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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year ago50 years ago, the Lions start to sweat
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER At the start of the year, this column...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoGB face Monaco battle for Olympic decider
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER ANY rugby tourist, or indeed anybody who finds themselves in striking distance of Monaco, should consider looking...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoDelighted to see Titans stand tall
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER There are some teams you grow particularly attached...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoStorti brings season to an end in style
Portugal wing Raffaele Storti may have made a slow start to the season but he has been making up for it...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year ago35 years on and Tim’s charity still full of hope
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER If you believe rugby is the ultimate team sport – which I still do – it is...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoS Africa is crying out for its own league
RUGBY MATTERS - A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER IF I remember my A level geography...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoGreat to see Swiss move up the ladder
There will be a new name mixing it with the bigger teams in the Rugby Europe Championship next season after Switzerland...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoAndré, high priest of French running rugby
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points Andre Boniface, who died earlier this week aged...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoHere’s hoping we see another drop of magic
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER IT’S Northampton against Munster in Europe today and...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year ago25 years of hurt and counting for Scotland
Scotland fans should look away now but this week – April 10 to be precise – will be the 25th anniversary...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoTime we demanded more from players
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER THE other weekend – although it could probably...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoTen Italian tyros who will hit the headlines
RUGBY MATTERS IT’S BECOME almost a mantra or article of faith recently that reinforcements, in the form of a squadron of...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoLucky? No, that was pure skill
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER THE sainted Antoine Dupont might be on a...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoDid that just happen? Five other jaw dropping moments
FRANS STEYN DROPPED GOAL (2010) The huge Bok centre was playing for Racing at Clermont. His side were trailing 14-12 when...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoSticking with Furbank shows England’s attacking intention
BRENDAN GALLAGHER I’M tempted to call it bums on seats rugby.... except 82,000 fans at Twickenham and millions back home or...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoFor me, this was their finest Six Nations win
BRENDAN GALLAGHER Could have beaten England. Should have beaten France, finally did the business against Scotland. Italy took the major scalp...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoSorry Cockers, but it’s Portugal for me
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER I wish the doughty warriors of Georgia no...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoWe are going to miss you guys a lot
All career-ending injuries are to be mourned but the last couple of weeks or so have been hard to digest for...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoHow one player really can make a team tick
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER WHY have France fallen off a cliff ?Can...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoIt doesn’t feel right to see Italy at the bottom
Various non rugby specialists have contacted me this week asking why Italy are currently bottom of the Six Nations table. Patiently...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoLow degree of danger? This man is just lethal…
BRENDAN GALLAGHER There was a curious moment in the last minute at Murrayfield last night when a message suddenly flashed up...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoAs usual, Gibson-Park enjoys life in top gear
BRENDAN GALLAGHER It's more than a little sobering to think that Ireland’s win over Wales on Saturday was probably their “iffy”...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoWhen the B grade was full of A stars
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER AS England A crank back into action today...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoDon’t let refs help the time wasters
THE sheer perversity of referees helping time wasting goal kickers looking to run the clock down by helpfully counting down the...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoLisbon? Let’s go…
There are no Six Nations fixtures next weekend but the all singing, all dancing Os Lobos are playing Spain in their...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoDutch and Germans proving their worth
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER Round Three of the Rugby Europe championship concludes...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoBenvenuto! Great to see Lynagh eventually opting for Italy
RUGBY MATTERS EVEN though I recently predicted in The Rugby Paper podcast that Louis Lynagh would be a starting wing...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 1 year agoNo time to go soft on neck roll
Why isn’t the neck roll an automatic yellow card anymore? In fact, why isn’t the neck roll refereed much anymore full...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoAre England in transition? Not really, and they should be kicking on purposefully
BRENDAN GALLAGHER Two very average teams produced a pretty sub par Test match in front of an intermittently mute Twickenham crowd...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoThat was a try – but the record will not reflect it
SIX NATIONS 2024 BRENDAN GALLAGHER THERE is a three-volume book to be written on false dawns, shattered dreams and broken hearts...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoSuperstar who paved the way for many more
BRENDAN GALLAGHER IT’S hard to quantify genius let alone compare one genius with another – although that never stops us trying...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoIt wasn’t quite Bazball but George’s men did enough to get the job done
BRENDAN GALLAGHER WELL, it wasn’t quite the ‘Bazball’ rugby that Jamie George apparently aspires to – did we really expect things...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoWhy you don’t give up on your dreams
SIX NATIONS 2024 BRENDAN GALLAGHER It's been said before but needs reiterating on a regular basis but there is no sporting...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoConfident Crowley shows why he deserves the keys to No.10
BRENDAN GALLAGHER SIX NATIONS 2024 Regular readers of The Rugby Paper will recall that I told you a very long time...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years ago50 years ago, and it’s a different world
RUGBY MATTERS - BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points IT’S funny how some things 50 years...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoUnlucky Bev had just the two caps
It was remiss of this column not to note the passing of former Bristol and England prop Bev Dovey last month...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoFarrell’s jumping from fire…into fire
RUGBY MATTERS I don't know about you but it’s occasionally been a bit of a torture watching Owen Farrell struggle with...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoThe tackle: Different options are available
Dafydd Jenkins’ yellow card last week for Exeter against Bayonne has caused much debate with most people agreeing that is was...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoScots should focus on developing own talent
The international merry-go-round continues. After the best part of a decade of striving for England honours Exeter Chiefs prop Alec Hepburn...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoMagnificent tome tells fantastic tales
Take a bow Neil Fissler and Adam Hathaway – much respected members of this parish – for completing a definitive Who’s...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoNo hiding place in those final trials
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER For some reason, the good old days have...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoWhen JPR enjoyed his day at court
The late JPR Williams has many claims to sporting fame and one of the more esoteric is that he played in...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoWhen the selectors made the right calls
RUGBY MATTERS A weekly look at the game’s other talking points BRENDAN GALLAGHER IT’S 2024 – a belated Happy New Year...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoSir Dicky’s New Year honour is hugely deserved
Everybody west of the Tamar, and indeed way beyond, was delighted that Dicky Evans was elevated to Sir Dicky in the...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoThe day Bancroft created history
TODAY sees the 130th anniversary of the first successful penalty kick in Test rugby with Billy Bancroft, below, landing a tricky...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoWhen Merlene Ottey’s leotard grew nine sizes
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER A weekly look at the game’s other talking points NEW Year’s Eve and rugby always brings to...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoProud men who graced the game
Brendan Gallagher recalls the achievements of those from across the globe that the world of rugby lost in 2023 Sydney Millar...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoTime of goodwill to all (well, nearly all)
RUGBY MATTERS BRENDAN GALLAGHER hands out his Christmas goodies... HO HO HO. I’m normally more of a scrooge than a Santa...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoToulouse’s victory over Quins is top of my list
RUGBY MATTERS THE greatest single performance in the Heineken Cup? That’s a tricky one, there have been so many, but when...
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Brendan Gallagher
/ 2 years agoMillar knew how to keep ref onside
RUGBY MATTERS Dr Syd Millar was many things – Ballymena stalwart, redoubtable Ireland Test prop, successful Ireland coach and innovative rugby...
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