Brendan Gallagher - News, Views and Opinion - The Rugby Paper

Brendan Gallagher: British and Irish Lions tour no longer rugby’s Everest

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 10 Aug 2025 02:59:09 +0000

The dust is beginning to settle on the 2025 Lions tour and that is a process that should be encouraged and indeed accelerated. One of the problems with Lions rugby is that it occupies too much of our rugby consciousness to the detriment of everything else. It uses up too many gigabytes. Already, for example, […]

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Brendan Gallagher: These tourists have been nowhere near as good as they should have been

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 02:59:51 +0000

For a long while I have held the sometimes unpopular view that Nic White was the most influential player at Sandy Park during those peak Exeter years and last night, in a sodden Sydney, we saw why. He is sharp, edgy, confrontational, takes it to the opposition and he brought all that to the table […]

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Ray loved the game

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 02:59:18 +0000

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER SO farewell Ray French, for many years the voice of rugby league but also a rugby union man through and through, which may sound contradictory but was entirely true. This is the man who played Union for St Helen’s and England – […]

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British and Irish Lions: Once again, Tom Curry empties the tanks to show he’s one of world’s best

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 02:59:50 +0000

Finally, a Lions match and spectacle to really get our teeth into and a reminder of why, despite so many challenges and occasional failings on their part, we still love them. When the on to score close to the posts it was Test matches are good…… they the tireless flanker who kept going are very […]

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Saints alive! The power and glory: Northampton Saints’ all-time XV

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 02:59:23 +0000

What would be the greatest all-time XV your club could field if you could travel back in time and select everybody playing in their pomp. Brendan Gallagher continues his series doing precisely that for the ten Premiership sides, selecting Dream Teams for all concerned. Preference will generally be given to those who had a reasonably […]

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Brendan Gallagher: Now, let’s see the Sables take flight at the World Cup

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 02:59:21 +0000

So, welcome back Zimbabwe whose dramatic 30-28 Africa Cup Final victory over Namibia in Kampala last weekend saw them qualify for the Rugby World Cup Finals for the first time since 1991. It’s been a long haul to say the least, with, at various stages, dire political, military and economic issues within their country putting […]

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Brendan Gallagher: Drop Maro Itoje? There’s no chance that will happen

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 06 Jul 2025 02:59:39 +0000

Immediately after the Western Force game, when Joe McCarthy was brilliant all night and Ollie Chessum excellent off the bench, I detected a little wild talk suggesting that Maro Itoje might be pushed to make the Lions starting XV. Bear in mind also that the Lions can call on Tadhg Beirne and James Ryan in […]

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Brendan Gallagher: Here’s hoping for a bit of Brumbies drama for the British and Irish Lions

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 06 Jul 2025 02:59:19 +0000

The undercard, those matches away from the Test series, is usually very thin and underwhelming on a Lions tour of Australia but the one team and franchise that has consistently provided a bit of drama and interest is the ACT Brumbies. Which is strange because they are the youngest team in Australia and the side […]

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Brendan Gallagher: Jack Willis makes the best of his chances in France

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 06 Jul 2025 02:59:18 +0000

Has there ever been a better or impressive redemption story than Jack Willis? Two career-threatening ACL injuries, made redundant by Wasps when they went pop, forced to play in France, initially for peanuts for a player of his class, because no English club came in and the RFU turned a Nelsonian eye. What happened next? […]

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Brendan Gallagher: Some things to work on but, overall, lots of pluses for the British and Irish Lions

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 02:59:50 +0000

And so, without further ado, we should plunge straight into the Lions selection game trying to second-guess the starting line-up for that first Test in Brisbane in just under three weeks’ time. There is no escaping the process when the Lions visit Australia because there is so little jeopardy and angst as they tour the […]

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Brendan Gallagher: Immanuel Feyi-Waboso waiting in the wings for British and Irish Lions

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 02:59:40 +0000

It might be mid-summer and nearly 11 months into a never-ending season but, as England go to work in Buenos Aires this week ahead of the first Test against Argentina, there should be a spring in their step. History tells us that stuff happens during Home Nations tours in Lions years, it adds an extra […]

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Brendan Gallagher: Spain get helping hand from French

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 02:59:31 +0000

There will be no quarter asked or given in Verona this evening at the Payanini Stadium when France – who have won three of the last four tournaments – take on Spain in the opening round of the 2025 Junior World Cup. France will ruthlessly be going in for the kill against the competition minnows, […]

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Brendan Gallagher: How flanker Jacques Gasc enjoyed his moment in the spotlight

