Charles Richardson
@CRichardsonTel
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Rugby reporter, writer and ranter for the Daily Telegraph/@TelegraphSport (and its podcast) | Pro D2 disciple | Views my own | 🇫🇷🇪🇸
Parc des Sports de Sauclières
Joined May 2011
What I've written in the paper: Toulouse are the greatest club side rugby has ever seen. What I write here: Toulouse are the greatest club side rugby has ever seen and if you disagree with me then I don't care.
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"Sorry. In my experience this research is bollocks"
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If anyone missed the Champions Cup final yesterday and wanted a microcosm of the breakdown officiating, you’d struggle to do better than this; same ground, same referee, just over a year ago.
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Heading to Paris for @France2023? 🇫🇷 . Would you like some un-paid, non-exhaustive recommendations for good food and drink, that might suit a rugby day? 🍷 🧀 🏉 . Of course you would!. Then, look no further than this 🧵 - from a one-time resident….
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@johnston277 @DailyMirror @BENEFITS_NEWS Most of them probably speak better English than she does too. .
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From January 15, anyone playing rugby in France - “professional or otherwise” - will have to be vaccinated. So, too, anyone watching rugby in stadiums in France. Can’t see that being lifted before the Six Nations, either.
🚨Il sera obligatoire, à partir du 15 janvier, de posséder un Pass vaccinal pour entrer dans une enceinte sportive et donc assister à une rencontre. Plus d'infos 👇.
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Six weeks ago, Ross Vintcent was delivering pizza for Domino's in Exeter, as a second-year undergraduate at the university. A week last Sunday, he made his Italy debut off the bench in the 6 Nations defeat in Dublin. And, he's still employed by Domino's.
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🚨Exclusive🚨. A boost for the Premiership! . By the end of next week, both Henry Arundell and RG Snyman could be confirmed as Bath players, with the West Country club closing in on an extraordinary double-signing. Story ⬇️.
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Exclusive! 🚨. Six Nations: Full Contact was among the top three programmes viewed on Netflix in the UK last week in a huge boost to the hopes of the series being recommissioned for a second instalment. It was No 1 in Ireland and No 4 in France, too.
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A bombshell story on the eve of the Six Nations. Saudi are coming for @premrugby - with four clubs in early talks.
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England keep conceding at the end of Tests. In the Premiership, teams can bank a try bonus point without having to defend it. In France, teams need three tries more than the oppo so they have to defend their bonus until the end. We should copy them.
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Toulouse lost to Lyon in the Top 14 tonight which means, along with three of the Irish provinces, the only unbeaten team in Europe’s top leagues is currently… Leicester Tigers. Odds on that 12 months ago?.
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Exclusive: James Lowe, Bundee Aki, Folau Fakatava and Pierre Schoeman have all been named by Spain as evidence of eligibility inconsistencies in their appeal against their Rugby World Cup disqualification. Story here ⬇.
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Never mind the 20-minute version, has rugby ever considered a card MORE severe than a full red?. Asking for the referee of Agen v Biarritz right now…
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Just before kick-off: deafening here. A red end and a yellow end. Here we go…!
Paris, bathing in the sunshine in the midst of one of its most lucrative months of tourism, is awash with Toulouse and La Rochelle fans. Tonight is a massive occasion on the pitch - but it is off it, too. Whatever the reason, it’s a far-cry from the Prem final, I’m sorry to say.
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Exclusive 🚨. Leicester have signed Newcastle's Jamie Blamire as a replacement for the outgoing Julián Montoya.
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With 10 teams, does the Premiership really need a top four?. Would a top three suffice?. I think so - and that way, Northampton would deservedly be heading straight to Twickenham as league winners, to play the winner of Bath v Sale.
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If you get 10 minutes, here is the extraordinary story of Aadel Kardooni, rugby's only Iranian pro player, who arrived in England aged 8 unable to speak English. Kardooni made over 200 appearances for Leicester and got to the cusp of an England call-up.
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Crouch, bind, debt.
