CATEGORIES

Symons: Joe will grow Down Under

JOE Marchant’s Super Rugby experience with the Auckland Blues will lay the platform for him to become an England regular, says Harlequins lock Matt Symons.

England In 4 Nations Plan For The Autumn

England and Wales plan to finalise fixtures for an emergency Four Nations tournament this autumn in response to rugby’s worsening global crisis.

Wow! What a thrill to see Ospreys' new chance

I nearly choked on my cornflakes when I read about the new investment coming into the Ospreys. What a turn-around for my old club.

Max eyes triumphant end to horror season

FRUSTRATED Saracens playmaker Max Malins hopes his impending move to Bristol will bring title glory and reignite his international ambitions with England.

Kearney is king of Europe's try scorers

Peter Jackson gets out his stats book to reveal this seaon’s leading scorers in Europe’s top leagues

Even Lomu and Pocock can't get in this team

Assuming you have a little time at your disposal at this benighted moment of infection rates, anti-social distancing and publessness, close your eyes and dream of a match between the best British and Irish Lions of the World Cup era and a rival line-up drawn from all three countries on the current tour rota.

Coltish O'Driscoll oozed class right from the start

Brendan Gallagher delves into some of rugby’s most enduring images, their story and why they are still so impactful

Chiefs can really be big daddies this season

HENRY Slade is expecting big changes at Sandy Park after lockdown – not least a club creche!

All Blacks must decide to play Beauden at fly-half

THE most recent news from New Zealand has been about the appointment of Sam Cane as the new captain of the All Blacks, but, for me, the biggest decision coach Stu Foster will have to make is where to play Beauden Barrett.

Marti's mission makes the Begles top dogs

PETER JACKSON reveals how many, or how few, watched Europe’s top leagues

Kennedy bankrolls Booster for north west

BRIAN Kennedy spent millions bankrolling Sale’s rise to become Premiership champions in 2006 and now the Scottish businessman is embarking on a very different mission that should prove every bit as uplifting.

Global Game? Germany Are Twenty Years Behind

During the decidedly uncivil English war over control of the nascent professional game, Cliff Brittle had a dream which sounds as impossible today as it did then.

Bill's right, Six Nations owe SANZAAR nothing

THE gnashing of teeth and wailing from the southern hemisphere unions that accompanied the failure of Agustin Pichot to unseat Bill Beaumont as World Rugby chairman was predictable.

RFU need grasroots rescue package

So, as expected, Bill Beaumont has achieved his second term as the head of World Rugby and is promising to raise the stakes by making another attempt to refloat the idea of a Nations League, although not just yet.

South Sea Bubble could provide tonic for rugby

RUGBY has made many false moves and poor decisions over the decades and what is so frustrating is that on quite a few occasions the authorities got incredibly close to absolutely nailing it before making the wrong call.

New kicking law will increase excitement

I was really looking forward to seeing the results of the World Rugby law experiment ‘50:22’, but the abandonment of the season has put paid to any meaningful data coming back from this year’s trials.

My new dawn: increase squad size, cut salaries

What I’m about to suggest will be seen by some as barking mad, but bear with me.

Clubs must grasp this big chance to reset their goals

THE Covid-19 pandemic has been unfortunate for so many people that when Rugby Union starts again it will not top the agenda. However, this enforced break does give clubs the opportunity to reassess where they’re going, and whether what they were doing before the lockdown is going to get them to their chosen destination.

Beating Australia is cherished memory

GREIG TONKS FORMER SCOTLAND, LEICESTER, NOTTINGHAM, EDINBURGH AND LONDON IRISH UTILITY BACK

Virus Ends Brock's Hope Of A Fitting Career Finale

On the first weekend of January this year in the foothills of the Pyrenees, the visitors made a tactical change then of such insignificance that it vanished into the minutiae of just another Saturday.

Young Jonah, just doing what came so naturally

Brendan Gallagher delves into some of rugby’s most enduring images, their story and why they are still so impactful

My mission is to make Bath exciting and scoring tries

Bath’s first-year director of rugby Stuart Hooper tells NEALE HARVEY how he’s coping with the current shutdown while attempting to plan ahead.

Evergreen Elvis has lots of hits left in him

TONGAN Test hooker Elvis Taione puts his remarkable longevity down to Pacific Island genes, sleep and a lifechanging decision to swap work on a building site for rugby.

Glad I took Dad's advice not to quit

AS a teenager, I was told I was too small to play rugby (I’m 5ft 8), and that I would never make it to the top. So, when I look back on a career that saw me win 55 Argentina caps, play at three World Cups and professionally in England and France, I’m very proud of what I achieved.

No French champions for first time since WW2

The 30 presidents of the Top 14 and ProD2 this week agreed to end the 2019/20 season, leaving a number of questions unanswered. The hope, now, is to start the 2020/21 season in September but the clubs cannot begin their pre-season planning until a definite start date is confirmed, and medical measures are agreed and met.

Courtney is best bet to counter Du Toit

THE traditional role of a Lions blindside, or No.6, was that of a big, athletic flanker, who combined being a damaging ballcarrier and tackler, and usually also provided a pack with another line-out option.

Courtney eyes Lions and foreign pay-day

ENGLAND enforcer Courtney Lawes has not ruled out an overseas swansong before bringing down the curtain on his stellar career.

Bloodgate was brazen – with comic moments

Brendan Gallagher continues his enthralling series by looking at rugby’s biggest scandals

A League of Nations is an idiotic proposal

Democracy: an ideal where people have freedom, equality, and the ability to make choices in how either they or their elected representatives govern a way of living and working, or, in the case of sport, playing.

The Principality pointed way perfectly for the new millennium

Brendan Gallagher continues his enthralling series by looking at rugby’s best grounds