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 02:59:30 +0000

Jacques Gasc has died aged 75 and, although I am guessing it’s a name that will mean little to you, I’ve always wanted to know much more about the diminutive French flanker. Or at least his story. Nearly 50 years ago – November 1977 to be precise – he was minding his own business playing […]

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Brendan Gallagher: Fabian Holland poised for All Blacks debut

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 02:59:29 +0000

Is the suitably named Fabian Holland about to follow Tim Visser and Frans Ten Bos as a Dutchman playing top-level rugby for a country other than the Netherlands? The giant Highlanders lock hails from Castricum, a small village near Amsterdam where the local club often hosted visiting sevens sides. One week the All Blacks Seven […]

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Harlequins Best XV: A stylish team of the ages…

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 02:59:20 +0000

What would be the greatest all-time XV your club could field if you could travel back in time and select everybody playing in their pomp? Today, Brendan Gallagher begins a series doing precisely that for the ten Premiership sides, selecting Dream Teams for all concerned. Preference will generally be given to those who had a […]

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Brendan Gallagher: After this, the British and Irish Lions MUST tour Argentina

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 22 Jun 2025 02:59:49 +0000

As somebody who fretted and occasionally yawned his way through proceedings at the Millennium Stadium 20 years ago when these two sides last met, let me tell you this encounter was a proper warm up Test and in fact a narrow defeat was the perfect result for the Lions after a ferocious and vivid game […]

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Brendan Gallagher: 30 years on for the 1995 World Cup final, and we’ve not built on our dreams

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 22 Jun 2025 02:59:27 +0000

It comes as something of a shock to realise that this week represents the 30th anniversary of the 1995 World Cup Final ... and what a week it was with a decade’s worth of stories. I’m still exhausted thinking about it now. The Boks escaping with a miracle win in slightly contentious circumstances from a […]

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Brendan Gallagher: Magical mystery tour ends with a flourish for Bath

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 15 Jun 2025 02:59:51 +0000

When you have not won a Premiership title for 29 years, it matters not a jot how you break the drought, and Bath won’t be remotely bothered that this was one of their least impressive and compelling performances of the season. A win, by hook or by crook, was the only thing that mattered and […]

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Brendan Gallagher: Montauban heroes ascend the heights

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 15 Jun 2025 02:59:24 +0000

Bravo Montauban, a team that are the living proof that promotion, relegation and its surrounding jeopardy are the lifeblood of rugby – well, French rugby anyway. The small club from the Tarn region have always punched well above their weight and have endured – and enjoyed – the outrageous slings of fortune involved with proper […]

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Brendan Gallagher: Calling it a day is a tough business

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 08 Jun 2025 02:59:22 +0000

Sorry is traditionally the hardest word to say – or indeed sing – but I’ve always thought “Goodbye” runs it close. Saying your farewells and retiring from the sport you love is a gut-wrenching business, and all sorts of players have been bowing out recently and contemplating what the future holds in store. Joe Marler […]

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Brendan Gallagher: It’s great to see Aurillac defy the odds again

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 08 Jun 2025 02:59:21 +0000

Last August, I suggested that a fly-on-the-wall team might be well rewarded if they spent a season with lowly Aurillac, the perennial survivors of French rugby, and my favourite ProD2 team certainly laid on the drama even though the documentary makers stayed away. The ragbag team of rugby adventurers, has-beens and wannabees, young tyros and […]

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Brendan Gallagher: Alex Goode was high class under the high ball

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 01 Jun 2025 02:59:07 +0000

So, almost unbelievably, it’s farewell to Alex Goode, one of the three or four best full-backs I’ve ever seen anywhere, even if England in their wisdom chose to grant “only” 21 caps to the Saracens man. Every rugby player will have their hard luck story but to these eyes Goode was scandalously hard done by, […]

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Brendan Gallagher: The flowering of Johann van Graan’s plan at Bath

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 25 May 2025 02:59:46 +0000

Surely the most encouraging, or ominous, aspect of Bath’s commanding win over a lacklustre Lyon on Friday night was that it was achieved entirely without angst or drama. Their margin for error these days is huge. They can produce a competent, workmanlike, performance and still beat top sides by plenty which is an enviable state […]

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Brendan Gallagher: Not such a Goode day for ref Luke Pearce

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 25 May 2025 02:59:25 +0000

I’m a big Luke Pearce fan, but must join the consensus that he – and his team of officials – didn’t enjoy the best of days at Northampton last week when the Saints staged their second-half comeback to defeat Saracens. There was clearly a forward pass in Saints’ dramatic late try – by any criteria […]

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Brendan Gallagher: European Cup’s given us some real pearlers