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Paris, bathing in the sunshine in the midst of one of its most lucrative months of tourism, is awash with Toulouse and La Rochelle fans. Tonight is a massive occasion on the pitch - but it is off it, too. Whatever the reason, it’s a far-cry from the Prem final, I’m sorry to say.
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What Ardie Savea did this morning was APPALLING, wasn't it?. Oh wait.
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Exclusive 🚨 . I understand, in the next month, that the RFU will announce a record loss of over £35million, pushing up to £40m, for the 2023/24 financial year.
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It is nigh-on scandalous that this league is struggling for eyeballs.
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Exclusive!. Corné Beets, Junior Springbok Player of the Year, will be the long-term replacement for departing No 8 Jasper Wiese at Leicester Tigers.
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Exclusive!. Understand that Premiership TMOs have been told to only intervene on forward passes if they are blindingly obvious - because of how subjective and debatable they are - and to leave anything marginal to the on-field team of officials.
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No hooker in @premrugby has scored more tries, made more carries, made more line breaks, beaten more defenders or made more offloads this season than Curtis Langdon. Oh, and Northampton have the second best line-out in the league.
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Exclusive🚨 . Bristol have bolstered their squad for next season by securing the services of international duo Tom Jordan (Glasgow fly-half) and Pedro Rubiolo (Newcastle forward).
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Understand Bath are set to lodge an official complaint and demand an explanation from both the RFU and Premiership Rugby regarding the sin-bin controversy, with neither organisation wishing to comment on Saturday night.
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To highlight how remarkable this @LeicesterTigers renaissance under Steve Borthwick has been, next week they could:. - Equal the club record of season-opening win-streaks in all comps;.- Equal the club record away-win streak;.- Equal the Premiership record for best season starts.
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Have avoided #LionsRugby tweeting because there’s usually more guff than Homer Simpson but:. - Cowan-Dickie easily the best hooker on tour;.- Mako Vunipola in the last two matches has been a colossus;.- On what planet is Kyle Sinckler the fourth best tighthead in the UK and Ire?.
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Johnny Sexton is suspended for 3 matches for "pointing his finger at [the H Cup final officials] and shouting something to the effect of "it’s a disgrace you guys can't get the big decisions right". Misses all of Ireland's RWC warm-ups but back for the opener. Convenient. .
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After my fortnight driving about French rugby, here’s what @premrugby could learn. The upshot? There is tonnes that it can’t - France has a head-start in many areas - but there are a few smaller, subtle things that it could - and should.
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Clearly there is a linguistic basis to the defence but. Why on earth would a player be saying "white side" (in *any* language) anyway?.
For the sake of my friends who don’t have an Afrikaans decoder on hand:. the Afrikaans word for “side” is “kant”. You guessed it. Pronounced just like the C word.
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THREAD 1/3. Diplomatic incident unfolding in French rugby. At Toulon's hall-of-fame dinner last night, Delon Armitage called Clermont's fans "bastards" for whistling at him for four years after he showboated whilst scoring against them in the 2013 Heineken Cup final.
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🔥 One night with Castro. 🍷 . The most fun work assignment I’ve had to date - and, perhaps, I ever will - was going to Rome in search of Martín Castrogiovanni. I found him. Exclusive 🚨.
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Ben Youngs is set to be one of several major re-signings at Leicester over the next fortnight, keeping England’s most-capped men’s player with the Tigers for at least the 2024/25 season. Exclusive story ⬇️.
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There will be justified anger and disillusionment; here are two more nuggets:. - There might be mitigation on the change of direction but *he was never legal* - when did that stop mattering?. - Sport mirrors society. Better legal representation yields better results. Sad but true.
Owen Farrell has his red card overturned.
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Genuine Q (which I'm hoping Twitter can answer):. I know colour-blindness is a very real issue, but is there another sport/governing body which obsesses over it as much as rugby?.
Is it a red card or a green, brown or orange one?. Many players, coaches, spectators and officials can be impacted by colour blindness – 1 in 12 males and 1 in 200 females.
