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

Nod of appreciation

Coverage of tomorrow’s Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham is already at fever pitch in the media so I don’t propose to bother Rust readers with anything as superfluous as a preview or indeed a prediction of the outcome which I feel is too close to call anyway. Today I’d just like [...]

October 30, 2015 // 0 Comments

And now for the main course …

Over the weekend the only match in the Rugby World Cup I saw ‘live’ in its entirety on television was Saturday night’s All Blacks’ quarter-final demotion job on France. However there is no doubt that this has been a wonderful tournament – the best RWC ever – and, by all accounts [...]

October 19, 2015 // 0 Comments

Probably not the answer

I recently promised Rusters that I would do my best to hold my tongue on Rugby World Cup issues, and most particularly the fall-out consequent upon England’s early departure from the tournament, and therefore today feel it necessary to begin with an apology and explanation as to why I am breaking [...]

October 15, 2015 // 0 Comments

Getting to the nub of it

We Rusters have been talking amongst ourselves about our differing attitudes to our posts uploaded to the website, partly because of the editorial directive that there is no editorial directive upon any party ‘common line or approach’ – in other words, we are given complete freedom to operate [...]

October 13, 2015 // 0 Comments

Well it’s game on now

It is the lot of all those who seek employment as specialist correspondents and/or venture into sports punditry to steer a tricky course between making bold predictions that subsequently fail spectacularly to come to pass; being wise after an event when previously they had been quite the opposite; [...]

September 29, 2015 // 0 Comments

Now I can believe anything

A watershed has been reached – the 2015 Rugby World Cup has finally ‘arrived’ in terms of becoming fixed in the nation’s consciousness. Yesterday I visited the residential home in which my father resides. He seemed, as usual, on pretty good form and at 2.30pm – after lunch – we sat down [...]

September 24, 2015 // 0 Comments

The RWC party starts with a bang …

And so the 2015 Rugby World Cup has begun. Given the recent near blanket back-page coverage – someone within the heart of World Rugby and the RFU’s 2015 World Cup organising committee must either be thanking their lucky stars or else receiving due tribute and congratulations for the excellence [...]

September 20, 2015 // 0 Comments

An evening with a rugby legend

Ivan Conway kindly invited me to a dinner, one of the events for beneficiary Luke Wright, with All Black Doug Howlett. Howlett with 49 tries in 62 games is the leading scorer of the All Blacks and one of a handful to have won trophies in the North and South hemisphere: the Super 14 and Heineken Cup [...]

September 12, 2015 // 0 Comments

And so the gloves come off

We are now entering purdah time for the coaches of Rugby World Cup teams – the period with twelve days to go to the opening match [England v Fiji at Twickenham Stadium – Friday 18th September, kick-off 8.00pm] when the squad selections are done, the ‘warm up’ matches are over and all that [...]

September 6, 2015 // 0 Comments

Reaction to the final 2015 England Rugby World Cup squad

Yesterday’s announcement of Stuart Lancaster’s 31-man squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup yesterday has already been extensively analysed in the media but here’s my six pennies’ worth. Let me begin by stating that, as an England supporter, I very much hope that everything which follows will [...]

August 28, 2015 // 0 Comments

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ITV COVERAGE OF CHELTENHAM

March 14, 2026 // 0 Comments

I am in the camp of watching on tv rather than attending for the 3 Cs: cost , convenience and comfort. With the cost of travelling and attending Cheltenham and last [...]
Max Schmelling/ The Good German

March 4, 2026 // 0 Comments

In the unlikely event that I would be asked to nominate a Great Life on Matthew Parris ‘ show my choice would be the Black Uhlan Max Schmelling. In the 1930s thee [...]
The Tanner Report : Fulham 2 spurs 1

March 3, 2026 // 0 Comments

Prior to Fulham ‘s comfortable win over Spurs (2-1) I watched the big match Revisited featuring Chelsea 1 Arsenal 2 i guess in the early 70s It would be foolish to [...]
The Six Nations

February 24, 2026 // 0 Comments

The Six Nations continues to throw up surprises. England could not bounce back against Ireland , a resurgent Wales gave Scotland à close game with the Millennium Stadium [...]
Brentford 0 Brighton 2

February 23, 2026 // 0 Comments

The heat is off Fabian Hürzeler with Brighton ‘s 1st win in 13 games. Club owner Tony Bloom was not at the G Tech stadium due to a long planned family engagement but had [...]