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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Michael Aylwin

Was rugby better in the old days? Try watching it and you will soon find out

Peato Mauvaka of France runs with the ball against South Africa during the 2023 Rugby World Cup
The quality of the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final between France and South Africa was ‘as good as any in the history of the event’. Photograph: Paquot Baptiste/Abaca/Shutterstock

Another week, another set of ideas for how rugby union can be improved. Another year, another panoply of breathtaking matches, any one of which, if they had taken place in the distant amateur era, would be hailed by those “who were there” as legendary.

Last week Warren Gatland became the latest to offer his thoughts on how the game might move on. But in this age of social media incontinence we are never far from a thoughtless rant about how awful the game has become.

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