'In the Championship if you make a mistake you might lose 50, 60 yards, whereas in the Premiership you can make a mistake and it's either three, five or seven points'
South African Franco van der Merwe is one of many different cultures blending together as one to ensure that London Irish's latest…
Liam Heagney 22 Dec 2019, 4:29
'I'm pretty average' - Piutau on Fortnite, Bristol Bears and online comments
There are far greater traumas than Bristol losing heavily at Saracens... Charles Piutau and his brother Siale know this more than …
Liam Heagney 22 Dec 2019, 4:05
Eleven months after the Zebo affair, Ulster have now banned a second fan after incident versus Harlequins
The Irish province didn't hang about when investigating unwanted fan behaviour last January and they have acted swiftly again foll…
Liam Heagney 18 Dec 2019, 7:50
How Connacht's 140-second Hail Mary play produced the ultimate team try to flatten Gloucester
The clock was on 78:13 in Galway when Gloucester kicked a restart kick deep into opposition territory... 19 phases later they were…
Liam Heagney 14 Dec 2019, 13:03
'Two teams is certainly one too few for Scotland, I'd love to see a third' - Gavin Hastings' radical idea
The former Scottish full-back on the need to revisit the 2007 Borders disbandment decision, his pride watching son Adam and the f…
Liam Heagney 14 Dec 2019, 4:19
Nakarawa has cleared out his locker at Racing and decided his short-term future - reports
The world of rugby was shaken up last Friday when the Parisians decided to terminate the contract of the 2018 European player of t…
Liam Heagney 12 Dec 2019, 15:00
Kyle Sinckler has just been handed a responsibility few believed could ever happen ten months ago
The England and Harlequins tighthead has often been described as a hothead, with Warren Gatland and Andy Goode among his queue of …
Liam Heagney 12 Dec 2019, 7:43
Just four champion Springboks gain selection in prestigious magazine's 2019 World XV... the same number as England
South Africa outplayed England in last month's World Cup final in Yokohama but the champions only break even with the beaten final…
Liam Heagney 10 Dec 2019, 7:57
Departing Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal on his favourite ever signing and what he might do next in rugby
Love him or loathe him, the Mad Mourad era in charge at the French club was always entertaining... now he is leaving he is in a re…
Liam Heagney 10 Dec 2019, 5:40
'He has still got a lot to develop, still got a lot to learn and he knows that... but he is desperate to do that'
Dan McFarland was happy as a Scotland assistant but Ulster's approach won him over and he hasn't looked back in trying to help pla…
Liam Heagney 07 Dec 2019, 4:04
Enough to make grown men weep: Nine games, seven losses, six by five points or less, three by clock-in-the-red scores
Just last May Kieran Crowley was given the PRO14 coach of the year award... now he is trying to solve why Benetton are losing so m…
Liam Heagney 05 Dec 2019, 7:13
'It brings life into perspective and what really is important' - Ruan Pienaar's silver lining after tragic start to 2019
Life changed on February 15 for the former Springbok scrum-half, the tragic death of his sister setting in train a sequence of eve…
Liam Heagney 04 Dec 2019, 7:45
'It's easy for the fans not to bother' - Shane Williams' stark assessment of Welsh regional rugby
It's hard to believe in the current climate, but Shane Williams remembers a time when the Liberty Stadium used to rock and the reg…
Liam Heagney 01 Dec 2019, 3:09
'Really rash statement': Former Bok takes issue with doping culture allegations in SA rugby
The Springboks' recent World Cup win has been marred by some generalisations about an alleged doping culture in South African rugb…
Liam Heagney 28 Nov 2019, 10:41
Woodward the latest to back Guscott's popular law change suggestion
Rugby now fields starting XVs packed with players who are not prepared to play the full 80 minutes because they know they will be …
Liam Heagney 28 Nov 2019, 4:36
Clive Woodward on how disrespected he felt when he applied to become France coach
The 2003 World Cup winner with England had even enrolled in a French-language school in London only to find that the process to re…
Liam Heagney 26 Nov 2019, 9:18
Here's new Ireland boss Andy Farrell's form XV after two rounds of Champions Cup
With just ten weeks left before his first Six Nations outing in charge, Joe Schmidt's successor had 72 Ireland eligible players st…
Liam Heagney 24 Nov 2019, 4:17
Have the Irish finally stopped licking their bid wounds and identified a better strategy to host a World Cup?
After receiving just eight of the available 39 votes when bidding for the 2023 World Cup, the IRFU vowed never again but do commen…
Liam Heagney 23 Nov 2019, 7:09
Joe Schmidt reveals he asked for a recent Ireland World Cup match to be blown up early
With player safety of concern to the former Ireland coach, his new autobiography takes aim at the state of one World Cup pitch, Bu…
Liam Heagney 21 Nov 2019, 8:28
Will a European League ultimately be the cure to best finance clubs who are living hand to mouth?
With too many clubs in England and France reporting annual losses and remaining dependent on handouts from generous owners, might …
Liam Heagney 21 Nov 2019, 7:06