Friday evening’s encounter between London Welsh and Gloucester at the Kassam Stadium was a meeting of the Aviva Premiership’s most enthusiastic summer recruiters. Stung into action by a week of…
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Rugby Championship: why time is South Africa’s biggest enemy
The Sharks beat the Bulls last week and probably put paid to the Pretorians’ hopes of a Currie Cup semi-final berth. Former Springbok coach, Nick Mallett, continually linked to coaching…
French rugby: Fickou omission down to Noves meddling
When you have a moment, take a look at the try in the video below and then ask yourself how it is Gael Fickou hasn’t made the French squad for…
Rugby statistics: Are yellow cards really that bad for you?
There is a common belief that a team receiving a yellow card will be punished by an average of seven points during the following sin-bin, but is that actually true?…
Premiership player analysis: Sam Hill and Henry Slade, Exeter Chiefs
A frenetic, dramatic opening to the Aviva Premiership campaign has reinforced one thing robustly – England have plenty of options. In every position, there are at least two very viable…
30 Minutes with… Nigel Owens
The popular referee talks snakes, Superman and saluting magpies
RWC 2015: Disabled station access at Twickenham not up to scratch
There was a lunch meeting last week about the Varsity Match, held in a hospitality box at Twickenham stadium. At its conclusion, the affable convener Rob Cole, a director at…
Aviva Premiership: Let’s look after home-grown tightheads
FIVE. That’s a number to remember and come back to. With Premiership Rugby announcing that they will be extending the salary cap to £5.1m plus an additional £400,000 ‘Home Grown…
James Simpson-Daniel: My five career highlights
Kingsholm bow My first choice is my home debut at Kingsholm against Rotherham (March 2001). I came off the bench and scored a try. I got the ball on the…
Rugby and royalty combine at Invictus Games
GREAT BRITAIN beat the USA to win the wheelchair rugby title at the recent Invictus Games and a few more familiar faces kept the crowd entertained when playing an exhibition…