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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoDiamond’s rough support loses sparkle
By NICK CAIN What makes this season even more of a travesty is that Steve Diamond, Newcastle’s consultant rugby director, who...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoTop flight losing its soul, and integrity
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK GLOUCESTER’S 90-0 capitulation to Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens last weekend reflected all that...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoTime to put an end to marquee players
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK ARE marquee players, or coaches, worth it, or are they just a Premiership...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoMistake to reduce value of the scrum
The danger World Rugby’s high-handed law-makers face with their insistence on trying to marginalise the scrum is that it could easily...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoCalling MPs will add to pressure
The decision of Championship clubs to contact their local MPs to ask for Government to mediate in its gridlocked negotiations with...
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English Championship
/ 1 year agoRFU’s still killing the dreams of investors
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK The RFU’s indecision is final. It does not know what to do about...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoDon’t put Dickson in that position
If the Karl Dickson furore in the Harlequins v Northampton clash last weekend at Twickenham tells us anything, it is that...
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Champions Cup
/ 1 year agoLeinster’s workload merits little sympathy
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK LEINSTER are worried about the pressure that could prevent them from winning a...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoCrunch time for red lines
The crunch is coming as negotiations between the Championship and the RFU/Premiership over promotion-relegation intensify, with the Premiership ring-fence moratorium finishing...
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Club Rugby
/ 1 year agoKick off with Cup
The Papa Johns Cup has staggered into its second season with almost as many walk-overs as matches played, despite an increase...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoEngland must take Quins pair to NZ
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK WILL Collier and Fin Baxter have been showered with praise following Harlequins epic...
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Champions Cup
/ 1 year agoBan teams who pick reserves for knock-out stages
The Bulls are not the first outfit to undermine the European Cup by picking an understrength team, with some French clubs...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoEnvious eyes fall on Leinster’s recruits
Leinster's ability to cherry-pick two of the 2023 World Cup final’s biggest stars, signing All Black centre Jordie Barrett to augment...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoDawson predicts the battle at 10 will benefit England
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK The Fin Smith–Marcus Smith fly-half debate was given a good airing when Matt...
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English Championship
/ 1 year agoRFU needs a sense of proportion
The RFU has always maintained that promotion-relegation is sacrosanct, even though the RFU Council agreed in February 2021 to a so-called...
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Champions Cup
/ 1 year agoAnother barmy idea from the men in suits
The Ministry of Silly Walks was a Monty Python sketch which lampooned bureaucratic inefficiency. Rugby Union requires something similar to shame...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoToo much tinkering is causing confusion
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK Rugby Union is in the grip of the “the law of unintended consequences”,...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoSecond fine for Tigers is case for concern
The recent announcement of a second salary cap infringement by Leicester indicates that the Premiership’s policing of its own financial regulations...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoTime for club owners to come clean on plans
NICK CAIN - READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK SEETHING financial undercurrents are undermining the main pillars of the game in...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoThis was a cracker but still too many blowouts
The Premiership run-in produced a highly competitive cracker of a match at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday, with Northampton securing a 41-30...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoSanzaar miss chance to inject new blood
The 2024 Six Nations has been lauded in the southern hemisphere for its sensational quality and entertainment – which has not...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoRelegation saga still a shadow over game
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK There is so much that makes so little sense in the English club...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoItaly wins ignite the Six Nations
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK The game-changing force of last weekend’s Six Nations tales of the unexpected cannot...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoI doubt Le Garrec would be snared easily under any laws
NICK CAIN Nolann Le Garrec’s spectacular 40-metre reverse pass to Thomas Ramos just after the half-hour in France’s 45-24 win over...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoEngland A need to face ‘real’ Portugal
NICK CAIN Portugal face multiple champions Georgia in the Rugby Europe final at the Stade Jean Bouin in Paris today, and...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoWe need to make most of this team
NICK CAIN The England U20s won their first Six Nations title since 2021 with a tremendous second-half effort in which they...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoIt’s time for the real France to stand up
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK FOR crying out loud, when will the real France stand up and be...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoBattling U20s still have a lot to learn
England U20s entertaining 32-32 draw with Ireland in Bath on Friday night was pure curate’s egg. The good part was that...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoEn garde, England
World rugby’s absurd international residency qualification of just three years should put the RFU on its guard that England will not...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoBorthwick must stop delaying and rebuild
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK WHEN Steve Borthwick took over from Eddie Jones as England head coach he...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoFurbank would be central to my team
An English upset against Ireland on Saturday is about as likely as Donald Trump losing his fake tangerine tan. However, witnessing...