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 18 May 2025 02:59:05 +0000

So this weekend in Cardiff will be the 30th European Cup Final, a pearl anniversary of sorts. Where did the time go? It seems like yesterday that Emile Ntamack was lifting the trophy high at Cardiff Arms Park after Toulouse’s extra-time win over Cardiff, which is still, come to think of it, the only occasion […]

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Raring to roar: Brendan Gallagher dissects the chosen 38 for the British and Irish Lions

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 11 May 2025 02:59:13 +0000

Backs BACK THREE Blair Kinghorn (Scotland and Toulouse): Age 28: Scotland caps 60. Rangy outside back, a quick and versatile player who has started at 15, 10 and wing for Scotland, although full-back is his preferred position. A graduate of Edinburgh Academy and then the Edinburgh side, his game has kicked on impressively at Toulouse, […]

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Saints deserve to be given medal for this impressive hat-trick

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 11 May 2025 02:58:59 +0000

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER Quality: Tommy Freeman dives in to score against Leinster last weekend PICTURE: Getty Images WE haven’t heard nearly enough superlatives about Northampton this week. No really, so to redress that balance I want to point out that in the last 16 months […]

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Brendan Gallagher: Northampton Saints win over Leinster is the best win on the road I’ve seen

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 04 May 2025 02:59:44 +0000

I’ve been reporting on this Heineken Cup, European Cup, Investec Champions Cup – call it what you want – since the opening round of the first-ever competition in 1995 and yesterday in Dublin was the most outstanding, not to mention astounding, win on the road I’ve ever witnessed. Leinster away at fortress Aviva in a […]

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Brendan Gallagher: Here are my 37 to tour with the British and Irish Lions

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 04 May 2025 02:59:26 +0000

Brendan Gallagher picks his likely lads for the Summer trip to Australia Let the fun begin. Every four years, we all morph into all-knowing, all-seeing pundits as we pick our British and Irish Lions squad to take on and crush their opponents, on this occasion Australia. It’s a bit of fun down the pub or […]

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British and Irish Lions bolters who truly made their mark

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 04 May 2025 02:59:18 +0000

Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points, by Brendan Gallagher What exactly do we mean by a Lions bolter? Is there a definition, or is it all subjective? I have a few tiers of bolter starting from uncapped in Test rugby before getting the call; a player who made their […]

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Brendan Gallagher: Little good news is coming out of Africa

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 27 Apr 2025 02:59:14 +0000

By Brendan Gallagher - Rugby Matters Mention recently of the late Claude Saurel and his eclectic coaching career brought back memories of the African Leopards XV, a brief experiment that was suddenly and prematurely discarded in the noughties by the IRB whose record in Africa, both then and now as World Rugby, is frankly lamentable. […]

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Norman Mbiko – A Leopard who did change his spots

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 27 Apr 2025 02:59:13 +0000

Norman Mbiko is probably not a name that resonates strongly here in Britain and Ireland, but the feisty scrum-half from the Western Cape, who died earlier this week, was one of the unsung heroes in the black rugby community in the 1960s and 70s who paved the way for a multi racial game in South […]

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Brendan Gallagher: 20 years ago, we had games worth seeing in the Champions Cup

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 02:58:58 +0000

Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points, by Brendan Gallagher I have no great wish to kick a man when he is down, so to speak, but the rugby public seemed to vote with their feet last weekend when the Champions Cup served up a strange and ultimately unfulfilling mix […]

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Memo to the suits: Give us some jeopardy

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 13 Apr 2025 02:59:09 +0000

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER I FEEL the need to tap out a quick memo to the suits who are increasingly making a dog’s dinner of running our game and butchering the European Champions Cup. It concerns the difference between league and cup competitions and the urgent […]

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Brendan Gallagher: I’m all for the thrills but keep game real

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 02:59:13 +0000

Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points, by Brendan Gallagher Like many of you, I was vastly amused by Chris Hewett’s allusion last week to the gross Monty Python character Mr Creosote when trying to explain why many of us would prefer slightly fewer tries than the artificially high norm […]

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Brendan Gallagher: Let’s get these tapped pens taken from the right place

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 02:59:12 +0000

By Brendan Gallagher As a follow up to my main theme, I offer a little warning on tapped penalties as we approach the business end of the season. Consider it a public service, if you like. Many teams, but notably Bath in the games I have watched, are taking the proverbial when it comes to […]

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The day Alex ‘Grizz’ Wyllie gave the British and Irish Lions pack a monstering

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 02:58:54 +0000

Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points, by Brendan Gallagher It's a shame fly-on-the-wall sports documentaries weren’t a thing back in the 1980s because, as a result, we have been denied concrete evidence of the only scrummaging session at training that realistically matches the infamous beasting that Jim Telfer inflicted […]

