World Cup Disciplinary Review: Hodge, Lee-Lo and Matu’u

The first week of the 2019 Rugby World Cup has not been short of controversy. There’s been some brilliant rugby played, but the decisions of referees have unfortunately dominated the headlines. This article will consider the main disciplinary incidents of…

The Rob Howley Case: Explained

This article was originally published in The Rugby Magazine a new media platform bringing rugby to life; stories, history, analysis and the most comprehensive fantasy rugby game available.   With the Rugby World Cup a matter of hours away, the Rob Howley betting…

The Gabrillagues Ban: Grounds for Appeal?

On Tuesday 20 August, World Rugby announced that France second-row Paul Gabrillagues (the “Player”) had been handed a six-week suspension for foul play in the France vs Scotland match on Saturday 17 August. The player appeared before an independent World…

“Kicked to the Curb”: Players and Clubs unhappy over Yorkshire Carnegie decision

The financial troubles of Yorkshire Carnegie are now well-known. The Championship side announced in April 2019 that it was to go part-time in order to save costs after its principal investor pulled out, but it was revealed in June that…

World Rugby’s High Tackle Framework

I have published an updated version of this article, available here: World Rugby's High Tackle Framework - An Update for 2020. In May of this year, World Rugby published its new Decision-Making Framework for High Tackles. It is intended as…

The Dismissal of Israel Folau: An English Legal Perspective

When Israel Folau made his now-infamously homophobic social media posts, few could have expected that we would end up here. Indeed, few expected Rugby Australia to do more than hand him a fine and perhaps a suspension. Yet, here we…

Rugby’s Week from Hell

The past week might just have been the worst week of rugby news in history. Not ‘the worst’ because it has been dull – far from it – ‘the worst’ in the sense that almost all the news has been…

Rugby’s ‘World’ League: A Cash Cow Cartel

This article was originally published in The Rugby Magazine a new media platform bringing rugby to life; stories, history, analysis and the most comprehensive fantasy rugby game available.   "Fans want to see meaningful games; they don’t want to see fatigued…