THE PHRASE ‘wantaway’ has been plastered all over tabloid back pages this summer as wonga-spoilt strikers and midfielders who had previously shook the chip-fat from their slicked back hair as…
United Rugby Championship
Out of the frying pan…: Alan Solomons will leave Southern Kings for Edinburgh
AS BUTTER fizzes and browns at his feet, Southern Kings’ Alan Solomons has opted to hop out of the Super Rugby frying pan for a more certain future. The former…
Wealthy owners like Jacky Lorenzetti and their late forays into the transfer market
QUEUEING EARLY at rugby’s buffet does not appear to be a requirement for the millionaire owners of some teams, with the wealthy able to place late orders for personnel they…
Lions 2013: Surviving finals and the Lions run-in
STAYIN’ ALIVE by the Bee Gees was a late 70s sentiment so powerful that it generated an eponymous follow-up movie to Saturday Night Fever in which John Travolta hustles to…
It’s awards season again…
IT IS awards season and whether you agree with the esteemed panels or punters’ votes, there are a few players carrying off more gongs than Daniel Day Lewis. Ulster’s Nick…
It’s a knockout: The RaboDirect Pro12 Semi-finals
PLAY-OFF RUGBY is as nerve shredding as it is rewarding. Months of hard work can be undone in one high-pressure showdown. It is completely different to regular-season rugby and for…
What’s the best way forward for Welsh rugby?
THE NEWS that George North is to leave his homeland to ply his trade in Northampton may cause some hand wringing in Wales, but there is scope to consider another…
Glasgow Warriors aiming for Pro12 zenith
IT IS worth noting for a moment what Gregor Townsend is achieving at Glasgow Warriors. Considered somewhat of a superfluous appointment in the off-season, nipping into the front of a…
Statistics: Who will be rugby’s Golden Shoe winner?
AS A nimble Tom Varndell danced up the touchline against Northampton Saints at the weekend – an act of human dressage so well timed that both teams must have choreographed…
A rugby weekend free from international razzmatazz
THE FIRST of the 6 Nations’ horrific lulls is here. Unless you are willing to maintain your patriotic streak –painting your face with your sister’s makeup, hanging your bedspread with…