CATEGORIES

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

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