General Rugby Discussion

Kiwi_knock

Wang King wrote: »

Why is Cooper trying to get out of his move do we know?

Wants to stay to work with MOC at the Reds

sydneybound

Larbre34 wrote: »

Down in the Valleys the same would have been said about Neath and Swansea, and look how well that turned out!

How well it turned out.... You must be joking?! :-)

Swansea and Neath wouldn't be deemed as the Valleys (or the heart of the Valleys) its Pontypridd, Merthyr, Blackwood, Pontypool etc. If you look at a map its to the right of Swansea and Neath and above Cardiff and Newport if you get me.

It is debatable how many Neath supporters back a Swansea based side when they where and still are arch enemies in the Welsh Premiership. The vast majority of the Ospreys supporters come from Swansea.

A team like Pontypridd is mean't to be aligned to the Cardiff Blues but in truth it is not. No Ponty fans are going to go down from the Valleys to support any team with Cardiff in its name. The Welsh regions had to be formed but as of yet have not really worked out. The Ospreys had a bit of success, the Scarlets less so while Cardiff and Newport have really struggled. The Scarlets left Stradey Park for a new and improved stadium outside of the town but many of the dieheart season ticket holders refused to renew believing that Stradey was the spiritual home of Llanelli. They still to this day haven't stepped foot in Parc Y Scarlets. I really wish there was a proper Valley's team (akin to the Celtic Warriors but drop Bridgend) that the Valley fans could really get behind. In Ireland we had it piss easy when forming provincial teams not the case in Wales or France.

ionadnapokot

.ak wrote: »

Actually, POC is being signed as an outhalf.

Mr Coordination himself..

Buer

Interestingly, Josh Strauss has been named in Scotland's extended RWC squad. No surprise there, you may think. The guy is a class act and I was calling for one of the provinces to sign him back in early 2012 before Glasgow ever came into the picture. No brainer.

But the guy potentially doesn't complete his 3 year residency until the actual RWC. The rule is that he must complete 36 months residency prior to his debut (nothing about it being from the moment he makes his first playing appearance). He last played for the Lions on 30/8/12 so the very earliest he would have reached Scotland would have been early September.

Essentially this means that if he's picked in the RWC squad (and I expect him to be) he'll still be ineligible for Scotland at the time. The first appearance he could feasibly make for Scotland is their last warm up game away to France on September 5th.

Will be a kick in the teeth for guys like Beattie and Brown who have been left out of the 46 man squad entirely at this point.

CatFromHue

It'll be interesting to see how he gets on an International level as sometimes I feel he's good against the lower teams but struggles a bit against the bigger ones

sydneybound

Buer wrote: »

Will be a kick in the teeth for guys like Beattie and Brown who have been left out of the 46 man squad entirely at this point.

I think they want to reward players that play in Scotland a little bit here. If there's 50/50 calls the SRU would like to pick Scottish based players as an insentive to stay with their respected clubs.

.ak

Strauss is imo one of the best 8s in Europe. I thought he was capped by sa. They'd be mad not to get him involved.

CatFromHue

I'd still pick Heaslip, Faleatau, and Billy V ahead of Strauss.

As I said I'm not 100% convinced on him yet.

When you look at some of his stats for the big European games he doesn't come across too well compared to his opposite number, Picomoles in particular.

Buer

sydneybound wrote: »

I think they want to reward players that play in Scotland a little bit here. If there's 50/50 calls the SRU would like to pick Scottish based players as an insentive to stay with their respected clubs.

They selected a number of foreign based players along with several who have signed for new clubs outside Scotland for next season. For example, Strokosch is there after playing a full season in ProD2 and only featuring twice from the bench during the 6N.