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Leicester announce that two current board members will invest £13m in order to avoid the need for "urgent alternative funding" and the possibility of administration. Bittersweet - great that such a sum is being invested but it does paint a dark picture.
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Moments before Kyle Hatherell scored in last night's @premrugby Cup final, forcing extra time, a L Irish fan had taunted Steve Diamond, sarcastically saying Worcester should take a shot at goal. After the try, Diamond couldn't resist a retort (captured on BT, without context)
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They scored a couple of phases later anyway, but Sale had a legitimate case for rugby’s first ever (probably?) holding-on penalty try on Saturday against Northampton.
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.@jonny_mccormick at Opta has since confirmed that the 865 metres that Bristol made on Friday evening is the second-largest since their records began in 2010. The highest? The Bears again; 892 against Northampton at Ashton Gate last season.
Pat Lam's table-toppers laid down a serious display of their title credentials in the shellacking of their rivals on Friday
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Bloke’s just had his block knocked off but because there was a finger on the chest first it’s yellow. Riiiight… #NZLvIRE.
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Exclusive 🚨 . Michael Cheika will not be Leicester Tigers’s head coach next season.
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Leicester will not stand in the way of Steve Borthwick but if the RFU want to pillage the Tigers’ coaching staff then they’d better get their chequebooks out. Exclusive for @TelegraphRugby.
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If Leicester play like that going forward, top-four qualification will be routine. If Leinster play like that next week, La Rochelle will take them to the cleaners. A Dublin dispatch ⬇️.
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Exclusive 🚨. England A could play an All Blacks XV in “the north” of England in 2025. Close to being signed off, as I understand it.
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This is staggering. At France v Argentina on Friday night, three of the four tightheads across the two matchday squads play for La Rochelle… who also have a Top 14 match, at Castres, to contest this weekend!. Talk about a test of depth.
@FreemanrugbyJPN @Stu_Farmer And what about 3 tightheads from the same club in a test match?.Asking for ROG who has a Top 14 game on the same weekend.
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There are more important things to worry about now in English rugby but, as per my @TelegraphRugby newsletter on Mon, @premrugby have to redraw the fixtures. V likely that Leicester will have 3 weeks off. They were due to play Wasps, bye, Worcester consecutively at end of Oct.
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Bruce Craig loves rugby and loves Bath. Yesterday, he told me this is just the beginning for this group. “I’m not a money man - I’m a rugby man”. 🚨Exclusive ⬇️.
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🇫🇷 Le Pilgrimage III 🇫🇷 . Ten days, seven matches, with fixtures in Agen, San Sebastián, Anglet, Colomiers, Angoûleme, La Rochelle (hello @gloucesterrugby fans), and Bassin d’Arcachon. Starting with tonight’s ProD2 derby: Agen v Montauban. And, now: phone off, foie gras on!
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Leicester in a spot of tighthead bother ahead of crucial Prem match with Harlequins on Friday. Cole and Heyes - the two front-liners - are with England and Will Hurd has pulled out of the Scotland squad injured. Dan Richardson is the only remaining, then it’s into the academy. .
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🚨Exclusive🚨 with @GavinMairs . The summer tour was due to be Kevin Sinfield's last with England. Now, both parties are exploring an extension to the heroic MND fund-raiser's role as skills and kicking coach.
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Mathieu Raynal, one of the world’s leading refs, in his usual honest form:. - Introducing the bunker so near to RWC was a mistake;.- In favour of refs explaining decisions publicly post-match;.- Rugby must decide what kind of sport it wants to be. Story ⬇️.
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Had the pleasure to sit down with Matías Orlando, Matías Moroni and Mateo Carreras - Newcastle’s three Argentinians now adopted Geordies. Chatted “shit” British weather, butchery, pubs, how nice the people are in the North East, and the rise of Carreras.
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Tom Pearson's move from London Irish to Northampton could be just a fortnight away from being sealed. Story 👇.
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@irishnovelist They played them in last season’s final and won. And they played the most gorgeous rugby to boot.
