Mick Cleary

1 month ago | rugbypass.com | Mick Cleary |Bryn Palmer

So much for the era of teenage sporting sensations – the Luke Littlers and Lamine Yamals of this world, not so much prodigies as already achieving great things in their own right. And yet, Henry Pollock’s brash, brilliant rise to prominence apart, rugby shows that there is no trend towards whizz-kiddery, just a lovely age-old truism that it doesn’t matter how young or old you are, just how good you are.

2 months ago | rugbypass.com | Mick Cleary |Owain Jones

Mick Cleary: 'Can we have our Champions Cup back, please?' Copied to clipboard 0 6:34am, 03 April 2025 Can we have our Champions Cup back please? Can we have a proper salivating of lips when looking forward to what ought to be a mega-tie between joint three-time champions, Toulon and Saracens, and not have instead a raising of eyebrows when one of the coaches, Sarries’ Mark McCall, reveals six days beforehand that he would be fielding a weakened side.

Jan 15, 2025 | rugbypass.com | Mick Cleary

In the Teenage Kicks era of Luke Littler it may feel strange to salute a Brave New England world by dint of a 30 year-old but that’s how the appointment of Maro Itoje as captain feels; a break with the past, a nod to the future, a sense of possibility. Lord knows, English rugby is badly in need of a pick-me-up. The mood music surrounding the game has been a screech-fest, a wailing dirge of RFU-composed rancour.

Jan 12, 2025 | rugbypass.com | Mick Cleary

Andy Farrell is a gut man. Or that’s the way he has always appeared to be, a man of instinct first and foremost, backing himself, trusting in his own judgement, chiselled and honed across many years at the sporting coal-face where all you received for getting it wrong was a black eye and a bloody nose. That is why if he thinks it right to take his son, Owen, on this summer’s Lions tour to Australia, he will take him.

Dec 5, 2024 | irishexaminer.com | Mick Cleary

Has the cosmetic overhaul worked? Well, as with any surgery of that kind it would be rude to be too critical. And yet. For all the fanfare at this time of year as the Investec Champions Cup prepares to kick-off with what looks to be a rib-tickling, bone-crunching showpiece fixture, Bath against La Rochelle under the Friday night lights at the Rec, there is a sense among many rugby followers that things ain’t as good as they used to be.