CATEGORIES
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
Question time at Twickenham
GRAEME Cattermole, the former chairman of the RFU, has written an explosive letter to a member of the RFU council which lays bare the apparent financial inadequacies of the governing body.
It's the good life now for the family Yapp
On a sheep farm in Shropshire, NEALE HARVEY talks to Tony Yapp and his sister Jo about their careers in men’s and women’s rugby
Itoje can compete with the Bok giants
2021 LIONS A YEAR TO GO. NICK CAIN LOOKS AT THE CONTENDERS FOR EACH POSITION
Global season must happen to make rugby a world sport
Q&A ALAN SOLOMONS ON THE RECORD
Hogg is loving life after Jack's warm welcome
Scotland star Stuart Hogg tells Neale Harvey how West Country life is exceeding expectations
Empty grounds? You'd be surprised by the chatter
MY first thought about playing two instalments of the Six Nations next season, with the earlier one replacing the October/November Autumn series window, is that the overriding consideration should not be about money, but whether it is safe to play.
Age 30, I felt ready for the ‘real world'
MY LIFE IN RUGBY DAVE LEWIS THE FORMER GLOUCESTER, EXETER AND HARLEQUINS SCRUM-HALF
Cross Green's home to generations of Melvilles
MY CLUB OTLEY WE SPEAK TO A NUMBER OF WELL-KNOWN RUGBY FIGURES ABOUT THE CLUB THEY CALL THEIR OWN, THIS WEEK NIGEL MELVILLE
A sea of people hailed Carling like a Messiah
Brendan Gallagher delves into some of rugby’s most enduring images, their story and why they are still so impactful
Kings Of The Jungle Where Wild Beasts Come To Play
Brendan Gallagher continues his enthralling series by looking at rugby’s feared enforcers
So How Do You Fix This Mess Called The Scrum?
Nick Cain talks to scrum guru Phil Keith-Roach about the problems with the game's greatest set-piece
May-day for opponents as Jonny just gets better
JONNY May’s move back to Kingsholm is great news for Gloucester fans because he would have to be in the reckoning for one of the wing shirts in any World XV. What strikes me is that he is the most improved player I’ve seen in the England squad. Over the last three seasons he has been right up there, and he tops the list ahead of Tom Curry and Sam Underhill.
Whitelock inspired by hero big bro Sam
FRANCE-BASED All Blacks flanker Luke Whitelock is backing his older brother Sam to continue a remarkable family dynasty by making it all the way to the 2023 World Cup.
Warrior Will targets role as defence commander
STROKE victim Will Hurrell aims to forge a new career in coaching after revealing how his life might have been in danger had he continued playing for Bristol.
Slash salary cap and ditch marquee men
With at least another three weeks of lockdown ahead of us, people are speculating about how we can emerge from this crisis, and what our post-pandemic world will be like. In the greater scheme of things rugby’s fate is trivial, but that doesn’t stop us speculating about what might happen.
Shy schoolboys whose talent shook the world
Brendan Gallagher delves into some of rugby’s most enduring images, their story and why they are still so impactful
Kpoku bros pose Maro twin threat at Sarries
RISING Saracens star Joel Kpoku has boldly laid out his manifesto for usurping Maro Itoje and forcing his way into England’s reckoning for the 2023 World Cup.
Cooch not on toughie list? It may get nasty!
Jacques Burger? No arguments there. Colin Meads? Wayne Shelford? Bang on. In compiling his “most wanted” list of rugby bruisers in these pages a week ago, the formidably knowledgeable Brendan Gallagher landed some solid blows, so to speak.
Bear cubs can go all the way says Morgan
BRISTOL’S gifted gang of backline proteges are primed to explode on to the international stage, predicts former Wales flyer Kevin Morgan.