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Leicester’s second-row production line, after a few years in the wilderness, is back firing. Ollie Chessum, George Martin - and Lewis Chessum England u-20s captain last year. In 2024, that role will be handed to the next cab off the rank, Finn Carnduff.
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A pleasure to sit down with one of the politest men in rugby, Leicester's Argentinian bull, Julián Montoya, and chat about his long love affair with the Tigers - and his reaction to being heralded as one of the world's best hookers.
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It was a pleasure to spend a couple of hours with Julian White, the England World Cup-winning tighthead. White now runs a farm, which he built from scratch, in rural Leicestershire putting all the grit and graft that he developed as a player to good use.
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Gloucester and Glasgow fans!. The Cherry and Whites have signed the Warriors' uncapped No 8, Jack Mann - in Scotland's Six Nations squad - for next season.
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A labour of love has finally reached "print". The first in a four-part series, pulling back the curtain on @premrugby referees, with unprecedented, exclusive access to reviews, coaching sessions and matchday.
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For anyone in the mood for some Lions selection day trivia, if - as expected - Alun Wyn Jones is named in today’s squad, he will become only the second player ever to feature in a Lions 🦁 tour in three separate decades. Who was the first? #LionsRugby.
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Somewhere near Bordeaux…. The Noël French rugby trip begins!. Tonight: Brive v Agen.Friday: Colomiers v Biarritz.Saturday: Castres v Bordeaux. Ending the rugby year in style.
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Leicester Tigers have agreed new contracts with Freddie Steward, Jack van Poortvliet, and George Martin. Stunning business, frankly, and deserved reward for the club's refreshed and rejuvenated youth set-up.
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Exclusive 🚨. After failing to land RG Snyman, Bath have turned to another South African wrecking bull to bolster the back five of their scrum. Jacques du Plessis, formerly of Montpellier, is on the verge of signing for Johann van Graan's side.
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Two celebrity(ish) rugby discoveries for me today:. - Gino d'Acampo is a Leicester Tigers fan. - Didier Deschamps started out as a rugbyman with Biarritz before football. Born in Bayonne, he says his parents might "rip each other's head off" during Saturday's Basque derby.
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Dan Kelly Dan Kelly Dan Kelly Dan Kelly Dan Kelly.
England’s missing pieces: who could complete Eddie Jones’ jigsaw? | @GavinMairs @CharlieFelix @bencoles_ @CERichardson_ @jakegoodwill1
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A pleasure to sit down with Leicester's new head coach, Dan McKellar, to chat:. - Connecting the club with the community;.- Introducing the 'Tiger Prowl' and team song;.- Sticking to Leicester's DNA while building on Borthwick/Wigglesworth era. Story👇.
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EXCLUSIVE. The company that employs Worcester's players is NOT in administration, meaning they can't secure an immediate release from the club even if they wanted to. More here👇.
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24-hour ‘Pâté’ People.
Only in France, part 439. Here is a 24 hr refrigerated Vending machine with garlic, rillettes de canard, honey, onions etc in Brittany. Just in case you feel like cooking at 2.45am.
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Newcastle Falcons owners look at selling club after drop in profits and swingeing cost-cutting. Owner Semore Kurdi has enlisted A&W Capital to help with the sale of his majority stake in the club. Story with @CharlieFelix .
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Gate B at Bordeaux’s Stade Chaban-Delmas, giving Kenilworth Road’s Oak Stand a run for its money in the ‘most discreet entrance to a sporting stadium’ stakes…
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New 🚨 .All 12 Championship clubs join revolt over RFU bonus scandal. Second tier unanimously backs no-confidence vote in Sweeney and Ilube as Nottingham chairman calls for public inquiry into ‘mismanagement’.
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Under Steve Diamond, Sale were always a decent side. Now, under Alex Sanderson, the Sharks are excelling. And, after chatting to players and coaches, here’s why👇 .
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Great story from colleague @danscho1 but this is fruit-loop stuff. Rugby - English and, to an extent, European - has lost its fucking marbles. Clermont, Castres and Montpellier playing Championship teams? Were no lessons learnt from the Saracens debacle?.
