lagisquet’s effort cannot be ignored

29 October 2023 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS World Rugby could desperately do with an injection of PR savvy not to mention a certain generosity of spirit. Take their awards ceremony […]

Time for Italy to play like big boys

24 September 2023 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER AS keen observers of sport, we are all amateur psychologists and, with that in mind, it’s been fascinating watching Italy grapple […]

This rugby apartheid must stop

20 August 2023 0 comments

Rugby Matters I WAS going to write 1,500 words of incredulous, outraged fury over the Owen Farrell decision but frankly my health can’t take it […]

At last! Spain show us what they can do

6 August 2023 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER IT’S BEEN a bittersweet roller coaster five or six years for Spanish […]

Modern-day Lions seem to be tone deaf

23 July 2023 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER So the Lions itinerary is out for their 2025 Australia tour and, although there is much to commend it, yet again […]

When I needed a helping hand…

11 June 2023 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER You could fill a noisy bar with the journalists past and present queuing to buy David Emery a thank you drink. […]

Let’s hope technology passes trial

28 May 2023 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER Be careful for what you wish for! World Rugby are carrying out their promise to trial chip technology in the match […]

Carpenter loving life as a predatory Shark

12 March 2023 1 comment

By JON NEWCOMBE Strong running and as game as they come, 21-year-old Joe Carpenter looks certain to challenge Freddie Steward for the England full-back jersey […]

The golden voice… that glorious try…

22 January 2023 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS WE are fast approaching the 50th anniversary of what many consider the greatest try ever scored and frankly there is little more to […]

How baseball kept Bish on right track

18 December 2022 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER Ken Poole, the head of economic development for Cardiff City Council, has […]

So who is the real villain here?

11 December 2022 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS – Brendan Gallagher Newcastle’s Carl Fearns has been at the sharp end of professional rugby for nearly 14 years and has never taken […]

Only the pin-ups win top awards

4 December 2022 2 comments

RUGBY MATTERS What have the following got in common? Brian O’Driscoll, Eben Etzebeth, Malcolm Marx, Fourie Du Preez, Taulupe Faletau, Ma’a Nonu, George Smith, Michael […]

Omanyala enjoys golden finale after leaving Sevens

14 August 2022 1 comment

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER Triumph: Ferdinand Omanyala celebrates after winning the gold medal in the Commonwealth […]

Van Graan gets top gig

29 May 2022 1 comment

INCOMING Bath boss Johann van Graan will become the head of rugby and take complete responsibility for rugby matters. Stuart Hooper, DoR since 2019, becomes […]

Has rugby really got its head around this?

17 April 2022 1 comment

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER The subject of concussion and possible long term brain damage remains a […]

Watching over his teammates, a giant tribute to Kawa

16 January 2022 2 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER AMPO Ordizia –a small Basque club riding high in fourth place in […]

My inspirational man of the year is Marcus

26 December 2021 1 comment

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER EVERY December Time magazine nominates their Person of the Year and parades […]

Any rugby schools I have missed? Let me know now

26 December 2021 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER AND finally for this year…a last call to our brilliant rugby playing schools out there. I’m calling time very soon on […]

Ten reasons why ‘oldies’ remain the gold standard

19 December 2021 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER WILL Greenwood has been there, done it and got the T- shirt […]

Rassie Erasmus has been backed to take the fight to World Rugby in his misconduct hearing

Three months on, the game is crying out for clarity

24 October 2021 1 comment

RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER SO the World Rugby Independent Judicial Panel will meet next week to consider misconduct charges against Rassie Erasmus arising from the […]

Rugby Matters: First Test success vital for a winning series

18 July 2021 0 comments

There is always a special feel to the first Test of any Lions series in South Africa, a step into the unknown for the vast […]

Sorry, Conor it’s hard to find much to smile about

4 July 2021 1 comment

CHRIS HEWETT GUEST COLUMNIST There is something unnatural about writing the words “British and Irish Lions” and “social distancing” in the same sentence because there […]

Juggling act with Japan doesn’t cry commitment

2 May 2021 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS SO Eddie Jones was coining it over in Japan this January helping coach Suntory, and Beauden Barrett in particular, just weeks before England’s […]

Dad’s Army given the hurry up in America

28 March 2021 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS IS it me or is there a delicious irony over in the USA where the always innovative MLR has introduced a raft of […]

Pirates enjoy hunt for new bounty

7 February 2021 0 comments

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER IT’S BEEN a difficult time for professional rugby players everywhere but ponder […]