I'm very surprised to see Beattie left out. He played in 4 of their 5 6N games this year (3 starts). To go from a starting player to not making a 46 man training squad is a spectacular fall.

sydthebeat

Chris Masoe has confirmed that he will leave triple European Champions Toulon for Top 14 rivals Racing-Métro next season.

total former

Buer wrote: »

Interestingly, Josh Strauss has been named in Scotland's extended RWC squad. No surprise there, you may think. The guy is a class act and I was calling for one of the provinces to sign him back in early 2012 before Glasgow ever came into the picture. No brainer.

But the guy potentially doesn't complete his 3 year residency until the actual RWC. The rule is that he must complete 36 months residency prior to his debut (nothing about it being from the moment he makes his first playing appearance). He last played for the Lions on 30/8/12 so the very earliest he would have reached Scotland would have been early September.

Essentially this means that if he's picked in the RWC squad (and I expect him to be) he'll still be ineligible for Scotland at the time. The first appearance he could feasibly make for Scotland is their last warm up game away to France on September 5th.

Will be a kick in the teeth for guys like Beattie and Brown who have been left out of the 46 man squad entirely at this point.

Posted this in the RWC buildup thread, but he qualifies on September 19th. Scotland's first game is September 23rd.

Buer

total former wrote: »

Posted this in the RWC buildup thread, but he qualifies on September 19th. Scotland's first game is September 23rd.

That makes it all the more intriguing. He will arrive at the RWC base unable to represent his team. Must be a first.

Apparently Jerry Collins and his wife have been killed in a car crash in France. Very sad if true.

razorblunt

Whatever about Beattie, I think Brown won't be too dissapointed considering he wasn't near a squad for a while now, hard to know why though.

WPNel is also qualified in the summer, another bonus for Cotter.

pickarooney

Ah Jazis... RIP Jerry Collins
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jun/05/former-all-black-jerry-collins-car-crash

molloyjh

pickarooney wrote: »

Ah Jazis... RIP Jerry Collins
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jun/05/former-all-black-jerry-collins-car-crash

RIP. That's a really awful accident. The kid was very lucky to have survived.

Stheno

molloyjh wrote: »

RIP. That's a really awful accident. The kid was very lucky to have survived.

RIP to them both.

Tragic to hear.

ionadnapokot

pickarooney wrote: »

Ah Jazis... RIP Jerry Collins
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jun/05/former-all-black-jerry-collins-car-crash

Loved Jerry. Met him once. Really sound fella. RIP Jerry & his wife. I Hope their baby girl can make a good recovery. Terribly sad.

razorblunt

Awful news, hopefully the daughter pulls through.
From re-reading the Barnstaple article, it may not seem like much but I always thought the below was a nice touch.

"He didn't crunch into them like he could have done – they would have gone flying. He adapted his level of play to suit the game like a proper gentleman

Found this on reddit. Not sure of the source

molloyjh

Deleted User wrote: »

Found this on reddit. Not sure of the source

That's a 14% drop for Leinster YoY. That's quite a lot. Obviously a home SF and Final will bring the numbers up a bit but over the course of a season it wouldn't have an absolutely huge impact. It's still more than 10% YoY anyway.

That said most are probably season tickets anyway so it probably didn't hit Leinster that hard financially.

I add up the net +/- from last season for some reason, its +26446

sydneybound

That was in last weeks rugby paper and is inaccurate for many clubs.

Its got London Irish down as an average of 10,229 but their real average playing at home is 7,944. Thats a league average, if you included their european games it would be far lower. The figure is inflated due to the double header opening match.

Saracens have a 10,000 seater stadium and their league average at home 8,854. The Wembley which they said 84,000 odd thousand attendance (think they counted empty seats) brings their average out of context.

The same goes for Cardiff Blues and Newport, they don't get 8,500 or 7,300 fans for home games. The judgement day figures is included as their home game so inflates the overall number.

Expect Bordeaux's overall figures to go up next as they move permanently to the Stade Chaban-Delmas and will bring the occasional match to the new 42,000 seater stadium.

awec

I think inaccurate is the wrong word. They are probably accurate but just a bit misleading.