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Brendan Gallagher: Switzerland precision too sharp for Germany

Brendan Gallagher — Sun, 23 Mar 2025 03:58:59 +0000

Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points by Brendan Gallagher Amid the torrent of international rugby last weekend, I caught the highlights of Switzerland’s remarkable, historic, 20-17 win in Germany, their first-ever victory in the Rugby Europe Championship. Yes, I know I should probably get a life but these games, […]

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Time to talk about the 1995 you-know-what

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 03:59:14 +0000

RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER IT’S ODD how some Grand Slams get lost in the mists of time, seemingly never to be mentioned again. Take England in 1995. Thirty years ago this weekend Will Carling’s team were closing out their third Slam in five years with a […]

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Georgia’s flyer Akaki Tabutsadze on his way to the top

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 09 Mar 2025 03:59:16 +0000

Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points, By Brendan Gallagher It's the Rugby Europe Championship final next week between Georgia and Spain at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi which would be an ideal time and place for Georgia’s try machine Akaki Tabutsadze to pull ahead of Brian O’Driscoll on […]

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When Ireland’s warriors sent French packing

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 03:59:11 +0000

Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points, by Brendan Gallagher With eight wins against France since 2014, it’s sometimes difficult to convey to the modern generation just how precious and prized Ireland wins over Les Bleus once were. For example, between 1983, when they triumphed 22-16 at Lansdowne Road, and […]

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Now Philippines added to list of honour for the Varsity

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 03:59:09 +0000

By Brendan Gallagher Back in the day, the Varsity Match on the second Tuesday in December was virtually an England trial game and often went a long way to deciding who played for Wales, Scotland and Ireland as well. Those days have gone and the annual challenge matches – men and women – are now […]

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This Italian squad are good – but not quite their best side

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 23 Feb 2025 03:59:02 +0000

By Brendan Gallagher Having reported on Italy since the early 1990s, I wouldn’t hesitate to nominate the current crop as the strongest all-round Azzurri squad in modern history …but I’m not sure yet whether they are the best Italy side ever. The jury is out but we will surely know more this afternoon when […]

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A Tour de France we’d all love to see for the British & Irish Lions

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 23 Feb 2025 03:59:01 +0000

By Brendan Gallagher That hardy perennial, the possibility of another Lions Test against France, has poked its head above the frosty surface again after reports in the usually well-informed Midi Olympique that the French Federation has approached the Home Unions over the possibility of a game in 2027. The subject is due to come up in […]

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Six Nations sides singin’ in the rain – and I’m loving it

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 16 Feb 2025 03:59:16 +0000

Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game's other talking points, by Brendan Gallagher It was raining all over Europe last weekend, large parts of the Six Nations were awash and frankly I couldn’t be happier. Despite some of the movers and shakers telling us rugby should become a summer game, rugby only truly […]

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Scotland vs Ireland – The rivalry which is a little one-sided

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 09 Feb 2025 03:58:37 +0000

Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points, by Brendan Gallagher The history books tell us that Ireland currently lead Scotland 71-66 in nearly 150 years of rugby with five games also drawn. A perennially competitive fixture between bitter Celtic rivals you might think, always nip and tuck with the result rarely […]

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Why can’t we apply the laws fairly?

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 03:58:59 +0000

Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points, By Brendan Gallagher You can blow a mental gasket trying to get your head around rugby’s obsession with minutiae when making some vital decisions and its wanton disregard for the laws while making others. Last Sunday at Sale was a prime example. There was […]

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Race is on to win a place in RWC 2027

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 26 Jan 2025 03:59:19 +0000

Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game's other talking points, by Brendan Gallagher Qualification for the Rugby World Cup from Rugby Europe – those European nations outside the Six Nations – has traditionally taken two long seasons of 10 matches or more and involved endless controversy, bitter accusations, World Rugby tribunals, disciplinary committees […]

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Scotland’s class of 1925 fired by legends

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 19 Jan 2025 03:58:55 +0000

Rugby Matters - A weekly look at the game's other talking points, by Brendan Gallagher Scotland only have three Grand Slams to lovingly remember but they were all crackers in their own way and now – the centenary – is the perfect time to celebrate the first and arguably greatest of that holy trinity. In […]

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Heroes deserve highest accolade

The Rugby Paper Team — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 03:58:57 +0000

Rugby Matters by Brendan Gallagher - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points The second series of BBC’s SAS Rogue Heroesis well underway with its controversial depiction of Blair “Paddy” Mayne who has switched from North Africa and is now causing absolute mayhem freeing Sicily and mainland Italy with his merry band of […]

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