Rugby Matters: Almond got it wrong but he was still right

5 February 2021 2 comments

Brendan Gallagher looks at the significant role of one, Mr HH Almond, in the first meeting between England and Scotland

Refs must regain control of arm-wrestle with TMO

15 November 2020 1 comment

RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points It’s 20 years to the day, would you believe, that the Video […]

Rugby Matters: Romania can flourish with Robinson’s expertise and new home stadium

12 November 2020 0 comments

Brendan Gallagher finds former Bristol Bears head coach Andy Robinson buoyant about Romanian rugby

Higgins hopeful Rosslyn Park 7s will go ahead

8 November 2020 1 comment

RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points IT’S looking bleaker and bleaker out there for schools rugby this season […]

Rugby Matters: Cosmopolitan Harlequins had serious wheels

6 November 2020 0 comments

Black History Month may have ended, but Brendan Gallagher sees no reason to not highlight the speed merchants to don the Quarters

Cosmopolitan Quins had serious wheels

1 November 2020 1 comment

RUGBY MATTERS Quins favourites: Andrew Harriman, left, and Peter Mensah PICTURE: Getty Images Black History month officially ended yesterday, along with our miniseries on black […]

Rugby Matters: Olympic heavyweight John Coker was truly box office

23 October 2020 0 comments

Brendan Gallagher celebrates Black History Month by examining the multi-sport career of Harlequins wing John Coker

Sedbergh win the Rosslyn Park Sevens in 2019

Rugby Matters: Rosslyn Park Sevens will be even more prestigious

11 September 2020 0 comments

Brendan Gallagher views how the current health crisis is affecting schools rugby

Lions duo Scott Gibbs and Martin Johnson

Rugby Matters: Fine margins swung the 1997 series the Lions way

21 June 2020 0 comments

Brendan Gallagher goes deeper into the influence of Martin Johnson and Jim Telfer on the epic 1997 Lions tour

Christophe Domici is leading a consortium takeover of Beziers

Rugby Matters: Can Emirati riches pump life into fallen giant Beziers?

4 June 2020 0 comments

Glory days of Beziers gave rise to region removed from French rugby’s heartland of the south west, writes Brendan Gallagher

Rugby Matters: Expected disaster story turned into a fairytale

29 May 2020 0 comments

Brendan Gallagher recalls the doom-mongering around the 1995 Rugby World Cup, as South Africa grappled with fragile identity after Apartheid’s end

Rugby Matters: Kenny’s challenge taught me when to fold ’em!

2 April 2020 0 comments

You’re a rugby writer in a Paris hotel room at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, and you call Kenny Rogers…

Rugby Matters: Game in Spain flying high after Rugby World Cup anguish

14 February 2020 0 comments

Brendan Gallagher insists Spain shouldn’t be disappointed by their defeat to Georgia last weekend, as they close the gap in the world rankings

Rugby Matters: New Broom Galthie has the leeway to go for broke with France

23 January 2020 0 comments

Brendan Gallagher writes how a new-found desire to nurture homegrown talent in the Top 14 has allowed Fabien Galthie to rewrite the rhetoric

Rugby Matters: Macho Makis can make their mark in Sevens

27 December 2019 0 comments

Brendan Gallagher marks Madagascar as one of rugby’s growing nations who can utilise the creation of the Challenger Sevens Series

No more false starts, cull the scrum cheats

15 December 2019 1 comment

RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER I suspect I’m about to hack off all front rowers past and present but hopefully they will read on because I […]

Rugby Matters: Make Pacific Islands rugby’s West Indies

17 October 2019 0 comments

The West Indies cricket team can be selected from 15 Caribbean island nations. Brendan Gallagher asks if the same can be applied to rugby and the Pacific Islands

Opportunity knocks for Ryan’s Dragons

19 May 2019 1 comment

By ROB COLE NEW Dragons boss Dean Ryan insists the talent pool in Wales is as big as England and plans to use that to […]

Eddie needs a leader who will be there at bitter end

7 January 2018 2 comments

RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A new weekly look at the game’s other talking points IS Dylan Hartley the Mike Brearley of English Rugby? I ask […]

22 October 2017 3 comments

It’s time the RFU honoured the first black international BRENDAN GALLAGHER A new weekly look at the game’s other talking points THE RFU and Premiership […]

Plymouth Albion avoid going into administration

29 January 2015 1 comment

Plymouth Albion today announced that as a result of the success of their fund raising appeal the club will not be entering administration. Over £250,000 […]

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