Rugby

Farewell to rugby’s King John

10 February 2024 9:00 am

How sport helped shape the British character

2 December 2023 9:00 am

David Horspool connects different sports to our historical experience: cricket with class, golf with property rights, tennis with female emancipation and boxing with ethnicity

Who’s more useless – the Tories or the England rugby team?

28 August 2023 10:08 pm

In a curious way the decline of English rugby mirrors that of the Conservative party. Four years ago there was…

Rugby union needs its own Richard Thompson

22 October 2022 9:00 am

Dear oh dear, as exasperated kings are known to murmur – just look at the state of rugby union. But…

English rugby is in crisis

8 October 2022 9:00 am

Make no mistake: the game of rugby, which many of us love so much, is in serious trouble: it will…

What Richard Thompson can do for English cricket

13 August 2022 9:00 am

Well alleluia, English cricket doesn’t seem able to put a foot wrong these days. After hitting three cherries with Rob…

I’ve seen the future of motor racing, and it’s quiet

30 July 2022 9:00 am

Are petrolheads’ days numbered? I only ask because having just been introduced to the quiet, petrol-less world of Formula E,…

How Kyrgios saved Wimbledon

16 July 2022 9:00 am

What separates this year’s ‘empty seats on centre court’ scandal from every other year’s ‘empty seats on centre court’ scandal?…

Is any sporting event more brutal than the Tour de France?

2 July 2022 9:00 am

That great Frenchman the Marquis de Sade would have been justly proud of the Tour de France had he lived…

Rob Burrow is in a league of his own

4 June 2022 9:00 am

What a privilege the other night to see Rob Burrow, the Rugby League legend, win Autobiography of the Year at…

Where Eddie Jones is going wrong

26 March 2022 9:00 am

Rugby Union, bloody hell. We’ve got to talk about Eddie, but before that, what about something much cheerier? Just when…

Let’s scrap the Six Nations

12 March 2022 9:00 am

If you were one of the sharp-suited head honchos at CVC Capital Partners, the private equity megalith that has ploughed…

Mason Greenwood and football’s obsession with prodigies

12 February 2022 9:00 am

Well, there’s a surprise: Nike have cancelled their sponsorship of the Manchester United and England footballer Mason Greenwood, who is…

Why everyone should be shouting about Dave ‘Rocket’ Ryding

29 January 2022 9:00 am

As we digest another Ashes thrashing for England’s cricketers in Australia, and wonder whether the 1966 World Cup victory will…

The BBC is killing cricket

15 January 2022 9:00 am

Full homage to the nail-biting cricketing miracle in Sydney, while bearing in mind that miracles, like lightning, rarely strike twice…

The absurdity of tennis players’ toilet breaks

4 September 2021 9:00 am

Forgive the personal question, but how long does it take you to, you know, go to the gents, ladies, non-binary?…

Can the Lions prise open the strong Boks?

24 July 2021 9:00 am

You would need a digger to explore the levels of irony in a Springbok chief slagging off an opponent’s dirty…

Forget football – rugby is the real beautiful game

26 June 2021 9:00 am

The question is surely destined to become a pub quiz staple: ‘Who moved a bottle 18 inches across a table…

Thoughts on a foreign clash of the English titans

15 May 2021 9:00 am

Thank heavens the Champions League final is being played in Portugal, now Turkey’s off the menu (sorry). It will certainly…

Outs-rage: the dumbing down of cricket

17 April 2021 9:00 am

So wickets are out and outs are in for the new Hundred competition. But why? The language of sport is…

The Richard Freeman affair casts a cloud over British cycling

20 March 2021 9:00 am

For those with neither the time nor inclination to plough through a PhD in the intricacies of the scandals surrounding…

In defence of horse racing

6 March 2021 9:00 am

Rugby has enough problems — from baffling rule changes to concussion — without the referees muddying the pitch even more.…

How to breathe life back into European rugby

20 February 2021 9:00 am

French rugby has always been well stocked with boeuf but now it has added lashings of exceptionally tangy moutarde and…

Footballers have made a pig’s ear of Covid rules

9 January 2021 9:00 am

It’s the Portuguese piglet you feel really sorry for. The diminutive (ready cooked) porker — a festive delicacy all over…