From Jonny Wilkinson to Danny Cipriani via Joey Barton

- May 24, 2016

Steve Black started his professional life as a bouncer on Newcastle's pub scene - which according to some stories involved throwing men through glass doors and having a shotgun stuck in his face.It is not your traditional route into coaching professional sportsmen, and yet that is exactly where Black

More players should follow Marler’s brave lead

- May 19, 2016

Joe Marler has come in for a fair bit of stick recently, but his decision yesterday to announce that he had ruled himself out of England's games this summer was brave, and should be used as an example for others to follow.Professional rugby has reached an astronomical level of physicality.

Springbok head coach: the toughest gig in rugby

- April 14, 2016

Allister Coetzee was on Tuesday appointed as the new head coach of the Springboks, after a torturous few months in which the South African Rugby Union built up to this big reveal, despite everyone knowing what the outcome would be anyway.Still, South African rugby fans are almost unique in their

How do you solve a problem like Italian Rugby?

- April 7, 2016

If you have even a passing interest in rugby, then during the fallout from the Six Nations you will have heard mention of promotion and relegation. After Italy finished bottom of the pile by one of the most comprehensive margins in memory, their position in the Six Nations is looking

Marler’s citing proves disciplinary process is still broken

- March 15, 2016

Twitter can be the worst of places at times, as moronic buffoons spout their ill-considered and at times offensive opinions. But every now and then, it can be an excellent barometer of how wrong a decision is.Such was the case on Sunday night when the disciplinary report from the weekend's

Cat, meet pigeons: Eddie Jones’s first England squad

- January 14, 2016January 14, 2016

Statement made. Not many people expected new coach Eddie Jones to make the full compliment of changes to England's World Cup squad; he was allowed 11, and he made 11. Plenty of deemed dead wood has been shifted.Gone are Rob Webber, Tom Youngs, David Wilson, Geoff Parling, Tom Wood, Nick

The RFU is right to dig its heels in over Borthwick

- December 16, 2015December 16, 2015

Farce just seems to follow the RFU around at the moment, doesn't it? From handing new contracts to Lancaster and his coaching team just before the most catastrophic World Cup in their history, to (likely) being taken to court over their courting of Steve Borthwick, it has been a chain

Borthwick could be every bit as important to England as Jones

- December 2, 2015

It is fair to say that the start of Eddie Jones's reign as England coach has not been completely smooth sailing. Visa troubles in Japan - who understandably are not moving mountains to speed up the process - meant he missed his first day of work on Tuesday, while Bristol

Nobody involved in Burgess mess emerges with any credit

- November 5, 2015November 5, 2015

So there you have it. After one year, five England caps and seventeen appearances for Bath, Sam Burgess is returning to rugby league. It is a depressing end to a sorry saga that has been mismanaged from start to finish.None of the protagonists in this tragedy emerge with credit -

Fans deserve transparency over Salary Cap – but won’t get it

- October 29, 2015October 29, 2015

It's a miserable time to be a rugby fan in England, isn't it? After the worst World Cup campaign in the country's history - on home soil, no less - fans of a club team would have been looking forward to returning to a degree of normalcy in the Premiership.Not