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Rugby Union 2017-18

bendeus

bendeus

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Bit of an inauspicious start:

Ulster's Jackson and Olding face rape prosecution - BBC News

In other news France and England are going to get stronger domestically, everyone else likely weaker.

The Pro12 is now set to become the Pro14 with the addition of two Saffa sides not deemed fit for Super rugby and in doing so turns itself ever more into a comedy league predicated on desperation and over gilded expectations of what can be crafted from a dog's dinner.

Prem looking to become stronger than ever, sucking in more and more top class players. Club power continuing to dominate at the expense of the international game, with future Lions tours now restricted due to the bleating of English sides. In Wales, the Worst Run Union have taken over the shell of a once great side to either prevent its ultimate demise or to asset strip it before it's too late [delete as appropriate]. In Ireland it would appear that the IRFU's bottomless coffers are far from bottomless and that the provinces have been warned that belt tightening is very much de jour.

SANZAR nations also feeling the pinch with Aus rugby seemingly in a death spiral and the Super league in a tizzy to the extent that sides are being dropped. Shame that world rugby are fucking useless, as the only real hope is root and branch reform at a global level.

Thoughts...?
 
bendeus said:
Thoughts...?
Click to expand...

Well in keeping with your cheery starting post I thought I'd raise some issues surrounding the second tier of English rugby.

My team (Richmond) found themselves in the championship last year and having previously been a financial car crash decided to take whatever cash was coming and accept relegation was inevitable. However, thanks to the financial disaster zone so many other clubs are, we're still there.

Welsh have gone. Jersey can't be far behind and you could probably name another 5 who are in dire straights. Whilst a small handful of the clubs (such as Scottish) have decent sponsorship the ability to compete against the AP teams when they drop down is virtually nil. How can you compete when you're getting gates of 800?

English rugby likes to pride itself on having two professional leagues but the fact is the second tier is broke, big time broke, foodbank time. The Aviva is already making as many moves as possible to pull up the drawbridge, it can't be long before the AP decides to grow by 2-3 teams and then gets rid of promotion / relegation all together, NFL style.

Oh and despite being world cup holders (and in a month where English women cricketers showed the value of full time professional contracts) the English women rugby team have been told to fuck off down the job centre.

In unrelated good news though Twickenham stadium is having a £54m extension built on the east side to improve the hospitality experience. No matter where you go, rugby fans everywhere bemoan the shortage of quality conferencing suites at Twickenham, its clearly long overdue.
 
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Teaboy said:
Well in keeping with your cheery starting post I thought I'd raise some issues surrounding the second tier of English rugby.

My team (Richmond) found themselves in the championship last year and having previously been a financial car crash decided to take whatever cash was coming and accept relegation was inevitable. However, thanks to the financial disaster zone so many other clubs are, we're still there.

Welsh have gone. Jersey can't be far behind and you could probably name another 5 who are in dire straights. Whilst a small handful of the clubs (such as Scottish) have decent sponsorship the ability to compete against the AP teams when they drop down is virtually nil. How can you compete when you're getting gates of 800?

English rugby likes to pride itself on having two professional leagues but the fact is the second tier is broke, big time broke, foodbank time. The Aviva is already making as many moves as possible to pull up the drawbridge, it can't be long before the AP decides to grow by 2-3 teams and then gets rid of promotion / relegation all together, NFL style.

Oh and despite being world cup holders (and in a month where English women cricketers showed the value of full time professional contracts) the English women rugby team have been told to fuck off down the job centre.

In unrelated good news though Twickenham stadium is having a £54m extension built on the east side to improve the hospitality experience. No matter where you go, rugby fans everywhere bemoan the shortage of quality conferencing suites at Twickenham, its clearly long overdue.
Click to expand...
Yeah, tier two in Wales is also a hollowed out shell. The moneymen in the game don't seem to realise that a diverse ecosystem is good for all levels of the sport and that grassroots rugby is what maintains the connection between ordinary folk who want to play the game and the elite tier that needs the feed through of promising talent. It's a right old mess.
 
So Pro12 will now officially be Pro14 from September with a conference structure

Pro14_Confernce_Table_Graphic_Facebook_1200x628-xlarge_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq1-a9hIoAslRQBYTyQ1m8SGTOwthrYhb-otUl4b5HXa0.png
 
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I seem Team Adidas have taken their contempt for the laws of the game to new heights!

SBW to play after a friendly training session is included in his ban! Ffs.
 
Women's world cup starts tomorrow. Will be interesting to see if Canada can upset NZ and England and win the thing.
 
(mainly for Wallaby readers but all welcome) :)

Well I am, as always at about this time of the year, excited. Our season is about to start, on the 19th to be precise for us.

A new skipper. What can I say, at least he seems proud to wear the jersey, though if Pocock wasn't in Japan be interesting who would have had the starting no7 jersey.

Aussie rugby over the last 10 years really has been on such a decline, and last year almost a sheer drop into the abyss of nothingness, that any result will be greated with massive ethusasim.