Wang King

http://donalwalshlivelife.org/?page_id=1353&ult_auc_id=1330

Jus in case anybody is looking to buy a signed Leinster jersey

A thing of beauty.

Technique > Power

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRpiKmcqfpo

9kg lighter per person and still bossing the French around! I don't think that they take a step back even once.

Clearlier

Deleted User wrote: »

A thing of beauty.

Technique > Power


9kg lighter per person and still bossing the French around! I don't think that they take a step back even once.

Very impressive. I can't understand why it took the ref so long to give a penalty try though.

sydthebeat

Clearlier wrote: »

Very impressive. I can't understand why it took the ref so long to give a penalty try though.

agreed, going to the 5th pen is a bit much

molloyjh

Ah look at the angle of the Japanese TH though. He's boring in the whole time, no?

Sangre

sydneybound wrote: »

Saracens have a 10,000 seater stadium and their league average at home 8,854. The Wembley which they said 84,000 odd thousand attendance (think they counted empty seats) brings their average out of context.

I was at one of these 'world record' games for Saracens in Wembley. The stadium was probably 40% empty (which is still a good turnout for a club game) and they still announced a near full house. I can only presume that they counted tickets that were given out for free, even if people didn't show up.

irishbucsfan

Sangre wrote: »

I was at one of these 'world record' games for Saracens in Wembley. The stadium was probably 40% empty (which is still a good turnout for a club game) and they still announced a near full house. I can only presume that they counted tickets that were given out for free, even if people didn't show up.

Attendance numbers are largely useless for exactly that reason. I've been to a couple of those games as well and there's no conistency at all to the reporting of those fiugres, and the same is true for pretty much every game. If the figures were indepedent there might be some point in speculating on them. Financial figures are a far better indication of these things.

sydthebeat

molloyjh wrote: »

Ah look at the angle of the Japanese TH though. He's boring in the whole time, no?

1st scrum the french LH is destroyed,
2nd scrum we loose sight, but the pack rumbles forward together without twisting,
the 3rd scrum is dodgy,
but 4th and 5th are perfect

Sangre

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Attendance numbers are largely useless for exactly that reason. I've been to a couple of those games as well and there's no conistency at all to the reporting of those fiugres, and the same is true for pretty much every game. If the figures were indepedent there might be some point in speculating on them. Financial figures are a far better indication of these things.

Agreed but its slightly annoying at the same time as it knocks genuine full houses (Munster v Leinster in Croke Park) down the list.

thomond2006

Top14 Final next year at Camp Nou could set a new record.

irishbucsfan

Sangre wrote: »

Agreed but its slightly annoying at the same time as it knocks genuine full houses (Munster v Leinster in Croke Park) down the list.

Yeah, unfortunately Leinster or Munster dont really care if their genuine full houses are knocked down the list so long as they can get away with massaging the numbers elsewhere. The clubs have no reason to care about the accuracy of the figures but they're the ones with the sole responsibility for reporting them.

sydneybound

thomond2006 wrote: »

Top14 Final next year at Camp Nou could set a new record.

That is a game I'd love to attend. I hope for their sake they get two well supported teams reaching the final as filling out a near 100,000 seater stadium in Barcelona is a big ask. Hopefully locals attend as a day out watching a different sport.

pickarooney

thomond2006 wrote: »

Top14 Final next year at Camp Nou could set a new record.

What odds an all-Paris final?

Tox56

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Yeah, unfortunately Leinster or Munster dont really care if their genuine full houses are knocked down the list so long as they can get away with massaging the numbers elsewhere. The clubs have no reason to care about the accuracy of the figures but they're the ones with the sole responsibility for reporting them.

Leinster massage the figures by including STH's which I really don't think is that bad, they've paid to be there even if they aren't actually there

thomond2006

sydneybound wrote: »

That is a game I'd love to attend. I hope for their sake they get two well supported teams reaching the final as filling out a near 100,000 seater stadium in Barcelona is a big ask. Hopefully locals attend as a day out watching a different sport.