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English Championship
/ 1 year agoYet again, Ealing prove they have what it takes
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK Ealing Trailfinders’ narrow defeat by Leicester in the Premiership Cup semi-final last weekend...
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English Championship
/ 1 year agoMerit on the pitch should be decisive
There has been a long-standing tradition in rugby union that everyone is entitled to their opinion, and when Ealing Trailfinders hosted...
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Nick Cain
/ 1 year agoIt’s time to take a risk, England need to get the fans on their feet
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK As we approach the Six Nations midpoint, England are more like a Thames...
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English Championship
/ 1 year agoA new spirit of unity is in the air
NICK CAIN For the moment it is jaw-jaw rather than war-war in the Championship’s dispute with the RFU over their right...
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Nick Cain
/ 2 years agoWhy the RFU needs to justify its CVC payments
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THE recent observation by CVC that rugby union is too fragmented on the...
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Nick Cain
/ 2 years agoEnough! No more ref chat
When is the incessant yapping between players and referees going to end? These appeals and “consultations” are becoming a blight at...
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Champions Cup
/ 2 years agoOnce again, the fans are being taken for granted
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK THE European Cup’s ‘round of 16’ takes some beating when it comes to...
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Nick Cain
/ 2 years agoRFU double standards alive and well
Surprise, surprise, double standards are alive and well at the RFU. The latest example is the decision is to give a...
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English Championship
/ 2 years agoDiamond’s dual role can’t be right
The Twickenham suits are also not averse to turning a blind eye when a conflict-of-interests is involved. Perhaps the RFU’s performance...
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Nick Cain
/ 2 years agoI didn’t see that coming! France as flat as a crepe…
NICK CAIN Ireland's trouncing of France in Marseille – a record Irish win on French soil – trashed most pundits prediction...
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English Championship
/ 2 years agoChamp clubs look set for battle
NICK CAIN The Championship clubs appear to be in no mood for turning, typified by their stand-off with an RFU bureaucracy...
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Nick Cain
/ 2 years agoThe talent is there – now let’s be bold
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK STEVE Borthwick talked of England “turning a corner” when he announced his preliminary...
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Nick Cain
/ 2 years agoNot many will chase after Louis
Louis Rees-Zammit’s decision to chance his arm in American Football could be viewed as a blow to rugby union with the...
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Nick Cain
/ 2 years agoWrong choice for England A
WHEN it comes to competition for places the appointment of Gloucester’s George Skivington and Dom Waldouck as England ‘A’ coaches for...
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Champions Cup
/ 2 years agoSaints looking good but easy win leaves much to be desired
NICK CAIN Northampton are playing attacking rugby which combines skill, speed, flair, and precision, and their hammering of Bayonne on Friday...
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English Championship
/ 2 years agoRFU’s sorry failure to respond to flood
While the game in the East Midlands drowns, the RFU lifeboat is in the dry dock with the crew nowhere to...
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Nick Cain
/ 2 years agoTime for Borthwick to put faith in Itoje
nick cain READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK STEVE Borthwick struck a positive note this week when he made it clear...
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Nick Cain
/ 2 years agoMass rotation could end up a crowd killer
The Premiership wants to be taken seriously, but then makes the cardinal error of not taking itself seriously by trashing its...
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Nick Cain
/ 2 years agoRFU has utterly failed to bring the game together
NICK CAIN READ HIS EXPERT OPINION EVERY WEEK HERE’S wishing The Rugby Paper’s loyal readers, and fans of the game everywhere,...
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