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Posted 517 days ago
The build-up to England’s bid to win the 2015 World Cup should have already begun. It should have started the day after France beat them in the quarter-final of the 2011 tournament. But amidst the wreckage of the RFU’s destructive in-fighting and the reviews on reviews that waste time and defend those whose roles have been indefensible, be sure that…
Posted 518 days ago
The most surprising thing about the Ryan Bevington story is that he didn’t start playing rugby until he was 12. Not that unusual you may think, but considering his grandfather, John Dodd, played for Neath at prop and his father, Richard, for Llanelli in the back row, it’s incredible that young Ryan wasn’t press-ganged into action when he was in…
Posted 519 days ago
It’s a fair bet that a majority of Welsh supporters, bless ‘em, will still be splutteringly complaining about their captain’s World Cup red card not only past this Christmas but the next one, too – although the fact remains that Wales would have assuredly won that notorious Auckland semi-final against France if they had kicked just one of the handful…
Posted 520 days ago
Steady upward curve is often the best route to take to success and in each of the past four seasons Ulster have improved one step on their previous year’s Heineken Cup campaign. In 2007-08 they were fourth in their pool, then third in 2008-09, second in 2009-10 and last season they lost to Northampton in the quarter-finals. So, the 1999…
Posted 522 days ago
Christmas is coming and while your table groans under all that food, rugby’s finest will serve up their own feast for you, Katie Field writes. Harlequins and Saracens have a top-of-the-table battle to look forward to but there’s plenty to please the palate elsewhere in the Aviva Premiership.
Nicky Robinson can hang onto any Christmas cards he wants to send to…
Posted 522 days ago
Fancy waking up to your favourite rugby stars? If naked bods will make you choke on your cornflakes, there are plenty of action-packed options, too, and many raise money for good causes.
1. Ireland
Relive some of the green giants’ best moments with this calendar. Priced €9.99 (£8.60) from elverys.ie/irishrugbyshop
Posted 525 days ago
There are some big decisions for Andy Robinson to make in the next few weeks, as he prepares for the RBS 6 Nations.
Scotland’s World Cup has to be seen as a failure, so there must be some changes. There is no lack of effort, but our inability to score tries is a huge, huge problem. We only scored four at…
Posted 526 days ago
Dulwich College fended off Tregib CS, Edinburgh Academy, Stamford, Mount St Mary’s and Aylesbury GS to clinch the prize of a framed Team of the Month photo and 22 training tops.
It was the London school’s first such award since 2004, when the XV was led by future England Saxons prop Tom Mercey.
After a nine-game unbeaten run, including a defeat of…
Posted 526 days ago
When a new job took chemist Andy Kendall to the Swiss city of Basel a decade ago, the local rugby team relied heavily on foreign workers. Not any more. “When I started playing, the first team was 70-80% expats,” says Kendall, now the head coach. “Today it’s 80% Swiss.”
From two divisions of six teams, Switzerland now has ten teams in…
Posted 526 days ago
RUGBY WORLD: If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why?
TOBY BOOTH: One superpower… To read people’s minds.
RW: Other coaches’ minds to find out their tactics, or your own players’ minds?
TB: My own players. Then I’d know how to effectively manage them.