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Switched on @rugbyontnt for the Premiership Rugby Cup final and they appear to be showing Hitchcock’s ‘Rear Window’ instead. What is that camera angle!?.
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That yellow card for Enari is utter, utter nonsense. He is smashed from behind by his team-mate and has no control over when he falls. That's a total plot-loss from the assistant referee who thought it was a yellow. #rugbyworldcup2023 #SAMvsCHI.
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I have had a bee in my bonnet about this one for a while. The refereeing language barrier has inhibited the likes of France, Italy and Argentina (among others) for some time - and that is still far from changing.
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A proper bombshell from across the Channel. Midi Olympique reporting that Owen Farrell has signed for Racing 92!.
C'est la bombe du jour !!! 💣💣💣. Owen Farrell vient de s'engager au Racing 92 !. Les infos >
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Chris Boyd. It was always my professional opinion before watching this excellent two-parter that he was (and still is) absolutely tremendous, and that was reinforced with episode one of this series and has been calcified with the second.
Heartbreaking 💔. In the final episode of our exclusive behind the scenes mini-series, follow the team during semi-final week as we lay bare the raw emotion playoff rugby evokes.
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Not sure Steve Borthwick could have made a better impression today. As he strode in in his suit, he looked like a kid on Christmas Day. Then he blew through his first press conf, regaling with tales of his children, with pride and passion. His authenticity deserves some luck.
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The 7:1 split was tremendous. Rugby has grown increasingly homogenised and stale for some time - anything that smashes that wide open should be embraced, not criticised.
The most baffling thing about the pearl clutching re 7:1 split, apart from the fact that it won't happen in a game that matters, is that the 7th guy was Kwagga Smith. A man with over 150 caps for the Blitzbokke. Maybe other teams should develop more versatile players.
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The opening weekend of the World Cup, and all we’re talking about is referees. Depressing, really…. Me, lamenting that, here👇.
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The new @premrugby documentary, telling the behind-the-scenes story of last season’s play-offs, is released on Thursday. It is a step in the right direction for the league, featuring an unexpected breakout star. Review here 👇.
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Last season, Newcastle made cuts to their squad to become financially sustainable. Amid the upheaval, the human side of contract management was occasionally left by the wayside, which the club have admitted. Here is the exclusive inside story 👇.
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Word is, and I wouldn’t know, that this is the *definitive* guide to French rugby’s renaissance, from World Cup quarter-finalists in 2015 and 2019 to favourites and hosts in 2023. With it all kicking off tonight, this is the piece I’m most proud of.
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Say what you like about France, they know how to put on a sporting show. Les Bleus 🇫🇷 against New Zealand 🇳🇿 up next.
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3/3 And the faded image in the background of that tweet? Armitage being handed-off by former Clermont wing Napolioni Nalaga, of course. Brilliant.
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Sale are the biggest winners of this BY A MILE. Played two, lost two - only one losing BP, too - and now in Round of 16 of the Champions Cup. (Please go on and win it, please).
Following in-depth discussions with its shareholder leagues and unions, EPCR can announce the revised tournament format for the 2020/21 #HeinekenChampionsCup 🚨. Full story ⤵️.
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The debate is over: Antoine Dupont is the greatest rugby player of all time. But he did not need a sevens gold to prove it. ⬇️.
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A sobering read for Leicester fans around how appallingly one of the club’s greatest locks was treated by the then hierarchy: Matt O’Connor, Ged Glynn and Simon Cohen. Indicative of how far the Tigers had fallen and it took a great deal of hard work to get them back.
My latest blog post is about my move from Leicester Tigers to Gloucester in the summer of 2017, when me and Jonny May swapped clubs. Enjoy!.
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To any Northampton fans on here, all I can do is apologise. But, if it’s any consolation, hopefully the performance of Bernie the Dog on Saturday was not so appalling that you’ll never converse with me again!.
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Exclusive out of Twickenham this afternoon. RFU to make more than 40 staff redundant weeks after new £100m Twickenham deal.
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