Articles by Sandra McDonnell

About Sandra McDonnell

As an Englishwoman married to a Scot, Sandra experiences some tension at home during Six Nations tournaments. Her enthusiasm for rugby was acquired through early visits to Fylde club matches with her father and her proud boast is that she has missed only two England home games at Twickenham since 1995. Sandra has three grown-up children, none of whom follow rugby. More Posts

British & Irish Lions selection

Choosing 40 players meant there were unlikely to be any surprises but Sam Prendergast, Ben White, Jack Willis and Owen Farrell – -all at French clubs – never made it, nor did Robbie Henshaw. Prendergast paid for a poor performance for Leinster against Northampton Saints but his day will [...]

May 9, 2025 // 0 Comments

The Sporting Saturday

No doubt about the greatest sporting achievement yesterday – Northampton Saints’ monumental victory over Leinster in Dublin, 37-34 in the semi final of the Champions Cup. Leinster field an international team and had previously put 52 points past Glasgow and 62 past Harlequins. They are [...]

May 6, 2025 // 0 Comments

Six Nations/all considered

With staggered kick-offs three countries led the table but most wiseacres thought France would win it – as indeed they did, beating a spirited Scotland. I did not watch Italy v Ireland but, though the latter did not live up to their “favourites” billing, they will supply the bulk [...]

March 16, 2025 // 0 Comments

Full Contact/Six Nations documentary (Netflix)

A colleague on the Rust asked me if I had seen this documentary. As I had not, I watched it on Wednesday night and was disappointed. I am no fan of “fly-on-the-wall” documentaries. Vast amounts of money are expended in return for granting access to “where-the-fan-cannot-go” [...]

February 2, 2024 // 0 Comments

Ireland 13 South Africa 8

This epic match more than matched the billing and hype and I share my colleague Derek Williams’ viewpoint that the Boks should be beaten. Their bomb squad of 7 forwards attracted a lot of attention though few pointed out that – in the absence of Malcolm Marx – they did not have a [...]

September 24, 2023 // 0 Comments

Wales 32 Fiji 26

Wales’s victory over Fiji was the best World Cup game so far. I had watched South Africa beat Scotland but I find the Boks to be a boring bunch of behemoths. Scotland play attractively but are over-reliant on the mercurial Finn Russell and frankly it was a pea-shooter against a Panzer tank. [...]

September 11, 2023 // 0 Comments

Rugby World Cup Preview

The first observation to make about the Rugby World Cup is that the four best Rugby nations (France, New Zealand, Ireland and South Africa) are all in the lower section. Whilst France v New Zealand is a tasty opener I’m looking forward more to the Pool B encounter between world number one Ireland [...]

September 8, 2023 // 0 Comments

Review: The Sound Of Music (Chichester Festival Theatre)

Last weekend – somewhat out of the blue – I received an invitation to attend the penultimate evening performance of the Chichester Festival Theatre’s production of Rogers & Hammerstein’s musical The Sound of Music and was only too happy to accept. There can scarcely be a Ruster unaware [...]

September 6, 2023 // 0 Comments

South Africa 35 New Zealand 7

This match at Twickenham between the current World Champions and one of the forthcoming tournament’s favourites ended with a resounding victory for the Boks. They overpowered the All Blacks with the power of their pack and some highly effective players behind the scrum – notably full back [...]

August 26, 2023 // 0 Comments

Rugby Union in disarray over Owen Farrell decision

Some developments in the world of sport seem to defy logic, morality, decency and belief. It is undeniable that – down through sporting history in such as track & field, professional boxing, Tour de France cycling, football, rugby in both the union and league codes, karate and [...]

August 16, 2023 // 0 Comments

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The sporting weekend

June 16, 2025 // 0 Comments

The sporting weekend exposed many clichés and platitudes. In beating fancied Australia in the ICC Trophy South Africa proved that they are not chokers and the quota system [...]
BRIAN WILSON/ R.I.P.

June 13, 2025 // 0 Comments

Even though he was diagnosed with dementia a couple of years ago, I was still shocked and sorrowed to learn in the media this week of the death of Brian Wilson, the Beach [...]
The US Open at Oakmont

June 13, 2025 // 0 Comments

They say that the US Open is the one of the four Majors that the pros want to win. A few well-known golfers have never done so (Sam Snead, Phil Mickelson, Seve Ballesteros [...]
First Day World Test championships/Australia v. South Africa

June 12, 2025 // 0 Comments

I was in two minds whether to use my ticket for the ICC WORLD TEST FINAL contested between South Africa and Australia. I have had a recent run of bereavements and I thought [...]
A la Colthard/Cannizzaro House Wimbledon

June 10, 2025 // 0 Comments

The main assets of Cannizaro House are its gardens and the white palladian villa. Its location is on the west side of Wimbledon Common within walking distance of the buzzy [...]