Let's hope this season the entire side remember/learn how to catch the ball, our tight forwards rediscover the lost art (for us) of packing down, the loose forwards I feel most optimistic about though we need a good old fashioned no8 still.

The backs I just pray they learn how to catch the ball on the run and run into gaps, not the oppos or the touch line.

Cheika, our 3rd coach in space of 2 years, may not have a fantastic pool of players to work with, but if he and Hooper can install pride in the jersey then at least the side will fight each game rather than roll over.

So as always every year I am all excited, is this the season we turn the corner and start being the side that oppos respect or stay as the side that just make other people look good? The first game is always the best one, specially as it's against our cousins cross the ditch coming over for what I am sure they'll be thinking a warm up game for the season.

Interesting though the current squad only have one 5/8th (fly half), let's hope he doesn't get injured!

Ah well a lot of waffle from me here, really just wanted to share my excitment on the run up to the start of our season.
 
OzT said:
(mainly for Wallaby readers but all welcome) :)

Well I am, as always at about this time of the year, excited. Our season is about to start, on the 19th to be precise for us.

A new skipper. What can I say, at least he seems proud to wear the jersey, though if Pocock wasn't in Japan be interesting who would have had the starting no7 jersey.

Aussie rugby over the last 10 years really has been on such a decline, and last year almost a sheer drop into the abyss of nothingness, that any result will be greated with massive ethusasim.

Let's hope this season the entire side remember/learn how to catch the ball, our tight forwards rediscover the lost art (for us) of packing down, the loose forwards I feel most optimistic about though we need a good old fashioned no8 still.

The backs I just pray they learn how to catch the ball on the run and run into gaps, not the oppos or the touch line.

Cheika, our 3rd coach in space of 2 years, may not have a fantastic pool of players to work with, but if he and Hooper can install pride in the jersey then at least the side will fight each game rather than roll over.

So as always every year I am all excited, is this the season we turn the corner and start being the side that oppos respect or stay as the side that just make other people look good? The first game is always the best one, specially as it's against our cousins cross the ditch coming over for what I am sure they'll be thinking a warm up game for the season.

Interesting though the current squad only have one 5/8th (fly half), let's hope he doesn't get injured!

Ah well a lot of waffle from me here, really just wanted to share my excitment on the run up to the start of our season.
Click to expand...
Dark times indeed but no matter how low the once-proud Wallabies stoop at least you can console yourself in perpetuity with your annual victory over Wales.
 
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bendeus said:
Dark times indeed but no matter how low the once-proud Wallabies stoop at least you can console yourself in perpetuity with your annual victory over Wales.
Click to expand...

LOL!!! Like your thinking lol!! :)

Apoligies to the Welsh supporters . . ... .
 
tomorrow, tomorrow! The season starts tomorrow, yay!!! :)

Luckily I am at work tomorrow so be able to keep track of the score, though by end of my shift I may be depressed :(

:)
 
OzT said:
tomorrow, tomorrow! The season starts tomorrow, yay!!! :)

Luckily I am at work tomorrow so be able to keep track of the score, though by end of my shift I may be depressed :(

:)
Click to expand...

6-40 to the AABs at half time. Aus have a 60% tackle completion rate. Absolute humiliation thus far.
 
Complete humiliation is what this game is, embarrasing.

But hey ho, there's always the next game! :)

Kudo to the All Blacks, shame we couldn't have given them even a hint of a game.
 
How good was McKenzie? And to think, Ben Smith is still around and Jordie Barrett is there as well.

Squire was also excellent (concernes about post-Kaino put to rest), and Retallick.

 
OzT said:
Complete humiliation is what this game is, embarrasing.

But hey ho, there's always the next game! :)

Kudo to the All Blacks, shame we couldn't have given them even a hint of a game.
Click to expand...
Decent comeback in fairness: even the ABs take their feet off the gas at times, it would seem.
 
Went to the annual pre season friendly between Saracens and Bedford yesterday. The clubs are linked and it's more a Sarries subs bench final try out, though they did put a couple of their first team out for a run about and a lot of the first team are there to watch.

It's always good fun especially after seasons where Sarries won something. So the boy and I got to go from Murrifield European cup final one match to Goldington Road the next.

A320 is the Sarries fan, but he plays for the Bedford Colts and was a ball boy at Goldington Road for three seasons from age 10.

This is why I like Rugby.
 
bendeus said:
Decent comeback in fairness: even the ABs take their feet off the gas at times, it would seem.
Click to expand...

As someone once said, you can polish a turd but it's still a turd, or something like that. That's what the Wallabies were last game, letting us have some consolation points doesn't change the fact.

But here's hope for the next game! :)
 
I had to go to work for the 2nd half, but hear it was a cracking 2nd half as well.

They play like that then the Ozzies vs the Saffas are going to be great games
 
Watched the second half now. What a game!

If you are a fan of rugby, watch this!



Just need ITV to hurry up and put the women's final up on their player
 
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