Major teams: King Country Country: New Zealand Test span: 1957-71 Test caps: 55 (55 starts) Test points: 21 (7T) Between 1957 and 1971 he set a world cap record by…
Rugby World
The greatest second-rows of all time: Walter Spanghero
Major teams: Narbonne Country: France Test span: 1964-73 Test caps: 51 (51 starts) Test points: 14 (4T) “Cometh the hour, cometh the man,” said French critics when Walter Spanghero made…
The greatest second-rows of all time: Paul O’Connell
Major teams: Munster Country: Ireland Test span: 2002-2015 Ireland caps: 108 (99 starts) Lions caps: 7 (7 starts) Test points: 40 (8T) Superman heads to bed each night wearing Paul…
Adam Jones
Adam Jones was christened ‘Bomb’ in a fond reference to 1990s American wrestler Adam Bomb, who sported similarly curly locks and an identical Christian name. However, the moniker took on…
French rugby enjoys a popularity boom as it looks to the future
The Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) launched its ‘strategic plan’ on Tuesday, outlining its vision for the sport in France up to and including the 2023 World Cup. Before president…
Olo Brown
The foundation stone on which New Zealand’s great pack of the 1990s was built, Olo Brown was one of the finest props world rugby has seen, but also one of…
Patricio Noriega
Patricio Noriega cut his teeth in the toughest of propping breeding grounds – the Pumas’ front row. Born in Buenos Aires, the tighthead played for his local club, Hindu, before…
Iain Milne
In 2011, at a gala dinner in Paris, a formidable foe from bygone years was inducted into the French Hall of Fame. Iain Milne, the famous Bear of Scotland, was…
The phoney war is over, as the Rugby Championship prepares for lift off
By Alex Shaw The Rugby Championship kicks off this weekend, with Australia hosting New Zealand and Argentina travelling to South Africa, and the phoney wars that are part and parcel…
Jean-Pierre Garuet
Obstinate. It’s the only way to describe tighthead Jean-Pierre Garuet’s approach to the scrummage. France is a nation that adores the flat-backed, hairy brutes who relish tight exchanges and in…