The Saints Tame Tiger Measured and diplomatic are not words you might readily associate with the Leicester Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill. A fiery player in his day, he…
Blogs
European Champions Cup: Bath and their offload skills bring a wow factor
English clubs had a field day in the European Champions Cup last weekend and, though they look destined to dip out on the quarter-finals, Bath were responsible for round three’s…
European Champions Cup player analysis: Marcos Ayerza, Leicester Tigers
Despite the result, it was a Toulon player that hogged the Monday morning headlines following his team’s 25-21 loss in the first instalment of their electric European Champions Cup double-header at Welford Road…
A letter from South Africa: Things go from bad to worse for Springboks
The Springboks’ autumn tour to Britain, Ireland and Italy went from bad to worse, bookended by two unexpected losses to Ireland and Wales, with the latter compounded by a potentially…
European Champions Cup: five epic clashes
ROUNDS THREE and four of Europe’s elite club competition sees teams play the same opponents in successive weeks – so it’s a chance to either turn the tables or hammer…
The Top 14 and the death of l’esprit de clocher
There’s a revolution underway in French rugby, one that is having ramifications for the home nations. We’ve already seen evidence of it in October when Toulon, Toulouse and Racing Metro…
Autumn International player analysis: Chris Robshaw, England
A trivia question to start, so no cheating if you do not know the answer. Here you go: who said this about whom last week? “He’s an absolute pest. Last year…
Saints and Sinners: The weekend’s talking points
The Saints Biggar the better He didn’t create any tries with breath-taking passes or scything runs, he didn’t kick any points as he had Leigh Halfpenny to do that job,…
Doping in rugby: a Rugby World investigation
IN MAY 2013, during a Scottish training camp in the lead-up to the Junior World Cup, Melrose fly-half Sam Chalmers was pulled in for a random drugs test – his…
The rise of Exeter Chiefs
AS CHRISTMAS rushes towards us, what are the standout stories in this season’s Aviva Premiership? No one expected London Welsh to be so utterly out of their depth, and those…