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

The game is infinitely more skilful and entertaining than in the past and nostalgists should be careful what they wish for

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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