I'm thinking of going. Filling 100k is an ask alright. Plus the match is on a Friday! If Perpignan were still a powerhouse and got to the final it wouldn't be an issue IMO.

pickarooney wrote: »

What odds an all-Paris final?

I'm sure LNR are praying that someone like Toulouse makes it!

irishbucsfan

Tox56 wrote: »

Leinster massage the figures by including STH's which I really don't think is that bad, they've paid to be there even if they aren't actually there

Well, that certainly accounts for some of the figures at least. I'm sure all the figures reported across the sport have some level of justification, it's just we can't really take them that seriously because they're often clearly inaccurate.

sydneybound

thomond2006 wrote: »

If Perpignan were still a powerhouse and got to the final it wouldn't be an issue IMO.

Yeah I hoped Perpignan could have been promoted and given it a go next year but getting out of ProD2 is tricky.

A Toulon V Toulouse final is probably what the LNR wants. Maybe Bordeaux would travel in numbers, think it would be a bit too far for Clermont fans!

sydneybound

French based props Ramiro Herrera and Santiago Garcia Botta have become the latest signings for Argentina's new Super Rugby franchise.

Argentina's Super Rugby side now have 4 international props on their books for 2016, taking the total number of Argentina test players signed for 2016 to to 21 players.

By my reckoning they'll be a hard team to stop next year.... Argentina side to be Super Rugby winners in 2016?!!

Kiwi_knock

sydneybound wrote: »

French based props Ramiro Herrera and Santiago Garcia Botta have become the latest signings for Argentina's new Super Rugby franchise.

Argentina's Super Rugby side now have 4 international props on their books for 2016, taking the total number of Argentina test players signed for 2016 to to 21 players.

By my reckoning they'll be a hard team to stop next year.... Argentina side to be Super Rugby winners in 2016?!!

They should do well in the South African conference, South African teams were no great shakes this year and the further exodus of players and the reintroduction of the Kings should see a weakening of the strength of some of the sides. They should be able to pick up a number of wins anyway.

Are Argentina still planning on only picking players based in Argentina for the national side, or has that policy been quietly discarded?

sydneybound

Kiwi_knock wrote: »

Are Argentina still planning on only picking players based in Argentina for the national side, or has that policy been quietly discarded?

Yes. Regardless what people think they need to enforce this policy to make sure the Super Rugby team stays strong. Theres talk that the team will be called the Jaguars after the Argentina Union changed the name of their second team to Argentina XV which was formally the Jaguars. They'll play in North BA around established rugby clubs and hope to command a crowds of 12,000 for home games.

One of the reasons why they pulled out of bidding for the World Cup is that they want to concentrate on Super Rugby and provided the first team goes well, which it should, they will introduce a second team in three years and maybe a third in five years. Thats all down the road though.

razorblunt

Michael Corcoran has been blocked by Jonesy on twitter, shots fired, shots fired.

molloyjh

razorblunt wrote: »

Michael Corcoran has been blocked by Jonesy on twitter, shots fired, shots fired.

Took him long enough!

CatFromHue

Why, what where they arguing about.

thomond2006

CatFromHue wrote: »

Why, what where they arguing about.

You only need the mildest of comments to get blocked by Mr. Jones.

sydneybound

U20 World Cup to take place in Manchester next year. Matches to take place at the Manchester City training ground/smaller stadium along with the AJ Bell Stadium which is Sale's home ground.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/33150364

This along with this years World Cup should be great for the game in the North of England much of which is an untapped market for rugby union.

CatFromHue

thomond2006 wrote: »

You only need the mildest of comments to get blocked by Mr. Jones.

Tbh if I were on Twitter I'd block loads of people, it's only a cesspool of ****heads if you ask me.