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Articles by Sandra McDonnell

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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

More questions than answers – maybe

It’s December and therefore time for those interested in rugby union to analyse and draw their lessons from the Northern Hemisphere’s slew of autumn internationals – a task given added bite this year by the fact just ten months remain to the start of the 2015 Rugby World Cup. As with all team [...]

December 1, 2014 // 0 Comments

Time for some hard thinking

  Perhaps inevitably at this time of year, I spent the bulk of yesterday afternoon watching England v South Africa at Twickenham on BT Sports and then Scotland v New Zealand on the BBC with a sizeable family grouping, having been detailed – as the resident female cook – the prior task of [...]

November 16, 2014 // 0 Comments

Some things never change

The England rugby team flattered to deceive yesterday in losing 21-24 to New Zealand, a game I watched on television. It wasn’t a great match by any stretch of the imagination but it demonstrated the essential strengths that allow the All Blacks to dominate world rugby. Don’t get me wrong, they [...]

November 9, 2014 // 0 Comments

Going back where it all began

Watching rugby on a Saturday afternoon – what more could a modern girl want? I was only too delighted to accept my husband’s invitation to join him at Roehampton yesterday to meet with some of his pals at the local National League One derby match between Rosslyn Park and Richmond, two teams [...]

November 2, 2014 // 0 Comments

It’s a small step for man …

Rugby league great ‘Slammin’ Sam’ Burgess was unveiled yesterday as a Bath rugby union player amid a degree of media hoo-hah almost matching that for the build-up to the imminent autumn internationals period in the Northern Hemisphere. I am as intrigued as anyone about this switch, especially [...]

October 31, 2014 // 0 Comments

Time to knuckle down

For rugby enthusiasts around the world, the announcement of any squad from which a national coach – in yesterday’s case, Stuart Lancaster of England – will be making his next few weeks’ team selections is always a cause of anticipation and excitement. However, almost invariably, when [...]

October 23, 2014 // 0 Comments

More is sometimes less

Yesterday, with my husband away with his buddies on in his annual golfing weekend – this time in Ireland – and the rest of the family otherwise occupied, I was able to do a little shopping and then settle in for a self-indulgent afternoon watching rugby on television. In recent years the range [...]

October 19, 2014 // 0 Comments

Three into one won’t go

By a variation to the current deal between the RFU and the Premiership clubs agreed earlier this year, in the special circumstances of the 12 months leading to the Rugby World Cup England head coach Stuart Lancaster still has until the middle of October to name his Elite Playing Squad for the [...]

September 28, 2014 // 0 Comments

A worthy rugby read (if you have time)

Despite the seniority of many National Rust staffers and readers, let nobody deny that we are always alive to innovation, creativity and new ideas wherever we may find them. In that context, I commend to our readership the following blog by a 23 year-old Harlequins fan. It’s an excellent [...]

September 19, 2014 // 0 Comments

One for the Emerald isle

Last night I tuned to Sky Sports television in order to watch the first real heavyweight clash of the Women’s Rugby World Cup now taking place in France – the group stage match between Ireland and four-times World Cup winners New Zealand (aka ‘the Black Ferns’), who had yet to lose a [...]

August 6, 2014 // 0 Comments

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